Practical or Principles

 We’ve been taking a course on leading multicultural teams and learning many things.  One thing it highlights is just how hard it is to bring different cultures together, but it also highlights how much we really need each other in our multicultural glory if we truly want to grow. 

Enjoying Memorial Day parade

One of the ways cultures differ is in their way of making decisions.  Some cultures like to think through the principles behind the issue.  Others like to make sure the decision will be practical.  Principle cultures/people tend to take their time with decisions, thinking through the moral foundations and researching the background of an issue before making a decision.  Others concentrate on the practical aspects of a decision—what works?  What is going to work?  What won’t work?  What can we actually accomplish?  Can you guess which side of the spectrum America falls on?

If you are like many Americans, you probably thought: practical.  Americans tend to be practical and pragmatic and there is a lot of good that comes of it.  It’s an entrepreneurial spirit.  It keeps us moving and changing.  It gets things done. 

No mini golf on the islands

But it has its downside too.  We get frustrated when things don’t get done.  We want to move on a decision and we get frustrated with the process.  Sometimes we worry more about the outcome, ignoring the journey on the way.  Sometimes we push to the goal not caring about the people or bridges we burn on the way.  Sometimes, we forget about the principles as we drive for the objective.

As we were listening to different voices on this subject, it was striking us just how much we need both kinds of people on our team.  If we had only pragmatic people on our team, we may well “get things done”  but at an awful cost.  Our work is slow.  It matters how we go about it.  It involves people, changed hearts, changed lives, transformation, growth, and community.  These things take time to form and the foundations they are formed on are crucial.  A house without a foundation is destined to fall.  A community without principles is destined to fail.  If we did not have people slowing us down to look at the principles of what we are doing, we could easily build a flimsy house, a flash in the pan.  We could get the job done and yet leave nothing that lasts.  I am thankful for my principle-minded teammates.  They have strengthened our team, and changed me.

As we hope you are aware, we are back in America for the summer.  We love America, but it’s clear that something is wrong.  We’ve been back less than 3 weeks and there have been two horrendous mass shootings since we’ve arrived.  But it’s not just that.   As we look around at the moral, political, spiritual polarization that is hurting our country so greatly, we find ourselves wondering if the same principles vs practical tension isn’t part of the equation.  Have we lost sight of our principles in pushing for our objectives?  Have we forgotten how to slow down and think about the foundations we are building on?  Have we gotten so pragmatic we have lost sight of our own souls?  What are we achieving?

No guinea pigs on the islands

Our teams on the islands have always had lots of Americans and we realize that can be a handicap.  We could be more and we have seen how new cultural perspectives and backgrounds have made us more. Maybe here too, we need that challenge of more outside voices among us.  Maybe we need some people from a principles-first culture to help us see ourselves better.  Maybe we need to look a little closer at our foundations and see what it is we are building on.  But that means admitting that some things are wrong, owning up to our faults and humbling ourselves—that we need other perspectives to balance us out.  It would mean being willing to listen, learn and change.  This is not something that comes naturally. It’s hard to let go and allow ourselves to be changed. Are we willing?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The medical team got a letter of authorization to work! This has been a long time coming.  Unfortunately the next level down of leadership says it still isn’t enough and have insisted that our medical colleagues go through a few more hoops and get a few more signatures. Please pray with us that these additional hoops will be simple and easy to accomplish! Megan made it safely back to the Boston area— the memorial service was a beautiful tribute to her uncle and she had a good time connecting with extended family.  It’s been such a blessing to spend time with our family and friends in Boston Metro West.  We continue to be thankful for all the thoughtful questions, invitations, meet ups, and re-connections we’ve been able to make these past few weeks.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for our island sister who was forced from her family home this past week because of her faith. The pressure from family has been building for a while. We are thankful that another family member has provided a temporary place for her to live. Pray that she and her daughter would have peace, that all the brothers and sisters would continue to pray for and encourage her. That she would find a permanent place to live and that she could continue to be a light to her family and continue to love them. The islands are feeling the economic pinch— the fixed price of gas has been raised by the government which means the price of taxis/buses is rising too. Islanders are upset and many poor are struggling. Pray for relief.  Pray for us as we come to the end of this class on multicultural team leading, that we would continue to be challenged by it and be better prepared to learn from and benefit from partnering across cultures. Pray for our organization as we pray and strive to be more multicultural. On Friday we begin traveling (first by car, then by air), pray for us as we pack (it’s complicated packing for both a road trip and a plane trip at the same time) and as we travel. Pray for Megan’s back to be strong and for kids to stay in good spirits. Pray for protection from illness too.

