Moving the World

(09/27/11) In our occasional series, Moving the World, we meet North Country people who take their skills, expertise and resources to share with communities around the globe. Paul Smiths College hosts the founder of the Atlas Cultural Foundation, which helps Moroccans in one of the poorest regions of North Africa. Atlas is affiliated with Adirondack Sustainable Communities, which promotes healthy development in our region. Todd Moe talks with Chloe Erickson about her group's efforts to help improve community health, cultural preservation, education and literacy. She'll give a lecture tonight (7 pm) in the Freer Hall Auditorium at Paul Smiths College.

(07/26/11) Our occasional series, "Moving the World" continues with a conversation with two St. Lawrence county men who are producing a documentary about water relief in Uganda.

Ben Hull and Joshua McGrath leave for Africa this week to begin filming the documentary that will focus on efforts to install rainwater collection tanks on community buildings to provide safe, accessible drinking water. Todd Moe spoke with them earlier this summer as they prepared for the trip.

(05/25/11) Our Moving the World series continues as we talk with a Canton man who volunteers with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Alan Leo recently returned from Ghana where he worked with a group of farmers on organizing their day-to-day operations and the economics of farming. Leo, who grew up on Long Island, has been doing international development work for more than a decade, and his volunteerism has taken him all around Africa, Asia and eastern Europe. He told Todd Moe that his travels and overseas work have taught him that people are the most important part of economic development.

(02/02/11) Although it's just 90 miles from Florida, Cuba maintains closer diplomatic relations with Canada than the United States. Today, about half of Cuba's tourists are sun-starved Canadians.

Tomorrow, a group of Ontario musicians heads to the Caribbean. Members of the Manotick Brass Ensemble, in partnership with a local Cuban church, will visit Cuba for a series of free concerts. The Canadians are also donating musical instruments to a group of students in Cuba.

Lucy Martin spoke with one of the group's founders about the trip. Kazimier Samujlo says Cubans don't need any help when it comes to making music. But, he says, between the U.S. trade embargo and Cuba's own economic woes, it's tough to find decent band instruments. more

(11/15/10) Long Lake native Anne Harrington was recently named Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Non-Proliferation.

It's a wordy title. It means she and her staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration keep an eye on materials, outside the U.S., that could be used to make a nuclear weapon.

For our occasional series, Moving the World, Harrington spoke with Jonathan Brown about starting out in the Adirondacks and working on global security in Washington D.C.

(09/09/10) A SUNY Potsdam alumnus successfully raised $20,000 this year to help build a school in a small east African community. Alex French travels back to Gembeltu, Ethiopia this winter to help with some of the finishing touches on the school, and to talk with government leaders who've promised to provide a small yearly budget and a modest salary for the teachers. Todd Moe spoke with Alex French for an update on his humanitarian work in Africa as part of our series, Moving the World.

(08/25/10) A Clarkson University student is balancing his academic studies with running a campus charity that's supporting a school in west Africa. In our occasional series, Moving the World, we meet North Country people who take their skills, expertise and resources to share with communities around the globe. Francis Dayamba is a civil engineering senior at Clarkson. But he also wants to help make a difference in the lives of youngsters in the small west African country of Benin. Last year, Clarkson students donated $650 to pay for school uniforms and scholarships. Dayamba spoke with Todd Moe about the D'Amuge Fund.

(07/21/10) In our occasional series, Moving the World, we meet North Country people who take their skills, expertise and resources to share with communities around the globe. Robin Rhodes Crowell and her husband, David, own The World Artisan, in Potsdam. They sell fair trade items made by artists around the world. A visit by organizers of the group, The Ubushobozi Project, led to the shop selling cotton shoulder bags made by young women in Rwanda. But for Rhodes Crowell, selling the bags wasn't enough. This week, she and her daughter, Emma, are in northern Rwanda. Robin is using her entrepreneurial and gardening skills to help young women and teens break the cycle of poverty. Todd Moe spoke with her before the trip to Rwanda.

(05/21/10) The life of a deployed soldier is usually a mix of grueling activity and mind-numbing waiting. There's very little free time for individual pursuits. That's why Fort Drum specialist William Seo's actions are so remarkable. The medic with the 3rd Brigade founded a not-for-profit while he was serving in Afghanistan last year. Some Afghan colleagues are running it while he is back at Fort Drum. Project Help Afghanistan sends things like shoes and school supplies to the war torn country. And it's teaching Afghans how to read and write. The group has raised more than a $100,000 in donations. Seo told David Sommerstein the idea occurred to him as he met a lot of needy people at his clinic in Afghanistan.

(05/14/10) In our occasional series, Moving the World, we meet North Country people who take their skills, expertise and resources to share with communities around the globe. Clarkson University student engineers collaborated again this year on a project to bring clean water to a small community in central America. The school's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders adopted a remote village in Ecuador, and worked to find a source for clean drinking water. The Clarkson team designed and built a device that produces clay pots for filtering river water to make it safe. Todd Moe has more.