promises are yes

Grand Goave, southern Haiti, part 4

2012-02-10T13:01:00.011-07:00

Those of us staying in the village (three trainers and two interns) were given a “first breakfast” of boiled plantains and yams. This was served with a different sauce each day, sometimes with fish or hot dogs in it. Our “second breakfast” was later in the day with the Training of Trainers (TOT) participants, and was spaghetti nearly every day. This is a traditional Haitian breakfast, and we were offered canned tomato paste, ketchup, Tobasco, and mayonnaise for toppings. Lunch was rice and beans with either fried chicken legs or a meat and vegetable sauce.

After the participants went back to their mountain homes, we would pack up from the day (we emptied out the training center, a local church, each night), discuss the day, walk down the back of the mountain to get water, bathe.

Above is one of our master trainers, Erigeur, with the indefatigable Gena.

Here is the local watering hole: kids collecting water in buckets on the left, people of all ages bathing on the right (including me the day before -- every other day I elected to bucket bathe on top of the mountain).

Then we were served my favorite meal of the day: labouyi. This is a porridge made of plantains, milk, and sugar. Mmmm..... They turned on a generator for an hour or so, then it was bedtime.

Above you can see an intense game of dominos being played (center) and a girl having her hair done (left). The guys are wearing hats because it's cold.

We stayed in a one-room cabin which was normally used as a meeting room and which, as you can see, allowed all the cool air to blow in. It wasn't so bad at 8 pm (the time of this picture), but got really chilly as the night wore on. The first night none of us really slept due to the cold and pain -- most of us were sleeping almost directly on the concrete. And have I mentioned the donkeys and their bizarre, loud braying? The second night we hung up extra sheets to block the wind, and we were loaned hooded sweatshirts and more blankets and padding. I should have taken an early morning pic of my fellow trainers looking like mummies -- covered from head to toe to block out the cold.

At the end of one of the days I used up my laptop battery correcting one of the supplements we use. A lot of our materials need revision, and this one was difficult to read due to several translation and spelling errors. I could have revised materials every evening if I would have charged up my laptop while the generator was running each night. (One night I did request to charge my cell phone – they had to remove one of the 13 cell phones that were plugged in at the house with the generator to make room for mine.)

I didn't ever re-charge my computer, though. Our days were already long, and I was really tired at the end of every day – when I wasn't facilitating a lesson I was interpreting everything (both what the facilitators said and all of the participants' comments) for our Canadian interns.

So, I thought I might end up here (one of many tiny cemeteries dotting the landscape) due to my rigorous schedule of late. However, the mountain air and walks were so refreshing -- God is gracious and his love is never ending!

There were lots of challenges with this training. Several of the participants had a hard time grasping the volunteer nature of our program. In addition, I think a lot of them went away thinking that Community Health Evangelism (CHE) is exclusively spiritual. This happens a lot – people either think that all we do is community health and development, or all we do is evangelism. It takes a mental shift for people to see that, in a kingdom of God mindset, they can all happen together. This mental shift can happen during a TOT, and many of our lessons are about the holistic nature of the gospel and examples of how CHE works practically.

Yay! Here we all are at the end of the training! And one final big thanks to Lydia Hamilton, who took most of the pics in this blog post.

Grand Goave, southern Haiti, part 3

2012-02-10T12:48:00.010-07:00

Adorable children! These girls frequently stood outside the building where we had the training and often would start dancing when they perceived that they were being watched. ;-)

At one point we separated the class into two groups to put the steps to implement a Community Health Evangelism program in order. Then a couple of "moderators" from each group were chosen to look at the other group's responses as they were discussed.

It got a little heated! Each group wanted more "right" answers (not really the spirit we were going for).

Above you can see Gena (pink shirt) laughing at it all. She got our water every day (see the first post in this series), something that was one of her daily tasks anyway for her extended family.

This is where Gena lives with her extended family, which includes her uncle, a prominent leader in the community and our host. We stayed right next door.

Above you can see another donkey. Again, I would like to ask, what is up with the braying?

Once more I would like to thank Lydia Hamilton who took most of the pictures used in this post.

Grand Goave, southern Haiti, part 2

2012-02-10T12:21:00.005-07:00

Did you know that donkeys bray any time, day or night? And it's freaky weird and loud and goes on longer than you would think.

Part of the Training of Trainers 1, which trains one of the critical groups involved in a Community Health Evangelism program, has the soon-to-be trainers come up with their own sketches to introduce the subjects that they will be teaching in the future. This is one of my favorite parts of the training, since it always involves a lot of laughing!

In the above picture the group presented a story about a man with a serious headache (who has already gone to the doctor) who asks some of his friends to pray for him. They said that they would go get people from the church to come over some time "later." They were trying to illustrate how people in the church are either not trained or are unwilling to pray with others, instead relying on the "experts."

We were all laughing during this sketch for a few reasons -- none of which were intended by the group, unfortunately. Firstly, the physical position that the protagonist adopted for most of the sketch is one usually associated with diarrhea. Secondly, the protagonist was played by Jackson, who'd made us laugh all week already. You see, during the first session of our training the participants come up with the "rules of the game" that they agree to follow: telephones on vibrate, respect others' opinions, etc. They also come up with a punishment. This group decided that people who violated the rules would have to dance (or drink a gallon of water, but no one took that option).

Jackson ended up leading the rule-breakers in their dances to make sure that they really danced. He would do crazy motions and make the others follow, saying, "Lower, really get down!" or "No, your other hand in the back!"

Above is another group's sketch about the importance of evangelism. The two people seated are bound with pieces of paper which say peche, or "sin."

Above you see another sketch about the importance of taking care of the environment. The woman is miming the typical way of cooking while the ground near her is littered with trash.

The above picture is for my Arizona church -- I felt "at home" when seeing this all around! (Yucca, isn't it?)

Yet again I would like to thank Lydia Hamilton, who took all of the above pictures.

Grand Goave, southern Haiti, part 1

2012-02-10T11:50:00.008-07:00

This has been a season of travel – since late October I've been “home” in Cap Haitien only a handful of weeks. My last travel blog post was about my time in Peru. After that trip I was home for four days followed by:

Leogane, southern Haiti: Training of Trainers 1 for a partner mission organization
Cap Haitien, northern Haiti (home): Christmas and New Year's and office time
near Cabarete, Dominican Republic: vacation with our Canadian intern family!
Santiago, DR: helping Marie, the wife of our Haiti director, get medical treatment
Grand Goave, southern Haiti: Training of Trainers 1 for a partner mission organization
Santiago, DR: return to continue Marie's medical visits

Today I want to write about Grand Goave – what a great trip! I went there last week as one of three facilitators in order that I could also interpret the TOT into English for our Canadian interns, Rick and Rhonda, who hadn't yet taken a TOT1. Except for some car sickness and lots of waiting, we traveled there uneventfully – flight from Cap Haitien to Port-au-Prince, then a several-hour drive from there to the city of Grand Goave, where we stayed overnight and then went via truck up into the mountains the next morning (pictured above).

The whole area is incredibly rocky.

Above is the path down the back of the mountain where our hosts got our water for bathing. I hauled up a gallon container (and had to stop a few times to rest), while our host effortlessly carried a 5-gallon bucket (40 pounds!) on her head.

Above you see Rhonda going back up the hill.

This, again, is the PATH. Crazy with rocks!

Every day we woke up with the sun (or earlier, due to the cold). I hiked up to the top of our little mountain in the mornings to have some prayer time at a beautiful overlook.

Above is the road as it flattens out at the top.

This is the view of the bay and the town of Grand Goave.

A special thanks to Lydia Hamilton (daughter of our Canadian interns) for the photos in these posts on Grand Goave!

The Kingdom of God, birthdays, and 2012

2011-12-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

On this bright and sunny birthday morning I finished reading The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person. It was recommended to me by Jason Philbrick when I told him this summer that I'd been obsessed lately with the Kingdom of God.

Apparently the author, E. Stanley Jones, had someone tell him once that he seemed to be obsessed with the Kingdom of God. Jones writes that he then thought, “Would God that I were, for it would be a magnificent obsession. Jesus was obsessed with it, and to be obsessed with his obsession is to be on safe and universal ground. But I'm also obsessed with the person of Jesus, Jesus Christ.” This year I read through the Bible chronologically again and I drew a box around every time the Kingdom of God was mentioned and starred every time the Good News was mentioned, trying to grasp the full picture of it all. Reading Jones' book this past month has helped me to put some things together.

He emphasizes that the Kingdom of God and the parousia (the Second Coming) are not joined in Scripture. “The Kingdom was a vital and decisive issue now, while the Coming was delayed. This is seen from the fact that after the resurrection [Jesus] talked to the disciples about one thing for forty days. He talked to them of the Kingdom of God in the same terms as when he went about preaching the gospel of the Kingdom as a burning issue – now.”

The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person was one of his last books – he was 87 when he wrote it. Here's the last paragraph: an great way to start my 42nd year of life and the new year 2012:

So that would mean that if we are to think and act as though the Kingdom were already here, if we have said personally that Jesus is Lord and have made a personal surrender to him with all we know and all we don't know, I belong to the Unchanging Person, and therefore we belong to the Unshakable Kingdom. Then I prayerfully consider how I can apply the Kingdom spirit and principles to all my relationships as far as it depends on me, to my personal thought, life, actions, and habits, to my family life, to my professional or business relationships, to my class and race relationships, to my recreational relationships, to my church relationships. I can't change everybody but I can change me and my relationships as far as they depend on me. In each of these I can say: As far as I am concerned the Kingdom is already here. In the light of its being already here, how do I think and act? I am certain of one thing about that kingdom, that the Kingdom is the kingdom of love. So I will begin to love, if not by my love, then with his love – for everybody, everywhere, I am a disciple to the kingdom of God, under its tutelage and control and unfolding sovereignty. I may make blunders and fall, but if I fall I will fall on my knees, and if I stumble I will stumble into his arms. I have a destiny – I am a seed of the new order – “the good seed means the sons of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:38 RSV). I am sown in this particular place to be the interpretation and meaning and message of the new order. I know the seed and the soil are affinities, so that all the resources of the Kingdom are at my disposal. So “in Him who strengthens me, I am able for anything.” (Phil. 4:11 Moffatt). I have a total Gospel, for man's total need, for the total world. I ought to be happy – I am!

Trujillo, Peru (part 2)

2011-12-09T11:05:00.010-07:00

Every morning in Trujillo was spent preparing lessons (printer issues led to walking to sites which would print for us, then we walked to the photocopy shop, then to the internet cafe to prep my next trip, etc.). In the afternoons we did lessons in Barrio 6 A, then in Libertadores and got home in the evening.

A lesson on how to make oral rehydration serum in the home, for when children have diarrhea.

One evening on our way home we stopped by the town square. Above you see the beautiful cathedral in downtown Trujillo.

Check this out! My last day there I got to go see some amazing ruins. This is called the ruins of the "Sun Temple," since it is guessed to be a monument to the sun god -- although that is hotly debated, and some say it is only thought to be to the sun god because that's how they do things in Mexico (just a little ways away). Only 25% of this building is left intact, and it's still gi-normous! Excavation hasn't yet started.

This is one of the painted walls of the "Moon Temple" (again, see controversy above). This was painted some time around 400 AD using charcoal, calcium, and some plant extracts. These constructions pre-date the Incas; they were built by the Moche people whose civilization had disappeared by 800 AD.

Here is the facade of the Moon Temple. See the different stories? Every 80 to 100 years they completely filled in the story below with bricks and built a new one on top. Only the top two have been excavated so far, the rest are awaiting experts to tell them how to do so safely in an area so prone to earthquakes.

The rent in the center of the facade was caused by people who ransacked the temple for treasures centuries ago.

On our way to the airport my hosts drove me through a fruit market. Mmm... olives. I currently live in an olive-free zone and so my hosts said, "Let's stop and you can take a picture -- take it like you're selling the olives!."

Then my zany new friends said, "Pretend you're eating them!" So, here goes!

Marco and Vilma, my hilarious hosts, next to an incredible variety of fruit.

Trujillo, Peru (part 1)

2011-12-09T07:38:00.006-07:00

I had the opportunity to go to Trujillo, Peru to do some trainings. Marco and Vilma, CHE trainers, have started CHE programs in two urban neighborhoods. Here I am with Vilma, posing in front of the boats that have been used for centuries there. Cargo (or a tourist) goes in the hollowed out portion and the rower kneels in the front!
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One of the lessons we did was "Nutrition: 3 x 3." We separated food into three groups: protein, protectors (fruits and veggies), and carbohydrates. We discussed the importance of having all three groups at all three meals (hence 3 x 3).

The lessons I facilitated are usually done by trainers; I don't usually teach the Community Health Evangelists directly. In this instance, since Marco and Vilma are the sole trainers there in Peru, I went to provide a bit of back-up.

Marco and Vilma,Mmm, the Libertadores group made picarones for us this day -- the batter is made from wheat flour, sweet potato, and squash then fried and covered with syrup. My co-worker Marco tells me that this is a really big deal -- a few years ago there was an organization that provided food and/or money for every training. People only came when things were provided, and didn't contribute anything of their own. Now that they are truly implementing the CHE model the community members have started making treats and coming to trainings on their own initiative!

Tee-hee, this picarón is in the form of a dog!

Peru is known for its varied cuisine. Here I am with Marco and Vilma's family about to enjoy a traditional ceviche.

The day after our "3 x 3" lesson the "Barrio 6 A" group made ají de gallina for us all. They very cheerfully noted that it met the 3 x 3 standard: chicken, potato, and lettuce!

This is the drive between the two target neighborhoods. Marco and Vilma are both taxi drivers, so we had their (rented) cab for transportation. The neighborhoods are new, built over the past ten years on land which formerly was used as a garbage dump. The drive between the neighborhoods is through the current dump site.

There is no dirt here, only sand -- to grow anything you have to lay dirt down first. Many people cleared away the garbage first and then built a solid foundation for their house, although several sections were clearly built more precariously and without removing the trash first. Marco jokes that either way, they aren't showing wisdom because there are building their houses on sand! ;-)

Events Far Away

2011-10-19T08:32:00.006-07:00

Phew! There's been a lot going on these past few weeks! But first, a few definitions important for this post:

A vision seminar is a one- to three-day event for people interested in CHE to see if we have a common vision for holistic community transformation and if they want to commit to sending people to a week-long Training of Trainers 1 (TOT 1). After trainers apply the principles they learn in a TOT 1 they participate in a TOT 2 which enables them to form and train a committee and Community Health Evangelists (CHEs).

In October alone we've got two vision seminars (Grand Goave and Leogane, both in West Province), a TOT 1 near Jacmel (Southeast Province) and a TOT 2 on the island of La Gonave (West Province). Our office is in North Province. I'm won't actually be present at any of those events but I've been involved in most of the planning since we are organizing them with other NGOs and the communication has mostly been in English.

Last Saturday the vision seminar was held in Leogane. During the starter for the first lesson everyone was given a piece of paper and told to find the "match." "Soccer player" and "ball","hair stylist" and "scissors."

One woman got "door" and found "key," who just happened to be a pastor. The assignment was to exchange information about each other - why they came to the seminar, where they were from, family info -- and then present each other to the group. She decided to tell this pastor about her faith journey -- she had been considering Jesus for a long time but continually felt blocked at the point of making a decision. And then she decided to follow Jesus! They shared this decision with the larger group and everyone prayed together and welcomed her into the family. We rejoice along with her because of God's persistence, mercy, and love!

This month we're also celebrating International Handwashing Day with activities throughout the month, not just on the day. In addition to all of this Osse -- the director of Medical Ambassadors Haiti -- and I will be traveling to Argentina for our Regional Council. We'll stay afterwards to facilitate a TOT 1 and 2. All told, I will be traveling from October 28 to December 6:

Continuing medical education conference in Orlando, FL
Regional Council (Caribbean and South America) in Cordoba, Argentina
Facilitating a TOT1 and 2 in Cordoba, Argentina
Travel to Buenos Aires to see friends!!
Trujillo, Peru to facilitate a training of CHE workers
Lima, Peru to meet a contact interested in working with CHE

A day in the life

2011-09-15T10:13:00.003-07:00

Wednesday, September 14

Woke up looking forward to my breakfast, chiefly for the caffeinated portion of it since throughout most of the night it was 88 and humid. I breakfasted with a woman from France who has come to work with the music school (at which I volunteer) for the year. Conversation in French and Kreyol, hah!

