We haven't even left for Africa and the difficulty of international travel is rearing its ugly head. Booking airfare as a group means your individual rights are gone...no way to upgrade using your mileage (or favors from your big sister), seat assignments, on-line check in. Besides the airlines and hotel issues add the medical records, proof of birth, shots, currency exchange (here or there?), luggage weight allowances, language, weather, etc.
There is a saying in Africa to remind visitors of what it will be like...TIA-This is Africa! Things will go wrong, expect unexpected hassles, hurdles and understand that schedules and deadlines may have no meaning. I guess that is the excuse used to justify the unorganized, inefficient, and slow services we will experience. I am ready, having traveled around the world for most of my life. But I wonder about my companions...some of whom have never left the beauty and civility of the Pacific Northwest. We seasoned travelers will just have to care for them. "Roll with the punches", "Go with the flow", and "don't have any expectations" will have to be my mantra to counter TIA circumstances. Perhaps I will learn to be more patient upon my return.
I have been anticipating this trip for 2 years now, but am full of fear. Not the typical fear of disease, hunger, heat, mosquitos, danger or death; but I am afraid of what I will feel, see, smell, hear and taste while over there. Mostly my fear is focused on seeing the great need and not wanting to do anything about it. Apathy will be my greatest temptation. I am afraid to pray for faith because that would require action...action I may not be prepared to follow through with. That is too funny...I know my prayers would be answered, and I may not want them to be! But I am going with an open heart, hoping I have the strength and courage to do what is asked of me to do.
Many of you have been asking what our group from NW Church will be doing while we are over there. We have group responsibilities as well as individual assignments. Our group of 11 adults will be leading some teaching, preaching, singing, and ministry classes on Sundays, and will get down to the business of educating and caring for orphans of AIDS the rest of the time. We will be representing an arm of Christian Relief Fund out of Dallas. Our church supports the school by paying the rent, paying the teachers and keeping the buildings going, while CRF feeds, clothes, and cares for the children...about 380 of them at the Ring Road Orphanage and School. Besides Ring Road, we also have a group of children we support in Kitale at the Lakeside Orphanage. We have a fairly diverse group going...teachers, business people, skilled artisans, and me.
While I will help with some teaching, I will also be doing some leg work for CRF. We built an AIDS clinic on site at the request of the US Government who had set aside money for African AIDS grants for abstinence programs. We built the clinic to their specifications but did not get a grant...so we have an unfunded brand new clinic with no doctors, nurses, or counselors. By chance (or was it something else?) an AIDS doctor and missionary came across unsponsored orphans while looking for more sites to build and staff clinics. We know orphans, they know clinics...we may do a little horse-trading while over there. My role will be to see if something creative can end up in a win-win situation. I need to check out new sites for orphan support by evaluating the ministry leaders, the families and churches that will provide the services, and the orphans themselves. I will "process" them by getting their life stories, their picture and data for the CRF database. As with any of these charitable requests, we need to make sure the orphans' needs come first before any political or religious agenda. Pray for my discernment as I will be making recommendations that truly are life and death decisions.
I want to also see if there are opportunities to make the works there more self-sufficient and less reliant on cash donations from abroad. I have been asked to look at micro finance opportunities and I will look for other cottage industry type options like light assembly and manufacturing, or even warehousing. We shall see.
Keep us in your prayers. I think this post will be the last one for a while. I will keep a log and use that to add blog posts and photos upon my return.
Chow!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Father's Day Post
It's Father's Day today, and I wanted to wish all of you fathers out there a great day! You may think your career is the important job of your life, but in reality it is being a good father; one that sticks to it, sacrifices, and loves unconditionally.
My brother and I had the chance to talk about our dad experiences a few weeks ago by phone. We were laughing that Dad never taught us how to ride a bike, never helped us with homework, or talked to us about the opposite sex (unless he was making a joke). However he seemed to instill in us personal drive, generosity, commitment, morality, a love for travel and great food, and how to have fun. Dad is a popular social entertainer, and he is usually the life of the party. He can cook like nobody's business, and if you need someone to catch fish...put the rod in his hands. In my case I also learned to enjoy financial things, real estate, and the outdoors...I think I got that from him. He was always home for dinner, he never had any bad vices (a love for Scotch and Bourbon don't count), and he has stayed married to my mom for 51 years. His hobbies seemed to be ones that improved him somehow. He learned to fly a plane in the 1960's and play tennis in his 50's. He got his real estate license in his 60's and has succeeded in all three of those hobbies. He advanced his flying skills to include jets as big as a 737...he has been club champion in his age group in tennis, and he has turned his love of real estate into a second career after retiring from the US Government. Duke and I decided that it wasn't a big deal to not have that memory of Dad teaching us how to ride a bike...we have better ones. We have seen much of the world because of who our dad is...and we saw that world the way he wanted us to...the way the locals live, what they eat, and how to speak their language (as best you can manage). We never had the cushy posh accommodations, and he forbade us to even ask to eat at a McDonald's when overseas. I secretly cursed him for that one...but now I see, and more importantly, I agree with his perspective.
