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This week's feature: Catching a Good Wave
Combining passion for the ocean waves with a drive to make a difference

Also in this week's issue:
[A Few Favorite GoodThings] From Candice Reed of Port Elizabeth, South Africa
[GoodThings Greeting Cards] On sale now!
[Favorite GoodThings 2001 Spotlight] Favorite Way to Connect the Arts and Justice: Artists for a New South Africa
[Good Gravy] Kasey Chambers; Caitlin Cary -- How Children Lived -- Maze
[The Upshot] Australia's Walkabout Indigenous Art Gallery
[Housekeeping] Subscribe/unsubscribe

A few favorite goodthings from Candice Reed of Port Elizabeth, South Africa: "Revisiting childhood places. Tea and toast in the morning before school. Singing along to 80s classics. Siesta on a muggy day in my cool bedroom. Creme brulee. The cartoon network. Finding tiny shops in the old districts of the city. Cappuccino with cream. Brut champagne. The Mozambican coast in April. Surfer girls with sunbleached hair." [ What are YOUR favorite goodthings? ] Read more

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A GoodLetter: Catching a Good Wave While we at GoodThings are experiencing a late-winter blast of cold here in the chilly Northern latitudes, it's prime summer weather in the far reaches of the Southern Hemisphere. What better time to check out how one Indonesia-based organization is combining a passion for the ocean waves with a drive to make a difference. Fellow GoodLetter readers, Everyone has a passion. Passions often get you through your life and make bad times seem distant. A passion for some might be watching the sun rise over the ocean or watching it set against the mountains, spending time with loved ones, making art, competing in sports, or even volunteering. Dave Jenkins loves to surf, certainly a passion he shares with many other people. But it's how he's translated his passion into action that has inspired me. Dave used to work as a doctor in New Zealand and later as a director of corporate health projects in Singapore. While on a surfing holiday from his job in Singapore, Dave visited the Mentawai Islands, a small island group 140 kilometers off the coast of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Upon witnessing the local indigenous people of the Mentawais in extreme poverty and lacking access to basic health care not far from the islands' picturesque surf breaks, he found he couldn't leave them behind without doing something. He was moved to create Surf Aid International, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving primary medical care through a range of public health projects, focusing on issues like malaria control and immunization. The organization also works to improve local educational opportunities, providing scholarships to train Islanders to become medical professionals so that the villages are not forced to rely upon outside care. Surf Aid works exclusively in places like the Mentawais -- poor indigenous communities adjacent to prime surfing destinations. There are more than forty remote islands in the Mentawai group. Transportation between remote villages is difficult. That's where Dave -- affectionately known as "Dr. Dave" -- and his Surf Aid team come in. They have their own extraordinary take on "house calls," usually making rounds by boat between villages to check up on patients and see if there are new needs. There's nothing glamorous about it. Says Dr. Dave: "We get around in a 16-foot boat with a rented engine. Sometimes [visiting villages] involves wading up forest tracks in the mud." Recently, I had the chance to ask Dave why Surf Aid is so important to him. He told me that before founding Surf Aid, he was heading down a very comfortable path in his medical career, but that ultimately, it was leaving him with a hollow feeling: "I took up the challenge of creating Surf Aid initially as a gut reaction to the disparity between my hedonistic experience (not that there's anything wrong with surfing) on a luxury boat, with the sick and dying children who inherit the reefs and waterways we use, often meters away. The contrast plagued me. I knew that with my experience managing health projects both in the private and public health sectors, I could do something. Two years later, after many stressful and sleepless nights, Surf Aid is my passion, my mission, my lifetime commitment to helping these kids. It is a very personal expression of human values, for me and for anyone else who helps." "My values were and are in the joy and intense satisfaction of giving whatever you can to the education and empowerment of communities with some of the worst infant mortality rates in the world. In the Mentawais, it's as high as 20 to 30 percent." When he formed Surf Aid, Dave had high hopes that he would tap into something constructive at the core of surfers around the world. "I hoped that if I was prepared to put my career, financial security, and many comforts on the line, that inevitably the soul of surfing would surface and help would come from the surfing community. There are signs that our continual efforts and the quality of our work are being recognized." Some of the biggest individual names in world-class competitive surfing, including Tom Carroll, Jake Paterson, Kelly Slater, and Rob Bain, as well as major surfing product companies like Quiksilver have lent their support to Surf Aid. Dave and his team at Surf Aid say there's always room for more. They take the position that anyone who enjoys surfing has a role to play in helping local people who struggle to survive in the very places where surfers themselves experience so much leisurely pleasure. After a long year helping families and children in the Mentawais, Dave has recently been able to return home to Auckland, New Zealand to see his own family, gear up again, and reflect on what he's doing. Of Surf Aid, he says: "It's the hardest, most stressful, most wonderful thing I have ever done. It's right up there with having your own kids. I feel lucky to have found a practical way of expressing my most personal of human values." :: Lee Stehbens Lee is a journalism student at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. (Thoughts on Lee's GoodLetter? Inspired by what you've read? