I'm thinking more and more that my upcoming trip around the world will be a kind of Johnny Appleseed venture. Here's what the wikipedia has to say about my hero:
John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman (September 26, 1774 - March 11, 1847) is an American folk hero. He was a Christian missionary and pioneer. His nickname came from the fact that he planted apple trees thoughout the Midwest of America. Many people consider him an early conservationist or "tree-hugger".
He wandered the country usually barefoot and with a cooking pot on his head, most of his adult life, planting apple trees, teaching the Bible, telling stories, and befriending Indians, wild animals, and other settlers. Many stories have been told about him and his journeys, as well as art,books, and later films, which makes him a folk hero. He was born in Leominster, Massachusetts and is buried in Johnny Appleseed Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
My concept of this ten-month-long trip is that I'll have, instead of apple seeds in my sack, technology tips and tricks, tech philosophy, templates, surveys, needs assessments, plans, and my trusty Access database knowledge, and will proceed through the world, giving as much away of all that as possible. I'll be blogging here as I travel. I won't wear a cookpot, but will be trailing a data storage disk.
When I went to Turkey in 1999, the goal was to check into computer access wherever I could find it. I accessed the internet in cafes with the Turkish students, in computer stores, once with a peasant farmer-turned-entrepreneur, once with a group of Kurds who, when I was finished with my email, spirited me off to a loud and musical wedding feast. Having a mission, a quest, a raison d'etre is a great way to find a way INTO another culture, another place on the planet. Taking computer technology to the advocates for social justice and poverty alleviation of the developing world, particularly in Asia, has been my mission and my passion for four years.
The Johnny Appleseed Trip is a culmination, of sorts, of that passion.
If you'd like to buy some seeds for this trip, which I'll sow as I go, you can contribute here:
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