The Space Between
Engaging in development work attracts a variety of metaphors. Development workers, together with community and partners, the architects of community change. We build foundations, frameworks and structures out of our human successes and failures. And as development professionals and institutions we commonly engage through the medium of projects and programs. In other words there’s often a complex dance of joint interventions that aim at both saving lives whilst working to build and strengthen robust systems and structures. As co-contributors or architects for change we must therefore be continually mindful of the role we play in building a collective community future. My role and the role explored in this article is that of a Country Program Coordinator (CPC) for World Vision Australia. This article explores the implications for my role of a three-month secondment to World Vision Kenya, as opposed to the regular fleeting monitoring visit normally undertaken by CPCs.

Read the full article: http://www.worldvision.com.au/Libraries/Annual_Program_Review_2011/The_space_between.sflb.ashx

Ghetto Paparazzi
This article proposes an innovative approach to engaging youth in an urban ghetto environment in Nairobi, Kenya to assist in gathering information useful for community development purposes. Meaningful information, both at the initial assessment stage and during project implementation, is essential to a better understanding of the community impacts of a development initiative. One of the core principles of community development is community ownership of development initiatives. Another core principle is that the most vulnerable and marginalised benefit through the effort. This project proposes the creative use of mobile phones for information gathering, with the additional benefit of positive outcomes for the individuals and communities involved, including income generation, improved social cohesion and creative expression.

Read the full article at: http://www.vca.unimelb.edu.au/assets/ccp_student_assignments/Thomson_Ghetto_Paparazzi.pdf

Strength from Angel wings
Her love changes everything
Her love for Him
With the fear of loss and God
Within, I grasp on
Hoping she wont shake me loose
At the ends of the Universe
At the gates of Heaven
Amen

Sat under an umbrella
we hatch a plot
those rainmakers
weeping the shade
whilst holding it up

HUMAN EXPERIENCE
If I took my skin off
and you put it on
you would see that I live this life
not unlike you

MIRACLE
Death stared at me
without blinking
those fierce brown eyes
made for a weak heart
she was most beautiful
this little miracle
this breath of life

In time of rain
I ran this morning
with Kili at my back
she didn't mind though
with her weight of shyness
I almost forgot she was there
(but she was)

Watoto na wazee walinisalamia
shikamo, marahaba, sasa hizi
even the insects wanted to greet me
until one fly got too close and flew into my eye
blinded the ancestors passed by
and told me to keep up

So I ran those footsteps harder
pounded like the slaves passing this way
I tucked this road of pain away
to finish my internal marathon
So I pretended to dance
into the future

The day moved on
Chai, chappatti, ugali na samaki
and I forgot to sing
only to be enticed by the local brew
and dance as if confidence was king

Kili made an appearance
so to all my hearts relatives
as I withdrew I heard them chatter
messages for our future
to run in time of rain
to love in time of drought

Amen

In this life of great unknowns
Many believe there are known’s
The world is flat
All swans are white
God is good
Upon pain of death
Thee shall believe

Lines through which we draw life
Intersect on all sides
Some face up
Some face down
Following fate like our favourite cartoon

Optimism
Is the belief in me and you
To love within loneliness
Without space nor time

Longing is an inspiration
from which we draw
a picture of dreams
sketched beyond our reach

Pure heart
Stay with me tonight
We can dance slow and fast
I buy you a drink if you like

We can just talk
Or stare into space
I need this, I need you
To get me through

Pure heart
I am too much in love
Stay with me tonight
Or lose me forever

I saved up fairy dust for a rainy day
As I sat huddled up inside
A spell came to me from beyond
Time made me a man
I outgrew my Tinkerbell

A boy whispered the words of innocent love
And our souls brushed up against each other
Like a battle between Hook and Peter Pan
Or skin on a local bus
I felt it

We have started our journey together
Destination unknown
But like Hansel and Grettle we have left a trail of fairy dust
With no intention to go home
You may follow us innocent love, my sweetest Tinkerbell

Wisdom and Knowledge – Land of the Look Behind

‘Wisdom and knowledge left college
Wisdom went East to a black thief
Knowledge went West in Conquest
Technology became life’s test

Wisdom is because of what Knowledge did
Hid away until Judgement Day

Knowledge moved on
As far as the Moon
Cracked the Earth
And took it’s worth

Stole man from life
Messed up air
Poisoned everywhere

Creative Knowledge without Wisdom flourished
And bigger bombs were made and dropped on have not’s
Birth control became evolved
Knowledge of our monsters gained control

Souls were stole for mere gold
Technique was in the minds of man kind
Floating in wine, sailing through life in therapeutic waste
Learning new technical tricks, life slowly sliding away

Books, not feeling was mans thing
Man checked a book on how to cook
Took his life to a sight, into a book he would look
To label your brain, schizoid, paranoid or some other technical jive
That made you look at you and not He

Remember my Brothers and Sisters when I say to you
For life has showed me all its pain!
Labelled an evil thing

But raise your black heads high!
Because Knowledge without Wisdom will die
Wisdom is because of what Knowledge did
Hid away until Judgement Day

Judgement Day
Judgement Day!