Delinquents: The Unheard

A cinder block wall replaces the flimsy door.

Last week we heard from our teammates.  Their house had been broken into while they were out for the day.  Some things were stolen.  This is the 4th time someone on our team has experienced a break-in and it has made us aware that we need to consider house security more when considering a rental property.  It is a sad new reality of life in our town.

It hasn’t always been like this.  Islands take pride in the low levels of crime that take place on the islands.  It is a safe place to live.  People can go out at night and the streets are not dangerous.  But there has been a definite rise in this kind of crime.  Dangerous crime is low, but break-ins, theft, stealing of cars and motorcycles is on the rise.  When you ask people why, they all tend to have one answer for you:  The French Island.

The basic theory goes like this: Young men from Clove Island go to the French Island illegally hoping to find a better life.  Instead, most only find poverty, discrimination, and injustice.  They learn to break the law to survive, get involved in gangs, and become “delinquents”.  Every so often the police crack down.  If these delinquents are caught, they are put in prison and then deported back to Clove Island.  Back on Clove Island they use their newly acquired skills to rob and steal, often with the hope of getting enough money to get passage back to the French Island.  And so the vicious cycle continues.

It may be easy to blame these “delinquents” for the problems we are facing on the islands, but I think that would take too simplistic a view.  Having many young, male friends, lured by the chance of a better life on the French Island, gives us a different perspective on things.  This is more than just a problem of “delinquents”.  It is also an economic problem, a social problem, a spiritual problem.

Rioting on the French Island

The fact of the matter is, a guy doing brick work on Clove Island will get paid about a tenth of what he would get paid for the same kind of work (if he can find it) on the French Island.  That is a pretty big economic incentive.  But often finding that work is difficult.  You are also at the mercy of the employer, if he decides not to pay you, you have no recourse, because he can easily have you arrested and deported.  More and more, as crime rates rise, these young men are despised by the local populace.  They are mistreated, hated, and in the eyes of the government, invisible.  They have no voice, no future, no hope, and nothing to lose.  And that is a dangerous combination.

As I think about the delinquents on the French Island, and my young friends on Clove Island, it is hard to characterize them all as thugs and villains, even if some of them have become truly despicable.  On the French Island, these “delinquents” are known for rioting.  You can read our blog about it from when we visited back in January.  Rioting is scary and awful.  lnnocent people see their property destroyed or damaged.  Often times people get hurt.  It’s easy to blame rioting on a bunch of “delinquents”.  But a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. has caused me to see it differently.  He said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

That is a hard statement to read.  It could be read as condoning rioting, but I think that would be misreading it.  The delinquents—they are unheard.  They are invisible.  And it leaves them without hope, without a voice, without identity.  It leaves them with nothing to lose. A person without hope is dangerous.  A person without hope will do anything—steal, riot, destroy.

So what is the solution?  I don’t know.  How could they give these young men a voice on the French Island? How could we give them more economic opportunity on Clove Island?  I don’t claim that the solutions are easy.  Neither do I like our houses being broken into.  The solutions are complex, just like life.  But there is a hope that can end rioting and bring a voice to the unheard.  Dr. King understood that hope.  We understand that hope.  May many young Island men come to understand that hope too.

Grandma with our kids

PRAYERS ANSWERED


Despite the break-in of their home, our teammates can be thankful for many things.  The landlord promptly increased security to their house, and the incident has led to some thoughtful conversations and deeper relationships.  We are thankful for our teammates getting along well while we are away in America.  We had a chance to speak to some groups here in the Boston area and it was very encouraging.  We are so glad we were able to be with Tom’s mom for her 75th birthday celebration.  We’ve had some encouraging news coming from the islands lately too.  We have a new sister on the Big Island, a group of women who are studying and learning deeply on the big Island, and one woman on our Clove island who is asking our Dad to show her the right way to be with him forever!

PRAYERS REQUESTED 

We are still waiting on clearance for the medical team to begin their work at the hospital.  Pray that it happens this week!  Tom’s friend, Obama, has had a medical condition that worsened.  He recently traveled illegally to the French Island to receive medical attention.  Tom was able to talk to him on the phone yesterday. Please be praying for his healing.  Pray for all of these women who are searching and finding, that they would grow and continue on the great journey.  Megan flew out to a memorial service for her uncle over the weekend.  She returns on Tuesday.  Pray for her safe travels. 

The Importance of Being There

We’ve been reflecting on the importance of being there.  What do we mean by that?

