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Operation Blessing; 'New You Revolution'

Aired March 08, 2005 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you probably know him for his music, but right now, John Tesh wants you to know about his mission. It's called "Operation Blessing," a commitment to helping tsunami victims that John, his children, and his wife, Connie Selleca, say is already changing their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONNIE SELLECA, ACTRESS: By looking into the faces of these, these women who have lost so much and today just a few minutes ago, one of these women who lost her children and her grandchildren asked me to take her home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Tesh family just returned from the devastated tsunami zone where they delivered some short-term relief and handed out a whole lot of love. But Operation Blessing doesn't stop there.

John Tesh joins us live to tell us more about his mission.

Great to have you with us.

JOHN TESH, OPERATION BLESSING REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you. Thanks.

PHILLIPS: I guess, first of all, I want to ask you, how did Connie respond to that woman and how did that conversation go?

TESH: Well, first of all, we didn't know -- we were invited by the folks at Operation Blessing to come and help expose their mission and help them raise funds. So we didn't know what we'd do. We thought maybe we'd hand out food. It ended up being therapy for everybody. And Connie ended up spending so much time with the moms who lost daughters -- our daughter's age, which is 10 years old -- and just crying with them, and ministering to them.

And it turned out that in Ampara, Sri Lanka, where we spent most of our time, there's not one family counselor or family therapist. Why would they have somebody like that there? So she was able to really offer them love. And then the 10-year-old taught hip-hop dance, and our 23-year-old son had the boys all over him all the time. So we were there for a week, really just trying to help these people get back on their feet emotionally.

PHILLIPS: So, and you mentioned your 10-year-old daughter and your son went with you. How did this impact them? I was listening to one of interviews with your daughter and your wife saying she doesn't even complain about what's in her lunch anymore because of what she learned and what she saw.

TESH: You know, it's -- we get so caught up in things in this world, when we're not only in the world, but we become of it. When you learn to live outside yourself in an event like this, where you actually are able to go and get involved in somebody else's life, it is life-changing. And it had a profound effect on every one of our family members. We decided as a family to go, and it's a big step out of the comfort zone that we all have. And so it was -- it probably helped us more than it did the people there, if you can imagine that.

PHILLIPS: John, we've talked so much about the orphans. There's video of your son right there. I love it. The kids probably loved him.

TESH: All day, every day. Here we are in one of the fishing villages. I'm walking there with Prima. And you can see, it just looks like somebody took their forearm and wiped out that whole town. And there's still fishing boats on top of houses and fishermen haven't gotten their lives back together. And this is me with my poor attempt at hip-hop dance. I figure...

PHILLIPS: Prima's looking good, though.

TESH: We were just try to make them laugh, you know?

PHILLIPS: Well, sure, and it's distraction, and it's just wanting that love, and the hug, and the attention. Like you said the therapy -- well, I want to know about this little girl. You said you connected with so many of the kids. But the one little girl, the picture that grabbed us, we thought you were sharing a cookie but you said, actually, no, it was a boiled egg, and then you went on to tell me two boiled eggs a day?

TESH: Well, yes, for these families, when with we were there, in the relief camp, it was basically just a couple boiled eggs and two servings of milk per day. It's gotten better now. That was just when it was all trickling in. Operation Blessing is such a great nongovernmental organization. There's Connie with...

PHILLIPS: And that's the woman that wanted to come home with you?

TESH: That's actually the woman who lost a child Prima's age. But you can see the kids, they're just dying to smile. So one of -- that's me and Prima and two of the kids in Maruthamalai, which is -- and then Gib (ph) doing his thing.

What we were -- Connie came up with this idea for the kids to get involved with art therapy and I thought this is -- we're not therapists. She said no, trust me, as a mother, these kids need to live out their nightmares. And so we sent out for pieces of paper and crayons. And these kids drew the tsunami wave. And these pictures -- you can see them there doing it. They were so compelling. And they were competing and they were fighting over the blue crayons, you know, because they had to draw that giant wave. These are kids, a lot of them, who haven't even seen television. Right there you can see a kid who drew pictures of himself on top of the house with lifelines down to kids who couldn't make it. These faces...