And that ain’t far away’

she came in wearing those fancy pants
a step toward the stairway to heaven
of my heart

Memoirs from a balcony
Concerning all things Earthly
Travelling along a perspective
Of light and sound
From Heaven to Hell
The descent of love
And a rising tide
Flooding the town
Keep them out!

Born to die, in God's image
Glory be to God
and all those before him
Amen

I threw tears into the ocean
to stop the memory of you
drying out

Chased rainbows into the night
with a handfull of of dust
I shook at the dawning sky

A red crimson torrent
fills the well where I drink
and I love it dry

Then I shall wait in this desert
until the rain returns
the ocean of you

One step toward you
I feel your presence
and the pace
of this life, of this love

Where the bounds of love
move beyond memory
is a place
that no pain shall weep

Hard

InI, UnU, WenWe
I was married once before
Peace and harmony
I don’t want it anymore
I just want love
Give it to me baby!

It's not you, its me
like fishermen and lanterns
shimmering upon the sea
attracted by the catch
and the reflection of death
So
you find yourself
and I'll find someone else
together on this raft
It's you, not me

Girl with china doll hair
lollipop eyes
confetti freckles
and strawberry smile
a constellation of joy
a sobering champagne sip
for my eyes

On a quiet country road
I drove a mother and her baby home
with the smell of dust and sweat on my breath
with every glance I gripped her tighter
like tire tread on the road
making tracks toward her horizon
Before stopping on a rise to admire the view
then burying it again between some rocks and a pot hole
in love with the horror of you

this is not my journey
I am just passing through
this space between
the ghosts and shaddows
shared with you

As we run straight and wide
Through broad rainbow smiles
And pots of gold
Yes, we are the warriors
Of human hearts
Of human windows
To our souls

Paper clip of my mind
Twine of my heart
bind all this love
and file these thoughts
to focus on The One

Here I sit and wait again
On these steps
For you
With varying success

Footsteps move away
As I track my history
A future of hope
A past of neglect

Then you move
As I stand up
To greet the past and future
With varying success

Stories are never always true
But sometimes they partly are
So I am going to make one up
About me and you

Mama allow me to weep
Whilst you work for me
It may break your back
But it breaks my heart to see

And I’m going to extend this hand
Out of respect, not out of pity
That I may one day break my back
For you to see

That we shall stand at a village dance
And smile as we face each other
While your baby bounces on your back
And people whisper scandal to each other

That a white man may dance with another
Whilst believing that he can actually dance
My hope is that you truly do
May this story be at least partly true

(this is my prayer and wish for today Mama, about me and you)

Too much death in this life
So I am leaving this planet
To look for another one
To drift into space
And look over my shoulder
To watch it get smaller
This blue sea of my soul
This island of my heart

Too much death in this life

So I'm steping off this planet

to look for another one

and drift into space

To look over my shoulder

and watch it getting smaller and smaller

a pinhole in my heart

A bird perched on a bridge railing
Ready to jump
Suicide is never the best option
For the plagiarisms of life

Man walks into a bar
Looking for grief
Looking for a fight
Taking a seat

Turning his head to one side he says
If you're selling, I’m buying
One nickel for the truth, a quarter for a belief?
The dealer stares blankly back and he says
A belief will cost you, and as for the truth...

The man pours out his pockets
Picking between the coins and candy wrappers
He gets his belief
And sets out in search of truth

He goes back out onto the street
Round the corner it gets rough
Between the streets of dusk and deep night
Drag racing the dawn

He feels the waking light pry at his heart
Searching his pockets he remembers
His belief was lost in a bet with God
and truth got a head start

Let this damn new day begin
Again
Man walks into a bar
Looking for grief

We carry a newborn
And bury the deceased
We love the life we seek
Till hate and deceit
Creeps in and becomes us
-Oh humanity

Impatient love leave me for a while
So I may rest here in the shade of life
And keep watch over the passing tide
A cool breeze moves on through
Like a freight train taken to flight
The weight and signal of love at the crossroads
Proceed with caution, look left then right
Time will tell us on the other side

