A Walk to Remember

I've mentioned before that I love working in a hotel because of all the interesting people that I get to meet on a daily basis. My feelings on this proved true Sunday morning while I was working front desk and breakfast duty.

I noticed a few guys wearing the same jackets with a picture of Oprah on them that looked like this:

The story that came from asking a simple question was amazing! These six university/college students from the southwestern Ontario area are walking from Toronto to Chicago to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. As many of you may know, there has been a civil war going on in Sri Lanka since July 1983 and many innocent people of both sides have been killed or severely injured in the process. I talked with one of the members, Veejay (photo below), and he filled me in on their mission.

He assured me that there was no political agenda to their walk. They want to bring awareness to the plight of the innocent Tamil civilians who have been suffering throughout this war/conflict. I find it especially admirable that they would walk such a long distance to ask for help for their people.

Hopefully Oprah will let them on the show and give them a voice. That is their main goal. Veejay remarked that they it would take about two and a half months to reach Harpo Studios in Chicago. They walk between 20 and 40 kilometers a day. That's such an unbelievable thing to me. I can't help but be impressed the the resilience of these young men and the strength they all must have for taking action for a cause they so deeply believe in.

If you would like their voices to be heard too, please go to Oprah's website and send her a message: Oprah Show

Similarly if you would like to see the progress the guys are making or if you would like further information, please visit Oprahgiveusavoice.com

Dubai: Construction on Crack

I was reviewing some of the architecture going on in Dubai today and realized there's a LOT MORE going on over there than I previously believed. I've been seeing the documentaries on Dubai and Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum for a while, but some of the stuff they're talking about now is even more extravagant than the world or palm man-made islands!

For instance, they're building Dubailand, which will be twice the size of Walt Disney World in Florida, and they're building the world's largest and busiest international airport. When is enough enough? Couldn't all the Sheik's money be used to help the poor people of Africa or help solve world diseases that can be eradicated? It just seems like a frivilus waste of money.

Here's a fun fact too: There are more construction workers in Dubai than citizens.

For more on Dubai and it's extreme architecture, click: here