Today I received a power point photo presentation in an email from one of my relatives. Please use the link below to view the photos taken during the Pakistan relief effort. Then please, please, please, donate to the Pakistan flood-relief agency/organization of your choice.
Heroes Arise, guys! It’s time to make a difference by helping those in need.
I’ve been receiving lots of positive feedback on my recent opinion piece published by AOL News on August 17, 2010. I’m happy to report, “Support your Local Hero Rat” is a success.
So why did I choose to write about APOPO HeroRATs? How did I even learn HeroRATs existed?
Things started with a discussion between some members of my church. We had heard about the horrendous number of buried, unexploded landmines in Angola, and the resulting unavailability of otherwise good land to cultivate crops. Angola had a problem with self-sufficiency. Farmland was vital to their economy. All methods to detect and deactivate landmines were time-intensive, money-intensive, or both. Might there be better methods awaiting discovery? Might people discover such methods if they were aware of the magnitude of the landmine problem–a problem often neglected by the U.S. media?
I did some online research about demining and contacted some experts in the field. I found out about HeroRATS on a google search. At first, I wondered if HeroRATs were for real. After all, landmine experts I had communicated with via email had mentioned nothing about the critters. So I went to the APOPO website and read their 2009 annual report. As weeks progressed, HeroRATs were mentioned a number of times in various blog entries, YouTube videos and online news reports.
I decided HeroRATs were for real and started writing an article. Gina Misiroglu at Red Room suggested pitching my essay to AOL.
The HeroRAT website now links to “Support your Local Hero Rat.” What an honor! I hope a lot of people read the piece and start thinking about more low-tech solutions to a big problem.
And I’m really delighted over the plans to bring HeroRATS to Angola.
Warm wishes,
Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com
Giant pouched African rats have a nose for success.
The problem is, APOPO’s rats need the support of more humans. Even heroes need heroes.
Read the rest on AOL News.
And while you are reading, keep the following in mind. Seventy countries have buried, unexploded land mines–deadly remnants of war. Six million land mines lie buried in Angola, alone. In 2008, land mines claimed 5,200 casualties worldwide. To add to the toll, the presence or suspected presence of land mines in agricultural fields has removed significant acreage of fertile soil from use in affected countries, reducing the ability of vulnerable communities to provide for themselves.
By the way, Gina Misiroglu of Red Room put me in touch with the AOL editorial staff, which is one of the wonderful ways she is bringing traffic to Red Room and getting attention for Red Room’s authors. Thank you, Gina!
Warm wishes,
Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com
HeroRATs Arise!
In case you were wondering, this blog entry isn’t about my heroic, eight-foot-tall lizard person on the planet Thard. No, today “Gundack the kren” makes room for some real-life heroes with four legs: HeroRATs. HeroRATs are African giant pouched rats trained to sniff out buried, unexploded landmines and cases of tuberculosis (TB).
On August 17, AOL News published my opinion piece about HeroRATs: “Support your Local Hero Rat.” Please use the following link to connect to my essay.
http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/article/opinion-support-your-local-hero-rat/19595717
Also, the communications coordinator at Apopo HeroRATs provided me with some updated information over the weekend. The HeroRATs cumulative total for TB detection (cases missed by human screeners at some local hospitals in Tanzania) is now 964 patients. This means that HeroRATs have increased TB detection rates at those hospitals by 44%, effectively preventing 14,460 additional people from catching the deadly disease.
Let’s give a cheer for HeroRATs!
Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com
Warning to Earthlink “Free Email Service” Users
Do you have an Earthlink free service account? You may wish to consider changing to another email service provider as soon as possible. Recently, Earthlink cut off access to my email. After at least a dozen long-and-dreadful phone calls to Earthlink technical services representatives in India, I learned that free service accounts can be cut off at any time and there is no way to retrieve emails or address lists. Yes, it really took that many phone calls. The ordinary representatives did not know free service accounts existed so I had to be transferred. All but two of the transfer attempts resulted in disconnects. And when I asked for a phone number of a customer service representative in the United States, I was told that the Earthlink offices in the US have computers in them but no people at all.
So there you have it. Earthlink free service account users beware! As a matter of fact, I would question signing up for any Earthlink account at all.
For those of you trying to reach me, my website still connects to my old Earthlink address. Wait a week or so before leaving a message on my website. My web manager will have to make a connection change. Or, if you know my old Earthlink email address, just substitute @yahoo.com for @earthlink.net.
Warm regards,
Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com