Viva Mandela!

Though I never met him, I feel happy that he was born and lived on this Earth.  Global holiday on Mandela’s birthday? Please leave a comment.

Patricia Patron CEO, Family HealthCare

From my previous post,  http://potluckearth.blogspot.com/2012/11/family-healthcare-center.html,  Family HealthCare, Fargo North Dakota,  provides needed primary care and dental services for Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients... basically, anyone in need.  Also, the clinic offers medical support for the Lutheran Social Services’ (LSS) New Americans program. 

Patricia Patron is the CEO of Family HealthCare.  Her vision is that “Family HealthCare will be recognized as a valued, quality primary care provider in our community by caring for anyone in need.”  Family HealthCare  and LSS share no business structure.  However, they do share a passion to serve the people.  Both organizations have around its core the need to understand the person’s journey along with their need.  In fact, knowing the journey can be a vital part of helping better understand and serve a patient’s need. 

This is especially so with the New Americans Program.   Refugees spend years in United Nations refugee camps.  These refugees have fled areas mired in decades of conflict.  In the transition to a new country, even knowing what to eat can be a challenge.  Family HealthCare is a key part to getting 100% of 450 refugees per year in the Fargo area self-sufficient within 8 months. 

Patricia Patron’s journey to the CEO position just happens to be relevant to this type of transition.   She was born in Bogota, Colombia.  Colombia is not involved in what some would call a civil war.  Such a classification may be a matter for academic perspectives only.  As a minimum, there has been a long series of battles and civil conflicts between “Liberal” and “Conservative” forces.  The 20^th and 21^st century version - capitalism, socialism, communism, democracy, Marxist, right-wing, leftist - forces aligned with opposing Cold War powers fought proxy wars through guerilla warfare in the Colombian countryside and cities.  These connections brought military power and influence that lasted beyond the official end of the Cold War.

Patricia stated, her English emphasizing the P’s, T’s, and D’s nicely, “I grew up in Bogota.  My neighborhood is called Cedritos.  I rode my bike and roller skates there.  The food and music were great.  My favorites were buñuelos (made with Cheese, eggs, sugar, and other ingredients then fried), arepas (a flatbread made with ground corn), pan de yucca (baked with yucca and cheese), and pan de queso (baked with flour eggs, milk, and cheese).  Music was also important for me: Grupo Niche, later Enanitos Verdes, Miguel Mateos, Trova Cubana.  I listened to them.

“When I was growing up my dad worked for an Italian company that had pasta and cornmeal operations.   My dad was the accountant for their operations.  My mother was a stay at home mom until I was 15.  Then she created a partnership with one of her sisters.  She sold paint out of a store for automobiles and furniture.”    Patricia went on to say that after her father retired, he opened his own business.  He became a commercial distributor for the same company for which he had worked.  She worked with him in bookkeeping, business, and marketing.  It is now the family business in which her siblings are deeply involved.   All of this was accomplished despite the violence and political instability that erupted around them.

Buffeted in this upheaval were families attempting to hold together the traditions of their heritage, lives, or simply send children to school.  Her parents continued to provide an environment of care and safety as best they could.  For example, the quinceañera is an important tradition for Latino cultures in the Americas.   The quinceañera is a celebration when a girl turns 15.  The event is similar to other cultural festivals signifying the transition of a girl into womanhood.   Patricia turned 15 in 1986, right in the midst of serious political unrest and law enforcement initiatives.  

In 1980 one of the largest guerilla groups in Colombia took ambassadors hostage that represented countries in North American, Europe, South American, and the Middle East.  The embassy stood 3-5 kilometers from Creditos, Patricia’s neighborhood.

In 1985 the same group took Colombian Supreme Court officials hostage.   Again, near the same location as the earlier siege.  

Her family encountered personal loses as well.  “I had an uncle, my mother’s, sister’s husband, kidnapped and killed in the early 1990s.” 

Spanning all this, from the 1980s to early 1990s, a particular conflict stirred the pot that partially revealed the clandestine nature of the previously mentioned Cold War alliances.  The conflict boiled from the countryside into Bogota as well as other cities.   The drug cartels unleashed terror to battle against the 3 forces aligned to end them: L0s Pepes guerilla forces, the Colombian government, and elements of agencies from the United States.  Terms like Search Block and Centre Spike served as codenames to describe the efforts to take down one drug kingpin.