Kesho

I see you friend out the corner of my eye
I weather the ground between us
Gathering the courage and warmth
To say hi

We stand in the shadows of a Melbourne night
A smile crosses my lips, I am just passing on by
The words we share are not know to us
On our journey, a whisper to the afterlife

I take a step, left foot forward
I shake your hand, I turn and walk
And I see you friend out the corner of my eye
With those before who were just passing on by

I left it on a hill
I gave it a view
And a sniper sight
To see me thru

I left it long
It got sick and tired
Of the view
Of me and you

It left the hill
Climbed down to join us
Into the valley of evil
To get a better view

A life stolen
Into the shadows of loves alley way
Saw it bent in two, talking to God through the pavement
I passed by

And put my arm around what was dear
That life be with me, till death do us part
Drugs, sex and rock n’ roll
All are symptoms of a broken heart

I looked over my shoulder
People were gathering like shadows
To witness light disappear down a gutter drain
God passed by, we exchanged glances

I turned the other cheek, not yet, I walked on

This river, this stream
filled with rock and sand
grit of the journey sends
birds to flight, fish to sea

Foundations to give light
upon this earth within a soul
that chooses a path
of the righteous and courageous

Stepping quietly on our knees
the enemy can hear us coming
friends quietly look on and whisper
I now can see!

Forgiveness

You starve to set me free
from the rapists, gangsters and terrorists
time began and it still go on
I am getting fat now, still not free

So you starve for my sins
from this lucky country of me
time stopped and ends here
No more! I gotta starve to get free

So I gonna give and share, then we see
freedom, love and peace
cleaning my heart, increasing the vibration
allowin all to shine onto thee

love the lesser of two evils
I see it run down your face
I see it in the streets
as I walk away

love the lesser of two evils
around a corner it tempts me
with your name
I just can't, can't do this again

love, love the lesser of two evils
I take it like a junkie hit
down a dark alley I hear your name
Redemption, here we go again!

DROUGHT

Seeds of water
drip on panes of glass
finding their roots
amongst the droughts of days

Slipping straight thru
to places we have been
me and you
drip-drying our roots

There we discover the seeds
alas no shoots
dry as silence to the air
I stand tall and ready, are you?

Time is a restless emotion
That gets tangled at night
In those flickers between the darkness
And the steps toward a dawning light

Each step is a lifetime
Each breath is death
Before its time

Time is a restless emotion
That turns a dream into light
It is the flickers that drown the darkness
And your love my journey from dawn till night

Ho ho, ha ha

Land of sweet lime and chilli
raise dust to smile the sunset
Dance in hot colours of thali
till the hard bed we meet

Light switches send dreams to giant billboards
As we slumber, as we sleep
So the darkness of wealth and poverty
becomes a night of broken clay chai cups

Strewn along the railroad tracks
and reading like clearing throats
Deep sounds as the crowd leaves us
to sift like children, the rubbish dumps of life

We wake to trimmed moustaches
blaring horns as we attempt escape
But the cow knows us in every town
So we move aside, we bow down

There we sit under an enlightened tree
and wish like money thrown into rivers
That we may pay so to keep
the dust that chases our feet

Land of sweet lime and chilly
shake your head in agreement
This is indeed a land of metta
So bitter and so sweet

A ticking behind my eyes
A timebomb with vision
Or days passing me by
One after One

we bend but don't move
sometimes our branches meet
we creak and groan
and when we break
a new generation is born
beneath our feet

Our love was a car crash
So we wrapped it around a tree
Me 4 U
U 4 Me

To be good

Life just leave me alone
To get on and become
Like pebbles made smooth by the sea
Or Earth warming the soles of feet
I must extend my reach

If I survive the dips and dives of these days
I will be on my way
To save you with my problems
Join me, I am too far gone
Together as one, lost to each other
Surviving the dips and dives of these days

Dear people of this Earth
Mimi ni mzungu
You can hear it in my voice
Mimi ni mwanamme
You can hear it in the way I talk
Every light has a shadow, every shadow has a light
Now listen...

These are the voices of the ancestors
In the form of music and rhythm
We do not understand the words but we understand their meaning
Deep down in a place that dances
A place where it echoes our birth beyond time
We were one, now listen...

We are expanding and moving
Just as with time
What I see is a beast
You may say is only human
Ndio mimi ni mshamba, mkorofi, mwizi
Ninazunguka kama mzungu nabaki bila kuhama
I will take my space like land, napanda maharagwe na sukuma
With you, na wewe tu.