PHILLIPS: Well, you think of what they saw, what they dealt with. We could go back to art therapy, and Van Gogh, right? I mean, that was his therapy, and it was amazing what came out on canvas. When you look at the artwork that these kids put together. Even though they maybe couldn't say what they were feeling, did you look at their pictures and you knew exactly how you wanted to minister to them?

TESH: Oh, yes. Absolutely. And what we -- it was just such a great idea that Connie came up with. And what we did -- we thought we'd bring these pieces of art work back and auction them off on our radio program, and then somebody had an idea, why don't we turn it into a book? So, this book is almost finished, and the title is called "Shades of Blue," for the blue crayon, the Tsunami Children's Relief Project.

PHILLIPS: And I know the website, Operation Blessing, is ob.org. But you can also go on to your website, too, right? Just to find out...

TESH: Right, tesh.com is where the book is available. And what we're doing is we're encouraging elementary school kids and also teachers and administrators, K-6, to get involved. If each kid in elementary school sells one of these books to somebody else, we can end up, you know, refurbishing schools, buying fishing boats, buying uniforms for these kids. It ends up being a lemonade stand of sorts. They created the lemonade stand there in Sri Lanka with their paintings; we just brought it here to the States. That's what the book represents.

PHILLIPS: It's amazing. And Operation Blessing not just in tsunami, but this is an organization that helps with humanitarian...

TESH: Hey, we checked these guys out. All of the funds that get done donated to Operation Blessing end up going right go to tsunami relief. So it's a great organization. There are a lot of our there, nongovernmental organizations that are Doing a terrific job helping the governments.

PHILLIPS: All right, next CD, going towards Operation Blessing. I'll help you produce it.

TESH: Absolutely, let's do it.

PHILLIPS: John Tesh, thank you. It was a pleasure -- Miles.

TESH: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, she's blonde, beautiful, brave, and she's blind. Meet highly motivated musher who is stirring up controversy in this year's Iditarod. Also ahead, villages cherish their special bond with some of the world's least lovable creatures. Kids, don't try this at home. This story really is a croc, after these word from our sponsor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In the village in Ghana, man and beast coexist in harmony. The people there say they have a special bond with, of all things, crocodiles. They pet the reptiles, they even give them names. CNN's Jeff Koinange has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The river crocodiles of Africa are among the most powerful and aggressive creatures on earth. They can grow to more than 20 feet, their jaws can rip a man apart in seconds. Across the continent, villagers go in fear of these beasts.

Except in a corner of Northern Ghana. In the village of Paga, children swim in crocodile infested waters, women fetch water without fear and men interact with the crocs as if they were pets, luring them onto the banks with live chickens, before tossings bait and patting them.

60-year-old Mama Paga (ph) is the unofficial caretaker of the crocodiles just as his father was before him and his grandfather before that. Legend has it that an ancestor of Mama Paga (ph) was being pursued by a lion, a crocodile carried him to safety across the pond. And in return, the man promised that his descendants would never eat crocodile meat.

We have an agreement, he says, we don't eat them and they don't eat us. It's as simple as that.

Mama Paga's (ph) even given some of these brut's names, like this giant male recognized by his dark skin, which he calls Nave. And this lighter-skinned female Nania. In fact, the people of Paga have given all local crocodile names.

(on camera): Now these creatures are so friendly you can literally walk up to them, grab them, hold them, touch them and even sit on them.

(voice-over): Once in awhile, the younger ones get a little spirited, especially when offered live bait. But Mama Paga (ph) is always in control showing no fear despite the beast's menacing advances.

Travelers to this remote part of Ghana have spread the word about these casual crocodiles. Though unlike this CNN correspondent, most keep a safe distance. They say they're very friendly, you can even touch them and sit on them. Would you want to do that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't want. Not that courageous.

KOINANGE: The villages of Paga are more courageous. The kids are encouraged to get used to the crocodiles at an early age, although sometimes they need a little persuading. According to the legend of Paga, every villager has a lifetime bond with one of the crocodiles. And when he dies, the crocodile will crawl to his doorstep and die too. But that is after all, a legend.

And its worth remembering that unless you are related to Mama Paga these beasts can revert to their basic instinct without warning. So don't try this at home.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Paga, in Northern Ghana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's the grand finale for our "New You Revolution." For eight weeks, our five participants have been trying to break their bad habits. How did they do? CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta finds out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: If you think that I'm going to be on CNN and have Dr. Gupta say, Reverend Raynor, you gained 12 pounds.