At the office we spent time in prayer and singing as we've been doing every day lately (yay!). We have a lot going on these days and it is so good to recognize the hand of “Gran Mèt la” (this is how the Kreyol Bible translates “LORD God”, but it literally means “the great teacher/master”). Some of our day's activities:

Look up flights – I have to go to Orlando for a medical conference next month, then straight-away to Argentina and Peru for meetings, trainings, and follow-up. My co-worker Osse will be going to Argentina, and since he doesn't speak Spanish or English should really travel there with me or our Dominican co-workers. Since we have internet today we start to look up flights, but are stalled by not knowing if he will be able to pass through certain countries without a visa. We try to call consulates but the phones aren't working – it is suspected that the new internet company is combining with one of the major telephone companies and their work has interrupted service.
October 15 is Worldwide Handwashing Day! UNICEF has supplies: soap, buckets, posters. We work on filling out a request (in French, ouch) for these materials. In addition to our usual house-to-house teaching we'll be doing some local radio spots and events in schools and churches.
Solencia, a trainer and friend, comes to the office. She's had an abscess on her leg that she would like advice about. I examine her leg. She also tells me about her godmother's uncontrolled asthma, Solencia is worried about her. I give her suggestions for her godmother to take a preventive medication regularly, along with a list of steroid inhaler options (I don't know what's available here).
A team of four is coming from Detroit next week to make badges for our volunteers and see the communities where they work. We discuss again which communities we'll be going to on which day and make a few changes to the schedule.
Dina, a woman who recently moved here from Nicaragua to marry my former co-worker Enoch, comes in the office to discuss a lesson she needs in Kreyol, one of the basic ones we do upon starting to train our trainers to work with perinatal topics. We don't have this lesson in Kreyol yet and had quickly translated just the supplement for a training last Saturday, but Dina would like the entire lesson today for a training she's planning in a village tomorrow.
We fill out a report for the Ministry of Health on last month's activities. As much as possible we try to work together with the government authorities.
Osse and I will be going to Port-au-Prince at the end of the month for a meeting with the Association of Christian Health Organizations. We contact those in Port-au-Prince that we've trained to see if they would like to meet.

It's late and my co-workers Evelyne and Osse are getting ready to go home. Anias, another trainer, comes in the office to collect his things and start his 1 ½-hour motorcycle ride home. We hear raindrops starting on the tin roof. He pauses, and it starts pouring. Anias says, "Well, I could leave my bag here, with all my life in it. And my shoes so they don't get wet." Osse answered, "And your clothes!" Anias: "Great idea! All the other vehicles would move aside: get out of the way, there's a crazy naked guy on a motorcycle coming our way!"

Anias leaves (clothed) and Evelyne and Osse decide to wait a little to see if the storm will subside – they are leaving by motorcycle too. We have to shut the windows because the rain is streaming in and it's steamy hot. The internet stops working due to the rain. We go into the second room of the office because it has a ceiling which muffles the sound of the rain. A group for which we will be doing a training in the south next month has sent us an old lesson they would like to use if we think it's appropriate for CHE work in urban settings in Haiti, since that's where some of the participants will be working. Up till now the CHE work in Haiti has primarily been in villages. Since I'd downloaded it before the internet went out, I verbally translate it from the English for my co-workers to see what they think. Nope. I translate another lesson that we have used in South America as an introduction to how to do CHE in urban settings – it's a go. Written translation of that will have to wait, though – the rain has slowed down a little and my colleagues leave.

I meet the woman who prepares my evening meal and take her blood pressure, since I also act as her doctor.

This morning I'd loaned the woman who washes my clothes some money – her son broke his leg and a few days ago she asked me for help. Tonight her brother – my mango supplier – comes over to thank me. He tells me that God also gave me a gift today – the rain made it cool enough that I should sleep well!

Unedited and Unbridled

2011-08-18T23:40:00.001-07:00

Tonight I'm reading Fil Anderson's "Breaking the Rules":

"For most of my adult life I've believed that nothing was more important than delivering the good news that God is in love with every person in the world. And through his sacrificial death Jesus has earned for us what we could never earn for ourselves; God has provided unconditional forgiveness for all of his creation.

"However, pondering the mystery in Jesus' declaration 'I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her' (Mark 14:9) has caused a deep shift inside me. The gospel is meant to produce in me, just as it did in that woman, an unedited and unbridled response to Jesus."

During the past couple of years I've been struck by this woman. She went up to Jesus while he was at someone's house having dinner and poured expensive oinment over him. If I'm called to imitate anyone (other than Jesus) I think it's this woman and Peter. To me they represent two people who really saw Jesus, recognized that he was the pearl of great price, and risked everything -- in fact, saw nothing but truth, reality, and LIFE before them in Jesus and pursued him.

Update from Arizona

2011-08-11T17:02:00.008-07:00

So, I'm still in the United States, and since mid-July I've been in Arizona. Here I've gotten to meet and get to know lots of wonderful people from Epic Christian Church, my main sending church. The past few weeks have been full of lunches and dinners and coffees and frozen yogurts with people from church, as well as formal presentations at community groups. I've actually been gone four years now -- and even though I've come back for a little while each year there's still a lot of catching up to do! I'm staying with a lovely family in San Tan Valley, Arizona. Their middle child was in my two-year-old Sunday School class back when I was living here. It's been fun to hang out with him and his sisters: talking about their school day, sharing Bible stories, and even spotting them as they do pull-ups (they like to keep me company as I do P90X).

I also continue to work with our team in Haiti from afar. We communicate via text and telephone -- and thankfully I finally found a reasonably economical phone card. Our office in Cap Haitien hasn't had any reliable internet for the past several weeks, though. The cable internet is not working and our neighbor finally put a lock on his wireless account.

Some of my latest projects?

helping plan trainings with other mission organizations in Haiti
detailing plans for a Canadian missionary couple that will be coming to join us in November for nine months
next year's budget

I get back to Haiti at the end of the month. Some of my goals before returning:

two-year supply of contacts -- done
source for contact lens solution -- sort of done
piano books for the music institute kids -- started
new passport -- done
appointment with a dentist -- done and in tip-top shape
virus-free netbooks running Linux -- done
purchase electronic items my co-workers (from Haiti to Argentina) have requested -- started
Hepatitis C test (I got stuck by a dirty needle last fall) -- done and clear
work on CHE lessons for our CD in Haitian Kreyol -- not even going to start
send pictures of ministry in Haiti to our co-worker in Finland for future website use -- not started yet
a cleaned out e-mail inbox (I'm really far from this one)

Back in the US

2011-07-14T15:15:00.004-07:00

With my lovely friend Sara, near her home in Seattle. Our other beautiful college friend, Eva, snapped the shot.

So, I've been in the US for six weeks now. I've only lived in Haiti for eight months, but some newly-learned ways of thinking are dying hard (and some of the following were picked up in my travels in South America, so they've had more time to become ingrained).

I adjusted to the following after a couple of weeks:

recognizing electricity will always be present, so I can wait until phones and computers have less charge before being sure to plug them in
tossing toilet paper in the toilet (not in a wastebasket) when out and about

I still have to remind myself it's okay to drink the water from the tap. Frequently on my way to brush my teeth I think, "Ooh, I'd better get a water bottle to take with me."

Here are some items I packed that I completely do not need in the US:

wet wipes for bathing "in case there's no running water at some point"
washcloths (in the countries I've been in the past four years, their presence in other's houses is not a given)
bandanna to keep dust off hair while travelling
cloth to wipe sweat off of face
toilet paper

Now, while packing I did know that I wouldn't need the last three items while in the US, but I thought they would be so critical for the two days (in three months) I would be in Haiti that I should carry them around the rest of the time. Yikes.

I'm still not used to the fact that we can alter the temperature at will in cars or houses. I use hot water from the tap every chance I get. And I get really covetous at grocery stores with the immense variety of produce and fiber-filled grain products. Mmm...off to eat some Mestemacher bread and an apple!

With Niki, another phenomenal woman from college, and her daughter.

The American Midwest

2011-06-24T09:41:00.006-07:00

My Aunt Char, me, and my Mom in Minnesota.

My "tour of the American Midwest" is about to come to an end. I have been in Minnesota, Michigan, and now Ohio, visiting with churches, family, and friends. I have had a lot of opportunities to speak about the wonderful things happening in Haiti, as well as some time to just hang out.

People have been the focus of my stay. But since those of you reading this won't know most of the people I've been with, I'll list other delights:

hot water!
"cool" weather for running
speedy internet available absolutely everywhere
customer service
food: Thai food, Punch pizza (St. Paul), home-made bread and pannekoeken (thanks, Libby!), lettuce, cheese, hummus, strawberries, blueberries, s'mores, superb coffee

My Mom moved out of my childhood home six months ago and is living very happily in a retirement community. I had the opportunity to speak to people there a few nights ago. A very appreciative audience!

On Monday I head to Seattle to meet my newest nephew!

A baby Canadian goose relaxing in Ohio.

Another great day

2011-05-01T04:43:00.003-07:00

I have the best life.

This morning I traveled with two of my colleagues and two American missionaries to two nearby CHE communities, Goden and Macedouan. We had good visits in both of the communities. In Goden they shared a lot about their perinatal program. We also took a short walk to see a committee member's garden: plantain, carrots, taro. One highlight for me was the children -- in March they started a children's CHE program in Goden, one of the first in the country. The kids sang us a song, it was very cute! In both villages they mentioned the significant reduction in illness, particularly among the children. In addition to appreciating the physical and spiritual lessons, in Macedouan one of the women said that she really valued the lessons she'd learned about how to get along within her immediate and extended family, to really “live well.”

I really enjoyed spending the day with the missionaries. Their organization has been doing both church-planting and building transitional housing in one of the areas hardest-hit by the earthquake, but they are now wanting to transition away from relief work into development and are interested in using the CHE tools. It's also just fun to meet different missionaries and hear about what they do, even on a personal level: how do you exercise here? What do you do in your free time?

On our way back to town I was dropped off at the music school. I had told them I might arrive late or not at all today, but since it was to be our last rehearsal before our May Day concert I had hoped to make it. I was nearly an hour late, but they were still setting up. We rehearsed our three pieces for tomorrow's concert. It has really been fun to conduct this orchestra. The majority of them are very new at their instruments but have really great attitudes. And they are showing up more consistently to rehearsals now which really helps!

I stayed after the orchestra rehearsal to practice piano. I haven't played seriously for nearly two decades, and really don't play at all here. But I was told last night (!) that all of the teachers would be performing, so I needed to practice (I also teach piano at the school). While playing, I realized I'd become defensive in a conversation earlier that day. Of course, I really wish I would have noticed this at the time so that my reaction would have been entirely different, i.e.: helpful. (I will say that attempting to work through a process of reflexion, asking God for forgiveness, forgiving oneself, and determining next steps is probably not best done while one is still trying to practice the piano. If you try this you may realize that the issue is still unresolved and you'll have to pause later in the evening while writing a blog entry.)

As it became early evening, several of the other music teachers came to rehearse in twos and threes. The music school director asked me to accompany him tomorrow on a flute piece and we practiced that. There's only enough room in the music school now for either the orchestra or an audience, so we'll be playing tomorrow at a government building in the city's largest public square! What a place to make my conducting debut!

I came back to my lodgings for a small bite to eat – not too much, because I didn't want to spoil my appetite for the mangos that were waiting in my room. Three varieties are now readily available in this region, each one remarkable in its own way. Francique: large, juicy, fruity. Baptiste: smooth texture, perfume-y flavor. Trop Douce: delightfully sweet with a subtle flavor, ridiculously fibrous but oh! so worth it.

And now to wash up. It was warm today, and even a cold shower sounds awfully lovely when dust has stuck to your sweating skin all day. I need to take our visitors to the airport at 5:30 am, so I'd better quit typing. I love Sundays, though – I can just rest after church until the afternoon concert.

I have the best life.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T15:28:00.003-07:00

Baptisms Easter Sunday

My first praise of the day: we had electricity at 4:45 am so I could make coffee in my room before leaving for an early-morning service with a group of missionaries. One highlight: a family of four sang a song in harmony with bluegrass-style guitar. We ended with a breakfast feast which included cinnamon rolls, mmm. I also got to connect with some people I've never really talked to before, nice.

Then my church -- the pastor read a message from the Monsignor, including how to place our hope and trust in God in a country that had the January 12 (2010) earthquake and then cholera, and in a world that just experienced the Japan earthquake and new civil wars. I also had time to reflect on the fact that whoever thought that choir robes should be adopted in a Caribbean nation was nuts.

As I write, my neighbor's church is baptizing people in the ocean near me with lots of celebratory music. A British acquaintance was standing next to me for awhile. In the pageantry of the baptisms he saw tools used to placate and cheaply entertain people. He also commented that it was ironic that in a symbol of cleansing, people are actually dipping into what amounts to a cess pool. It is icky -- it's always icky, and we see people swimming in it every day. But I thought: well, baptism is symbolic of being baptized into Christ's death and then being raised with him, maybe that's not so inappropriate.

The best part of the day? Greeting everyone for Easter, hearing stories of how they have celebrated. Where I live everyone still has to work today, but they all had stories of special things done at church last night or this morning that made them smile. We take time out to watch the baptisms, comment on the music, greet each other with kisses and "Happy Easter." We share brief comments on what it means that Jesus is risen.

And I sit here in the shade, enjoying the ocean breeze and the blue sky, looking at a hummingbird, a fully-laden mango tree, and two other flowering trees, trying to grasp what it really means that death is no more. That it has really been conquered. That the beautiful things that we see in the world are part of the future breaking in to the present, they are the presence of the kingdom that is here and not yet. In Friday's sermon the pastor spoke of the cross, and one of the things he said was that the cross has crushed the power of darkness (kwa a te kraze tout fòs fenwa). This is clearly a "here and not yet" in a land of cholera, malnourished kids, bursts of violence, denuded mountains. But that's what I see. Because this is also a land of flowers, of beauty, of dignity, and of laughter. Alleluia! He is risen!

Mangoes

2011-04-21T17:01:00.009-07:00

This is a collection of fruit I had at one point last week. The brown one is custard apple, the spiky one is soursop, and the rest are delectable mangoes (ripe, despite their green-ness).

I love mangoes. The season just started last week and I have been eating about three per day. I might have even had four once. They are seriously incredibly amazingly good. My day started out with "custard apple," though, another yummy fruit. Memene, who washes my clothes, brought me some as a gift this morning.

Then my work day started, with a meeting with the logistics guy for IOM. We needed to change a request order we'd put in for cholera supplies due to space and availability issues. Then we received boxes and boxes of soap, buckets, jerry cans, and chlorine. For free. Again. This is just so fabulous! With the first shipment we received we were able to supply our oral rehydration posts (which provide oral rehydration salts to cholera patients in rural areas as they are on their way to treatment centers), then some of our community health workers and a couple of schools. Now it looks like we might be able to supply all of our volunteer workers and some committee members, plus two hospitals in the northeast -- they'll get oral rehydration salts and IV solution as well, and get it all transported for free by the World Food Program!

This is the cholera treatment center for the rural hospital in Bois de Laurence in the northeast. We stopped by there last week.

Last week my colleague Solencia had two people in her family, both young, die. The causes were unknown, which is common. She had to leave early today to go to her cousin's funeral. We prayed for her and her family with her before she left.

Due to virus problems and varying solutions, my main computer was my netbook, then my laptop, then my netbook, then my laptop again. Lately my laptop has been acting up (I think it's old) and since I'd recently managed to back up everything I only copied a couple of recent documents and started using primarily the netbook. Well, today I realized one of the documents on my netbook wasn't the latest version. So I needed to access the laptop. But Linux won't run on the laptop with the SD card I have, and I found out today that a CD I'd burned won't run on it either. So I had to shut off my netbook to use the flash drive with which I'd been running Linux on it. And I got frustrated. Blah.

The report I'd been looking for was on our oral rehydration posts, I needed to add the latest data and send it to the health department. In March, the 39 posts that reported in saw 119 cases of cholera. (These are the numbers for the posts we have, many people thankfully can make it directly to cholera treatment centers, or stop by other posts.) Some sites had seen no cases, but cholera has increased recently in some areas, in part exacerbated by drought making it more difficult for people to incorporate hygiene techniques.

Here's a house we passed by last week in the northeast, an area that's really been suffering from the drought, with SODIS bottles on the roof. Yup, turns out one of our community health workers goes to this house, and they now use this free method to get clean drinking water!

