Category Archives: Right Thinking

School sick days could be reduced with safe drinking water

School sick days could be reduced with safe drinking water

Sat, 15 Mar 2014

Providing free drinking water in schools could be key to helping people in developing countries lift themselves out of poverty according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Research published today shows that schools providing clean water report fewer children off sick. It is the first study to investigate whether providing drinking water in schools can reduce absenteeism.

Safe Water
Safe Water

Researchers looked at absentee rates in eight schools in Cambodia – half of which received treated drinking water, and half of which did not. The 26-week study period spanned two terms – one in the country’s dry season and one in the wet season. The absentee records of 3520 children were taken into account.
They found that during the dry period, children without access to clean water were about 2.5 times more likely to be absent from school than children where water was provided.
Prof Paul Hunter from UEA’s Norwich Medical School said: “We focused our intervention on local communities that have poor access to clean drinking water. Each participating school was given a 20-litre bottle of clean drinking water per class each day.
“We found lower absenteeism in the schools that received the free clean water – however this association was only seen in the dry season. During the wet season, absenteeism increased in all eight schools, which is explained by children being kept off school to help in the fields.
“Education is one of the most important factors that enables children to fulfil their potential later in life and reduce poverty. Better education is also associated with substantial health gains – especially for child health in future generations and in reducing child mortality. However, even when schooling is available, absenteeism rates can be high. Clearly reducing student absenteeism is vital to improve educational attainment and alleviate poverty.
“As well as helping to reduce waterborne infectious disease, providing free drinking water helps combat dehydration. Even mild dehydration in children may be associated with poor health, and previous studies have shown that keeping well-hydrated improves cognition and energy levels in children. So providing free water in schools would improve children’s general wellbeing and learning experience.
“The overall cost of the scheme equated to $1.4 USD per child per year – a very modest cost compared to the potential educational benefits and subsequent life potential,” he added.
The research was carried out by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with French water charity 1001 Fontaines, its Cambodian partner Teuk Saat 1001, the University of Lorriane in France, and the Mérieux Foundation which is dedicated to fighting infectious diseases.
‘Impact of the Provision of Safe Drinking Water on School Absence Rates in Cambodia: a quasi-experimental study’ is published in the journal PLOS ONE on March 15.

Original posting here: https://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2014/March/school-sick-days

Sandcastles

Sand Castles
Sandcastles

 

We are like children building a sandcastle. We embellish it with beautiful shells, bits of driftwood, and pieces of coloured glass. The castle is ours, off-limits to others. Yet despite all our attachment, we know that the tide will inevitably come in and sweep the sandcastle away. The trick is to enjoy it fully but without clinging, and when the time comes, let it dissolve back into the sea.

Pema Chödrön

 

Recognizing all those who give selflessly, and remembering guidance from Mother Teresa

MotherTeresa 1

Below is the writing of Mother Teresa, in memory of her work caring for those most in need:

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway!
If you do good, people will accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway!
If you are successful, you will win
false friends and enemies.
Succeed anyway!
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway!
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway!
What you spend years building may be
destroyed overnight.
Build anyway!
People really need help
but may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway!
Give the world the best you have
and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!

Written by: Mother Teresa

Live Your Dream…Along the Right Path

We all have the chance to live our dream. It means making a lot of right decisions, focused on the right path of attainable goals.

One of Frank’s patrons returned from a South Pacific sailing vacation and commissioned Frank to paint a new work. She wanted a composite scene from her memorable time with a friend. Frank painted the “Dream” in acrylic on a 30” x 15” stretched canvas.

Dream - Vacation Peace
Dream

Live your dream. Be inspired by it.

Just make sure it is realistic, and down the right path…and you know what is right.

 

Sand Castles and New Horizons

As we mark the passage of the old year and look forward to new horizons, it might be worthwhile to take a look back at our past and consider how quickly a moment passes.

Sand Castles - New Horizons
Sand Castles

Frank’s portrayal of his grandchildren a decade ago, playing in the sand, is incorporated into this 18″ x 30″ acrylic on wood painting “Sand Castles.” Also featured is the Old Charleston (Morris Island) lighthouse, built in 1876. It is the third tower to occupy that space, the first built in 1767.
His grandson is now in the U.S. Air Force and will complete basic training next month. His granddaughter will be graduating high school in two years. The poignancy of this fleeting moment of childhood is echoed in the old tower, with its outdated technology and the encroaching sea. And yet it still stands, proud, battered, the stories of lives redeemed written in every brick.
We can choose to look back with sorrow and regret or move on with indifference and thoughtlessness. Or we can bless the moment and then let it go. It is our choice. We follow our lights as we can.

“…and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.”
The last line of Moby Dick by Herman Melville

We wish you peace and joy in 2014. Thank you for visiting this site.
Please come again.

Flying Santa – Right Action

Capt. William H. Wincapaw, known as an adventurous and skilled Airman, unknowingly began a tradition in 1929. He was just a guy that wanted to bring holiday cheer to the lighthouse keepers along the East Coast by dropping packages of toys, coffee, shaving supplies, and snacks around Christmas time. He soon became known by the light keepers as the Flying Santa. Over the decades the planes and pilots changed, but except for a break during World War II, the practice continues today, now by helicopter.