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.) TALK ABOUT IT How is someone you know pursuing a passion and making a difference in the process? Share your stories and ideas. LEARN MORE ABOUT IT :: More about Surf Aid International :: Other profiles about Dr. Dave and Surf Aid :: Surf Aid is affiliated with the Surfer's Medical Association :: The importance of surf tourism in the Mentawai Islands :: More on the Mentawais :: The Surfrider Foundation is another wave-loving group making a difference DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT :: Donate directly to Surf Aid :: Are you surfer? Find out how you can do good and have fun at the same time back to the top Favorite GoodThings 2001 Spotlight Each week, we use this space to remind you about the extraordinary work of one of our Favorite GoodThings 2001 campaign honorees. The profiles of our honorees -- a wealth of ideas, actions, and organizations for a better world -- have a special home on our Web site. Check them out and be sure to let us know what you think. This week, in keeping with this week's GoodLetter about combining personal passion with progressive action, we're happy to feature our "Favorite Way to Connect the Arts and Justice": Artists for a New South Africa When apartheid was the rule of the day in minority-governed South Africa, the eyes of the world were shocked by the nation's racial inequity and shameful history of human rights violations. Then, Nelson Mandela ushered in a new South Africa in 1994. Still, apartheid's grim legacy of segregation and discrimination lingers, resulting in the need for non-profits like Artists for a Free South Africa, which was organized in 1989. The "Free" in the name was changed to "New" when apartheid collapsed. Now, the group of artists, entertainers, and civil-rights leaders lends its muscle to the ongoing effort to bring an end to poverty and AIDS, improve education, preserve culture, and establish a strong constitution. With luminaries like Danny Glover, Johnny Clegg, and Alfre Woodard among its ranks, ANSA is an inspiring example of how celebrities and other people of means and influence are joining together to increase awareness of important causes. :: Learn more about Artists for a New South Africa. We love to hear from you about anything: ideas or situations that are inspiring you or challenging you to think, as well as organizations, programs, and people that contribute to your community and the world everyday. Please drop us a line. back to the top The Upshot Interested in organizations like Surf Aid and want to learn more about positive and constructive things going on Down Under? Since 1991, Australia's growing Aboriginal reconciliation movement has gained the support of a vast coalition of progressive non-profit organizations, corporations, and government agencies and strives to remedy the cultural devastation and economic hardship faced by Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a result of centuries of discrimination. The Walkabout Indigenous Art Gallery is a creative part of the reconciliation effort. The gallery provides Aboriginal artists a place to display and sell their work online. Are you interested in Aboriginal art or just curious? You can explore a vast gallery of stunning artwork on the Walkabout Web site. Your purchases support efforts to improve educational opportunities, public health access, and entrepreneurial ventures in Australia's Aboriginal community. It's a great way to combine your passion for art with your commitment to making a difference. Visit the Walkabout Indigenous Art Gallery. Learn more about Reconciliation Australia. back to the top Good Gravy Please click through to our Web site to see what we're reading, watching, and listening to and, while you're at it, let us know what we're missing. Music Great New Music! Barricades and Brickwalls Kasey Chambers (2002). While You Weren't Looking Caitlin Cary (2002). Two alternative-country artists -- one from Australia, the other from North Carolina -- battle over who's more Southern. Read the reviews. Books Great New Children's Book! How Children Lived: A First Book of History Chris and Melanie Rice (2001). In this wonderful book, children can explore the fact that kids are alike, no matter what corner of the planet they call home. Read the review. Movies Great Movie Rental! Maze (1999). A gifted artist with Tourette syndrome and a would-be single mother explore the complexities of human connection. Read the review. GoodThings on Public Radio Have you been checking out our favorite public radio stories? Here are some of our favorite public radio pieces this week (follow the link below to the full summaries on our Web site): :: Radio Free Russia -- An independent radio station gets a real chance to thrive as Moscow's progressive media voice. :: Field of Dreams -- The Kabul, Afghanistan soccer stadium finally returns to its former glory. :: "Places of Their Own" -- A new exhibition of women artists from North America features a couple of familiar names and one wonderful surprise. :: Let's Go Fly a Kite -- An annual kite-flying festival reminds the people of Pakistan that there's still something to celebrate. :: "You. You. You." -- A foreign-language interpreter/flight attendant shares a largely unspoken moment with a seemingly suspicious passenger. :: Life's Mental Scrapbook -- A woman finds moving from a city to a small town only begins to make sense at the most unexpected times. :: Time for a Change -- It's never too late for the world to pay attention and get involved in solving the incomprehensible AIDS crisis in Zimbabwe. Visit our site to read full summaries of these stories and listen to your favorites. Talk to us: What's the best public radio story you've heard this week? Housekeeping To SUBSCRIBE to this HTML version, send a blank e-mail to join-goodletter-html@list.goodthings.com. OR SUBSCRIBE online. To UNSUBSCRIBE to this HTML version, send a blank e-mail from the e-mail address of your subscription to leave-goodletter-html@list.goodthings.com. CONTACT us at information@goodthings.com. © 2002 GoodThings, Inc. All rights reserved, but we love it when you forward the GoodLetter with abandon. 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