I'm working on solidifying travel within the US for my three-month trip this summer. The connections from Minneapolis to Detroit are ridiculous, and it will take me just as long in terms of travel if I fly to Chicago instead, hang out with Mark and Julie, then take a train the next day to Detroit. Seriously?

Tomorrow's a holiday (Good Friday), so I won't see my colleague Evelyne again until Monday. She started a school in her village a few years ago and needed to send off the budget to some potential partners. I'd agreed to translate it into English for her. We finished just before 7 pm. Which is when I realized that I'd missed yet another Lenten service. Sigh.

Which means I'll just have to eat more mangoes and practice the cello (the music school where I conduct and teach piano lets me borrow a cello!).

Moolah

2011-04-09T10:26:00.003-07:00

Have I mentioned anything about the money used in Haiti? The currency is called "gourd," and it used to be tied to the US dollar, at 5 gourdes per dollar. So, people started referring to 5 gourdes as "one dollar" or "one Haitian dollar." It's no longer tied to the dollar, it's now about 40 gourdes to the US dollar.

Why is this history important? People still call 5 gourdes a Haitian dollar (HD). And they speak in terms of Haitian dollars much more than in gourdes. This is a mathematical nightmare for me. I mean, 100 HD is fine, that's 500 gourdes, no problem. But in the market they'll say something is 65 HD -- that's not so easy to do quickly. And this week my colleague cashed a check and came back with "1875 dollars." I count 9375 gourdes and know it's all there (after taking out my calculator).

I usually talk in gourdes, because I haven't been able to understand how people easily go back and forth. This got me into trouble once when I asked a colleague to give me "400" of phone credit. A few minutes later I got a text that I'd received 1818.18. I was completely confused until I realized that she thought I'd wanted 400 HD, or 2000 gourdes, and then the phone company took its cut.

So, I've been wondering for awhile how everyone does it, talking in Haitian dollars. They have just told me "it's easy." But yesterday I finally got some insight! I watched my colleague Evelyne count some money. She held a 500 gourd bill and I saw her lips move "100," then a 250 gourd bill and I saw her murmur "50." At the end she knew the amount in Haitian dollars. So what she's doing is looking at a bill that has "500" stamped on it and thinking "100."

This actually gives me hope. I actually might be able to do this if I translate each bill in my head, not the total. Especially for receiving change. No, really, I think this could work.

Mangos

2011-04-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

I'm reading the minutes of a meeting I missed last week: “Dans la perspective d’une recrudescence du nombre de cas avec l’arrivée de la saison des mangues, des spots de prévention sont en préparation au niveau du MSPP. Ces messages s’adressent particulièrement aux enfants qui sont les populations les plus à risques pendant cette saison des mangues.”

So I ask my colleagues, “Is 'saison des mangues' what I think it is? Mango season? And if so, why are we having to increase our cholera prevention messages for that, and why are children more at risk?

Turns out there are mango trees everywhere in the rural areas (heaven?). Lots of people, and most children, just pick up mangos whenever they're hungry and eat them without washing either the mangos or their hands. There are also too many mangoes to sell, and so they rot and flies accumulate. Apparently “everyone knows” that diarrheal diseases greatly increase in mango season.

The latest happenings

2011-03-19T10:17:00.011-07:00

These CHE trainers are tying up buckets to be able to transport them back to their villages. We received a large donation of buckets, scrub brushes, and hand soap from IOM to distribute at oral rehydration posts.

Someone very close to me asked me tonight what I'm doing these days at work (thanks, Mom!). It turns out I've never mentioned that I'm no longer helping coordinate volunteers coming to work with cholera patients. Thankfully, the worst part of the crisis seems to be over. So, while we will continue to maintain oral rehydration posts in rural areas for the foreseeable future (so that people won't die of dehydration on their way to cholera treatment centers), we're mostly back to our former work of training in disease prevention, spiritual discipleship, and development.

I am still involved in trip planning:

A group from southern Haiti will be coming to see some of our CHE villages in the northeast in April, as they consider whether to be trained to use the CHE tools themselves. I'm really looking forward to this trip since I haven't been to this area before and it's where some of our strongest programs are.
Marcelo Lopez, an Argentine accountant and economics professor, will be coming in May to give a microenterprise training to our trainers. He comes once or twice a year with different materials. I've been coordinating his trip in part because I'll be his interpreter while he's here.
A church in Detroit will be sending teams to make badges for our trainers, committee members, and community health evangelists. We are so excited about this! Almost everyone who works with us is a volunteer and doesn't receive renumeration. A badge is something they've been asking for for a really long time.

Speaking of “encouragements” for our volunteers: we've ordered t-shirts! Over five hundred volunteers have been working so tirelessly for months with the cholera epidemic, and before that they were teaching their neighbors about physical, spiritual, and emotional health in their spare time. We received funds a few months ago to buy everyone a “Medical Ambassadors Haiti” t-shirt! So, one of my jobs was to aid communication between my Haitian and Dominican colleagues during the ordering process (they don't make t-shirts here). And the upside is, I learned how to say “polo shirt” in Kreyol and Dominican Spanish. (It's actually not that exciting, it's essentially “with collar” in both languages.)

Nurse Marie Junie and my colleague Osse stand by a rented truck ready (as soon as the tarp's put on) to take donated cholera supplies to a hospital in the west. In addition to buckets, soap, and brushes, IOM also donated this hospital several boxes of IV solution and sprayers. A big shout out to Marie Junie: she left her house before 5 am to get to our office, and then had car trouble returning over the mountains and didn't get to the hospital until 5:30 pm.

Children's TOT (part b)

2011-02-25T11:09:00.008-07:00

One of the many "tent cities" in Port-au-Prince. This is a small one covering a town square; we passed it daily on our way to the training site.
One of the small groups demonstrated ways to get kids engaged in project planning -- here is their drawing of a reforestation program.

Another small group draws a neighborhood clean-up project.
Groups practiced using skits as "starters" to discuss community problems with children. This skit is about cholera.
A "starter" showing steps to community development. The last step is "aksyon," or action. Many others tend to start at this step, but we think that unless the programs are truly community-owned from the very beginning (the first four steps) they will never truly be sustainable.

One of the participants explaining the steps to implementing a Children's CHE program.

Studying how Paul got to know the city of Athens.

Studying what observations Paul made about the social and spiritual life of Athens.
Training is finished! What a great group of people. They represent three organizations that already have wonderful children's ministries. They are now working on implementing the CHE strategies to make their work more holistic and sustainable.

Children's TOT (part a)

2011-02-24T20:35:00.001-07:00

In February we were finally able to hold our Chidren's Training of Trainers (TOT) in Port-au-Prince! We'd planned to have it in December but several weeks of riots and unrest made that impossible.

Here the participants enact the story of a paralyzed man's four friends bringing him to Jesus. This story is really rich, not only for the beautiful demonstration of the wholeness of our being (physically and spiritually) but also for the life principles it demonstrates that are useful in development: persistence, love being our motivator, and the use of local materials. ;-)

This participant presents aspects of a children's program -- using games, stories, and drama to help with learning.

Morning small group Bible study.

After lunch most days the participants formed an impromptu worship band -- a nice break from lessons!

No electricity

2011-02-21T15:06:00.002-07:00

No electricity today from early morning until just now (4 pm). That's rare for us -- it usually only goes out for a few minutes to an hour at a time. I was able to use our neighbor's wireless for awhile since he's got an inverter -- until the battery on my laptop was finished. So then what to do?

Organize my new desk! It's a thing of beauty to have my own desk. I have had piles and piles of papers I've been working with the past five months, and today I had the perfect excuse to make time to file some and make a nice to-do pile out of the rest
Pray with my colleague, Evelyne! We started out singing "Dieu tout puissant": Alors mon cœur redit, la nuit, le jour, 'Que Tu es bon, o Dieu d’amour!' -- a song I love in English and Spanish, too. We had a lot of things to pray about: Evelyne had to meet with her community yesterday to tell them that they had no funds to pay teachers. Our colleague Anias left today for a long journey by road to Port-au-Prince, where he'll work for two days and then go to the island of La Gonave with two other colleagues to the CHE programs just starting there. I need to get a vehicle, and need wisdom as to how to go about it.
Get stories from our colleagues to fill out one of our overdue quarterly reports (we can still blame the cholera epidemic for being behind on paperwork, I think). That was super-fun, as everyone shared great stories of changes they've seen or heard about in CHE communities.

So now I have a clean desk and an overflowing e-mail inbox! ;-) Glad to have the electricity back on!

Miscellaneous

2011-01-24T14:46:00.007-07:00

Last month Ambassadeurs Medicaux d'Haiti (AMDH), the Haitian NGO that is primarily responsible for CHE programs in Haiti, held a preliminary meeting but didn't have a quorum present. Two weeks ago they met again, and in this picture you see five of the seven board members -- one was still unable to come due to injury, another was out of the country. Also in this picture are the three AMDH staff, Enoch (The Water School, formerly with AMDH), and me. What a great step for this organization.

Today in the office Wilnique, Clercilien, Evelyne, and Solencia were putting together "gift bags" for our trainers and CHEs. Our nearly 500 volunteers are truly volunteers, meaning they don't receive any renumeration. So we're putting together bags with toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, oral rehydration salts, sheets, and towels. Kind of like the gift bags at the Oscars. :-)

United Nations peacekeeping force from Nepal, sightseeing.

I took this picture of a typical fishing boat from my lodgings.

Training in Limbe

2011-01-24T13:00:00.003-07:00

Okay, here I am teaching my first formal lesson in Kreyol! I love this picture because my colleague Evelyne (far left) could not look less enthused. ;-)

Here are Enoch and Clercilien, making a "fly" out of a banana, matches, and leaves. It was used in a skit about cholera transmission.

We held two big trainings the second week of January, one for our trainers in the province of the northeast, and this one in the north. We wanted to make sure that all of our trainers had the latest lessons on cholera prevention and treatment, including the Doctors without Borders strategy of oral rehydration posts scattered throughout the communities to prevent the countless deaths that have been occurring when people cannot get to cholera treatment centers in time. (It is often impossible to travel at night and in the rural areas distances are long over difficult roads.)

Here is Madame Grimard, one of our other core facilitators, teaching a lesson called "God and Cholera." There is a pervasive belief here that God is cursing Haiti. This lesson goes through Scripture passages showing that God seeks to bless us. We then discussed practically that God had indeed given us everything we needed to combat cholera, including essentially free methods for hand washing and making water potable.

And finally, here is Anias -- he works with our partner organization The Water School. He moved back north after surviving the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince last January and started with us in the spring. His amazing work with the SODIS method for making potable water along with training on hygiene and latrines has now expanded from zero to thirty communities. He has a fabulous smile, can you see it?

Cholera Treatment Center photos

2011-01-24T11:00:00.003-07:00

In December I had the opportunity to work a few more nights in a cholera treatment center in Haut Limbe (see previous posting). Above is 15-year-old Juan. He was very ill, and you can see that he has two IVs running. But when one of the volunteers was making balloons for the kids, he was well enough to ask for a cat to be drawn on his!

Here I am at 5 am with a volunteer named Travis, a fabulous ICU/ED nurse. The first night we worked together he put in an IV in the scalp of a little girl for whom they just hadn't been able to keep IVs going the day before. Scalp veins are really tiny, so only small amounts of fluid can pass through them, and this girl was very sick. So he and I stayed at the bedside to push fluids via syringe into the catheter. While we were doing this dawn broke, and the family members throughout the center started a worship service from the bedside. They sang hymns, recited psalms, and prayed out loud. What a beautiful accompaniment to our work, to be reminding of the One who is always working in and through and around us to bring healing!

Rehydration is the key to curing cholera. Here a girl is receiving oral rehydration solution from a family member in addition to her IV fluids.

This picture was taken the day this boy arrived. I met him the next day, and although he was still quite sick he was sitting up at the end of his bed drinking oral rehydration solution from a pop bottle, a little cutie-pie.

Cholera Carols

2010-12-08T09:39:00.002-07:00

I am staying for a few nights near Limbe (an hour-ish from Cap Haitien). Last night I worked at the cholera treatment unit here. Today my coordinator and I met with Doctors without Borders to discuss possibilities for collaboration in Bayeux a village an hour from here. I also facilitated communication between my Haitian and Dominican colleagues to get a shipment of cholera supplies on Sunday, communicated with future volunteers about airport closures and flight cancellations due to the roadblocks and demonstrations that started today. And then, when I thought that after supper remained only sleep (after getting 2 hours in the past 36), I found out that we would be gathering with some of the volunteers that have come to work with the cholera patients.

It was lovely. We sang Christmas carols, read the story of Jesus' love for Mary and Martha and his weeping with them in their sorrow just before the resurrection of Lazarus. We heard from a sermon that addressed why Jesus weeps and where he is in moments of death and suffering. As we sang the carols, we kept on finding ones that were about cholera. I'm not kidding! Now, maybe if you haven't been working many dark, tiring nights battling death and dehydration, you won't see the songs in the same way. But here are a few verses:

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by thine advent here;

disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Joy to the World

No more let sins and sorrows grow

Nor thorns infest the ground.

He comes to make his blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.

(Cholera would be the "thorns" that are literally infesting the ground and seeping into the drinking water.)

Okay, there were more but my brain is no longer functioning. Good night!

Cholera Update

2010-12-04T14:29:00.001-07:00

Hi, everyone! Our internet has been nearly non-existent recently, and when we've had it it's been slower than the slowest dial-up you can remember. But suddenly today it is running beautifully! Um, when we've had electricity, that is—I think it's gone off five times today.

Thank you all so much for your prayers for little Odlin. I stayed in touch with one of the nurses from Hinche by phone, and I'm happy to say that he continued to slowly get healthier and finally went home! When I think of what he looked like the day he came in, and indeed even the next few days, I am just amazed.

Every day there are more patients in more communities sick with cholera. There is no sign of this stopping for the next few months, if not longer. There is also a lot of misunderstanding about cholera. It's not uncommon to hear people say they would rather get HIV than cholera. In the past weeks our work has been to:

Coordinate shipments of IV solution and other supplies to combat cholera.
Prepare for a Training of Trainers in Port-au-Prince, specifically designed for people who have children's ministries. We were supposed to go to Port-au-Prince on Sunday, but have postponed the training due to continued violence in the city.
Follow up with the Community Health Evangelists (CHEs) who continue to teach their neighbors from house to house. I've mentioned before the lessons they teach for physical health: what is cholera and how is it spread, how to wash their hands with a simple system using a plastic jug, string, and a stick (most people don't have running water), how to make oral rehydration solution at home, and the importance of using latrines.
The CHEs have also helped people develop frameworks to process things emotionally and spiritually. Cholera is yet another disaster being faced this year, by people who suffered greatly from the January earthquake and now also violence surrounding national elections. I have heard many people, even young children, say that Haiti is cursed, and cursed by God. What a terrible burden to live under! Our lesson entitled "God and Cholera" leads people to God's Word to learn about God's character and God's heart for us.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Jesus (recorded in John 7: 37 -38)

And when Jesus speaks in Kreyol, you hear it like this: Dènye jou fèt la, se li ki te pi enpòtan. Jou sa a, Jezi kanpe devan foul moun yo, li di yo byen fò: Si yon moun swaf dlo, li mèt vin jwenn mwen, li mèt vin bwè. Moun ki mete konfyans yo nan mwen, y'ap wè gwo kouran dlo k'ap bay lavi koule soti nan kè yo, jan sa ekri nan Liv la.

Cholera in the North

2010-11-25T07:39:00.001-07:00

Evelyne, me, Solencia, and Mme Grimard (some of my colleagues)

From a note I wrote to my coordinator on Wednesday, November 17 :

Last night I went to the Cap Haitien gymnasium where I was given a tour of the cholera treatment center by the director for Doctors without Borders (MSF) for northern Haiti. MSF has been here for a week and are now seeing only a quarter of the deaths in Cap Haitien compared to the previous week. So much of this has to do with the importance of understanding how easily treatable this disease is, if only patients are hydrated quickly! The MSF director told me that the hospital wasn’t quite where they would like it yet, but they were pleased with the improvements. From my perspective it is so much better than the nightmare I lived through in Hinche.