“Bombings, kidnappings, and murder into Bogota – These were the days before cellphones and Tweets,” remarked Patricia.  “You leave home at the beginning of the day and you do not know what is going to happen?  But, you continue to try and live your life with some sort of normalcy.  A half-a-mile from the school you hear that a bomb exploded.  All this was very... very… difficult for our family.” 

Patricia graduated school and studied Business Administration at a Catholic university in Bogota.   There she became engaged, got married, and finished her degree.  At this point in her life, it came to a decision of leaving Bogota because of opportunities outside of Colombia.  Despite all the violence that was going on, “It was still very scary to be away from family and that strong support system.”

She and her husband settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a while.  She learned English.   From Philadelphia she moved to Richmond, VA, then to Springfield, Massachusetts, and finally settled in Fargo, North Dakota.  January 2000 was her first visit to Fargo.  Patricia remembers thinking, Is it safe to breathe air this cold?  She has been there for 13 years.  

Her transition from Colombia, a deep appreciation for tradition and family, maintaining a clear vision and ideals through adversity goes well with shaping a positive future for Family HealthCare.  “Family HealthCare is committed to being a medical home for patients regardless of their insurance status.”  The clinic’s values are:

·         We will assure that every patient has access to the highest quality care.

·         We will genuinely care for the comfort and well-being of our patients by treating them with courtesy, dignity, and respect.

·         We will be comprehensive in our response to the needs of our patients.

·         We will be partners with our patients in their healthcare.

·         We will be innovative in our approach to care.

·         We will continually evaluate and improve performance.

One patient testimonial states, “Exceptional! Family HealthCare’s Employees and Staff are extraordinary people. While providing services daily, they also shoulder an extra burden with their patients, the added stress due to financial hardship. Time and time again, Family HealthCare’s employees and staff have stepped forward advocating for services desperately needed for their patients.”

To find out more on the Family HealthCare Clinic, click of this link, http://www.famhealthcare.org/index.html .  To donate click here, http://www.famhealthcare.org/support/donationsb.html

Children School Poisioning

Indian school lunch poisoning: doctors race to save children http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/india-school-lunch-poisoning-children-pesticides

Pin the White Rose - Part 2

Mother's Day, May 12, 2013

Pin The White Rose - Part 1

Pin the White Rose - Part 1

Sunday, May 12, 2013, Mother’s Day, this will be our moment to pin the white rose for the first time.  The Christian Churches of our youths (mine and my siblings) have a tradition.  If your mother lived, you wore a red rose.  If she had passed into the next life, you wore the white rose.

But, today is Wednesday, a cool spring day with a mild wind. I’m in a search pattern in the area in which Mother’s grave should be.  The sun sets behind the heavy oak and pine canopies - green, vibrant and cleared far from this field of stone covered fragments. Christians slow their cars as they arrive for prayer service. I see only those approaching from the north along the narrow road. Most drivers take a right to crossover the churchyard via the loose gravel path above me.
There is no official parking lot or parking attendants in florescent jackets. There is grass and sandy-red dirt. Everyone knows how to park close to the entrance without blocking someone in.
The new church building is complete and stands on my side of the old building.  To me, it looks as comforting as the old church, a simply built rectangular shoebox turned on its side, slanted roof with steeple.

I turn back to find Mother’s grave, lay flowers, and to meditate. I don’t remember walking so far up the hill on the day of the funeral. That whole day was surreally real, a dream I knew to be true, an event for which we prepared because of her illnesses but were, nonetheless, not really that prepared. I find Mother’s family and walk toward the newer graves.

I look at the graves - even that of my mother’s mother.  That others have gone through this first Pinning of the White Rose doesn’t comfort me at all.  What does comfort me is that seven siblings are going through this with me.  They love her also.  Their children love her. Mother affects us all. She gave us gifts to treasure or cast aside. She planted good seed to cultivate or let died in dusty Earth.  She modeled morals upon which we could raise our aspiration or let them both plunge into a chasm of darkness.  Her prayers and example moved us to the better side of those choices. That is, in my case, for the most part.

