Work Day #5

Wednesday, February 13th

Today we completed our last two Commonweal labs, beginning with Lab #20: learn ten words in a foreign language. We chose Swahili. Take note of the great variety of words for "sex" - the same is true for our language, and countless others. Just one more thing proving we're not so different after all, for no matter your culture, race, or beliefs, human nature carries through and remains at the base of all aspects of civilization. 

love...upendo, penzi, penda

hate...zira, chukia

music...muziki

dance...ngoma

sex...jamii, puana, kwea, twaana, twalika, segede, sugu, jigijigi, mnyande, mbonya, bindja, gawa, tomba, ingilia, uana, ngono

death...kifo

intelligence...erevu, mtambuzi, fahamivu, fahamu

man...bwana, mwanaume, mwanamume

water...maji

laughter...kicheko

For our final lab, we signed up to participate in "Earth Hour" (Lab #42), an event that began last year when 2.2 million people and 2,100 busineses in the city of Sydney, Australia, turned off their lights for one hour, reducing their energy consumption by 10.2%: the equivalent of taking 48,000 cars off the road for an hour. Earth Hour has now become a world wide effort, and starts on March 29th at 8:00 pm. So Far, about 31,700 people have signed up, along with 1.600 businesses. We made a poster advertising the event, and posted it in 3rd floor Gray.

Go to www.earthhour.org to sign up and become a part of the movement, and while you're at it, do a few of the Commonweal labs yourself! You'd be surprised at how big a diference you can make, and either way, it's a lot of fun.

-Colin, Christian, Orin, and Zoë