This Christmas, Frank wanted to pay special tribute to the new Airman in the family, his grandson Griffyn. So, a new 30” x 24” acrylic on wood panel painting shown below is added today to Frank’s lighthouse series. The lighthouse seen in this painting is the Boston Light.

Flying Santa
Flying Santa

This painting honors those who take special care of the all-important light keepers, as well as the remote Coast Guard outposts.

Now as Griffyn has his first Christmas away from home in the Air Force, we wish him and his group a safe and enjoyable Christmas, as we thank all those who bless and protect us from above.

Pigeon Point – Wall Mural

Frank’s lighthouse series brought a commission for a public wall mural. The mural below, painted in the reception area of a Silicon Valley business, is a takeoff on Frank’s Pigeon Point set. The scene is a rare sunny day setting for Frank, but more typical of what the pubic likes to view. Office Lighthouse Mural Several organizations use a lighthouse theme, portraying themselves as a guiding light. Frank is more interested in the diligent work of the keeper, who in a Zen monk-like way, maintained the life-saving beacon through the night, keeping the oil or kerosene topped-off and all systems running. Inspiration from the discipline of the light keepers played a key role in the completion of the mural project.

—————— Backstory:

Frank was commissioned to paint the mural over a weekend to reduce impact on the business. Frank agreed, as long as the wall was prepared with an undercoat on Friday evening after hours, by a pro, according to Frank’s specifications and color. That way it would be dry and ready for the art on Saturday morning, which Frank estimated would take the entire weekend, if all went well. The wrinkle is that when Frank showed up Saturday morning to begin, the wall had not been painted. The “pro” didn’t show.

Frank set about immediately to shop for and find the paint to do the necessary undercoat. The primer coats were done, but the wall was not dry enough to begin the painting until Saturday night. Thinking of how the keeper of the light would work through the night, Frank could not shrink from his duty and painted all night, collapsing to nap occasionally on the seats in the picture. By late Sunday afternoon, Frank thought the picture done, and invited his wife Mary and others to come view the production, and take him home.

Everyone raved when they walked in the door, while Mary showed Frank a quizzical look, after studying the mural. Frank knew that look and placed high value as always on Mary’s artistic eye. Taking her aside, she offered her view toward perfection, suggesting to Frank that the perspective on the two windows on the side of the keeper’s house was a bit askew. Frank stood back, a little bleary eyed, refocused, and saw exactly what she had pointed out while others still went on about how cool the painting had turned out. After thanking Mary for her valuable assistance, it took about 15 minutes to paint the correction. Then a smiling Frank, with Mary’s concurrence, declared the lighthouse mural done. The business owners were very pleased Monday morning when they showed up for work.

Moment by Moment Intuition Vs. Goal Setting, Which is More Important?

Moment by Moment Intuition Vs. Goal Setting, Which is More Important?

Some say that you need goals to push you to achieve greater accomplishment than could otherwise be realized. I think it is more important to feel intuitively what the right thing to do might be at a given moment, and maintain an openness to respond appropriately.

I realize it may be a little scary, or seem unprofessional, or even seem lazy to some to depend on the faith that if you do the right thing, good things will happen. But, it isn’t even about that. Perhaps it is more about just doing the right thing because it is the right thing, with no ulterior motive to get something back.

Perhaps it could just be about being in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, with the right people is enough in itself, without a set in stone goal for what it should accomplish. Out of all that rightness, you might achieve a result that you could never imagine or carry out by setting up an otherwise artificial goal, and then working backwards to the numbers you must do each day to finish the goal.

It seems to me to be particularly out of balance to sign up for another person’s goals in particular. Isn’t life about being in harmony with who you are, and not trying to force yourself into a mold that is uncomfortable at best?

As doing the right thing becomes natural, you can begin to trust your intuition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can automatically go from A to B and keep going, never stopping. You can connect with like-minded people or help others searching for the help you might give. Or, just be a bit provocative to get people thinking out of their box long enough to either reinforce their best thinking or begin to try a new path.

Life happens. The question is . . . are we flexible enough to shift into the right action to immediately maximize our traction and move us forward toward the necessities and joys of life?

Blessings to all,

Frank Kliewer

Compassion

Detailed awareness of world conditions is needed now more than ever. And from this awareness, the needed compassionate action should flow.

Let us all thank God for the gift of life by giving of ourselves to aid other people around the world who desperately need the help each of us is capable of providing.

For instance, here is a picture of Frank’s brother Bill Kliewer in Ethiopia gathering a sense of what help was needed by many in desperate conditions. He then gave his life’s energy to create programs that would sustain the needed flow of assistance.

How many of us are willing to go and see the need and then create programs like Bill has to help those dying from a lack of basic essentials?

Showing compassion brings a person great joy.

Visit Bill’s Book and Blog Site: Bill Kliewer Group

 

Thank you very much for stopping by here,

Frank Kliewer