Lakini kuna mengi
Swali langu ni moja tu
Which one do I hurt first
Ignorance or compassion?
Which one has survived the longest?
In deed or action

Cheza cheza
Play with my thoughts and emotions
Blow this beast a kiss
Mzungu na mwanamme
Like the smell of soil on my hands
You are under my nails woman, I can hear you
My palms bear the fruits of your labour
With you, na wewe tu
Now listen...

Wewe ni Mwafrika
I can see it in your rhythm
Wewe in mwanamke
I can see it in your thoughts
And the shape of your actions
Sasa cheza cheza
Dance with my thoughts and emotions

Dance with the two face
Sing with the voice and vision
The speed of light and sound
Will bring us back from the edge
Of oblivion, Now listen...

Mimi ni mzungu, nyinyi ni waafrika, people of this Earth
And we wish to be disowned
So that we may be owned again
On a trip to our roots, to wander without moving
Insh’allah, Mungu akipenda, Jah Rastafari!
Every light has a shadow, every shadow has a light
Now listen...

Is the Sun going up
or are we going down?
Pieces of darkness cut
Into the silence of this town

Are we going up?
On this quiet corner
me and you holding hands
As the Sun goes down

I have a love
I have a lover
One does not respect the other

That what one does with its hands
The other does with its heart
They feel each other inside out

I am lost to my lover
I am in love with another
One does not respect the other

I felt your strain, I looked up
As you pushed past me
Carrying a beast on your shoulders
While I sat packing my bags for a trip

I left on a plane and a sunset
As you wept and I followed your sweat
Until I got a glimpse of you, within sight and distance
And for a second you looked back, then up

That second was a lifetime
And everything held within
Death, Birth, Pure and Sin
But we saw we other, at least a glimpse

Let the truth be told!
Our eyes met and I followed your sweat
You shouldered your beast, I packed my bags for a trip
We escaped this life, but what about the next?

Something’s broke
Don’t know how to fix it
So we break it again
And reset it

Like bones shattered
Or good people
Looking for love and only finding trouble
Something’s broke

I am the one to find it
Good people don’t look for love in me
I will break it again
And you will be left to reset it

I see you
You don’t believe it
I feel you
You don’t know it
I smell you
You don’t conceive it
I touch you
You don’t feel it
I’m it

Women in my life
Women of this Earth
I bow down before thee
And give you your worth

To walk the distance
To beat your chests
To drain your body for your children
As well as those manly pests

To stand on street corners
Under neon lights
To collect fire wood
And cook under cool nights

Women in my life
Women of this Earth
I bow down before thee
And give you your worth

I am bound by the pain
And the pride of this land
A sorrow I hold in the palm of my hand
It links me to my birth

In a place of dust and dirt
In a place of birth and death
I follow my ancestors
As they show me life in shadows

It is where I belong
Voices and visions and rhythms
They are coming out of me
And you shall share them

Like hands touching while sharing food
Or bodies brushing in dance
We are bound brothers and sisters
In this place of dust and dirt

You could see history in the lines of her eyes
Her children in the shape of her breasts
Burden of the earth on the soles of their feet
Her beads tell me a story, one which I shall keep

A time where her father’s wishes came true
A time where there was water and food
Only to be filled with dust and heat
Across vast distances of time and space

Now we stand face to face, I follow her journey
Filled with pride and sorrow as I hold her hand
And study the burden of the earth on the soles of her feet
Her beads tell me a story, one for each day, one which I shall keep

I have seen the many faces of God
All I know is that I have been here before
Drank your streams and tasted your dirt
It is there under my fingernails
A reminder that we are immortal
As different forms within this Universe
As faces of God throughout time

Brought kicking and screaming into this world
Oh how I hate you dearest friend
For what you represent, your white skin
Now you haunt me

I scream with fear into this racist world
Oh how I love you dearest friend
For what you represent, black and blue
Now I haunt myself

We wish for us both life and death
That we should make a promise to each other
That you may hate me as much as I love you
And together kicking and screaming we may find a way back in

There is a wilderness
Beyond the horizon
Further than I can see

A place of danger and deceit
A place of joy and rapture
A place where men may walk on their feet

There is a wilderness
Beyond thought and vision
Deep, deep inside me

May I wander with you
Through darkness and light
So that only love shall remain

Climb upon my shoulders
so that you may see
But beware of the consequences
I may disappear and you may fall
They are out there searching for me

Björkarna börjar tappar sina löv
när alla går hem på olika håll
och jag går och fundera själv
att kärlek får kommer när den vill
men om du vill har mig
finns jag i din mobilens in-korg
men svara då!