As soon as the roadblocks clear they will be bringing tents to set up outside the gym to enable them to expand to over 400 cholera beds. They are now coordinating all cholera treatment in Cap Haitien, although they do work with the health ministry. They have also been working in Limbe, the other area where we would like to send volunteers. They only knew about the two hospitals there, not the 60-bed (and rising) center at Seminaire Limbe, five km from Limbe. That is where Dr. Steve has been working tirelessly and with few staff. MSF plans to return to Limbe (again, as soon as the roadblocks clear). They are coming back to the hotel now so I’m going to see how soon they think they can get through. Dr. Steve only has enough IV fluid for the next 24 hours.

Since we don’t usually work with short-term medical volunteers, I’m glad that MSF has accepted to take them under their wing here on the ground – we will just need to coordinate flights, airport pickups, meals, and housing, which will be part of my job the next few weeks.
MSF has also offered to train our community health workers on “bucket chlorine.” This means that a person will be stationed at each community water source (if there are too many some will be closed). The worker will have a concentrated chlorine solution and will put a specified amount in each bucket of water collected. In other countries this has reduced the cholera outbreaks to two or three days. However, due to the already widespread nature of Haiti’s epidemic (now in every region of the country) we will likely need people to do this work for a month or two.

Brief return to Port-au-Prince

2010-11-25T06:58:00.001-07:00

Cholera Treatment Center tents in Hinche

Saturday, November 13:
I arrived in Port-au-Prince yesterday after spending the last seven days and nights working in Hinche with patients who had cholera. This morning the J/P HRO group loaned me a computer so I have been able to catch up on some of your responses. Thank you so much for your prayers and notes of encouragement!

It can be so challenging be aware of God's presence when one is physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. I thank God for your prayers, and praise God that in the last few days I was really able to gain a better perspective in the midst of the horror. Too tired to focus in prayer, I listened to a song with the following lyrics, "I will lift my eyes to the maker of the mountains I can't climb...'cause you are and you were and you will be forever...you fashioned the earth and you hold it together." How true! God is always moving everywhere to bring life and healing and hope.

Thank you for your prayers for Odlin. He was not on his cot when I arrived to the tent hospital the following day, and everyone assumed that he was dead. What joy to find out the next day that he had been transferred to the neighboring "real" hospital and that they were treating him for typhoid fever. We had already been giving him the antibiotics that treat that terrible disease. I was able to visit him yesterday and he looked somewhat better, although he is very weak and still has diarrhea. There was no family by his side, although I heard that his mother had been around some days earlier. Please continue your prayers that he would not be alone, that he would be assured of God's presence and that he would be completely healed.

Before leaving tonight for my "home" in Cap Haitien I will be visiting the site where we will be holding a Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training in December here in Port-au-Prince and working out logistics.. My computer is still not working due to viruses, but my brother-in-law has sent several CDs and SD cards of material to help it to work again and then to de-bug it and our office computers. Until I get his package and, Lord willing, am able to resurrect my
computer, I may not have much access to the internet.

I will be in Limbe all next week, a town 20 km (one hour and a half) from Cap Haitien. Our team will be training people to be trainers in new villages using the holistic CHE tools. Our volunteer trainers continue to go to village after village teaching cholera prevention. Cholera is spreading quickly in Limbe and in Cap Haitien and many other places in northern Haiti. There are not enough supplies or medical personnel. We have one more shipment of supplies arriving
from the Dominican Republic tomorrow. For the next few weeks I will be facilitating communication between those who want to come short-term (particularly nurses) and the areas of need. I also hope to be able to help get experienced groups such as Doctors without
Borders to the remote areas we work in.

In the name of the one who has defeated death and the grave,
Liz

Cholera Treatment Center, Hinche

2010-11-25T06:30:00.002-07:00

Church building in Hinche used for cholera patients

Monday, November 8

Hello! I'm writing from Hinche, a small city a few hours north of Port-au-Prince. (If you click on the map at the top right and zoom in a bit, you'll see it in the center of the country just north of Mirebalais: Arrondissement de Hinche.) Cholera hit this town six days ago, and a cholera treatment area was set up next to the local hospital by using several tents and a small church. Since I am working with the J/P HRO team these two weeks, they sent me here with a group of volunteers on Friday. We plan to stay till Wednesday when another team will replace us.

Cholera has not been seen in Haiti in at least 50 years, and it can take some time even under the best of circumstances to set up a good system. This site is run by the Ministry of Health in partnership with Partners in Health (PIH). Doctors Without Borders arrived yesterday to provide technical support—they are building special cholera beds and have laid down gravel, which are critical steps. Cholera leads to profuse diarrhea, and it has been incredibly difficult to keep patients, floors, and cots clean. We have also been having heavy rains with the passing of the hurricane, and the tents we work in were very muddy before the gravel.

I'm working with a great group. We're currently sitting around not talking about work for the first time! We've realized that we've been working from late afternoon to mid-morning every night and while not at work have been strategizing. We know this isn't sustainable.

We've established good relationships with the medical director, Ministry of Health, and the Haitian and Cuban physicians who work here. We've had significant challenges working well with the national nurses, and we've been told that this is perhaps due to the government hiring and retention system, although we're also aware that we are from a different culture and are outsiders. Please pray for wisdom and good working relationships. Constant vigilance is needed with IV fluids and oral rehydration since the main cause of death with cholera is dehydration. We have a great team of cleaners who recently received excellent training and are applying it with vigilance. Their efforts have wonderfully changed our work environment.

This is a very challenging environment. We work at night with little light. We do not have all of the supplies we need; the supplies we do have don't stay stocked, and it can be difficult access supplies even when they are here. Patients have died, although thankfully not in our areas on our shifts. Whenever a patient does die the family members wail, which adds to the emotionally-charged atmosphere. There are many patients who are children, and since this site is currently not allowing family members to come in as caregivers, the children are alone.

In addition to praying for the patients, families, and staff, please pray for the efforts of community health workers in prevention of this terrible disease. Our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) volunteers have now gone to 100 villages, teaching prevention methods (hand washing, latrine usage, cleaning drinking water, etc.). However, in the areas in the north where they are starting to see cholera they do not have enough medical personnel. We don't have any CHE programs where I am now, but PIH has been training and sending out their community health workers.

Thank you for your many notes of encouragement and particularly for your prayers. I haven't had access to e-mail since arriving in Hinche, but was able just now to briefly read what you've written. People have asked about donations, and for CHE work they can go to LifeWind International (www.lifewind.org) to the Haiti Disaster Fund (code D921).

In God's mercy,

Liz

Working inside the "church."

P.S. Please pray for Odlin, a little boy I've been caring for since yesterday morning. He arrived malnourished and severely dehydrated, and it was very difficult to get a good access for fluids. We struggled again yesterday afternoon and evening, needing to place another access for fluids (in his shin bone).

Obviously we care for all of our patients, but this little boy has really touched my heart. When he's able, he talks, calls out, "Oh, God!" or "Stop, it hurts!" He also frequently reaches his arms around my neck.

Please pray for this child of God.

Arrival in Port-au-Prince

2010-11-25T06:00:00.001-07:00

Breaking down the tents at the J/P HRO refugee camp hospital. (All pictures from J/P.)

I arrived back "home" in Cap Haitien on November 13. It's now been over a month since my computer and all of its drives were disabled due to viruses. That problem combined with inconstant electricity and internet access has interrupted my blogging. I will post here some e-mails that I sent during that time.

Wednesday, November 3
Hello! As many of you have heard, there is a tropical storm/hurricane approaching Haiti. It looks like the rain should start at about 1 pm tomorrow followed by hurricane weather on Thursday evening or else on Friday morning.

I'm still in Port-au-Prince working with the J/P HRO. The plan here is to continue dismantling the tent hospital and store everything by tomorrow noon. We will attend emergencies and deliveries only. As soon as the rain starts, we'll come back to our base which is a large
house. We have stored all the tents we were sleeping in (on the grounds), and we'll start sleeping inside tonight. As soon as the rough weather stops (on the sixth?) we will go back to the refugee
camp and set up to start attending patients as quickly as possible.

In the morning I was the "designated doc at the camp for emergencies." I only saw a few pregnant women, but the title sounds good. In the afternoon I perfected my taping skills at the house we were staying at!

This is a very well-organized group, and I am privileged to be a part of it. Please pray for the people in the refugee camp. Evacuation routes are still being planned, and they are worried about landslides. Please continue to pray for our Community Health Evangelism (CHE)
teams up north. I heard today that the cholera cases continue to increase in Cap Haitien and Limbe. We praise God that yet another shipment of IV solution, chlorine, and oral rehydration salts were able to come in from the Dominican Republic, albeit with some
difficulty crossing the border.

We are anticipating not having power soon, so I will probably not be communicating via e-mail until well after the storm is over. We are anticipating a lot of injuries in the camp due to the weather conditions, and so we wil likely be very busy for days.

After my night shift was over this morning, I attended the meeting of the (mostly Haitian) medical staff. As their portion of the meeting started they sang "Count Your Blessings," then one woman prayed, followed by all reciting Psalm 23. May God truly shepherd this land
and the people He loves so much.

Training in La Gonave

2010-10-14T08:03:00.009-07:00

Here's the group of new trainers! This photo was taken at the end of the Training of Trainers 1 in La Gonave.

This trainer is presenting his groups ideas on how to obtain information from the communities in which they serve. Instead of formal (and often inaccurate) surveys, the groups suggest spending time forming relationships, talking with village elders and children, and using their five senses in observation.

In groups of two the trainers practice sharing about God's plan for us to live abundantly.

In between classes we use songs and dances to keep ourselves awake and keep the training fun. In Nicaragua I had learned one with lots of movements about planting and harvesting corn. While in Bolivia the group we trained invented a version using yucca (which has about twice as many steps!). Both corn and yucca are big crops here. So with Kreyol translation in hand, here I am leading the group in the life cycle of yucca! Haha! They had to show me the "real"movements since of course they know much more about yucca than I do.

We use a lot of sketches, too. Above you see trainers acting out the story of the paralytic and his four friends going to Jesus. We use this story to talk about key concepts in development: finding and using local resources, perseverance, love, and hope.

Here are my co-facilitators and our host: Enoch, Erigeur, Enick (our host), Lucson, and Sully (Enick's colleague). In this picture we're on a hill on the island and you can see the sea and the mountains of "mainland" Haiti in the background.

Food!

2010-10-06T14:10:00.005-07:00

Spaghetti (with ketchup and mayonnaise, oil, bits of fried chicken), the breakfast of champions.

Another day's breakfast, corn mush. My colleague said, "Mmm, I can taste the dried fish."

Fruit! These are really yummy! You bite off the outside, then suck the fruit off of the pit.

Here's the inside.

Since we were on an island, we ate a lot of fish. See my Facebook for the delights of the fish head.

Mmm! This is truly the best! "Sour apple" in English, kashiman is super-yummy, especially after a several-hour hike in the heat. While we were hiking, a friend was picking dozens of them for us to enjoy.

Travel to La Gonave

2010-10-06T13:35:00.009-07:00

Lucson and Eriguer, two of my fellow training facilitators, enjoy yucca as our ferry is about to leave the port.

Steps to get to a training on La Gonave Island:

02:30 am Wake up since a truck has stopped outside with loudly-miked religious music (voudou). It stays there for about 20 minutes.

3:30 am I lift the heavy iron bar off from the outside gate of my lodgings (more Jane Austen) to let my co-facilitators in to pick up our training supplies.

3:40 am Wake up porter to lock the gate behind me. Leave hotel via pre-arranged taxi to the center of Cap Haitien.

3:45 am Taxi stops to pick up another few people along the way, so we are seven adults and one child in the car.

3:46 am The child sees me (it's dark) and says, "Blan!" (foreigner) I greet her with, "Bon jou." She doesn't respond, and her mother says, "She said 'Bon jou,' how to you respond? Come on, she said 'Bon jou.'" The girl looks at her mother and inquires, "In English?"

4:00 am Find our beautifully decorated (formerly yellow) school bus that is en route to Port-au-Prince. Using the light of our cell phones we find our assigned seats (three to a seat). While waiting, we can buy plantain chips, cell phone credit, water, etc.

5:00 am The bus roars out of town. At the top of a mountain someone calls for a bathroom break, so a bunch of people get off the bus (and go to the side of the bus). Um, this is why women tend to still travel in skirts even though in the past few years pants have become more acceptable. Since we're at a market, it's also a great opportunity to buy bananas, yucca, and peanuts from the vendors who come up to the windows.

10:30 am We yell at the driver to stop as we approach our destination, a port town. We yell again, until he finally stops. We get off and walk back to the port.

Enoch (the other facilitator) and me as we leave the "mainland."

11:00 am The ferry leaves. A man in a suit takes out a (miked!) megaphone and starts yelling at us that we need to accept Jesus today or we will die. He then gets into highly controversial doctrinal issues, all at a really high volume. People respond, argue back, etc. What I like best about all this is that the evangelist really resembles Chris Rock.

12:30 pm Arrive at La Gonave island. We can't reach our contacts by phone so we eventually decide to pay someone to take us in the back of his pickup truck to town.

3:00 pm Start the training for 16 participants who represent about eight different organizations!

Bayeux Clinic

2010-09-25T10:24:00.005-07:00

A few days ago I went to the Bayeux Clinic. This formerly self-sufficient clinic sustained damage in the January earthquake, as well as other damage from initially poor construction. They have received donations for reconstruction, including from my sending church, Epic Christian. Above you can see that they are already moving ahead. A contractor from a church in the neighboring Dominican Republic has made several trips to the site to advise them and work with the construction workers.

Here is a picture of what will be the new storage facility for the pharmacy, on top of the laboratory. The old storage facility was too damaged to be saved.

I hope to go out here every week or two to assist the (very capable!) nurse auxiliaries. My medical knowledge is sure to come back rapidly with the wide variety of cases they have there. On our way back to Cap Haitien we took a woman with severe pre-eclampsia to the "big city" hospital.

Above is the Cap Haitien office of Medical Ambassadors Haiti in action: Evelyn, Anias, Enoch, and Lucson. I'm here when I'm not traveling -- it's on the same site as my lodgings, which is awfully handy!

Next week I'll be at a Training of Trainers 1 we're facilitating for an organization on the island of La Gonave. If you look at this map you'll see both Cap Haitien and La Gonave -- it's the big island in between the two "arms" of Haiti. If you zoom in you can even see Bayeux, on the north coast (written "Bayeau, " it's on the coast west of Cap Haitien). This should be a great opportunity for more language learning!

Leaving

2010-09-07T13:15:00.005-07:00

My sister (seen here on Skype on my computer) has been a huge help in preparing electronically for my move.

I arrived in Arizona today for a couple of days to meet with my pastor and be prayed over by my church before leaving for Haiti. My host so kindly said, “Welcome home – well, I don’t know if you consider this home, but we think of it as your home.” Buenos Aires feels like home. Lots of cities in the US feel like home. But today, unsure if I’m returning to Argentina, that’s where my heart turns.

I was listening to “I Can Only Imagine” when I started writing this note (and started crying). That song, seen in a Hebrews 11:16 light, is sort of about homecoming. Now “Be Thou My Vision” is on as I unpack, so many of my things reminding me of my friends in different places. But the prayer of this song is that God would give us true vision. It reminds me of church last Sunday, when we sang (in Spanish, of course), “Precious Jesus, my redeemer, beloved Lord, you are everything to me, I will worship you every day of my life.” I was crying then, too, since I was declaring those truths with my words. Declaring that God is faithful, and worthy of being followed, even though that means leaving people that I really love, yet again. Leaving a city and a country where I feel at home, where I have loved ones, where I know how to get around and where to get what I need, and am able (most of the time, anyway!) to get potable water out of the sink.

Nicole and Tim, my fabulous hosts in Arizona! Here they are on "make your own pizza" night, yum!

On the positive side, over the past few years I have realized that my heart is capable of more love than I ever thought possible. Six dear friends came to see me off at the airport. I miss them already.

My three buddies in Arizona. I was honored to get to borrow the Superman cape during my stay!

Peru -- food!

2010-08-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

This post is about FOOD! There is lots to say about Peruvian food, from 2500 varieties of potatoes to omnipresent Chinese restaurants. Here are a few pictures:

This is a really large amount of food!!!! Audra (in pink) and I shared -- with lots of leftovers --the pachamanca you see in front of her, but it really is for one person. In addition to three kinds of meat (no guinea pig, although it was served there) there were several kinds of potatoes, fava beans, and a sweet corn mush inside the corn husk wrappings. The drink you see is "purple chincha," and there was also a "fermented yellow chincha" at the other end of the table.