GUPTA (voice over): Leigh Ann Raynor's "New You Revolution" has been a success. She's given up fast food. She's learning how to cook.

RAYNOR: I cook, you know, on average about four times a week now, which, you know, is up by four times a week.

GUPTA: And with regular workouts...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring it down. There you go. There you go.

GUPTA: ... she's seeing the light.

RAYNOR: Oh, my gosh! I lost two pounds since Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Way to go! Good job.

GUPTA: Actually, she's lost a total of 14 pounds so far.

RAYNOR: The hardest part is making up my mind, understanding that this is something I'm going to do for the rest of my life. SANDRA GARTH, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I like everything that's not good for me. I like greasy food, fatty food, sweet food, salty food.

GUPTA: Lack of exercise and her love of food got Sandra Garth into the "New You Revolution." Having to care for her grandson because both of his parents were fighting the war in Iraq also motivated her to make the necessary sacrifices to get healthy. So she's working out every day and eating better.

GARTH: This time last year if you had asked me to eat that, I would have insisted that I have either some butter or some gravy on it. I'm learning. I dropped that bad habit.

GUPTA: And she's dropping weight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 181.

GARTH: Yes! Nineteen pounds? Nineteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, congratulations. Give me a kiss.

GUPTA: So, Sandra is treating herself with a necessary shopping spree, because her old clothes don't fit anymore. Best of all, her son, Casey, has finally left Iraq. And her daughter-in-law, Teresa, is back in Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She does so much for us as it is. So for her to want to lose weight that makes me more proud of her.

GUPTA: When we first introduced you to Jonathan Karp and his bad habit, nail-biting, it was a bit of a challenge for us, because his nails were kind of hard to look at. But that was then; this is now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your thumbs are looking better.

GUPTA: How did he do it?

JONATHAN KARP, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I just kind of just stopped cold turkey.

GUPTA: And he works out a lot to relieve stress.

KARP: It was easier than I thought, I have to say. But I did have a lot of help and I was constantly just being monitored. So there was no room for failure.

GUPTA: His nails look great now. But does he still have the urge to bite?

KARP: If there's something that's annoying me, a snag or a catch, I'll just file it down, and that will be the end of it. I feel like I'm done, you know? I feel like I'm ready to enjoy, scratch my neck, scratch my scalp.

GUPTA: Thekla Fischer wants to get pregnant soon, but she didn't feel like she was mentally and physically fit for motherhood. So she asked us to help her, by way of the "New You Revolution."

THEKLA FISCHER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: We've managed to break some bad habits here, and I think we've also sort of started steering things in the right direction.

GUPTA: She's met a lot of parents and children. She's eating better.

FISCHER: I talked to a nutritionist.

GUPTA: She's exercising more.

FISCHER: Instead of doing the late-night eating, I've been doing a late-night yoga class.

GUPTA: And she's finally taking prenatal vitamins. And in preparation for future parenthood, Thekla and her husband also got a financial checkup. Now all that's left is go make a baby.

Harald Fricker's "New You Revolution" began when his kids signed him up. They were worried about their dad. The former fit Harald was 100 pounds overweight. And even though he was running every day with dogs and cat and in tow, he wasn't losing weight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's had to learn how to train smarter and not harder.

GUPTA: And it seems to be working for Harald.

HARALD FRICKER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I lost approximately 20 pounds, and I'm losing two to three pounds a week.

GUPTA: He's not running anymore. His trainer makes him walk instead. And his five workouts a week include cardio and weight training, plus the occasional workout with his kids, too. And he's eating healthier. He's also trying to get more sleep with the help of this c-pap mask, which helps control his sleep apnea. So, are his kids proud of their dad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

FRICKER: I wish I could just flash six months forward, because I'm absolutely sure I'm going to be at least very close to the 100- pound weight loss that I'm after.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And they're off. I wonder if they say that, "and they're off." Alaska's famed Iditarod trail sled dog race is under way. Competing in the 1,100 mile race, grueling and challenging, to say the least, especially, though, for one young musher who is blind in sight, but not in faith.

CNN's Paula Zahn with her inspiring story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL SCDORIS, IDITAROD MUSHER: I've been told that in Iditarod you will experience the best times of your life and the absolute worse times of your life, and it's funny because those can be two minutes apart.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Rachel Scdoris, it is the end of a long race of her own that has finally gotten her here to the starting line.

