Stuff, stuff and more stuff

1. Global Poverty Initiative conference: the small part I attended was GREAT! Little did I know this was their very first ever conference. They were turning people away, which is a good sign that people are really interested in issues surrounding global poverty. Once I was there, I wished I could have stayed for the whole thing, but two sessions out of 96 isn't completely bad...

2. Paul Farmer was great. Pretty energetic- he's like a very incredibly smart yet sociable 20-year-old. A young woman sitting behind me had just come from breakfast and happened to run into him. She was totally starstruck! I probably would be too. He mostly spoke about our need to not make global poverty our "hobby" but to take it on seriously. He also cautioned about going out and forming our own NGOs, since everyone else is doing it. His desire is to see the public sector of impoverished countries be funded/supported. He was asked some questions specifically about Haiti, and it (shouldn't have, but it did) surprised me just how much people in this area love and support Haiti. I knew that our church weren't the only ones to take up Haiti as a cause, but wow. Hopefully we can all work together.

3. Another meeting about Haiti. We're moving ahead with our plans to visit Port-au-Prince. We'll go from there.

Global Poverty Initiative Conference Starts Today!

The Global Poverty Initiative conference starts today (I'm going tomorrow). Given the deepening crisis that is happening surrounding food and its production and distribution, I'm curious to see what people will say.

Paul Farmer, the subject of "Mountains to Mountains" and the cofounder of Partners in Health, will be giving first keynote talk of the day tomorrow. A friend of mine had commented that she fairly stalked him for a few years so she can quote his speech. I'm pretty sure, though, that in light of what's happening currently, he'll have something new to talk about.

I read an article in an Australian paper that stretched my viewpoint on how big this actually is- I didn't realize there were riots happening in Egypt and Cameroon as well as Haiti. And the situation is a lot more complex, as apparently the World Bank is calling for countries to reevaluate their approach to farming. Given how reluctant people are in general to change anything about how they live their lives, and how removed from world realities people in the US are, it'll be interesting to see what the reaction to this actually is.

Anyway, 'nuff said. I'll have thoughts and reactions to the (very few, unfortunately) seminars I'm able to go to tomorrow.

More questions than answers

Yesterday the current prime minister of Haiti was ousted from office, due to the crisis surrounding the affordability of food in Haiti.

Thoughts off the top of my head:

• This situation certainly highlights the vulnerability of the world's poor to whatever is happening to the world's rich.
• The World Food Project is trying to raise over $90 million to help deal with Haiti's food crisis. $90 million! Even so, it looks like there are problems with getting the food through the bureacracy and paperwork of customs. What's wrong with this picture?
• How can outsiders step in and help?
• What are the long-term solutions?
• Why isn't this more visible to the rest of the world? Why did I have to go digging around various websites before I found out what was going on?

Sign of trouble to come?

I saw on CNN's website that there were protests in Port-au-Prince yesterday about rising food costs. Understandable, given that most people in Haiti earn about $2 a day. Reading further, it seems that 95% of Haiti's wealth is held by 10% of the population. No wonder tensions are flaring up.

Last night my group and I talked briefly about our upcoming trip to Port-au-Prince. A couple of years ago, that trip got canceled in light of all the kidnappings that were taking place in Port-au-Prince, so we're eyeing the current troubles a bit more closely and praying that we'll still be able to go.

The situation does point out how big the problems are in Haiti, and that we as a group need to go in with a longer-term view in mind. We also need to go in with humility, realizing we don't know the history, we don't and probably won't ever have all the answers, and that whatever we do, we don't want to make things worse for the people we want to serve.

I'm praying for wisdom, humility, compassion and an openness to learn for us, and a way through the current crisis for the Haitians.

Global Poverty Initiative

Next weekend in Boston, the Global Poverty Initiative at MIT is hosting a huge thing with bands, lectures, concerts, and films all related to alleviating poverty from all sorts of dimensions. The website is http://gpi.mit.edu. Hope to see you there!

Missing the old...

I got an email from a friend in Slovakia. He got married back in March and was sending along the pictures from his wedding, as well as an update about what he and his lovely bride are up to.

I met up with a friend last night to discuss where we are as a church in terms of short term missions trips and next steps to establishing direction and policy. She asked where I am in terms of pursuing my desires to be part of Eastern Europe. To be honest, I'm stuck.

I love Eastern Europe. My friend in Slovakia was one of many folks I met on a trip to Romania almost 10 years ago now, and it's really great that we're still in touch. Because I've lived in and traveled around Europe for many years, I have other friends I'm trying to keep up with. I feel alive in ways I don't living here in the States.

At the same time, one of the things my church is trying to encourage is embracing other cultures and learning from them. As much as I'm multiculturally attuned in Europe, going to Haiti has far expanded my understanding of who people are and how God lives among them. I had no idea how limited my understanding of God and culture actually was!

So, I'm stuck. I love Europe. I love many things about Europe. Always have, always will. But I'm starting to love the rest of the world too. I'm intrigued by the culture of Haiti and want to understand it through experience. I would love to branch out from there and visit other parts of the world (Indiana Jones ain't my hero just for nothing!).

I will always miss Europe. But here's to new adventures in the bigger, broader world...