A Peruvian potato dish: served at a local restaurant with a Veggie Tales tablecloth!

Ceviche: raw fish "cured" with lemon/lime juice.

This is a rough and tough tri-vehicle (tee-hee!) seen on the streets of Huancayo on our way to a restaurant.

I don't remember the name of this fruit, but it's really strange-looking inside! It tasted yummy, though -- one eats the gray seeds and the gelatinous goo surrounding them.

Peru -- training!

2010-08-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

Marco (a Peruvian colleague) and I facilitated a Training of Trainers 1 (TOT1) in Huancayo, Peru, for two different mission organizations.

We split up into small groups frequently. Above one mission organization is discussing future plans.
Here's another way of working with small groups: the group above is trying to put in chronological order the steps to implementing Community Health Evangelism (CHE).

Above is a skit: we frequently do a river-crossing drama to illustrate the differences between relief, betterment, and development. In this part of the skit Paul has "hurt" his back carrying Rocio to the island in the middle of the river (relief), so he has no choice but to teach Karen how to cross (betterment going towards development). Then he leaves, and Karen teaches Rocio how to finish crossing the river (multiplication).

And here is a view of the mountains we crossed going from Lima (Pacific coast) to the high valley where Huancayo is located. I've read different estimates, but it appears we got up to nearly 16,000 feet (5000 m). Huancayo is just under 11,000 feet (3300 m).

Future Plans

2010-08-05T12:20:00.006-07:00

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for two big events:

1) Training of Trainers 1 in Huancayo, Peru! Two mission organizations have requested Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training there. A Peruvian missionary, who is already using CHE in another part of the country, will facilitate this five-day training with me at the end of August.

2) Move to my temporary assignment in Haiti! In mid-September I will arrive in Cap Haitian, the second-largest city in Haiti. This northern city is also the headquarters for Medical Ambassadors Haiti, and the four Haitian facilitators who are the core of this team have invited me to work alongside them for six months. I'll spend the first few months learning the language and accompanying the team to trainings and site visits, while I also take advantage of my English skills and work on project proposals and continuing relationships they've begun with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Some of the people with whom I'll be working. The woman in the yellow t-shirt is Mme. Grimard, one of the four facilitators with Medical Ambassadors Haiti.

I'm to travel to Port-au-Prince monthly. There were two CHE programs there before the earthquake which are still trying to recover. There are also lots of pastors and NGOs who are looking for ways to move from relief to development and we want to be available to work with anyone who is interested in using the CHE tools.

Since so many of the Haiti CHE programs are involved with local clinics, one way that I will be able to help is with my medical skills, both in consulting and working alongside the nurse auxiliaries. Please pray for me about this: I haven't practiced medicine for three years and although I saw a few malaria cases in the States I have mostly only read about tropical medicine -- 13 years ago in the first year of medical school!

This is a great hand-washing system that we teach: there is a stick this man is stepping on which tips the bottle so that a small stream of water comes out. Soap is hanging next to the bottle, protected from rain by a plastic cup. This particular "tipitap" is right next to the latrine at the Bayeux clinic.

Trip to Haiti

2010-06-29T12:49:00.009-07:00

I went to Haiti last month to accompany my coordinator: we visited several different CHE villages and also held a refresher course for CHE trainers from 35 different communities. If you've ever been to Haiti, you know that traveling there is a challenge. We noticed a flat tire on our arrival to Terre Blanche, a village that has started using CHE. Our driver put on the spare while we met with the trainers. Shortly after leaving the village, we got another flat! The driver hailed a passing motorcyclist and took the two tires to "nearby" Gonaives.

We waited by a river in the shade: below you see Madame Grimard (facilitator with Medical Ambassadors Haiti), me, and Bibiana (my coordinator) as I served Argentine mates to the three of us.

Some of the kids who'd been playing in the river came to see us. Renee, a Canadian from Partners International who'd come with us, took some great pictures which they loved to look at. Later (we were there for hours), Madame Grimard played games with the kids.

Two days later we stopped at the town of Ennery on our way to a training in Gonaives. After visiting several CHE homes (where Madame Grimard verified that all latrines had covers in place!) we met with the CHE trainers and several CHE workers. Walking back to the vehicle we met the husband of a CHE worker who had significant pain. Bibiana mentioned that I am an osteopathic physician, so I got to do some hands-on work!

We spent the next few days in Gonaives with 45 trainers from 35 different villages. Below is a photo taken during the morning's study on Philippians.

I facilitated two lessons: the first one taught a game that they can use to identify skills in the community, the second about growth monitoring of children (lots of kids are malnourished).

In the picture above you can see both the "problem tree" and the "solution tree" that we teach the trainers to teach their committees. The problem dealt with above is the lack of immunized children in the communities.

A bus drove many of us back to Cap Haitian, and there was a lot of hymn-singing along the way, which was lovely. However, since the "road" is mountainous, with lots of twists and turns, there was also some vomiting (not so great)! Again, traveling there may not always be smooth, but appears to never be boring!

Traveling

2010-05-27T18:18:00.005-07:00

Above is a celebration we drove by in Bolivia (has nothing to do with this post)

First of all, let me say that I am very happy. I was just reminded that I am not going to Haiti on Tuesday. That's right.

Tomorrow morning (Friday) I go to Baradero for a meeting with the Baradero team. On Saturday I have a meeting with people from other provinces, also in Baradero. Then I return home at midnight Saturday night, go to church Sunday morning, then I'm off to the airport Sunday afternoon. Fly all night to Miami. Spend 12 hours at the Miami airport, then a quick flight to the Dominican Republic, arriving Monday night. Then: rest on Tuesday before driving Wednesday to northern Haiti.

I'd forgotten that the tickets to get to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday were prohibitively expensive. And that although it was going to be rough leaving right after another trip (the Saturday meeting was planned months ago), I would still get in some rest. Ahhh....

I'm headed to Haiti to assist my coordinator, Bibiana, during her site visits, training, and assessments. The training sessions are focused now on building capacity in local training teams. There are 29 CHE villages in northern Haiti that are working out how to continue to effect community transformation with the added challenges of refugees from the capital city, Port-au-Prince. I've been there twice before, in 2002 and 2004, during my discernment process to go to the mission field. At the time I was really impressed by the way the CHE tools can work even in such a difficult place.

This trip will also be about discernment for me, but more on that later!

Here I am with an alpaca next to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.

Bolivian Training of Trainers

2010-05-13T10:50:00.008-07:00

Above you see Nora filling out the three different forms required for entry into Bolivia. I also had a visa application which I needed to turn in at the airport, which thankfully went without a hitch -- well, once the visa processing people arrived. It didn't matter that I had to wait for my visa, though, since our next flight's itinerary had been changed to four hours later. As one of that airline's employees said with a shrug: Yeah, some days it leaves at 7 pm, other days at 11 pm.

Isn't the countryside beautiful? This is the Altiplano area, 4200 m (13,800 feet) above sea level. The day after arriving we were driven to the training site along with others who had flown in from the Amazon region of Bolivia. All in all there were 12 health workers from Samaritan's Purse who had come to learn how they could integrate spiritual teachings with their physical teachings.
We shared a time of worship every morning. You can't see him in this picture, but Ireneo is playing the plastic bottle! Yup, just put a few small rocks and dirt in a plastic bottle and you get another percussion instrument.

Here is Felix showing us what his group discovered about the worldview of the community they work in, from the roots (beliefs) to the trunk (values) to the branches (behavior) to the fruit (consequences).

Here you see Ireneo, Magaly, and Beatriz acting in a dramatization called "River Crossing Story," which illustrates the difference between relief and development.

End of the training, each participant with a certificate!

Time for a few last pictures just outside of our training site -- here I am with a herd of llamas.

And here is some llama on my plate! After a week of goat and sheep they offered us llama on the last day, which is surprisingly yummy!

Thankfully, the Samaritan's Purse secretary called to confirm our non-stop return to Buenos Aires that was scheduled to leave at 8:45 am. It turns out it left at 7 am and had a layover! :-)

Minnesota Twins

2010-04-16T05:27:00.003-07:00

I'm currently in the fabulous state of Minnesota after nearly two months on the road. I arrived last Saturday, when the day's theme seemed to be "twins."

Here I am holding my friend Jenny's 4-week-old twins. I usually only held one at a time, but this moment was super-special. They live in Michigan with their two older sisters, the oldest of whom is my god-daughter. I left them on Saturday to go to Minnesota.

Holly and Heidi picked me up from the airport: identical twins! I worked with Holly for two years in youth ministry, and it was really lovely to see them both.

Teri came to pick me up and we went with her two kids to a park to meet John and Niki and their twin girls!
This week I stayed mostly with Paul and Libby and their beautiful family. Rachael invited us over to her house for some homemade Indian food, and Mark had come up from Chicago to hang out. Good times!

Here is Paul with his oldest son, Gibbie, in the parking lot next to their house in Frogtown. Gibbie refers to the church whose parking lot they play in as "the Eating Church" since they offer meals each night to the community. I love staying with Paul and Libby because of who they are. They seek to live simply and well. When with them I get to eat home-made soup from home-made bread bowls, yum!

Paul is an excellent barista. He has been roasting coffee for awhile and recently started doing so professionally. Here he is the first day the coffee shop he works at sold coffee made from beans he roasted! Yum....

Here is Gibbie feeding the ducks yesterday. This young child is an amazing human being, and I was privileged to be with him at his baptism last Sunday and become his godmother.

I was really able to be with friends and family at important moments this trip. Above are my aunt, cousin, and his wife as we celebrated my aunt's birthday!

One of the difficult things about being away is missing significant events in peoples lives, and just in this posting you can see how God allowed me to take part in birthdays, baptisms, and new births, among other things. God's promises are indeed "yes"!!!!!

Article for Mac Today

2010-02-27T14:12:00.010-07:00

My alma mater's alumni magazine is doing an article on international relief and development and how students can meaningfully engage with the population at home. They asked me to respond in writing to some questions.

What does your organization do and what is your job there? How long have you done this work? Is it your first overseas relief post?

I work for LifeWind International as an “Area Coordinator”: coordinating training and follow-up of CHE (Community Health Evangelism, now called Neighborhood Transformation in the US) programs in Argentina. I will also be responsible for coordinating in the bordering countries if things develop there – we’re in 79 countries throughout the world but not in many South American ones. I’ll be doing a training for a mission organization in Bolivia in May, so perhaps that will lead to more trips there. I’ve done this job for just over two years.

My organization is a Christian non-profit which bases itself in the idea of shalom: harmony with God, with ourselves, our neighbors, and the earth. We train and accompany people (other NGOs, mission organizations, churches) who are seeking a holistic transformation of their rural villages or inner city slums. By holistic I mean physical (community health, prevention of disease), emotional (harmony in the family, with neighbors, no family violence), vocational (micro-enterprise), and spiritual. The spiritual part consists of Christian teachings in many countries, while in Muslim countries we work with our common ground of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament, and in Buddhist and (post-) communist countries we use moral values teachings.

This is my first time working full-time overseas. I have traveled extensively, as well as spent a year abroad as an exchange student (between high school and college) and a semester overseas while at Macalester. I spent five weeks on a humanitarian mission to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines while with the U.S. Public Health Service. I’m physician by training.

What led you to this work?

I’ve been interested in development for a long time. I would also like my work to be meaningful and make a difference for good in the world. During my last three years in the U.S. I was the clinical director at an immigration detention center and while I found that job rewarding (I was able to change systems to provide better care with less staff and also to change some of the disrespectful prison-style culture within the clinic), it didn’t do anything to make a long-term change in the tragic situation of millions of people who are making the dangerous trek to the United States just to bring their families out of desperate poverty.

Did your time at Macalester play into your decision to take on this work?

Yes. Macalester was a wonderful environment. Perhaps even more helpful than the actual studies were the relationships that I developed and have retained with amazing people. Many of my friends from Macalester have gone on to community activism, many volunteer, and one friend started a non-profit to teach homeless people computer skills. They are people who really believe that we are “global citizens” (so Macalester cliché, but true), and that we not only have a responsibility to work for a better tomorrow but that a better tomorrow is actually possible. (That sounds super-cheesy but I think it’s also true.)

What’s the hardest part of your daily routine?

Well, I’m still pretty new at this job. Doing the necessary administrative work isn’t all that exciting. Keeping up with the requirements of my medical license is not relevant to my current job position and so can be frustrating. And we’re still really new in Argentina in terms of community programs, so waiting to see if, when, and where things will actually move forward can be challenging.

I've been doing a lot of sitting at my computer lately...

What’s most gratifying?

I really love meeting with people and helping them to realize their own abilities and verbalize their vision for their community.

Small group in Nicaragua during a training (October 2008)

Has your worldview changed? Become more pragmatic? More cynical? More accepting?

One of the great things about Macalester was that it helped me understand the concept of worldview. And as I moved to different states and within different sub-cultures I was able to process cultural differences better. I think that I am more hopeful. The more I see in the world, the more I see that despite overwhelming obstacles (such as corruption, poverty, horrific mistreatment of women and children) people can find creative solutions and make life-giving choices.

A lot of this comes out of one’s worldview, right? I liken it to when they taught us in psychiatry that we could truthfully tell a person who was depressed that there was a way out even if she couldn’t see it. That we knew for certain that the patient would not stay depressed forever, and in this way be the light that she could not currently see. My worldview/theology/life philosophy teaches me and gives daily evidence that LIFE eventually wins out over death, and that every person is created in the very image and likeness of God and is therefore worthy and capable of living a life of dignity and value and meaning.

Before you went overseas, what was your idea of effective philanthropy? Has that changed? As a result of your work, what would you tell someone here in the U.S. who wanted to know what contributions are most meaningful? Time? Money? Activism?

Before going overseas I had already done a lot of volunteer work (homeless shelter, tutoring literacy, youth ministry, overseas trips visiting missionaries) and had formed an idea of what was effective, which is why I chose the organization I’m working with: it has its flaws (as does any organization) but always remains very true to its core values which I share:

1) holism (I discussed this above)

2) community ownership: the communities are the ones who are expected to take the lead, forming a committee to decide on large projects and selecting community members to go house-to-house to teach their neighbors

3) development rather than relief: relief work is very detrimental to communities when done outside of a crisis situation. Obviously in the case of a natural disaster, like what is currently happening in Haiti, for example, the community itself needs help and direction from the outside, but when relief work continues to be done outside of the crisis situation over the long-term it creates dependency and does not lead to sustainable change. In addition, the places where good, sustainable development work has been done are better able to weather disasters.

4) multiplication: in my job I train others who will be training others. This not only multiplies my efforts but also has people teaching and working in more natural circumstances (their own neighbors, who tend to share a similar lifestyle, similar problems, and similar educational level).

I really think that it is key to have community ownership. So, money is great if it’s put into organizations that are in keeping with your values and are really leading to transformation. Time is also excellent, since that tends to change the one giving the time, right? I’m really into the importance of relationships, and think that spending time with people who are doing development (or relief) work helps change our perspective on our own lives, and can lead us to make significant changes in them. And activism is really important as well since that can lead to structural societal change.

Advice for current students who are interested in relief work? Would a minor or major in humanitarian studies or global health help?

I think the most helpful thing is to actually get out there and cultivate relationships with both people doing development/relief work and -- if community work is your goal -- start forming relationships with people from varying sub-cultures. Knowing at least one foreign language well is also incredibly helpful since it really expands your ability to form relationships with people from different cultures.

Today's Excuse

2010-02-26T14:41:00.005-07:00

Today's reason for not having time to post to my blog: I was requested to buy an Argentine flag for my coordinator before my upcoming trip. This morning my friends told me I could get this at a libreria, which is a book and office supply store. It appears that the school supply lists came out today! Yikes!

So, I took a number (at many stores here one cannot help oneself but must be assisted). A helpful young woman found a flag for me and rang it up and gave me a receipt. I then waited in line with my receipt to pay the cashier who gave me a different receipt. Then I waited in line where the item was wrapped and given to me and my receipt was stamped. Today's purchase was simply placed in a plastic bag, but more often at stores like this the item is wrapped in paper like a present.

Three periods of waiting for one purchase. I wasn't in a rush today and stores like this remind me of my year as an exchange student in southern Italy in the 80s. I thought that some people might never have experienced a store like this, so now you know.

2010-02-20T18:14:00.004-07:00

Been a long time.... I've been continuing helping my coordinator some with things to do with the crisis in Haiti as well as planning my upcoming trips to Nicaragua, the United States, and Bolivia. Hopefully next week I'll be back with pictures and details, including my itinerary!