SCDORIS: I've been doing this my entire life. I've been planning this forever.

ZAHN: Rachel is only 20 years old, so forever means since she was a young girl growing up in Oregon. Her father Jerry raced and bred dogs himself, and at an early age she felt the call of the wild.

SCDORIS: I was kind of born into the sport. It wasn't my fault.

ZAHN: Rachel's first obstacle in life was her vision. She suffers from a rare eye disorder, and although she can make out shapes, she has only a vague sense of depth and detail.

Being with the family dogs was an escape for Rachel, a place where she can be in control. Rachel started racing competitively at the age of 11, her sights always set on the Super Bowl of dog racing, the Iditarod.

But not everyone was comfortable with the idea of having her on the trail.

SCDORIS: People always just want to focus on, well, you can't see, so therefore, you can't -- you obviously don't know how to take care of your own dogs. And some people actually said because of my eye condition I was more susceptible to the cold.

ZAHN: The debate over whether Rachel should run the Iditarod with a guide led to a fierce argument in the tight-knit mushing community. Race director Stan Hooley helped to find a solution.

STAN HOOLEY, IDITAROD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The first shot at trying to make everyone happy involved a proposal that involved snow machines that would accompany Rachel. The board of directors just didn't feel that was the right approach, and we looked at a second proposal, which was for her to be accompanied by another dog team.

ZAHN: After several months' negotiation, a compromise was reached that allows Rachel to communicate by two-way radio with a visual guide on a sled just ahead of her, to warn about potential dangers.

SCDORIS: Just let me know what obstacles are coming up, and that's all the assistance I need out there.

ZAHN: Everything else Rachel must do herself: negotiating the course, caring for her dogs and caring for herself.

SCDORIS: Man, the pre-race jitters!

ZAHN: Who knows whether Rachel Scdoris will cross the Iditarod finish line in Nome? The race is notoriously tough on rookies, even those racing without an additional challenge.

But in all her years of racing, she's never finished last. She says she sees only possibilities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that was our Paula Zahn.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired March 8, 2005 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you probably know him for his music, but right now, John Tesh wants you to know about his mission. It's called "Operation Blessing," a commitment to helping tsunami victims that John, his children, and his wife, Connie Selleca, say is already changing their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONNIE SELLECA, ACTRESS: By looking into the faces of these, these women who have lost so much and today just a few minutes ago, one of these women who lost her children and her grandchildren asked me to take her home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Tesh family just returned from the devastated tsunami zone where they delivered some short-term relief and handed out a whole lot of love. But Operation Blessing doesn't stop there.

John Tesh joins us live to tell us more about his mission.

Great to have you with us.

JOHN TESH, OPERATION BLESSING REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you. Thanks.

PHILLIPS: I guess, first of all, I want to ask you, how did Connie respond to that woman and how did that conversation go?

TESH: Well, first of all, we didn't know -- we were invited by the folks at Operation Blessing to come and help expose their mission and help them raise funds. So we didn't know what we'd do. We thought maybe we'd hand out food. It ended up being therapy for everybody. And Connie ended up spending so much time with the moms who lost daughters -- our daughter's age, which is 10 years old -- and just crying with them, and ministering to them.

And it turned out that in Ampara, Sri Lanka, where we spent most of our time, there's not one family counselor or family therapist. Why would they have somebody like that there? So she was able to really offer them love. And then the 10-year-old taught hip-hop dance, and our 23-year-old son had the boys all over him all the time. So we were there for a week, really just trying to help these people get back on their feet emotionally.

PHILLIPS: So, and you mentioned your 10-year-old daughter and your son went with you. How did this impact them? I was listening to one of interviews with your daughter and your wife saying she doesn't even complain about what's in her lunch anymore because of what she learned and what she saw.

TESH: You know, it's -- we get so caught up in things in this world, when we're not only in the world, but we become of it. When you learn to live outside yourself in an event like this, where you actually are able to go and get involved in somebody else's life, it is life-changing. And it had a profound effect on every one of our family members. We decided as a family to go, and it's a big step out of the comfort zone that we all have. And so it was -- it probably helped us more than it did the people there, if you can imagine that.