I spread the stems over her grave.  She was Kellie Mae Mitchell Hardy in this life – our mother, friend, cheerleader, and teacher.   In her honor, I will Pin the White Rose for the first time. But, I must say, it just doesn’t feel quite right because her presence is still very palpable in so many ways.

Pin The White Rose - Part 2

Farewell Baroness

This picture was posted on my facebook page.  Thought I would repost here.

Andre Creese, MD - Part 2 of 3

Dr. Creese tells more of his path to become a Medical Doctor.
http://assetmanagementhc.blogspot.com/2013/04/andre-creese-md-part-2-of-3.html

Andre' Creese, MD - Path to Emergency Medicine

Read the story of how a Bank Teller became a Medical Doctor of Emergency Medicine, and then built his own business.

Click Here.
Andre Creese, MD

Poor Caretakers of the Planet

I have been reading articles about population growth and about increasing consumption as more people in some developing nations move into the "middle class".  In that light, what are your suggestions on becoming better caretakers of our home, planet Earth. #poorcaretakers

Child of a Religious Leader

In my latest short story, The Paradise Alternative, the central character is the son of a Christian Clergy.  The central character is AJ, short for Alfred Jerome.  His father is a preacher and a pastor of a local congregation.  Because the story can definitely have a part 2, I continually think about the character's development. A thought came to me.  Are there similarities in the experiences of these children across religions?  

If you are the child of a person who leads, teaches, or holds a key position, I would like you to share your experiences.  Did you feel the same or different from others?  How did adults react to you?  Or any other thing you believe relevant.

Una Larga Noche – Hearing It For The First Time

Drinking hard liquor is really not my thing.  Seriously, it isn’t.  In my area, drinking hard liquor straight usually means whiskey or cognac, also known as brown liquor.  Brown liquor, it’s often the mother’s milk used by souls to wash away the lingering, unrequited scent of more.

I do drink socially on occasion.  My friends who drink don’t call what I do drinking.  I can nurse a shot until the melting ice turns into liquory flavored water.  However… when I first heard Ms Eva Ayllón’s version of Chabuca Granda’s Una Larga Noche… though I only understood the words in the refrain as A Long Night, her smoldering delivery, the arrangement - I could see myself going for a bottle of brown liquor. 

Instead, I went for an internet search to find a translation.  I saw differences in the translations.  Then, there was the word Zamacueca.  Browser website searches gave me a lead.  I saw mention of a dance.  So, I searched for video.  I found one.  I watched.  “Oh! Okay, this might take 2 bottles.”

Ms Granda’s original and Ms Ayllón arrangement, I like both.  I have yet to listen to either song play completely through only twice.  Ms Granda’s original is lingering perfume tossing covers back sitting on the side of the bed with your hot face in your hands pining away until a morning that never comes.  Ms Ayllón’s arrangement - all the previous plus turn up the flame until the pot boils runs down the side and scorches then add brown liquor.

Eva Ayllón
Use Translate on Your Web Brower
http://www.evaayllon.net/eva.php
or 
http://www.sonicbids.com/2/EPK/?epk_id=355695#bio

Aside from Una Larga Noche, when I play Ms Ayllón songs, something connects.  Some would call it a common ancestry.  I can’t deny that.  The soulfulness in her voice is familiar.  Her dance shadows movements I know.  Her band, that rhythm section, those percussions – who says that teleportation doesn’t exist.  She beams me to a place both familiar and foreign.

I will write about how and why this post came to fruition in another blog post.  For now, I want to thank Ms Ayllón and one of her managers, Juan Morillo, for granting this country kid from Coosa County, Alabama permission to post the translation they provided.  Mr. Morillo wrote that the following translation “...is closer to the original intent of the author, Chabuca Granda, and Eva's interpretation.”  Additionally, Mr. Morillo provided links to her bio, tour information, and concert clips.

Una Larga Noche

(A Long Night)

Written by Chabuca Granda

A long night

envelops me and holds me

and it protects me and loses me

Zamacueca, zamacueca

I lost a long night

Why is the night so long

And amazed and so lonely and so heartless

If it's just if it's just a long night

Zamacueca, zamacueca

It's just a long night

The night should be

A long dawn, scented, clear

And blue, an embroidered sheet

Of rumors and loves

or a morning star

invasive, vigilant

of my closed window

Zamacueca, zamacueca

of my closed window

My night is never dawn

That comes in the morning

It's just a long ledge

That turns around nothingness,

Zamacueca, zamacueca

That turns around nothingness

It's just fear my night

Slow fear, slow and long

Always slow, always within

Within a long night.