I'll leave you with some interesting links about the recent flooding in Buenos Aires. On Monday it rained and there was flooding in several parts of the city which resolved. Then yesterday it rained heavily and within minutes it seemed that the city was flooding again. They cut off power to part of the city to avoid accidental electrocutions. In my part of town it wasn't so bad, and I also live on the second floor. There is a video at the end of this article.

Haiti

2010-01-18T10:27:00.011-07:00

There are several CHE (Community Health Evangelism) programs in Haiti, some of which are in the Port-au-Prince area. Over the next weeks, months, and years they will continue work for the holistic, sustainable transformation of their villages. Networking with churches and organizations, they have hope for a new Haiti.

Bibiana Pinto de MacLeod is a physician and the regional coordinator of CHE programs in South America and the Caribbean. Today she hopes to be able to arrive in Port-au-Prince to provide medical care and perhaps meet with the CHE teams. Bibiana has 20 years’ experience in Haiti and recently wrote, “CHE is the tool that will bring these people back on their feet, through long-term commitment. I hope our teams will be able to continue to serve and expand so these men and women who are in such distress will know that God has a plan in spite of what we see today. Would you participate as a long-term partner in this venture? It would be impossible to do accomplish all of this with just relief funds. Long-term goals must be put in place. People will forget once CNN, Fox News, and other news anchors leave the scene, but the Haitian people will still need us.”

To donate to CHE programs in Haiti go to:

LifeWind International

or to the CHE Network home page or directly to their donations page:

Canadians:

MACA ***Designate Fund: Haiti Reconstruction

Box 4390

Edmonton AB

T6E 4T5

The above organizations will use the funds for:

Immediate relief will be distributed by trusted CHE groups who work in the earthquake zone.
During the recovery period, LifeWind will empower further work of CHE in the area around the earthquake zone.
Across Haiti, we will empower CHE teams. They help community members work together to address the key issues of poverty, disease, and infrastructure, bringing resilience through community organization when facing disaster. And as the message of CHE is taught, participants hear and receive the good news of Jesus Christ, the one who brings HOPE.

There are a lot of wonderful people working in Haiti. Messiah Episcopal Church, my Minnesota church home, has a sister parish in Leogane, not far from Port-au-Prince. News reports indicate that up to 90% of the buildings in Leogane were destroyed. Here is a site that will enable you to donate to Messiah’s various partnerships in Haiti.

Nicaise and Madeleine Avignon, a Haitian couple that attended Messiah Episcopal Church now run an NGO in Lougou in southern Haiti and are receiving donations at their website.

Steve Sethi is a physician from Oregon who works with the organization Haiti Foundation of Hope which has started a CHE program up in the north of Haiti and is also helping with disaster relief. I met Steve and his wife Beth when they were in Argentina two years ago.

Summer of Thanksgiving

2010-01-11T19:05:00.016-07:00

My mom has been "swelling my kumquats" to put out another blog entry, so here it is. Seriously, though, I love my Mom, and she is a huge help to me: among other things she receives my mail in the States and follows up on everything I can't do from here. Last week she convinced the state of Ohio that I paid taxes in Arizona and so don't owe any to them. Thanks, Mom! I love you!

While in Brazil in November I found out how few missionaries have supportive parents. There is a lot of heartache out there. This year I was blessed to have both my Mom and my Dad visit me! I posted earlier about my Mom's October visit. In December my Dad and his wife Beverly came for three weeks and they took me down south to see the incredible sites (see more photos on Facebook).

We also got to spend Christmas together, what a joy to have family visiting during the holidays!

The past few weeks I have been doing office work -- part of the reason I didn't feel as motivated to blog, since it doesn't sound all that exciting! I took the below picture of my workspace today. I was working from the kitchen on my quarterly report, and you can see my mate gourd on the left from earlier plus my cup of tereré on the right (as it got hotter I switched to the cool drink).

Despite people's best intentions to continue with trainings and site visits throughout the summer I've noticed that things really slow down here in January and February. So what am I doing besides quarterly reports? My organization declares a day of prayer for CHE programs throughout the world and I translated the prayer guide into Spanish. It had to be corrected of course, since among other things I can't seem to get straight the use of the prepositions por and para. Let me know if you want a copy!

New Year's Eve

2010-01-11T15:58:00.022-07:00

Here are pictures from our New Year's Eve celebration:

Above is the dinner table filled with typical Argentine food, such as cow tongue (with vinegar and onion) and Waldorf salad. I'm not much of a cook so I supplied the ice cream, which was served at 2 am with fruit salad. Earlier we had the traditional sparkling wine toast at midnight, then went out to watch the fireworks up and down the street, followed by SALSA!

Oh, yeah, they tried to teach this señorita how to salsa and above you can see the result. Wow. I might have made more of an effort if I had realized that was my camera that Hugo was taking pictures with!

Above you can see me laughing on the side, probably at myself!

Sorry this video is on its side but I couldn't figure out how to right it. It's pretty fun, so I decided to add it to this posting anyway.

I feel pretty much at home here, but have noticed that one of the times I most feel like an outsider is at weddings. While they play a lot of the standard American and British pop songs at wedding receptions the songs that really get people out on the dance floor are the Latino ones (that I don't know).

That's one really fun thing about the majority of the Western hemisphere: while there are lots of different countries and cultures, having a common language (Spanish) helps people to share things. Salsa comes mostly from Cuba and the cumbia we also listened to that night came from Colombia, yet the room was filled with Argentines and Uruguayans (plus yours truly). Here's a link to one of the songs that you can hear on the my videos: Celia Cruz' La vida es un carnaval.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-14T19:44:00.004-07:00

Well, I nearly forgot it was Thanksgiving what with the temperatures warming up and all! Thankfully my cell group from last year remembered and we decided to have dinner at my house again, this time with husbands included. I suggested we all bring season-appropriate food, but you can see that Beba (above) made another delicious turkey! (Her first turkey was last year's, since it's not a common food here or in her native Uruguay.) And yes, those are strips of some sort of bacon/ham on the turkey!

Here is her niece and my friend Gaby getting out the pate (very Argentine) and the hearts of palm. Yum!

And here we are eating away! I made the salads, does that shock anyone?

And just the ladies....

Visit from my coordinator

2009-12-14T19:21:00.006-07:00

My coordinator, Bibiana, came for a site visit a few weeks ago. What a wonderful opportunity to learn from her! Above you see three Brazilians from a group working in Berisso expanding on their vision of community transformation and where they see CHE fitting in with that. One of the challenges of this bright, dedicated group is that almost all of them are studying at university and/or employed, leaving them less time for ministry in the community.

Bibiana is my "coordinator" rather than my "supervisor" since LifeWind has a non-hierarchical organizational structure. In turn I "coordinate" CHE ministry in Argentina, working alongside of (not over) local teams. Here we are listening to Horacio describe his vision and passion for Baradero. A great discussion followed about how CHE and church-planting/growth can actually be one thing (not two) if a vision for holistic transformation, multiplication, and development -- rather than relief -- is adopted by the church. Very exciting!

Above you see Bibiana with the Baradero team: Silvia and Horacio, Nora, Marisa and Alejandro.

La Pampa

2009-12-14T18:48:00.009-07:00

What a welcome to La Pampa Province! I went there last month with my friends Annie and Bill (pictured) and we were greeted with mate on arrival (in one of the oh-so-interesting cow hoof mugs, yum!) by Annie and Bill's daughter Virginia, son-in-law Marcelo, and their seven children. Pictured here are Paula and Santiago.

What do you feed a family of nine? A great Argentine dessert is a mild cheese paired with an equal part of either quince jam or sweet potato. I've never seen the ingredients this big before, though.

This picture looks so much like Arizona, I just had to post it. Marcelo and Virginia have a dairy farm that has been seriously affected by the drought this year. Despite feeding the cows what they can at each milking they lost over 60 this year and had to sell off hundreds more.

Here are some bones seen along my running route.

Here I am along the road to their house. I got in some great runs out here! On one of those runs I was accompanied by a poodle the whole way (well, he took some detours to chase birds in the fields, but kept coming back to me).

I went to La Pampa because of the possibility of Virginia's church being interested in CHE. I met with her pastor and found that they are desperately interested in any training! This is a sparsely populated province and the pastor noted that most of the pastors he works with have received very little training. Several have recently started a correspondence course and he was very grateful for this opportunity.

He is planning to talk with other pastors of his denomination and hopefully in a few months I will do vision seminars throughout the province as a precursor to a Training of Trainers (TOT1).

This is symbolic of our life in Christ to me today: a beautiful Siamese kitten. We took several to Buenos Aires to sell for Virginia, and I was hoping to keep two. Annie had offered to watch them while I travel (which is quite frequent, the reason I thought I could not have cats before). However, it was not to be, as my landlord does not allow cats.

Why is this symbolic of life in Christ? We begin to really live as we "trust God and not our own understanding," and yet this new life also involves a lot of "dying." I have died to my own desires: moving away -- many times -- from friends and family, a difficult profession, staying single, not getting to have cuddly house pets to keep me company at home. And yet along with all of those things I have received: the excitement of making a difference in people's lives, the joy of having friends all over the world, a heart that is more and more open to others, purpose and opportunities to serve, and passion and peace and comfort and joy along with the tears.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, not in that order

2009-11-10T15:55:00.005-07:00

Check this out! I was so impressed with my new bug bites and foot swelling that you get three pictures. I have no reaction at all to mosquitoes in the States, and perhaps was a bit too smug about this for too long? I got bitten pretty badly two weeks earlier in Misiones and last year in Salta, but this was the worst so far.

Here you can see some of the foot swelling. I used a lot of bug repellent with DEET but they tell me that the mbarigüí (local small insects) are not as impressed with that. A friend who is a retired nurse and worked for years in Misiones Province tells me that a lot of the bites are also from "chicken bugs." The family did allow chickens to run freely through the home and she says the bed I slept in was probably filled with these bugs -- which makes sense since upon lying down the night I slept in the country my legs started itching!

I had the worst time sleeping that night, what with the itching and the bizarro bed and the crazy dogs barking (there was a full moon that night and apparently they see much more to bark at on those nights). So I spent a lot of the night praying, asking for alertness the next morning for my training and being thankful that I don't normally sleep places like this, as some missionaries -- and lots and lots of poor people -- do.

A close-up of a particularly itchy area several days on.

BUT, this is what I woke up to the next day: I stayed at my nurse-friend's home in Misiones before and after going to the rural area. Actually, the night before this was beautiful, complete with a hot shower, calamine and antishistamine lotion, and clean sheets! Above is where I sat during my devotional in the morning, complete with mate.

And this is the scene the following day at the start of a three-night, all-expenses-paid stay at a hotel in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil! This is the view from my hammock! More pictures are forthcoming.

Trip to Misiones -- Travel part Deux

2009-11-10T15:36:00.005-07:00

Ah, tereré! How refreshing when one is boiling hot to drink cold water (or juice, or water with flavored herbs) over mate. I had this picture taken because I remembered being here in May drinking mate (in the same outfit!). After lunch and the vision seminar we came back to Emilia and Ricardo's to await a ride back to town: no one ventures out at siesta time so we had a few hours to kill.

Here we are hitching. Ricardo and Emilia know how to do this, so I just hung back.

I wish I had a picture of this truck that offered us a ride -- it was huge! Thankfully there was a ladder on the side for us to climb up on. Emilia tried to sit at first, with her egg basket. However, the swirling red dirt made that impossible and we took up the typical position you'll have seen in everyone's third-world photos: standing facing forward holding on to the cab.

You can't tell it here, but we were getting covered in red dirt. Covered.

Stunning views of the countryside from high up on the truck! Can you spot Ricardo on his motorbike?

Trip to Misiones - Training and Eating

2009-11-10T15:07:00.006-07:00

The church where the vision seminar was held on Sunday morning. We had been planning on doing it the night before but the pastor was busy all evening putting back together the bridge you see that was destroyed by recent heavy rains.

Here's a close-up of the church. We had participants from three different denominations but segregated the small groups by gender due to the hosting pastor's preference. Gender and faith issues have been coming up a lot recently. I won't get into a lot here, but I will just note that women preach in this Pentecostal church, although men and women sit on different sides of the aisle -- or different sides of the circle, with the set-up we use in our trainings -- and all women have to wear skirts (I have now added one to my travel list, I had to borrow one this visit).

In several Brethren churches I have been to here women are not permitted to preach or teach adult men and they often wear head coverings. However they do sit mixed together with the men!

Ah, an idyllic scene. While I've grown accustomed to chickens entering buildings where we were doing trainings, on this day one of these cows tried to come in the front door! Thankfully one of the participants got up and shooed her away.

Here's most of the group that came to the seminar. In addition to talking about what is involved in starting a CHE program we discussed "The Great Commandment and the Great Commission," or God's plan for us to love God with all our being and love our neighbor. I also gave a lesson on relief vs. development.

Yum! They invited me to stay for lunch afterwards: chicken with pasta -- in the big bowl -- and a funky side dish from Misiones, flour mixed with grease (I swear those are the two ingredients I remember! I'll update this when I can think of the name)

Trip to Misiones --Travel

2009-11-10T14:39:00.007-07:00

This is the first in a series of picture-dense postings about my trip last week to Misiones Province (Argentina) and Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

I stayed in Puerto Esperanza some of the nights and this is a restaurant I passed on my walk to the bus station. I want to know if that DiscoChef can dance?

This is my bus arriving to take me to the nearby town of Wanda, where my contact Ricardo lives during the week. He had scheduled a meeting with some people from his church who were interested in CHE.

I'm really glad the windows are open, it's HOT!

Above is the bus terminal in Wanda.

It's Saturday morning and we're ready to go to Colonia Lanusse, a rural area, so that I can give a vision seminar to people interested in CHE. This is Carlitos' truck. He drove really quickly on the dirt roads that were heavily rutted by the recent rains. I'm glad I didn't come back with him that day: he opened up the oil tank (?) on his car and they had to walk a ways and hitch a ride back to town.

We pulled over to the side of the road to let this truck go by. In this picture you can sort of see how rutted the road is, since at this point the cab is leaning one way and the trailer another. Pine trees are not native to the area but have become a big crop in the past few years.

How beautiful is this?

Carlitos, Ricardo, and Emilia sharing tereré on the porch of Ricardo and Emilia's country home.

Above is Emilia's wood-fired stove. She'd made a yummy soup for lunch, which (of course) included manioc/cassava, very popular in this part of the country.

Iguazu Falls and my Mom

2009-10-28T18:21:00.003-07:00

My Mom was in town for two weeks, lots of fun! I've been a bit busy what with work and visiting and now prepping for a trip tomorrow, so I haven't been updating my blog.

Above is Nora Rodriguez with me at the "Garganta del Diablo", probably the most impressive fall at Iguazu. It's been a life-long dream of Nora's to see the falls, and here she is! She came with me not just for the sightseeing, but also to help me with two trainings that we had scheduled. One was reduced to a meeting and the other canceled entirely due to torrential rains that prevented travel to the rural villages even by tractor!

I have another chance, though: The Christian Hospitality Network has given me a gift of four days at a hotel on the Brazilian side of the border, Foz do Iguaçu, starting next Monday. So I'm heading up early (tomorrow night, an overnight bus trip) and stopping in Wanda. We'll have another meeting in Wanda Friday night and hopefully a vision seminar in the small village on Saturday with participants from the surrounding area. The rains stopped yesterday and the forecast is for sun, so they are starting to invite people (in an area without cell phone signals and few landlines, not so easy).
Here I am our second day at the falls after it rained all night, changing the scenery remarkably. This fall was now touchable. And yes, the poncho was necessary -- I got pretty wet even so. Do you like the shape the backpack gives? :-)

Actually, the torrential rains up there are starting to lead to flooding down here. I read in the newspaper today that they are having to move nearly one million head of cattle due to flooding of the pasture lands.

Above you see Mom and Nora waiting at the Puerto Esperanza bus station to go back to Puerto Iguazu for our flight back the next morning. Oh, and our trip back was on Mother's Day! It's celebrated in October in Argentina, and it was nice to actually be with my Mom on the day!

Mom and me at the airport just before she left. Sigh.

A morning in the life of...

