We were gathering that early evening because a few days earlier Laura had seen this video. She shared it with our friends, and they had, in turn, shared it with others, and the response was immediate and overwhelming. People were asking us how they could give money to help. The image of a grown man in tears because he hasn't eaten for two days is hard to get out of your mind.
I sat in a hospital that was—well, let's just say it was different than the one I'd sat in almost two months prior.
A hungry beggar looked and asked, "Might he to one so mean impart / Such life and with it hope endow?"
I sat across the table from one of my English students at a coffee shop. A book called All New Easy True Stories: A Picture-Based Beginning Reader was opened between us. The stories contained in the book are high interest stories taken from real life and retold in simplified English. Illustrations accompany every couple of … Continue reading Even the Simplest Story
A three-and-a-half-year-old's voice pierced the darkness between the back and front seat. "Is your husband home already?" she asked Laura. The little girl was sitting beside her mom and younger brother in the back. Laura was driving. "Yeah, he just got home," Laura said, heading down our street en route to their house in the … Continue reading Cries for Help
September 2014 We sat opposite each other on short, backless stools in Baatir’s backyard. A pair of well-worn shoes in hand, Baatir punctured another hole in the shoe’s rubber sole with an awl, hooked the piece of thread he carefully held on the inside of the shoe, and pulled it back out through the hole. … Continue reading Places Where Flowers Bloom: Our Debt to the Poor
July 2014 We took our dusty shoes off at the open door and pulled back the fly net. The small, two-room home into which we stepped was built for one reason only: practicality. All expenses spared. The first room of the house contained a sink, some counter space above which several cabinets had been mounted, … Continue reading Places Where Flowers Bloom: Sheep Eyes, Bride-napping, and Fasting
Here are some articles and posts from around the web that have been especially insightful, encouraging, and challenging to me lately. I hope you enjoy them. Rachel Jones recounts a story from her life in Djibouti about the time a baby named God came to stay at her house. As she does, she reflects on … Continue reading Five Posts from Around the Web