Zamacueca, zamacueca

I am lost in a long night

and it’s just a long night

zamacueca, zamacueca,

of my closed window

That turns around nothingness

zamacueca, zamacueca

within a long night,

within a long night,

zamacueca, zamacueca,

within a long night.

Ms Eva Ayllón’s Bio In English

Facebook Tour Information and Video

Ms Ayllón’s website

Chabuca Granda’s Bio on Wikipedia

Una Larga Noche Sample on Amazon

Best not to drink at all. If you do, be responsible.

And Happy Valentine's Day


  

Sick, Broke, and Locked Up - Part 2 of 2

Part 1 introduced Darci Asche,  the Community Support Services Supervisor for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, LSSND.  

They provide:

-Immigration Services

-Refugee Resettlement

-Case Management Services

-Refugee Employment Services

-Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Programs

Her path to this position from the small town of Gwinner, North Dakota, USA came through missions with her Church to help suitably change or restore the circumstances of others.  There was one mission that seemed symbolic of that path, the Border Mission along the American-Mexican border.

This border mission gave Darci a firsthand look at government policy’s direct effect upon a body of people.  In this case, it was a trade agreement of which many purported as removing economic trade barriers and offering opportunities for a better way of life.

Part 2:

The North American Free-Trade Agreement, NAFTA, was implemented in 1994.

The Government of Canada, the Government of the United Mexican States, and the Government of the United States of America resolved to:

-Strenghten the special bonds of friendship and cooperation among their nations;

-Contribute to the harmonious development and expansion of world trade and provide a catalyst to broader international cooperation;

-Create an expanded and secure market for the goods and services produced in their territories;

-Reduce distortions to trade;

-Establish clear and mutually advantageous rules governing their trade;

-Ensure a predictable commercial framework for business planning and investment;

-Build on their respective rights and obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other multilateral and bilateral instruments of cooperation;

-Enhance the competitiveness of their firms in global markets;

-Foster creativity and innovation, and promote trade in goods and services that are the subject of intellectual property rights;

-Create new employment opportunities and improve working conditions and living standards in their respective territories;

-Undertake each of the preceding in a manner consistent with environmental protection and conservation;

-Preserve their flexibility to safeguard the public welfare;

-Promote sustainable development;

-Strengthen the development and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations; and

-Protect, enhance and enforce basic workers' rights;

Source NAFTA Trade Agreement Preamble.

Benefits or detriments from NAFTA are tracked by the World Bank, corporations, the respective governments, and universities, etc.  None of these listed outcomes were the reason Darci volunteered for the mission.   A real human need developed as families and individuals migrated toward work in the Maquiladoras along the American-Mexican border. 

NAFTA brought an increase in the number of factories (Maquiladoras) along the American – Mexican border.  People migrated from the south of Mexico to settlements in the north.   The assumption seems to have been that if the Maquiladoras made money, taxes and investment would supply the funds for infrastructure development.  In Darci’s view, the settlements (colonias) did not develop that way.  Her perspective is that sewer, utilities, and other public works infrastructure were far from sufficient to support the people there.  Residential areas did not develop properly.

She saw the need.  She saw the individuals and the families who had moved into the border regions, forsaking their homes to pursuit a better life.  In one case, she met a 14 year old boy who had made the journey on his own.  He probably started on the trip at about 12 or 13.  “We pulled them from the agriculture of the south to the north then trapped them in the hell of the colonia.”  

Even so, those living in the colonias were not necessarily waiting for the corporations or local governments for development.  Nor was income from the Maquiladoras the sole source of advancement.   Darci witnessed “self-determination with no assistance from business or local government”.   They relied on one another.  Women developed cooperatives.  “They took the funds that they earned from selling weaving in the U.S. to fund kindergarten.  They sold traditional herbal remedies, too.”   She wanted to learn how to assist them in their endeavors and “treat people with dignity to re-establish happy and healthy families.”

This is the context in which Darci moved. When the position at LSSND came open, she applied and got the job.  Trade agreements, political and civil unrest, or just plain bad luck, Darci and other agency staff work in the very real human results of those events. 