2009-09-30T08:24:00.003-07:00

A morning in the life of Liz. Actually, my pastor has asked me to film "A Day in the Life of", but the really good days are when I'm traveling and I'm still unsure of how to do that with a videocamera, since everyone here says I will get knifed for it, at least in the city. I'll come up with a safe way to do it, though, and if you go to Epic you'll see the results some day!

Anyway, my mornings start out with a caffeinated beverage, either mate cocido (tea bags of mate) or coffee. Most Argentines heat milk for coffee (not for tea) and so above you see me pouring the milk into my pot on the stove. You can also see a box of matches on the back of the stove -- no pilot lights on the stoves here.

Looking down my stairs to see the mail that came in this morning. It's a bill. Many companies pay workers to distribute the bills rather than send them through the mail, you can see that this one doesn't have an envelope.

The wonderful rocking chair I got in Nicaragua, where I read the Bible and pray in the mornings. With coffee and breakfast, of course. And a blanket since it's still chilly!

Trees outside my window. The one in the foreground is a Chinaberry tree which is very common here. The berries are now falling off and you can see them on my balcony below. The flowering tree seen above is my neighbor's, isn't it stunning?

And, last but not least: since I agree with the philosopher D. Zoolander that there is more to life than being really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking, below are my feet in my freaky-looking Vibrams! Off for a run!

I haven't taken pictures of the train station yet. It's conveniently located only six blocks from my apartment, and drops me off just one block from my church. They've been kind enough to let me use an office at church, which is very helpful for days I'm not traveling. I find it's much easier to concentrate away from home.
Today I'm working on a presentation I'll be giving on Saturday. I've been invited to speak about my ministry at the 33rd anniversary celebration of the Brethren Church's Women's Missionary Committee (CoMFe). Now, I'm neither Argentine nor Brethren, but my supervisor is and last year I met some CoMFe members with her. The work I do in Argentina is ecumenical and I do work with some Brethren missionaries. Actually, the church I attend here in Buenos Aires, although now independent, has Brethren roots.

A day in the life of Argentina

2009-09-18T14:26:00.019-07:00

Silvia (in the brown coat) with her friends in Baradero.

To give a glimpse of a day in the life of Argentina, here are selections from September second's El Clarín newspaper:

Only 3% of monies hidden outside the country have been declared [since the president called for all Argentines to declare any monies they may have sent outside the country for safe-keeping]
A woman has been released from prison four years after receiving a life sentence for the death of her five-month-old twins. She was originally accused of having killed them in an Umbanda ritual [a cult]: the girls’ father was an Umbanda priest and their house was used as a temple. The case was reopened and it was decided that the girls’ death may have been accidental.
The police detained an Argentine Olympic cycling champion who claims he was beaten by police while training with 70 other cyclists on a highway. It is illegal to cycle on the highway but he states that they have no other alternative, “We can’t ride on the frontage roads because our bikes will get stolen. Plus, we have to ride at 50 km/hr.”
Food and beverages have seen the most inflation according to private sources [INDEC, the official keeper of statistics, has lost all credibility]. The price of vegetables has increased 12.4% in the past month. [The government fixed the price of bread two months ago.]
Lots of articles about the proposed new media law, which would require radio stations to renew licensure every two years. Clarín states that this law is an attempt on the part of the president to restrain free speech and control the media in a Chavez-like fashion; also that it is directed primarily at media sources that oppose the government and particularly against The Clarín Group.
Several articles about the tax on agricultural products, the farm protests and strikes that have been taking place on and off for the past year and a half, and the drought.
England has announced a new governor for the Falkland Islands [which Argentina claims and calls “Las Malvinas”].
A deficit in the Buenos Aires Province jeopardizes 10,000 feeding centers and school lunch programs for children.
Argentina has the most expensive technology in all of Latin America: Argentines pay 48% more than Mexicans, 28% more than Peruvians, and 22% more than Chileans for the same products.
.Lots and lots of articles about soccer!

Kids playing with machetes in Baradero. This house is a half-block from an Umbanda temple.

Cold trip to Salta

2009-09-17T10:54:00.014-07:00

Two months ago I went up north to the province of Salta. As usual, I stayed with Sulma and her delightful family in the small town of Apolinario Saravia. Because I was there during winter vacation, several of Sulma's family members were in town, including her adorable niece you see in the above picture.
Above you see Doña Lidia, Sulma's mom, making the dough for empanadas. The filling is in the pot in the foreground. They have a gas stovetop but their only oven is wood-fired.

Sulma is an elementary school teacher and has received extensive training in CHE -- she even completed the internship in Nicaragua last year. Sadly, a local group of CHE trainers has not been able to form yet. Her sister Lucrecia and brother-in-law Gabriel have also been trained, but they moved to a different province last year due to an illness in the family. Gabriel had been the pastor of the church plant in Burela, where the CHE program was started. He and his family were also in town for the winter vacation and we discussed their plans which don't currently involve moving back to Saravia. While a group from the province of Cordoba (the Jesucristo Rey church) is still interested in helping them, without a local team CHE can't continue.

CHE consists of three basic elements: a local team of trainers, community health evangelists (CHEs), who go house-to-house to teach their neighbors, and a committee made up of locally-recognized leaders that plans big projects for the community and also selects the CHEs . The team of trainers, as the name implies, train the committee and the CHEs.

I'm not much of a baker but this year I've been making lemon bars. The wood-fired oven was a little too hot and the egg in the lemon portion did not cook evenly. They tasted good, though!

On my last day there I took a walk with Sulma and her mom. Sulma's Dad, Don Alfredo, joined us on his motorbike.

Above you see Sulma as we wait for my bus a few blocks from her house. I don't know when I'll go back there. Neither Sulma, nor the group in Cordoba, nor I have given up hope that we might be able to establish a program in Burela, but for now things are on hold.

I had a few layovers on my trip back to Buenos Aires, and spent hours at a bus station in Metan. Above you see the room I waited in -- there are shrines to the Virgin Mary at most bus and train stations. The poster in orange is informing passengers about swine flu.

Salta is a northern province, which in the southern hemisphere means that it's warmer than the rest of the country. This week was unusually cold, and it had actually snowed in several parts of the province! The Metan station is not enclosed on all sides, and since I was waiting at night -- my bus arrived around midnight-- it was really chilly. After whining to my friends in text messages, I got out my IPod and listened to some great sermons from Rob Bell.

Yesterday's Trip

2009-09-02T16:15:00.011-07:00

I went to Berisso yesterday, a city of 80,000 on the outskirts of the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires, La Plata. Above you see Paulinho, Aryany, and Reberson, three Brazilians who have intentionally moved to a slum in Berisso, seeking its transformation. Here they are in Reberson and Aryany's house. We were going over the map they'd made of the community and discussing how they can continue to get to know the people in the neighborhood, especially the adults. They already know most of the children, that's a lot easier!

Reberson is planning to start medical school next year (here they do a combination of undergrad with medical school, so it would be the start of university for him). You can see on the table the $10 otoscope that he bought at a market, we were trying to see how it worked.

Well, Aryany went off to school and Reberson "made lunch." (Meaning, he went down the street and bought pizza and baked it in the oven.) Here you see the way Brazilians eat pizza, which Reberson told me he thought was American! Paulinho is adding ketchup...

And Reberson is adding mayonnaise. Actually, he ended up adding mayo, ketchup, and mustard to his pizza.

It's kind of chilly in their house so we kept our coats on. Aryany just moved to Argentina in December after marrying Reberson, and it's been difficult for her to adjust to the cold. Her poor fingers are swollen and red from being too chilled. But they are both 1) young and 2) filled with love for the people there. They have such a hope for the people in that community. I love this part of my job, where I get to meet with people who share this vision of the Kingdom of God, and I get to encourage them, help them define the vision they have for their communities, and teach them tools to hopefully achieve that vision.

This is a house that Mision Puente was renting until the owners came back. It's right next door to Reberson and Aryany's place. "El Quincho" means the type of building you see below, and is the name of their church.

This is the church, built behind the house you saw above. They started construction nearly two years ago, and short-term teams from Brazil come frequently to add to it.

What a pretty house! Reberson and Aryany were supposed to live in the house next door, and had done some pretty major renovations to it. Thankfully they've now finished most of the inside work on their current house (read: plumbing and gas) and in the last few weeks they painted and added the window boxes!
Reberson standing in his front yard, with the neighborhood behind him. You can see some of the drainage issues they are facing -- last year they tried to get the neighbors involved in working on this issue since it affects them all. It didn't work so well. Next year hopefully they will have a committee of locally-recognized leaders and perhaps they will have success?

Waiting in line for the bus that you see pulling in at the La Plata terminal. I got a seat this time!

Baradero

2009-08-27T12:47:00.005-07:00

Above you see Silvia, Nora, and me heading across the tracks into the neighborhoods we're working in. I'm going out to Baradero about every other week now, meeting with Horacio and Silvia, the team leaders. On the day this picture was taken we were working on our "spiritual map" of the neighborhoods. We map the houses plus any altars, brothels, and corners where drugs are bought and sold. This map will be used so that the Baradero team can come up with specific prayer strategies.

Above is an altar to "Gauchito Gil," one of the most popular idols in Argentina. This is in the backyard of a family's house.

Here's a typical house in that part of town. There's a lot of trash around since most of the families don't have trash cans inside or bins out front. In the future, when we have "transformational change agents" improving their own houses and teaching their neighbors, having good trash disposal will be one of the points for a "healthy home."

Above, Silvia is knocking on the door of the house of someone known to be a Christian. We were going to ask her for help with our map, but she was bathing the kids. Late afternoon seems to be the time for washing up, so we usually head to the barrios in the mornings.

I love this picture: kumquats in Horacio and Silvia's yard. All of the above pictures were taken by Bonnie Hudlet, a missionary photographer with whom I became friends when she hosted me on a trip I took to Cordoba. She was in Buenos Aires for some other ministry commitments and accompanied Nora and me on our trip to Baradero, graciously taking these photos for our use.

An answer to prayer: opportunity at my local church

2009-08-10T19:05:00.009-07:00

Last Saturday night I had the immense privilege of facilitating a training with the youth at my local church. It was lots of fun! I didn't know a lot of the youth since at church they tend to sit upstairs in a balcony, so I don't even see them. It was also a huge privilege to have as my co-facilitators my good friends Nora and Monica.

A small group discussing how Paul knew so much about the Athenians, and what information he learned about their social and spiritual life.

Yay for Nora! She has been helping me at lots of trainings, and it was so great to have her at this one since she also works with the youth. Above her is a list of some of the ideas the youth had on how to strategically pray for the areas they are going to work in.

Here is the river crossing sketch we use frequently. Here the young woman desperately wants to cross the raging river to go to "El Dot." What, you may ask, is that? Well, while many people dramatize this story by needing to cross the river to be near their dying grandmother, Ana needs to go to the newest Buenos Aires mall! On the right of the photo you can see my friend Monica. She attends this church also and offered to come to pray during the training. However, since she's also taking our training in La Plata, she ended up helping one of the small groups with their tricky, worldview-changing assignment: thinking about relief, individual development, and community development.

Here is another small group. I am so blessed to have had this opportunity, and hope that we can repeat it. Many of the youth said that they want more trainings in these areas, and I also personally want to get to know them better since they are such a vibrant force at our church.

I don't usually use a microphone, but since there were about 50 participants it was necessary.

Florencia, our photographer for the evening -- she even took this picture! She's the daughter of Horacio and Silvia, of the Baradero team.

Randomness

2009-07-06T08:37:00.009-07:00

Apropos of nothing, here's my old community group in Arizona. The photo was taken during my trip in April when we had a "reunion supper." Truly a remarkable group of people!

It's been an interesting few weeks for those of us interested in public health. Argentina has now admitted to 65 deaths due to influenza A (H1N1) and after last week's elections major steps were announced for containment: however, each city and province has its own policies. The gym a block away from me was closed for a week but the restaurant there stayed open. Cinemas were selling only half the tickets for a few days so that people could space themselves in the theaters, then many chose to close altogether. Yesterday was a public holiday to celebrate Argentina's independence, and today was declared an additional public "health" holiday for government workers. Here's an article from the BBC about some of the policies and their economic effects. The Minister of Health resigned last week (and it's now come out that she'd suggested postponement of the elections) and the government from one day to the next changed the number of swine flu cases from 1700 to 100,000.

Randomness:

Ads seen plastered all over a ritzy area downtown: "Spiritual advice. I'll bring your loved one in 7 hours. For every question I have an answer." Boy, that is a truly attractive worldview, isn't it? No mystery at all, an answer to every question. Isn't that what we want a lot of the time? Even if the answers aren't true?

Posters seen at the bank: "Immediate approval! Dream it. Get it. Enjoy it." In Argentina, credit is taken to new heights: when you purchase something on your credit card they will often charge your credit card in three to five (depending on the promotion) separate monthly installments!

And finally, the poster I enjoyed most this campaign season was from the Worker's Party: "Let the capitalists pay for the [economic] crisis."

And to continue the laughs, above you have Karina, Brandt, and me doing a cardio workout in Arizona. (There were other even funnier pictures of Brandt doing some great poses, but they were just too unflattering to the rest of us!)

Flu, Elections, Randomness

2009-06-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

My soccer buddy Ezequiel.

Random musings:

I was in La Plata yesterday, accompanying a team of Brazilian missionaries that have started implementing the CHE principles. They told me about a little five-year-old boy, Dylan, that comes to play at their church plant/soccer field. The other day he said, "I need help setting up a house." When asked why, he said, "I need to move out on my own. My Dad doesn't love me." A few minutes later he poked his head in at the window of the house we were meeting in, which is next to the church and where the young married couple Reberson and Aryany live. He hung out with us for most of the rest of the meeting, alternating standing next to the two men in the meeting. Five years old.

Infections with the influenza A (H1N1) virus are overwhelming the medical system in Argentina. In the southern hemisphere it is also winter, and therefore also the typical flu season with A (H1N1) added on top. Some hospitals have stopped all elective surgeries, and one hospital has been designated exclusively for flu cases. The majority of the cases have been in Buenos Aires.

Big elections are coming up on Sunday, although not presidential. In my cell group we prayed for peace on Monday, as chaos is predicted depending on the outcome. See this story in the BBC news. It is also predicted that schools, churches, malls, and movie theaters will close after the elections due to the flu outbreak.

Senator Sanford's affair is big news in Argentina since his partner in crime is Argentine. Here's how yesterday's paper categorized South Carolina, "More than 90% of the inhabitants of the state are Protestant, in large part Evangelical. They live austere lives, normally arising at dawn -- in one of the e-mails Sanford says he gets up at 4:30 am - they go to church and pray before they eat."

So, when people ask me about Argentine culture, I hem and haw. How to explain things? How to know if after only a year and a half I even understand things here? When getting up early in the morning automatically means "austerity", how can we be sure we're even speaking the same language?

The view from my balcony at sunset, nice and autumnal.

Misiones Province

2009-06-19T13:55:00.005-07:00

A few weeks ago I took a trip up to the northeastern province of Misiones. My friends Sara and Eva went to see the famous Iguazu Falls while I got together with a new contact, Ricardo. He is friends with a couple that I work with in Baradero (Buenos Aires Province) since they lived in Misiones for a time. The above picture was taken at a political meeting that I accompanied Ricardo to, a few miles from his home. Elections are coming up next week and a local politician gathered the people from the village seeking their votes.

This photo was obviously taken from inside the car. I love it when people appreciate where they're from, and this was certainly the case here. They said, "Take out your camera, as soon as we go over this hill you have to take a picture!" Pine trees aren't native to the area but in the past few decades have become a popular crop.

Above is the car we hitched a ride on to get to Ricardo's home. Isn't the red dirt beautiful?

A delicious meal with Emilia and Ricardo: chicken with manioc (cassava) and a salad. Emilia apologized that the chicken was so small. You see, it wasn't ready yet for the slaughter but it taunted one of their dogs and got into a fight with it. She tried to save it but it was too far gone, so it became our lunch.

Proof that I got some work done: a meeting isn't complete without sharing mate. We discussed the local area and the possibilities of training Ricardo's contacts with the CHE materials. There is a lot of poverty in the area, although the trick with CHE is that the projects undertaken are the ones the villagers decide on, not the trainers. For example, Ricardo thinks it's bad that everyone has latrines, not flush toilets. He thinks that everyone is satisfied with the latrines, and that's a bad thing. Of course I say the issue isn't the type of toilet, but whether or not hand-washing is done afterwards!