Being there at the future school for a tour

This past week we were traveling.  We left the Clove Island to come to America.  But somewhat last minute we realized that we had an opportunity.  We’ve known for quite sometime that in the fall of 2022 our oldest child would begin attending high school in mainland Africa.  This boarding school is far geographically from the islands, but in a place that we visit quite often.  Yet because of COVID, we have not been able to visit the school.  They have been their own little bubble with restricted access—no tours, no visits allowed.  But just as we were leaving we discovered that some of those restrictions had lifted.  So we changed our schedule and made a visit.

What a difference that makes!  Our daughter, who had been very quiet and unsure about going before, now speaks about it with much more excitement and ease.  She’s been there, she’s seen it.  She has some sense of what she’s getting into.

Being there on the big holiday was important

Three out of four of our present teammates made a visit to Clove Island before coming out to join our team.  If you ask them about it, they all say it was worth it and recommend it for prospective new members.  Why?  Isn’t it a great expense to come all the way to the islands?  Why do you need to visit if you’re going to live there anyway?  And yet, seeing a place, experiencing it yourself is important.  Often times, it leads to a much better experience going forward.

But what about all the people who can’t go?  A good portion of our time in America in these coming days will be trying to answer people’s questions about the islands—trying to give them a picture of what life is like there.  And it’s hard.  It is hard to get a sense of something when you’ve never been there.

We find it is true even between the present and the past.  Though we only left the islands a week ago, already it feels far away.  The things going on there—a teammate getting sick, an encouraging conversation—somehow feel a little less real, a little further away, a little less pressing.  Meanwhile those things in America we’ve been praying for from the islands—a friend who is sick, a family member struggling—all these things seem vibrant and real and important.  Why?  Just because of proximity?  Just because we are here?

Being there first takes getting there

How do we overcome this?  Or is this something to be accepted? If we, who have a second home on Clove Island, feel the disconnect when we come to America, how can we expect Americans who have never been to Clove Island to understand, appreciate, engage, love and pray for islanders?  It takes something almost miraculous to happen.  A stirring in the heart.  A movement toward the unknown.  An act of faith.  We are told that people that take those steps are blessed.

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

May we be catalysts for such steps! May God use our coming to America to make the islands real, to encourage more people to pray, more people to go. Just as we pray that our presence on the islands would be the catalyst for steps of faith.

What of those islanders and others who would put their trust in one they have never seen.  Maybe they have never even experienced or seen a loving community of faith.  Maybe they have never had the joy of fellowship with others. Sometimes our coming and ‘being there’ on the islands is the opportunity they have been waiting for to ask, to know, leading them to take that step. But even before they have met us, many have had dreams and visions. Is this God’s way of “being there”, of getting them an in-person experience when all other ways are impossible?  

Those who believe are blessed. May there be more!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that we got to visit our daughter’s future school and the encouragement that was. We got a second round of negative COVID tests and all our flights went smoothly and we safely arrived in the US with all our luggage! We have already had the opportunity to share at two gatherings on Sunday. We are recovering from jetlag. This week our teammate was part of a good conversation with one of the guys with whom Tom has been studying, where he defended our beliefs and said they were better! Pray for more progress with him while Tom is gone.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
There continues to be positive meetings that suggest progress towards the medical team getting their authorization, but still the final authorization hasn’t been stamped and signed. Pray that it happens this week! Our teammates had their house broken into while they were out of the house and several of their electronics were stolen (including one teammate’s main computer). Pray for them as they process this loss and invasion of their space— pray that they would feel safe and pray for what seems to be a rising pattern of crime on the island. Pray for an island sister who lost her mom this week— pray for comfort for her and her family as they grieve. Pray for an illegal immigrant family that has been detained on Clove Island on their way to the French Island. The husband escaped after months of detainment, but his wife and child are still detained. Pray for progress and justice for their case (the Clove Island authorities don’t seem to know what to do with them).  

Island Friends, Leaving, Gifts And Money Matters

 It is not uncommon for islanders to suddenly disappear.  They may well know that they are leaving.  In some cases they will have been planning it for months.  But they only tell people at the last minute, if they tell them at all.  In our experience this is because leaving is a bit complicated on the islands.  It involves money, promises, and proper leave taking.  We’ve gotten better at it over the years, but it has taken some (maybe a lot) of getting used to.  We thought we’d give you a taste through a number of little anecdotes.

Visiting on holiday

“I heard you’re leaving, I need a watch,” a neighbor said to me.  This is less jarring than it used to be. I suspect it is one of the main reasons islanders are so secretive about their travels.  Most islanders see someone else traveling as a shameless opportunity to ask for gifts.  This used to really bug me, but I’ve come to expect it and see it as a chance to bless, be generous and deepen a relationship—as long as the request isn’t too outrageous.

