USA Jump Rope National Championships!

Good luck to everyone competing in the USA Jump Rope National Championships! What you do this week will inspire so many generations to come.

The First East African Jump Rope Competition and Workshop

The First East African Jump Rope Competition and Workshop will be held from July 2nd-July 5th at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya. Children from Tanzania and Kenya will compete on July 2nd, then take part in a 3-day workshop staffed by national and world-champion jumpers from South Africa and the U.S. Stay tuned for updates, pictures, and videos!

Back in Nairobi

First day back in Nairobi. Walked onto a soccer field to see 50 kids, from all over Kibera, who showed up early on a Saturday morning to jump rope. The trainers here are running sessions six days a week, with regular attendance from the entire group. It took me about 15 minutes to stop smiling.

Last day in Moshi for a while...

Last day in Moshi before heading up to Nairobi. Zee, Leps, and Keo...I don't think I can thank you enough for all you did for these kids here. I'll try to post a video sometime in the next few days. Tanzania anaruka!

Can Frida break the East African 30 second speed record?

Just finished a visit to Morogoro, stopped in Dar for the day, and heading to Iringa tomorrow. Can Frida break the East African 30 second speed record of 64? Count on it. Check back soon for new pictures and updates.

Amisi and Athumani

Three days into teaching in Dar es Salaam. In addition to the T.J., E.K., Inverse T.J., E.B. T.J., Sideswing Quad, and Toad to Frog, Amisi is doing skills I've never shown him before. He's figuring out how the rope moves, how skills link from one to the next. Athumani has taught so many of the younger kids in Dar.

グリーンファイタ - 100

Green fighters - 100

The new issue of Sotokoto ( ソトコト ) Magazine just arrived in Ohio. Sotokoto is a lifestyle magazine for the urban dweller of Japan, and focuses on health, environmental, educational and social issues. The special May edition outlines the work of 100 "Green Fighters." I am honored to be among them.

It is an awesome group. Featured green fighters include Paul Watson and the entire Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose mission it is to protect the whales, porpoises, seals and other sea life of the oceans through direct action and intervention (see cover at left).

Among the green fighters for Africa are Feliciano dos Santos, who has dedicated his life and his music to campaigning for better public health through clean water and adequate sanitation in Mozambique; Eveline Aendekerk, managing director of dance4life, which advances skills for survival and AIDS/HIV awareness across Africa; Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of Conservation through Public Health, which seeks to prevent spread of disease between human and gorilla populations in Uganda; and Muuewa Chikanba, founder of Zambikes, inexpensive locally made bikes in Zambia.

Other global greenfighters include an ecologist promoting the understanding of biodiversity through the popular media, women who advocate environmentally friendly environmental publications, local food businesses which connect students and the elderly, the publisher of a journal for the full-figured woman advancing in the business world, and social entrepreneurs who bring clean safe water to remote villages.

Many who have risen to the top of the world of government and business are among the "Green Fighters 100" for 2010, through their commitment to humanity and the environment. I noticed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet and Jeff Skoll, former president of eBay, and founder of the Skoll Foundation.

I feel honored to be part of this group.