Ricardo and Emilia's grandson showing me the beautiful eggs from their chickens. See the green ones?
Time to head back to the city. How to get there without a car? Wait on the side of the road and hitch. Thankfully a neighbor came along. Tricky thing is that the back of the truck was filled with cow parts, grapefruits, etc.

This is a picture of a chainsaw, grapefruit, and a covered-up cow's head with its horn sticking into my sandal. It was kind of crowded in that truck.

But I still enjoyed the view!

And the company!

Fun facts:

In Argentina, instead of saying, "every two weeks" one says, "every 15 days."
A favorite verse for Argentines to quote is the first half of Psalm 92:12: The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. I'd never noticed that one before, is it used here because they actually have palm trees? Why don't we use this one more in California and Arizona, then?

Blessings

2009-06-04T08:58:00.005-07:00

Eva and Sara hanging out at the Rio de la Plata looking at downtown Buenos Aires.

It was such a blessing to have my friends Sara and Eva come for a visit! I have been friends with Sara for 20 years, and became close friends with Eva 16 years ago after we became roommates. In addition to the amazing-ness of laughing and crying and talking about everything under the sun, they also really blessed me in practical ways. Sara brought a router with her and I was able to get wireless, therefore moving out of my dark, depressing hallway into the sunny living room! I've been planning on this move for six months now, and really love it!

Now granted, the only heater is in the dark, depressing hallway, and today it is 61 degrees (16 C) both inside and outside of my apartment, but I have a scarf and a blanket and sunshine!

Eva set up an incredibly helpful Excel spreadsheet which will allow me to track all expenses, both those where I receive advances and those I submit expense reports for. This week's work will be to work on the five months of back expenses....

Here I am walking with my soccer buddy Ezequiel, with Sara looking back at Eva the photographer. Not only were Sara and Eva game enough to play Ezequiel at soccer (three on one) but we also walked down to the San Isidro Sunday market with him.

Sara noticed this brand of burger, yum!

Vacation

2009-06-03T11:47:00.009-07:00

Sara and Eva, good friends of mine since college, were visiting the past few weeks and I took some time off. I managed to get in some ministry, too, but I'll post those photos later. We went to a tango show with a friend of mine and her uncle, who's a big tango aficionado. Dinner was at 10:30 pm and the show started just past midnight. Here is a bit of an Argentine folk dance, the zamba:

Another traditional Argentine "dance" is done with the Argentine version of the lasso. When roping cows, Argentines used ropes twisted together with stones on the end, which twist around the cow's head. In this type of performance the ropes are separated.

Here are Eva and I drinking coffee and watching outdoor tango.

Here are Sara and Eva toasting each other on the bus ride to the Misiones province. It was a pretty swanky bus and they are enjoying a pre-supper whiskey!

Here is Patricia, the sister of some good friends of mine in Buenos Aires. She was an incredibly gracious host to us during our stay in Misiones. Here she is showing us the mines in Wanda.

Here are Sara and Eva next to the semi-precious stones.

Our first night there Patricia had a ministry activity, so we stayed home and played the piano. The next day Eva and Sara went to see the stunning Iguazu Falls while I went to meet new ministry contacts (more about that soon, including pictures of me and lots of cow parts sharing a ride). On Sunday we played and sang hymns with Patricia since her church shares a pastor with other congregations and there was no church the Sunday we were there.

Baradero trip

2009-05-07T19:51:00.004-07:00

Yesterday morning I got up, went for an early run (I just have to throw that in here, I never go on early morning runs and I'm so excited!), and hopped on the train to go downtown. I walked to the bus terminal where I met Nora, a member of the Baradero team. We had a great 2 1/2-hour ride to Baradero as we caught up on her family, my trip, and the lessons we'll be doing at our next La Plata training -- I think she's slowly warming up to the idea of facilitating a lesson, stay tuned.

We arrived in Baradero and went right to the church which they're now opening for prayer on Wednesdays from 7 am to 2 pm. The sign above is outside the church at these times, it reads: In this place we pray for Baradero. Bring us your request, today we're praying for you. While we were there a local pizza shop owner that Horacio and Silvia know stopped in with his sister-in-law. Shortly thereafter it was time to close up. After 2 pm everyone is siesta-ing in this town. :-)

The rest of yesterday and today were spent meeting and praying together and visiting with people. This morning Horacio and Silvia had a meeting with town organizers where, to make a long story short, it looks like they will finally be given permission to present the program No more violence in the school system. Woo-hoo!

Nora came back to Buenos Aires last night since it was her son's birthday today. As I came back by myself tonight I read the two newspapers I'd bought yesterday on the way to the bus station. El Clarín, for me, is an exercise in attempting to understand Argentine politics. There are so many different terms bandied about that I think it will take me years to even begin to get it. Then I read Il Corriere della Sera to brush up on my Italian. The first several pages dealt with a presidential divorce scandal and the reaction of the Vatican. Not something I would expect in Italy. An interesting juxtaposition was the story on the apparently new frostiness in the relationship between the Ayatollah Khomeini and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and how that will likely affect the president's political career.

Return to Buenos Aires

2009-05-04T12:47:00.009-07:00

One of my last views of San Francisco (off to the right and covered in fog): on our way to Lorena and Gregor's friend Patrick's to play a game before going to the airport.

I got back to Buenos Aires a week ago Friday after six weeks in the States. I want to tell you about my return:

Killer flight, 26 hours from first take-off to last landing, two nights in a row on planes! Yuck! I still don't sleep on planes, and they actually repeated a movie that wasn't worth watching the first time. But I did buy some Peruvian chocolate (see last posting).

Friday:
Got home, watched an episode of Flight of the Conchords (that Lorena and Gregor gave me) and went to bed at 8:30 am.

Woke up to a phone call from Silvia and Horacio (Baradero team). We chatted about the next day's training in La Plata that they were going to help me with. I reviewed what I'd prepared for the next day and found that I had no more work to do on it!

Went for a run and felt so good after the first round that I went again for a total of 6.6 miles, a new record for me (by far!).

Got back to more phone calls from my friends Nora (also on the Baradero team and helping out at the next day's training) and Monica.

Opened my fridge and found the food that Margarita, the woman who cleans my place fortnightly, had prepared. Pears, plums, carrots (some grated already), lettuce (already washed), tomatoes, and milanesas (breaded meat). What a huge blessing!

Saturday:
Took the train to meet Horacio and Silvia who were driving Nora and me to the La Plata training. We shared mate on the drive as we discussed last-minute plans for the day.

Excellent training in La Plata. All of the participants had completed or at least started the assignments from the last session which were to start spiritual maps of their target communities and do a seed project to help out in the neighborhood. Wow!

Here are the participants looking at the collection of resources in our group. The different colors of post-it represent 1) what we like to do with our hands, 2) what we can teach others, 3) what we're passionate about, 4) what we would like to learn if it were available in our neighborhood, and 5) neighborhood groups we are part of. This is an exercise to help them begin to focus on the resources of their communities (Asset-Based Community Development) rather than on what is lacking.

Leading the group in singing, "Build your house on the Rock."

All in all an excellent return to my new home. I felt mimada (cared for, pampered), missed, and I had an excellent team helping with the training, and really lively, active participants at the training.

Three wonderful women: Silvia, Monica, and Nora.

Autumn

2009-04-28T09:09:00.006-07:00

Today is a lovely, warm autumn day in Buenos Aires. Above is the view from my front window right now: you can see that the leaves are falling off the trees and piling up on my balcony.

I had a fun day navigating the trains and buses of Buenos Aires today (three hours total). A married couple, both young physicians, had found out about our ministry from a website. We've been e-mailing on and off and today I went to their church in Mataderos (part of Buenos Aires) to see their program with neighborhood kids. We talked informally over mate about their program and the CHE tools while the kids had a snack and a music class. Then I presented the CHE model to the ten adult volunteers.

The bus trip back was equally beautiful. Although I passed through some poor neighborhoods I also saw lots of lovely plazas, and the sunshine and changing leaves were lovely.

Next week I'm hoping to write about the rest of my US trip as well as my return to Argentina. Stay tuned!

Randomness:

On a chocolate bar bought at the Lima airport: One tablet of Extreme Sublime recharges your energy after a soccer game or a vigorous half-hour of running.
The soap I just unwrapped says: for luminous sensation and envied skin.

2009-04-28T09:05:00.003-07:00

I haven't been posting recently due to my travels, and now due to internet connection issues combined with jetlag and feeling slightly overwhelmed with work. I hope to start updating this blog in the next few days, so check back!

Wisconsin and dreams

2009-03-30T18:59:00.007-07:00

A run-down barn in a surprisingly central location in the town of Medford, Wisconsin.

I'm guessing this is a government building, I didn't see a sign.

Today I am very grateful. I drove into Wisconsin late last night after a wonderful get-together with faculty and former residents of my family medicine program. J and Cassie are amazing hosts! I drove here in my cousin's wife's car, which she has generously loaned me for the duration of my Minnesota/Wisconsin visit. I stayed overnight with them (for a few hours only, leaving at 4:30 am!) and arrived this morning in Medford, Wisconsin, for a two-day Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics course. One of the things I am doing in the States is taking needed continuing medical education courses to keep up my medical license, although I am not currently practicing. I am grateful because:

Today I was thinking how much I miss OB, and practicing medicine for that matter.
As I talked with a fellow D.O. on a break, I was thinking about his comments that the Twin Cities are really lacking D.O.s who do osteopathic manipulation, and how easy and helpful setting up a practice there would be.
Yesterday I was really excited as I shared with others about the doors that have been opened for me in my work in Argentina and the thrill of sensing that I am joining God in God's work there.
Yesterday I talked with someone about my former work in corrections, and how much I enjoyed many aspects of it.
Last week I was loving being with my friends and relatives in Minnesota and thinking how beautiful it is to be with friends that are not only superb but with whom we have a long history.
Yesterday morning I was sad that it was my last service at Messiah Episcopal Church, but also really glad at the thought of being able to worship at Epic Christian Church next week.
Tonight I am thankful because my Dad was thoughtful and offered to pay for my hotel room here so I could avoid five hours of driving (between tonight and tomorrow). I'm exhausted and need to study a bit before tomorrow's test.

So I'm super-grateful to God that while it's true, I have some poignant dreams about moving back to the States (to several states at once, if possible!) and would really enjoy other jobs, it's also true that I have a lot of possibilities in my life. I live in a place where I now feel at home and work at a job where I feel that I am useful and moving with the Holy Spirit. In a rough economy I am not only supported in that ministry through donations but also have many other options.

Como Lake just after my run. Minnesota is so beautiful year-round.

Rachael and me at the coffee shop with the best baristas in the Midwest. Oh, the delectable goodness of a well-prepared macchiato!

St. Paul

2009-03-30T18:44:00.003-07:00

The Como Park Conservatory. I've loved this place since I was a kid. Even though the suggested donation has gone up from 50 cents to two dollars, it's still worth it to see rooms full of plants and flowers like this one.

My Aunt Char, with whom I'm sure I went as a child to the conservatory many times!

Spring in Minnesota means you need a good slicker and an umbrella. One of the reasons I love Minnesota is that it is easy to be outdoors all year. Despite the cold and the snow there are shoveled paths around lakes and the Mississippi and lots of people are out enjoying the scenery.

Paul and Libby at the best pizzeria outside of Naples, Italy. Yum!

Holly came down from Duluth and Erin and her daughter drove in from a 'burb. Holly and I were youth pastors together (way back when Erin was in high school) and later that day when Holly and I were at a coffee shop with my computer we started chatting with Jennifer, another young woman who was also in the youth group. She's now in Qatar -- the internet still amazes me with its usefulness and free-ness.

Minnesota

2009-03-30T18:29:00.003-07:00

My first week in Minnesota I stayed with Paul and Libby and their two boys. It's an immense privilege to call them friends. Here is Paul assisting Gibbie as he makes the French press coffee.

Here are Ezra and Gibbie with Grace and Kate. This was very fun -- hanging out with Libby and her boys who played really well with Jenny's girls. Jenny and her mom came up from Michigan, what a joy to see them all!

Here is my old housegroup (from top): John and Janet, Myra, Jeff, Lois, and Doug. I was part of this group (with only a very slightly different configuration) from 1993 to 1997. We celebrated Lois' birthday with venison, how Minnesotan!

I've gotten to see my college friend Teri and her precious daughter Hazel a few times, she is growing up and running excitedly all over (Dexter the dog is also proudly in the photograph).

2009-03-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Argentina and books

2009-03-12T14:06:00.002-07:00

Seen at a street cafe in a touristy part of town (El Caminito). I love this pose in the tango!

The BBC recently posted an article with different impressions of Argentina by a reporter who lived here for years.

I believe this is part of the Argentine zamba. We walked by these dancers while touring Buenos Aires with Barb and Melanie (the estheticians who came to give a manicure training).

Recently I read a list of books an acquaintance had read last year, which I thought was an interesting look at his life. Since the books I read last year are helping me both to form and to articulate my thinking (in fact, I'm planning to re-read a lot of them this year) I thought I would post mine.

Read in 2008:

A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren

The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

O2 by Richard Dahlstrom

The Real Mary by Scot McKnight

The Myth of a Christian Nation by Greg Boyd

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission by David Bosch

Seamos como niños: Pensar teleógicamente desde la niñez latinoamericana by various authors

End of the Spear by Steve Saint

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

When the Spirit Comes in Power by John White

Not Good if Detached by Corrie ten Boom

Read over half of the following short story and essay collections:

Doce cuentos peregrinos by Gabriel García Márquez

Cuentos Completos by Julio Cortázar

Cuentos de amor y locura y muerte by Horacio Quiroga

The Local Church, Agent of Transformation by various authors

Re-reads:

The Bible (read it through chronologically in 2008)

Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

I have had the privilege of speaking at numerous churches. Here I am at my "home" church giving a summary of the manicure training. The man on my right is one of our pastors, Jorge, and the two women on my left are Barb and Melanie, the estheticians.

Ridiculously Blessed

2009-03-11T01:00:00.006-07:00

The Baradero team two weeks ago, working hard in beautiful late summer surroundings.

I am ridiculously blessed.

In three days I leave for the United States, and although I will be there for nearly six weeks I’ll be in four states. I am ridiculously blessed with friends and family that love me and care about me and are traveling to come see me if I can’t get to them. I will not be on vacation while there, since I will be attending medical conferences and following up by e-mail with people in Argentina and sharing with individuals, small groups, and churches what is going on in Argentina. However, I choose to look at the overwhelming amount of opportunities as a blessing. (Remind me of that if you see me stressed!)

I brought out the camera during our Baradero meeting to take a picture of this hummingbird. Can you find it? It’s green, so it's tricky to spot.

Tonight I sat out on my balcony to decompress after a busy day. I looked at the nearly full moon while Rich Mullins started singing, “Everywhere I go I see you.” I thought, how true, when we open our eyes we see God everywhere. I had been stressed all day and never really stopped to let God move in me, to give God my burdens and take up the easy and light yoke that is offered. Before stepping out on my balcony I did so, and I think that’s why I was able to see God in the moon. The moon in and of itself was stunning, but then a light cover of clouds came over it and the aura created was huge and colorful. I heard a breeze blow through a neighbor’s tree and was delighted with being able to worship God in nature despite being in a city. (Then a truck zoomed by down my cobblestone street and I heard a train in the distance.)

The Baradero team relaxing well after a hard day’s work, enjoying a long after-dinner conversation. I was thinking that night that I am incredibly blessed to be here, where one of the lovely cultural traits is enjoying one another's company for an extended period after a delicious meal.

The next song that came on was Step by Step. The first time I remember hearing this song I was in a rattling van with a bunch of teenagers heading northward in the middle of one of the harshest Minnesota winters. I thought how crazy it was that I had just started to serve God with the youth, and knew that I was over my head and that was where I was supposed to be. “And step by step you lead me, and I will follow you all of my days.” I thought about all of the decisions that I had made in life, both to serve in different ministries as well as times that I had chosen forgiveness and healing over bitterness and anger and how those decisions had opened up huge new vistas in my life each time.

On Saturday in La Plata we had the first of seven modules in the Neighborhood Transformation series for urban areas. In an expansion of the “give a man a fish, teach a man to fish” theme, after learning how to cross a rushing river and teaching others to do so (multiplication) the ones who learn how to cross get the town together to build a formal crossing at the site. This would be like forming a fishing cooperative.

Carlos of the Salvation Army explains to the class his group’s ideas on how to meet the challenge of unemployment/underemployment in the context of relief, individual development, community development and structural change.