PHILLIPS: John, we've talked so much about the orphans. There's video of your son right there. I love it. The kids probably loved him.

TESH: All day, every day. Here we are in one of the fishing villages. I'm walking there with Prima. And you can see, it just looks like somebody took their forearm and wiped out that whole town. And there's still fishing boats on top of houses and fishermen haven't gotten their lives back together. And this is me with my poor attempt at hip-hop dance. I figure...

PHILLIPS: Prima's looking good, though.

TESH: We were just try to make them laugh, you know?

PHILLIPS: Well, sure, and it's distraction, and it's just wanting that love, and the hug, and the attention. Like you said the therapy -- well, I want to know about this little girl. You said you connected with so many of the kids. But the one little girl, the picture that grabbed us, we thought you were sharing a cookie but you said, actually, no, it was a boiled egg, and then you went on to tell me two boiled eggs a day?

TESH: Well, yes, for these families, when with we were there, in the relief camp, it was basically just a couple boiled eggs and two servings of milk per day. It's gotten better now. That was just when it was all trickling in. Operation Blessing is such a great nongovernmental organization. There's Connie with...

PHILLIPS: And that's the woman that wanted to come home with you?

TESH: That's actually the woman who lost a child Prima's age. But you can see the kids, they're just dying to smile. So one of -- that's me and Prima and two of the kids in Maruthamalai, which is -- and then Gib (ph) doing his thing.

What we were -- Connie came up with this idea for the kids to get involved with art therapy and I thought this is -- we're not therapists. She said no, trust me, as a mother, these kids need to live out their nightmares. And so we sent out for pieces of paper and crayons. And these kids drew the tsunami wave. And these pictures -- you can see them there doing it. They were so compelling. And they were competing and they were fighting over the blue crayons, you know, because they had to draw that giant wave. These are kids, a lot of them, who haven't even seen television. Right there you can see a kid who drew pictures of himself on top of the house with lifelines down to kids who couldn't make it. These faces...

PHILLIPS: Well, you think of what they saw, what they dealt with. We could go back to art therapy, and Van Gogh, right? I mean, that was his therapy, and it was amazing what came out on canvas. When you look at the artwork that these kids put together. Even though they maybe couldn't say what they were feeling, did you look at their pictures and you knew exactly how you wanted to minister to them?

TESH: Oh, yes. Absolutely. And what we -- it was just such a great idea that Connie came up with. And what we did -- we thought we'd bring these pieces of art work back and auction them off on our radio program, and then somebody had an idea, why don't we turn it into a book? So, this book is almost finished, and the title is called "Shades of Blue," for the blue crayon, the Tsunami Children's Relief Project.

PHILLIPS: And I know the website, Operation Blessing, is ob.org. But you can also go on to your website, too, right? Just to find out...

TESH: Right, tesh.com is where the book is available. And what we're doing is we're encouraging elementary school kids and also teachers and administrators, K-6, to get involved. If each kid in elementary school sells one of these books to somebody else, we can end up, you know, refurbishing schools, buying fishing boats, buying uniforms for these kids. It ends up being a lemonade stand of sorts. They created the lemonade stand there in Sri Lanka with their paintings; we just brought it here to the States. That's what the book represents.

PHILLIPS: It's amazing. And Operation Blessing not just in tsunami, but this is an organization that helps with humanitarian...

TESH: Hey, we checked these guys out. All of the funds that get done donated to Operation Blessing end up going right go to tsunami relief. So it's a great organization. There are a lot of our there, nongovernmental organizations that are Doing a terrific job helping the governments.

PHILLIPS: All right, next CD, going towards Operation Blessing. I'll help you produce it.

TESH: Absolutely, let's do it.

PHILLIPS: John Tesh, thank you. It was a pleasure -- Miles.

TESH: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, she's blonde, beautiful, brave, and she's blind. Meet highly motivated musher who is stirring up controversy in this year's Iditarod. Also ahead, villages cherish their special bond with some of the world's least lovable creatures. Kids, don't try this at home. This story really is a croc, after these word from our sponsor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In the village in Ghana, man and beast coexist in harmony. The people there say they have a special bond with, of all things, crocodiles. They pet the reptiles, they even give them names. CNN's Jeff Koinange has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The river crocodiles of Africa are among the most powerful and aggressive creatures on earth. They can grow to more than 20 feet, their jaws can rip a man apart in seconds. Across the continent, villagers go in fear of these beasts.