Tog inga bilder
så det blir inga vittne
till det nya livet
jag hade från förr

Där lag en sten på marken
bland all andra stenar
men jag bestämde mig
för att sparka på just den

Den rullade iväg
och jag stod och tittade på
tills den försvann bland andra stenar
sen sprang jag efter

I committed suicide
but i just did not know
how much I clung to life
waiting in silence to hear your voice
waking early to smell your breath
making images of you with clay and stone
playing my tunes to let you go
now you go
you go

still the mind
and the heart will follow
dust raises to cover tracks
pushing insight through silence
still not lonely
still not free

We stole time and names
and called them our own
you could see it
in the veins of her neck
on the soles of her feet

She had captivated me
with silence and beauty
So I deceided to enslave her
as a way of buying time, to give it a name
in the face of defeat

Do you know about God and other things?
Yes
Ah, so you´ve read the Bible!?
No
But I´ve read the last page
So I know how it ends

Closing countries like chapters in a book
some ended in hope with exclamation marks
others in tears with smudge marks in the corner
and some just ended, full stop.

I saw a heart broken
on a wooden park bench
I picked it up and put it in my pocket
a trophy for my soul
and a reminder
death is a beginning

Panik!

Hur kan man tar tag i känslor
när man ar helt tom
Inga kännslor att tar i?

confusion is a soulless emotion
rising and falling in the throats
of days of forgotten regrets

True Love

when I walk through the door
true love greets me, empty
at the end of the day

I don't know you anymore,
you've changed
how do you expect to know me,
I change every day!

lines were running down cheeks
paths that led into an oblivion
behind the eyes it was magnified
the loss, the absolute loss
of the wanderings into temptation

I'm a pain glass window
where the wind blows thru
the locks are old and rusty
hinges creek like woken dreams
behind it is a space
pain to look straight through

Marbles of water
roll slopes of white
into mountain sheets
plagued with the disease

Yes Hello
Hello?
It's me again
Yes
I love you
Yes
I love me too

Life is a problem for me
However
I am no solution

We played chicken
and waited to see,
who got hurt first
you or me

Jag har mått så jävla bra
och så jävla dåligt
Det som kommer emellan
är livet!

I saw the curve of it
in the palm of my hand
Direction for a new generation
look, listen and turn

Staggering up those stairs
singing to Tom Waits
If only she knew
identity is inevitable
and my number has just come up
Bingo!

I imagine the woman standing next to me in the tram
is my woman, my soulmate, my life
I imagine the places we would go, the children we would raise
then she got off at the next stop
and was gone

I lapsed
and shadows past before me
I caught one in my sights
beneath those thin eyelids
as we past from day to night

A new life on Earth
one year ago
Has now grown roots
or so I have been told...

Blind

Let love go and it will follow you to the end of your days
on your shoulder or following behind
sometimes a shadow hiding around corners
sometimes the sun on your back

I am a wave at sea, longing for the shore
I am angry with the world, having decided to kill it
with love and nothing more

Stay on the path
I may be out in front
or have fallen behind

If you get lost
stretch out your hand
and I will be there

Right by your side

If i save this planet for you
will you live in it?
Because if you don't
I am gonna make you regret it!

I place this ball of clay
in the centre of your hand
and press it palm against palm
a map for us

To tell which lines to follow
but never to cross
to keep, love and to hold
till death do us part

Jag har blivit kär
men det går över nog
Jag samlar på baggage du ser
så tungt att snart stannar jag upp
och skaffar hus, barn och Volvo

Who knows where love waits
It can be found around a corner in Chinatown
over a table whilst sharing sounds
of those things that bound us in Earth

Courage

I draw a line from one star to the next
and count all the lifetimes in-between
So I make a promise to my heart
to follow this journey I am on
And be courageous with this love
that has fallen from the heavens upon me

A night in Northcote

There it was, a butterfly behind a rusty screen door
I was a shark riding a rainbow
hungry for this night
only wanting for more

So to appease my desire I drew a sketch in darkness
and secretly feasted on the vision of its wings
I wanted to catch that flutter inside me
deep inside behind my hearts locked door

But then sadness engulfed me
my hunger had gone, emptiness remained
an ocean of desire
like never felt before

So I decided to leave it there smiling
that beautiful butterfly, behind the rusty screen door...

True love turns grey

There is a place in my heart
that I visit from time to time
like a corner of a room

There I sit and patiently wait
bathing in the golden day
whilst dust shifts sand dunes

One year in

I am seeking a path of greatest resistance
appreciated but most sincerely lacking
I have decided to begin again
and again and again and again and again...

If I were to believe in a God
today would be just that day
The ocean was particularly deep and clear
and the waves perfectly crafted, just for me

When peace is so fragile
and only for a few
it is time to whisper words of justice
those in tune, between me and you