I find that I am subconsciously imitating him. I find myself saying the same things to my kids that he said to my brother, sisters and me. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery. So, Dad, consider yourself flattered! My kids laugh at how similar I am to Grandpa...they find it funny...I think it is a compliment. I did, however, add to the parental experience. I did teach my kids to ride bikes, how to swim, play sports, and have had those "talks" when the kids were the right age. Unfortunately I am not home for dinner every night, and I am less patient with loved ones as he was with me...this bothers me. But it is almost too late...maybe I will be a better grandfather than a father in that regard. I guess I will have to wait to see if my kids imitate me with their kids.
My brother and I had the chance to talk about our dad experiences a few weeks ago by phone. We were laughing that Dad never taught us how to ride a bike, never helped us with homework, or talked to us about the opposite sex (unless he was making a joke). However he seemed to instill in us personal drive, generosity, commitment, morality, a love for travel and great food, and how to have fun. Dad is a popular social entertainer, and he is usually the life of the party. He can cook like nobody's business, and if you need someone to catch fish...put the rod in his hands. In my case I also learned to enjoy financial things, real estate, and the outdoors...I think I got that from him. He was always home for dinner, he never had any bad vices (a love for Scotch and Bourbon don't count), and he has stayed married to my mom for 51 years. His hobbies seemed to be ones that improved him somehow. He learned to fly a plane in the 1960's and play tennis in his 50's. He got his real estate license in his 60's and has succeeded in all three of those hobbies. He advanced his flying skills to include jets as big as a 737...he has been club champion in his age group in tennis, and he has turned his love of real estate into a second career after retiring from the US Government. Duke and I decided that it wasn't a big deal to not have that memory of Dad teaching us how to ride a bike...we have better ones. We have seen much of the world because of who our dad is...and we saw that world the way he wanted us to...the way the locals live, what they eat, and how to speak their language (as best you can manage). We never had the cushy posh accommodations, and he forbade us to even ask to eat at a McDonald's when overseas. I secretly cursed him for that one...but now I see, and more importantly, I agree with his perspective.
I find that I am subconsciously imitating him. I find myself saying the same things to my kids that he said to my brother, sisters and me. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery. So, Dad, consider yourself flattered! My kids laugh at how similar I am to Grandpa...they find it funny...I think it is a compliment. I did, however, add to the parental experience. I did teach my kids to ride bikes, how to swim, play sports, and have had those "talks" when the kids were the right age. Unfortunately I am not home for dinner every night, and I am less patient with loved ones as he was with me...this bothers me. But it is almost too late...maybe I will be a better grandfather than a father in that regard. I guess I will have to wait to see if my kids imitate me with their kids.
Our kids have it easier, and we seem "okay" with easing them into the world. Maybe we have the means to do the easing, but I am not sure it is the better way. I think learning about and experiencing some disappointment at a younger age strengthens us and keeps us persevering instead of quitting. We just think they shouldn't have to go through any pain. I don't think fathers believed that just a generation ago...because the reality is that there will be pain in life.
Believe it or not, but this blog has opened up lines of communication between me and my kids and even my parents. I think they like seeing my train of thoughts about personal things like feelings, my upbringing, and my opinions. Maybe it shows them my human side.
Chow!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Bonsai Master
It has been a while, my sincere apologies for those of you who get the update on our lives from my blog space. Work has been crazy, life outside of work has been crazy, and I just haven't had the energy to even think about The Blog of Wu.
I had a flash of inspiration this weekend that I thought I would share with you all. My aunt came to visit us over the weekend; it had been way too long. She only lives about an hour from us, but we only get to see her a couple times a year. I called her to see if she wanted to come over for a visit. She was happy to hear from me, and said that she had been thinking about calling! She had a gift for Melanie...she was looking through her jewelry box and came across a string of pearls that my mom and dad had gotten for her when Dad was stationed in Japan in the 60's. She felt it was a good time to return them to our side of the family, and insisted that they go to my daughter instead of her own granddaughter...Chinese traditions...who can figure.