“Can you get me a car for my daughter?” My good friend Bako asked.  “What kind of car?” I asked skeptically.  He wanted something either like a tricycle or power wheels.  I had to tell him we didn’t have that sort of room in our bags.  But we’ll have to bring something nice back for his daughter.  A doll perhaps?

Gift requests come in other forms: “The screen on my phone is broken.  Can you get it fixed for me in the US?”  Two people asked me this.  Their assumption being that, such fixes would be better and cheaper in the US and, of course, that we would pay for it.”  Are you curious how we handle this request?  Since we’ve found screen replacement to be quite expensive and not worth it for the old generations of island phones most people have, plus a pain, it’s easier to just look for a used phone for them.  So, we’ll need to come back with a couple of gently used phones if possible. 

A goodbye visit

Then there are the people who have some means and simply see our travels as access to quality merchandise.  Since you cannot trust the merchandise for high-end goods on the islands (and no one gives warranties) the best way to get something nice is to get someone to bring it for you.  So some of our friends ask us, “Can you bring me back a nice camera? How much does a laptop cost?”  This is where things like WhatsApp have really revolutionized things and made life much easier.  Where before we might feel obligated to try to bring something out for a friend, the whole thing felt a lot like a crapshoot.  Would we get the right thing or would they be disappointed?  Would they pay for it or would we be out a bunch of money?  But now, WhatsApp allows us to settle on make model and price, and we can usually say we will only purchase the item when someone has paid one of our teammates.  This not only helps transactions to go much more smoothly, but also weeds out the ones who were not seriously looking to purchase (or had no idea how expensive the item they were hoping to find was).

“Can you pay me in advance?”  Our house helper asks in the final days before we leave.  Paying in advance is a bit of a dangerous endeavor on the islands.  Many, many people have stories of paying someone up front for the work only to have them start and never finish the work.  But this is a bit different, since we are asking her to come by and sweep, mop, dust and wash curtains, mosquito nets, etc. while we are away.  It’s not an easy negotiation, but it is an inevitable part of going away.

“What am I going to do while you’re gone?  There will be a wedding!”  These kinds of statements come from friends who regularly come to us for help.  As much as we may not care for it, we have become a reliable source of food or funds for a number of people we care about.  It is part of the give-and-take life on the islands.  Ma Riziki is one whom we regularly help out.  She will undoubtedly have less while we are gone.  She asks a lot and can give very little, but before we left she brought us a bag full of shihondro—an island sort of peanut brittle that we love and which travels well—it has become a tradition that she gives this to us when we travel.  In her own way, she’s giving back, and we give her (and others like her) a little extra before we leave.

Celebrating birthdays

Then there are those who just come to visit.  A proper visit before leaving is considered good manners and required of good friends.  This year, it worked out nicely that the holiday allowed us to go and visit many people and at the same time say goodbye.  For most friends, these brief goodbyes are sufficient, but for some friends, it is necessary to come by and visit us.  So the last day before we leave, we always expect a steady trickle of visitors.  We’ve discovered there is a sort of code.  If an islander says to you, “Have a good trip.”  Then they have officially done their duty and you can assume you won’t see them again until you return.  But if they don’t say that phrase— plan on them checking in on you one last time.  The neighbors in our apartment complex were like this.  We saw them multiple times before leaving, of course, and never once did they say, “Have a good trip!”  because they knew they planned to be there the moment we were heading out the door with our bags.  

“Have a good trip” they finally said. “Thank you! Good bye!” we told them as we trundled our bags out the gate to catch a taxi.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
It was an eventful and full week! The big holiday went well and we got to see and greet many of our friends. We were able to celebrate the birthdays of our teammate and our daughter (she’s 14!). We were able to pack up the house and our bags and leave well. We got our negative COVID tests, got to see several colleagues on the big island and made it to mainland Africa! The medical authorization hasn’t been signed yet, but they have been told that it will be ‘no problem’, that the Secretary General has talked to them and the person who needs to sign it will be back in a few days and will sign it without delay! May it be so! The new edition of our grammar book was able to be printed before we traveled! We finished the homeschool year! Our daughter’s old school friend came to visit minutes before we left for the airport (she lives far away and hadn’t heard that we were traveling), so it was a blessing that she got to say goodbye.



