OpenStreetMap in Africa (2013-1015), beautifully visualized

The Ito World crew is back at it with a new OpenStreetMap visualization, this time for Africa. Results are shown at the continental scale and for selected cities over the last couple years. The final product is stunning, as usual.

Growth in West Africa as part of the Ebola response, and the Nigeria eHealth Import are the most distinctive. Other growth areas include a broad swath of East Africa, and the incredible density of the Map Lesotho project. Most impressive, however, is that the growth is not constrained to these areas; it is distributed across the continent. The missing areas are gradually filling in, it is only a matter of time…

Diapers from the Crowd

Flynn_diaperDrive

UPDATE — January 6, 2016

Thanks to a generous last-minute donor, we made the $2,000 goal. Thank you to everyone who helped out, with your donations we are going to be able to diaper 2 children for an entire year. Fantastic stuff, gratitude all around.

Original Post — October 1, 2015

While a departure from the typical content on this blog, I hope you’ll spare a moment to read about a fundraising effort my wife and I put together for a cause that has grown near and dear to our hearts, the difficulty many mothers face diapering their children.

It is stunning that in this country up to 30% of mothers struggle to meet the diaper requirements of their children…30%. This stress is the leading cause of mental health problems in new mothers. And to make it worse, there is a hole in the social safety net. Traditional support programs for low-income mothers and families (WIC and SNAP) do not cover diapers and wipes. Recent stories in The Atlantic and the Baltimore Sun cover the “diaper dilemma” problem in detail. This problem has led to the creation of “diaper banks” around the country, including the DC Diaper Bank near us in Washington, DC.

Hilary and I have been humbled and amazed by having a child. So as our first daughter, Flynn, just turned a year old, we wanted to do something to help out those struggling to diaper their children.  Our goal is to diaper 2 kids for a year, which costs about $2,000. This comes out to about $20 per week for 1 kid.

If anyone is interested in helping out, please visit Flynn’s 1st Birthday Diaper Drive page on GoFundMe to learn more about the issue and contribute to the cause. All funds will go to the DC Diaper Bank.

Thanks from Flynn, Hilary, and I.

Family_diaperDrive