Except in a corner of Northern Ghana. In the village of Paga, children swim in crocodile infested waters, women fetch water without fear and men interact with the crocs as if they were pets, luring them onto the banks with live chickens, before tossings bait and patting them.

60-year-old Mama Paga (ph) is the unofficial caretaker of the crocodiles just as his father was before him and his grandfather before that. Legend has it that an ancestor of Mama Paga (ph) was being pursued by a lion, a crocodile carried him to safety across the pond. And in return, the man promised that his descendants would never eat crocodile meat.

We have an agreement, he says, we don't eat them and they don't eat us. It's as simple as that.

Mama Paga's (ph) even given some of these brut's names, like this giant male recognized by his dark skin, which he calls Nave. And this lighter-skinned female Nania. In fact, the people of Paga have given all local crocodile names.

(on camera): Now these creatures are so friendly you can literally walk up to them, grab them, hold them, touch them and even sit on them.

(voice-over): Once in awhile, the younger ones get a little spirited, especially when offered live bait. But Mama Paga (ph) is always in control showing no fear despite the beast's menacing advances.

Travelers to this remote part of Ghana have spread the word about these casual crocodiles. Though unlike this CNN correspondent, most keep a safe distance. They say they're very friendly, you can even touch them and sit on them. Would you want to do that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't want. Not that courageous.

KOINANGE: The villages of Paga are more courageous. The kids are encouraged to get used to the crocodiles at an early age, although sometimes they need a little persuading. According to the legend of Paga, every villager has a lifetime bond with one of the crocodiles. And when he dies, the crocodile will crawl to his doorstep and die too. But that is after all, a legend.

And its worth remembering that unless you are related to Mama Paga these beasts can revert to their basic instinct without warning. So don't try this at home.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Paga, in Northern Ghana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's the grand finale for our "New You Revolution." For eight weeks, our five participants have been trying to break their bad habits. How did they do? CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta finds out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: If you think that I'm going to be on CNN and have Dr. Gupta say, Reverend Raynor, you gained 12 pounds.

GUPTA (voice over): Leigh Ann Raynor's "New You Revolution" has been a success. She's given up fast food. She's learning how to cook.

RAYNOR: I cook, you know, on average about four times a week now, which, you know, is up by four times a week.

GUPTA: And with regular workouts...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring it down. There you go. There you go.

GUPTA: ... she's seeing the light.

RAYNOR: Oh, my gosh! I lost two pounds since Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Way to go! Good job.

GUPTA: Actually, she's lost a total of 14 pounds so far.

RAYNOR: The hardest part is making up my mind, understanding that this is something I'm going to do for the rest of my life. SANDRA GARTH, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I like everything that's not good for me. I like greasy food, fatty food, sweet food, salty food.

GUPTA: Lack of exercise and her love of food got Sandra Garth into the "New You Revolution." Having to care for her grandson because both of his parents were fighting the war in Iraq also motivated her to make the necessary sacrifices to get healthy. So she's working out every day and eating better.

GARTH: This time last year if you had asked me to eat that, I would have insisted that I have either some butter or some gravy on it. I'm learning. I dropped that bad habit.

GUPTA: And she's dropping weight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 181.

GARTH: Yes! Nineteen pounds? Nineteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, congratulations. Give me a kiss.

GUPTA: So, Sandra is treating herself with a necessary shopping spree, because her old clothes don't fit anymore. Best of all, her son, Casey, has finally left Iraq. And her daughter-in-law, Teresa, is back in Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She does so much for us as it is. So for her to want to lose weight that makes me more proud of her.

GUPTA: When we first introduced you to Jonathan Karp and his bad habit, nail-biting, it was a bit of a challenge for us, because his nails were kind of hard to look at. But that was then; this is now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your thumbs are looking better.

GUPTA: How did he do it?

JONATHAN KARP, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I just kind of just stopped cold turkey.

GUPTA: And he works out a lot to relieve stress.

KARP: It was easier than I thought, I have to say. But I did have a lot of help and I was constantly just being monitored. So there was no room for failure.

GUPTA: His nails look great now. But does he still have the urge to bite?