The work is demanding.  Organizationally and personally owned vehicles run up miles on the odometer.  The target is to get 100% of 60-80 refugees self-sufficient within 8 month because there is very little safety net for them.  Currently, most of the refugees come from Bhutan.  Annually, they project about 400 coming to the Fargo and Grand Forks areas.  Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services in Baltimore, MD manages the initial transition after the United Nations performs legal checks, identity checks, confirmation of who can return to Bhutan and who cannot, and DNA testing.  The application approval can take 5-10 years. Of which, the applicants have lived in refugee camps years before that application was filed.   Who goes where is a blind process based on numbers.  Representatives from other countries and organizations work with the United Nations to determine how many of the approved applicants each of the organizations can take.

Once in the program, refugees tend to give back a lot back.  “They are driven and motivated.”  Most dollars are Federal.  Undesignated dollars are needed for bus passes, artisan materials, blanket, boots, hats, picture dictionaries, and good winter clothes.  They need gardening tools to take advantage of the limited growing season.  Darci has a diverse bilingual staff but has a need for case workers.  She has 3 case managers and could use 3 more. 

Language, just knowing how and what food to eat, learning what a dollar can or cannot buy or just saying hello presents challenges.  Yet, the agency has a 78% success rate it getting individuals and entire families self-sufficient in 8 months.

Darci says of her work, “I am inspired each day with the difficult choices and decisions New Americans make.”   The agency has brought foster children in her life as well.   Adoption is not allowed because of the uncertainty of some of the children coming into the program.  Foster parenting allows them to move from the refugee camps, receive help, and be rejoined with relatives without the legal entanglements associated with adoption. 

Regardless of the politics, regardless of the religion, across borders, or just down the street, LSSND staff, volunteers, and those who donate material and money are an inspiration.  The catchphrase of It’s A Potluck Planet is Everyone Brings Something to the Table.  In this case, Darci and the agency staff bring services, compassion, and restoration.  Please go to the following links to learn more and to find out how to support them.

Click here learn more about Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota.

Darci’s and Community Support

Click here to learn about the New Americans Program/

To donate: Click here to donate.

To find out more about the Family Healthcare Clinic: http://www.famhealthcare.org/

To donate to the Family Healthcare Clinic Click Here

Leaving the Gravesite

Salone - Part 4 - A Generation Without Labels

Click here to go back to the first blog post

In the 3 previous articles, we followed Salone Jones, entrepreneur, performer, and fitness trainer.  The introduction to series jumped off with “I meet a vanguard of people who see labels as other people’s problems.  These individuals baffle the label makers, leaving them in a guilt-tinged quandary... and sounding rather mechanical.”  

Part 2: Salone discussed  how her entrepreneurial path developed.  “Dad always had a 9-5 and another business.”  Her grandmother was a business woman and a  sheer force of nature.  She owned a store that sold peanuts on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Savannah, Georgia. 

Part 3: But Salone faced some serious challenges.  Her paternal grandmother lived in what turned out to be a place of social warfare.  Salone overcame these issues and earned a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design

Salone’s interest in film and television came about when a mentor asked her to film a performance.  Her mentor noted how she captured the movement of the dancers.  This helped better communicate the choreographer’s message to audiences.  Salone took this to heart and made Film and Television her major for a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts.  So, her dance scholarship ended up funding her education in Film and Television.

2 things stood out from our discussions about her college experience.  First, this was her first real occasion to develop relationships with cultures outside of her upbringing.   Second, the technical requirements of her study in film and television required more attention to tough academic requirements, especially for someone who was previously classified with a slow learning disability.  

As stated, her college alma mater is in her hometown.  Her dance troop did give some experience but mostly that of performing before an audience. I asked, “Did you feel a little like Malcom X in Mecca?” 

“Yes.” Salone replied.  There is living in the same city and then there is being taught by, studying with, and talking to people from about every inhabitable continent.  “It really opened my eyes about how much people have in common.”

Her college experiences devoured her misconceptions.  She used that to fuel her growth.  

Studies in the fine arts broadened her dance technique as well.  The professors and instructors taught her how to express passion in many different movements: joyously, in sadness, big movements, no movement, and everything in between.  Learning how to communicate emotion to different audience was an important part of development.