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for us as we try to remember and honor the different requests made of us while we are off-island. Pray for our continued travels: for another round of negative COVID tests before our flight on Wednesday, for smooth connections, for our luggage to make it and for an easy transition to the US. We will hit the ground running and will have opportunities to share with groups within a few days of arriving in the US— pray that we would be prepared and guided in what to share. Pray for our kids with all the travels and transitions. Pray for our team back on the islands— for our veteran teammates stepping into leadership and our new teammate still adjusting and learning. Pray for the men that Tom has studied with regularly that they would continue to seek and learn in his absence. Tomorrow we visit the school in mainland Africa where are kids will likely go to high school— pray for a good visit and for key questions to be answered.

Inflation Woes

Today (Monday) is the final day of island fasting.  Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be the celebration!  Fasting is over!  There will be eating and drinking throughout the day.  Games to play and freedom and joy in the air.  Life returns to normal.

Our fasting town

But life is not normal right now.  The inflation that is firing up politics and hurting people at the pump and in their wallets back home is truly a worldwide phenomenon and the islands are not free from it. But many islanders are poor and suffer a lot.

The month of fasting is actually meant to be a month of feasting too.  Each nightly meal should be a feast, with all sorts of favorite foods and abundance, but this year, inflation has curbed the sizes of portions and the ability to celebrate.  Many of the basic foods have nearly doubled in price!  Faced with such daunting changes, islanders have been tightening their belts, eliminating superfluous expenses and calling on their more wealthy friends for support and charity. 

Our team breaking the fast in island style

The tightening of belts means people have been doing less inviting as well.  Where it might be normal to invite neighbors to break the fast together, this year, that sort of abundance of sharing has been harder to come by.  It has been tough on businesses too.  A woman we know who sows new dresses for the holiday did not receive nearly the number of orders that she normally does.  Another business—a gym on the little island, wasn’t able to get anyone to join for the month. (In the past this has been a money making time as people like to work out in the evenings after breaking their fast.) So the gym had to close its doors.  We too have seen a change.  It is normal that we are called on to be more generous with our neighbors this month, but this year we have had a much larger number of people asking for help, including some who rarely come to ask.  

Thankfully for our businessmen friends, the final days of fasting have seen some uptick in business.  Much like the Christmas season, these final days of the month of fasting usually sees big crowds downtown. And even this year the scene has been the same.  The crush of people becomes so great it is difficult to walk down the street.  Bullhorns call out sale prices and every seller is calling out to you, “Welcome!”  This rush will help to keep the businesses going, but I doubt if it will be the boon to the economy that it usually is.

Inflation is taking its toll. It’s hard to know how all this will play out in the coming months.  Will inflation continue?  Is there anything a small country that imports 80% of its goods can do to curb the situation?  

Tomorrow many houses will have doors open wide, inviting their friends, family and neighbors to come to greet them for the holiday. On entering, their loved ones will find the homeowner dressed in new clothes and giving out candy or cakes. But this year we know that as we walk around tomorrow for the holiday, there will be doors firmly closed at some houses. Not because people have traveled away, but because some won’t be able to find the money to get a new outfit or to buy candy or bake cakes, so they will hide at home and pray for a better year next year!

Someone ate too quickly and had to lie down!

PRAYERS ANSWERED


No official word about the medical team authorization but the Health Secretary General (who is the one to sign off on any authorization) went to the French Island for medical treatment and was treated by our old teammate and colleague! This divine appointment means he has been able to speak about all the good our group does and encourage the Secretary General to give authorization without delay! When he comes back from the French Island hopefully he will! After several years, Megan with the help of the team has been able to finish the new edition of the grammar book in the local language, designed to help English-speakers to understand and learn better. It will hopefully be printed before we have to leave! Tom has had some encouraging conversations and study time with Ananas (an older brother) lately—praying that this is a sign of new growth. Two colleague families working on the small island made it off the islands and the one welcomed a healthy new daughter this week! Praising God for new life and safe deliveries. We haven’t had any more tummy bug problems this week. We were able to break the fast with an island sister and her family on the weekend, which was an encouraging time of fellowship.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Tomorrow is the big holiday— pray that we and all our island brothers and sisters would have good interactions with all our friends and neighbors. Our close neighbor had a miscarriage and continued to bleed for several days afterward. She had a procedure and thankfully should be well now. Pray for her continued recovery. We travel on Saturday to the big island and then Sunday to mainland Africa. Pray with us that our flights would go as scheduled, that we would be healthy and get negative COVID tests. Pray for this week as we have the big holiday, need to say goodbyes and need to pack up our house and bags— pray that we could leave well! Tom has been studying with Uhaju who seems close to a life-changing decision. Uhaju is supposed to study together with his wife with one of our teammates after we travel— pray that this would happen and that Uhaju and his wife could walk together on this journey!