KARP: If there's something that's annoying me, a snag or a catch, I'll just file it down, and that will be the end of it. I feel like I'm done, you know? I feel like I'm ready to enjoy, scratch my neck, scratch my scalp.

GUPTA: Thekla Fischer wants to get pregnant soon, but she didn't feel like she was mentally and physically fit for motherhood. So she asked us to help her, by way of the "New You Revolution."

THEKLA FISCHER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: We've managed to break some bad habits here, and I think we've also sort of started steering things in the right direction.

GUPTA: She's met a lot of parents and children. She's eating better.

FISCHER: I talked to a nutritionist.

GUPTA: She's exercising more.

FISCHER: Instead of doing the late-night eating, I've been doing a late-night yoga class.

GUPTA: And she's finally taking prenatal vitamins. And in preparation for future parenthood, Thekla and her husband also got a financial checkup. Now all that's left is go make a baby.

Harald Fricker's "New You Revolution" began when his kids signed him up. They were worried about their dad. The former fit Harald was 100 pounds overweight. And even though he was running every day with dogs and cat and in tow, he wasn't losing weight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's had to learn how to train smarter and not harder.

GUPTA: And it seems to be working for Harald.

HARALD FRICKER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I lost approximately 20 pounds, and I'm losing two to three pounds a week.

GUPTA: He's not running anymore. His trainer makes him walk instead. And his five workouts a week include cardio and weight training, plus the occasional workout with his kids, too. And he's eating healthier. He's also trying to get more sleep with the help of this c-pap mask, which helps control his sleep apnea. So, are his kids proud of their dad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

FRICKER: I wish I could just flash six months forward, because I'm absolutely sure I'm going to be at least very close to the 100- pound weight loss that I'm after.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And they're off. I wonder if they say that, "and they're off." Alaska's famed Iditarod trail sled dog race is under way. Competing in the 1,100 mile race, grueling and challenging, to say the least, especially, though, for one young musher who is blind in sight, but not in faith.

CNN's Paula Zahn with her inspiring story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL SCDORIS, IDITAROD MUSHER: I've been told that in Iditarod you will experience the best times of your life and the absolute worse times of your life, and it's funny because those can be two minutes apart.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Rachel Scdoris, it is the end of a long race of her own that has finally gotten her here to the starting line.

SCDORIS: I've been doing this my entire life. I've been planning this forever.

ZAHN: Rachel is only 20 years old, so forever means since she was a young girl growing up in Oregon. Her father Jerry raced and bred dogs himself, and at an early age she felt the call of the wild.

SCDORIS: I was kind of born into the sport. It wasn't my fault.

ZAHN: Rachel's first obstacle in life was her vision. She suffers from a rare eye disorder, and although she can make out shapes, she has only a vague sense of depth and detail.

Being with the family dogs was an escape for Rachel, a place where she can be in control. Rachel started racing competitively at the age of 11, her sights always set on the Super Bowl of dog racing, the Iditarod.

But not everyone was comfortable with the idea of having her on the trail.

SCDORIS: People always just want to focus on, well, you can't see, so therefore, you can't -- you obviously don't know how to take care of your own dogs. And some people actually said because of my eye condition I was more susceptible to the cold.

ZAHN: The debate over whether Rachel should run the Iditarod with a guide led to a fierce argument in the tight-knit mushing community. Race director Stan Hooley helped to find a solution.

STAN HOOLEY, IDITAROD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The first shot at trying to make everyone happy involved a proposal that involved snow machines that would accompany Rachel. The board of directors just didn't feel that was the right approach, and we looked at a second proposal, which was for her to be accompanied by another dog team.

ZAHN: After several months' negotiation, a compromise was reached that allows Rachel to communicate by two-way radio with a visual guide on a sled just ahead of her, to warn about potential dangers.

SCDORIS: Just let me know what obstacles are coming up, and that's all the assistance I need out there.

ZAHN: Everything else Rachel must do herself: negotiating the course, caring for her dogs and caring for herself.

SCDORIS: Man, the pre-race jitters!

ZAHN: Who knows whether Rachel Scdoris will cross the Iditarod finish line in Nome? The race is notoriously tough on rookies, even those racing without an additional challenge.

But in all her years of racing, she's never finished last. She says she sees only possibilities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that was our Paula Zahn.

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