Film and television required serious attention to academics.  The degree required studies in theory, design, and writing.  Then there was applying all of those to physically producing a film.  Salone faced down her childhood classification of slow learning disabled.  She describes her development as “Navigating the world of finding purpose and self-worth and turning that into a driving force to become the person you envision yourself to become.”  And that has everything to do with emotional, mental, and physical hard work linked with opportunity.  

Salone’s fight is different now.  It’s harder.   But the comparative results of winning are a galaxy apart.  The distant victory is to own a production company.  For now, the tip of that spear is SalFit and Associates. SalFit promotes approaches and tools to fit your lifestyle.  A person who travels may not be able to meet often with a personal trainer.  However, access to a trainer through telecommunications, web services, or mobile apps is possible.   Also, a person who travels weekly may not even know where they are going to eat from one meal to the next.  SalFit develops ways that help clients who travel maintain their health while building their wealth.

  

Learn more about SalFit and Associates or click here:

http://www.salfit.net/salfit-products.html#.UMUD0oVgM7A

Sick, Broke, and Locked Up - Part 1 of 2

    “James Taylor and Carol King,” Darci Asche responded. “Country music kinda creeps me out.”

    “Which song?”

    “You’ve Got a Friend. I still sing it today”

I thought,  How appropriate that these archetypical lyrics about friendship are her childhood favorites, Darci is the North Dakota Community Support Services Supervisor for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, LSSND.  Among other services, the agency provides:

-Immigration Services

-Refugee Resettlement

-Case Management Services

-Refugee Employment Services

-Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program

As Supervisor of Community Support Services, Darci helps immigrants in the New Americans program transition to life in the United States with housing, food, school enrollment, medical assistance, and getting employment.  A contact at the Family HealthCare Center in Fargo directed me to the agency.  See a related story on the New American’s Program http://potluckearth.blogspot.com/2012/11/family-healthcare-center-fargo-nd-part.html. 

 

Darci grew up in Gwinner North Dakota, USA. The small town is located approximately 85 miles southwest of Fargo.  Gwinner, like other rural areas in North Dakota, offered a rugged upbringing. Farmland surrounds the town of about 800. In 1990, the warmest month was August with average temperature of 69 Degree Fahrenheit.  The warmest month in 2012 was July with an average temperature of 74 Degree Fahrenheit. (NOAA.org).  In Darci’s early years, most everyone she knew worked at the one town factory.  It made farm machinery attachments and implements.  Her family lived across the street.   She spent most of her time in school, Church, or at home playing outside with friends and family.  That included lots of time playing in snow.  “When Mother turned on the back porch light, it was time to come inside.”  Food was very basic.  Seasoning involved salt and pepper only.  Sports were important social events.  Memories tended to reference seasonal occurrences, like the 1^st snow.

The Lutheran church kept her active with community service.  Lutherans reference the following in their approach to service: King James Version Bible; Matthew Chapter 25, versus  34-40,  ³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  ³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  ³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? ³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?  ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Those Jesus called “the righteous” helped suitably change or restore the circumstances of other people.  Scriptures reflect that performing miracles, preaching, and holding high offices within religious institutions are meaningless when compared to showing love and compassion to others.  Furthermore, parables like the Good Samaritan appear to indicate one should go beyond one’s personal, social, or religious comfort zone.    

Darci left on her first mission trip outside of North Dakota in 1990.   Layers of stereotypical perceptions peeled away. The mission group took her to northern Saskatchewan, Canada.   “A group of us went to Stanley Mission, where we set up a Bible school for indigenes kids from the Cree reservation. We did that for four years, and made a lot of friends there.  It was always in the summer, when the days were 22 hours long.”

This lifestyle of helping to suitably change or restore the condition of others and to provide companionship took Darci on other mission trips.  She went to Washington D.C. and Chicago where she saw the inner city struggles.   As Darci and I discussed her path to her position at the agency, there was one mission that seemed symbolic of that path, the Border Mission along the American-Mexican border.

This border mission gave Darci a firsthand look at government policy’s direct effect upon a body of people.  In this case, it was a trade agreement of which many purported as removing economic trade barriers and offering opportunities for a better way of life.

Part 2: A real human need developed along the American-Mexican border.

Al Hardy's Books