Anyway, it made a nice excuse for her to visit. Typical of my auntie, she was about 3 hours late. She had to run a few errands, do a little shopping (she always stops at the Asian mall that is on the way to my house), and she slept in. Luckily I know her habits, so I planned dinner for around 4:3o, but told her to come at 1:00. She got here at 4:15. We had a nice dinner, caught up on the latest news about her son, daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter. We spent the late afternoon and evening trimming a Bonsai tree that she had given me when we first moved to Seattle 7 years ago. I had neglected this poor little guy for 6 years. I watered it, moved it indoors in the winter, but had no clue how to trim it up. I was glad she brought her bonsai trimming stuff with her.
My aunt is pretty amazing...she learned about bonsais years ago and decided that she would make this into her hobby. She is truly an artist with it. She told me the romantic history of a monk in China that was trying to capture the beauty of nature that he had seen as a young man. He made miniatures of mountains, waterfalls, and of course, trees. His miniature worlds were put into small dishes, plates and bowls...hence the Chinese translation of "bonsai"... life in a bowl, literally. It was very relaxing sitting there, snipping away overgrown branches, wrapping the unruly ones with copper wire to get them to submit to my idea of how they should develop, and planning years in advance of where I wanted a branch to be. I was trying to imagine how it would look in 5, 10, and 15 years, and tried to trim it accordingly. I got lost in the time, and before I knew it, it was dark. We chatted, trimmed and snacked on fruit for over 3 hours. Now I know why it was a Buddhist monk that first started this...he had some time on his hands to contemplate.
My little bonsai has 3 trees potted in a rock shaped pot, and looks like a mountain. I finished trimming one, and couldn't wait to get to the other two, which I just finished tonight. Here is the work in progress. It is starting to look like an ancient tree, in miniature.
Just what I needed...another hobby! I am going to look for a "project" tree to submit into miniature. I will keep you all updated on my search...it has to be a woody trunked plant that is about 5 years old. Digging it up, planting it in ever decreasing pot sizes should turn it into a miniature...leaves and all.
Chow!
I had a flash of inspiration this weekend that I thought I would share with you all. My aunt came to visit us over the weekend; it had been way too long. She only lives about an hour from us, but we only get to see her a couple times a year. I called her to see if she wanted to come over for a visit. She was happy to hear from me, and said that she had been thinking about calling! She had a gift for Melanie...she was looking through her jewelry box and came across a string of pearls that my mom and dad had gotten for her when Dad was stationed in Japan in the 60's. She felt it was a good time to return them to our side of the family, and insisted that they go to my daughter instead of her own granddaughter...Chinese traditions...who can figure.
Anyway, it made a nice excuse for her to visit. Typical of my auntie, she was about 3 hours late. She had to run a few errands, do a little shopping (she always stops at the Asian mall that is on the way to my house), and she slept in. Luckily I know her habits, so I planned dinner for around 4:3o, but told her to come at 1:00. She got here at 4:15. We had a nice dinner, caught up on the latest news about her son, daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter. We spent the late afternoon and evening trimming a Bonsai tree that she had given me when we first moved to Seattle 7 years ago. I had neglected this poor little guy for 6 years. I watered it, moved it indoors in the winter, but had no clue how to trim it up. I was glad she brought her bonsai trimming stuff with her.
My aunt is pretty amazing...she learned about bonsais years ago and decided that she would make this into her hobby. She is truly an artist with it. She told me the romantic history of a monk in China that was trying to capture the beauty of nature that he had seen as a young man. He made miniatures of mountains, waterfalls, and of course, trees. His miniature worlds were put into small dishes, plates and bowls...hence the Chinese translation of "bonsai"... life in a bowl, literally. It was very relaxing sitting there, snipping away overgrown branches, wrapping the unruly ones with copper wire to get them to submit to my idea of how they should develop, and planning years in advance of where I wanted a branch to be. I was trying to imagine how it would look in 5, 10, and 15 years, and tried to trim it accordingly. I got lost in the time, and before I knew it, it was dark. We chatted, trimmed and snacked on fruit for over 3 hours. Now I know why it was a Buddhist monk that first started this...he had some time on his hands to contemplate.
My little bonsai has 3 trees potted in a rock shaped pot, and looks like a mountain. I finished trimming one, and couldn't wait to get to the other two, which I just finished tonight. Here is the work in progress. It is starting to look like an ancient tree, in miniature.
Just what I needed...another hobby! I am going to look for a "project" tree to submit into miniature. I will keep you all updated on my search...it has to be a woody trunked plant that is about 5 years old. Digging it up, planting it in ever decreasing pot sizes should turn it into a miniature...leaves and all.
Chow!
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