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Animals in Asia: A Cultural Experience to Wonder At
A Sudden Scream from the Kitchen! A funny kind of lizard jumped off the kitchen screen, startling the visitor from America. Visitors gaze down in wonder at a Christian pastor who has found frog raising a helpful boost to his income. I reckon this is a pretty neat variation on what the apostle Paul called…
Hard Working Men
During the past 5 years we have had the privilege of helping thousands of mothers and children in Jharkand State of India reach better health. Fewer babies and fewer moms die now. But, I wish we could have done more to make life a bit easier for the men. Life is a grind for them,…
What happens when differing cultures eat together?
When I was in Mozambique, back in May, the dynamics of hospitality and friendship in eating together struck me again. There is a unifying impact that happens when people of very different cultures sit together and one eats the food of the other. Yet, all through history people have been scorning other ethnicities’ foods: Jewish…
A 92 year-old Lady In Her Home Place, With a Sense of Place
While in Bangladesh last week, it was a privilege for me to meet the 92 year-old mother of my co-worker, Kohima. Her hospitality was striking: she moved quickly to make sweet tea for us, her guests. Even more striking to me was the sense of being at home in her place that I felt in…
Life on the River in Dhaka, Bangladesh
At this moment the country of Bangladesh is passing through a kind of anguish. Old wounds from the civil war with Pakistan are being dredged up in trials against Bangladeshis who sided with Pakistan and are accused of war crimes. So, an alliance of opposition parties has decreed a series of strikes, “hartels.” Buses, cars,…
Kolkata/Calcutta & Mother Teresa’s Memory
Kolkata, India brims over with humanity. Arteries clogged with traffic, shirtless men asleep on the side walks, markets smelling of tea and spices—it’s a sensory overload place where over 14 million human beings live. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata) Mother Teresa’s solidarity with the poor of Kolkata, in the name of Christ, strikes me because it’s hard for me…
The Killing Fields Memories of Cambodia
I hope my readers won’t weary of this series of blogs on Cambodia just yet. I’d like to share a few pictures about the memory of the “killing fields”: memories Cambodians live with. From the time the US armed forces pulled out of Vietnam in 1975, to about 1979, there was a great turmoil in…
Sugar Palm Trees of Cambodia
When you travel in southern Cambodia in January or February you see long, skinny bamboo poles tied up on the tall trunks of a special palm tree that the people allow to grow disbursed in the rice fields. This is the sugar palm tree. Love0 Share Share Share Pin
Amaranth: A Help in Uganda and a Hit with the Kids in Michigan
The name of the plant is amaranth. It’s a high protein grain that has a wonderful balance of amino acids. Mexican Aztecs and Peruvian Incas probably knew more about growing the grain than we know today—it was that important to them. African women farmers like Dorcas and Casee taught me a lot about growing in…
Wonder: The Intelligence in Creation: Example, the Elephant
In Thailand I saw elephants who could paint. This morning I read an article in the BBC site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18507515) that explained how one of the secrets behind the intelligence of elephants who can paint is that they have long pregnancies. That allows for the baby elephant’s brain to develop a lot and be able to…