Afterthoughts from Idaho

Last Sunday, we had our report day for Idaho. This is a time of sharing with supporters and others interested in the organization, Create Common Good. We presented a slideshow on Bhutanese refugees and highlighted one of the men we met in Idaho, defined "refugees," then all shared special moments or afterthoughts. Lastly, we served the food that we prepared the night before -- food we had learned to make after harvesting and what we ate in Idaho.

Here is what I shared that impacted me the most during/after the trip:

One of the activities I enjoyed most was harvesting the vegetables that would go toward crop sales and preparing food for the harvest festival. 

When you stepped into the garden, there were so many types of plants with herbs and vegetables—each beautiful in its own way, each containing a different purpose or unique flavor to enhance a dish. One had to look through and choose carefully because some weren’t mature enough yet to be picked. It was fun to watch the vegetables/herbs come straight from the garden and then watch them go through the process of being cleaned, having the invaluable parts cut away, shaped, and then transformed into a masterpiece along with other ingredients. 

As I sat back and watched, I thought “this must be how God feels as he looks upon his garden of people (all types and at all stages, each with his or her own uniqueness).” We all know Matthew 9:37 where Jesus says “The harvest is plenty but the workers are few.” I looked at the “harvest” a little differently. I knew that like people, some needed a little more time to grow and just be “loved on” before being “picked or uprooted”. The gardener, like God with his careful and all-knowing eye, knows which ones are ready to be yielded, which ones need some painful clipping or pruning to clear the bad parts, which ones just needed to be in the soil a few more days with extra sunlight, and which ones may need to be uprooted and transplanted elsewhere in order to reach their full growth potential.

This made me look at my own life and spiritual growth process after seeing this tangible representation. It also reminded to give grace to others that are at a different place in their growth process. While it’s hard to go through the pruning and waiting, I was able to see how beautiful and delicious the end result is and how proud our Father, our gardener, must be as he stands aside and sees his handiwork.

A verse that came to mind as I was organizing my thoughts was this from James 1:21:

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. 

Here are a few of the dishes we prepared:


penne with homemade arugula pesto

farfalle with homemade arugula pesto and sausage

fresh tomatoes and cucumbers

Last Day in Boise

After a physically and spiritually challenging week, day 7 brought departure from Boise. Departures are always bittersweet, and good-byes never feel right.

We packed and headed to the church for a pancake breakfast. Tyler & Angie made pumpkin pancakes with the pumpkins from the garden. Most of the staff was there to spend those last few minutes together.

At the same time we ate, we were able to watch Brent in action as he taught the refugees in the culinary portion of the training program. I learned a lot as well about eggs of all things. I've been cooking for years since childhood and never knew the little tidbits I overheard.


Ian clowning around


lesson for refugees




Departure was hard for me in a different way as well.....as usual, I bought a LOT of things without thinking of how to get them home. Retail therapy for a good cause always gets me. I bought several things that support sustainable living for those in poverty or in impoverished countries, many in the form of turning junk and trash into beautiful objects for use and to display the artist's handiwork. Isn't God like that? He uses the junk in us to transforms the brokenness to display the beauty. Here's what I'm most proud of:


A perfect gift for your favorite wino(s)!!
Apparently, glass accounts for a lot of junk in Boise so this organization turns junk into treasure. Here's info:

Sustainable Futures is an IRS 501(c)(3) organization operating in Boise, Idaho. Our mission is to address social, environmental and economic needs in our community, helping the underserved to build work maturity while making recycled glass products. We achieve this mission by recycling and repurposing empty glass wine, beer and spirit bottles into other usable glassware—from drinking glasses to wind chimes and other products—that are sold to restaurants, retail outlets and the general public.

Through recycling and repurposing, Sustainable Futures reduces the amount of glass in landfills, provides jobs and vocational training and creates a new revenue stream that helps support the organization’s mission.

Visit their ever-so-cool site (and buy some Christmas gifts) here!

I love easy (mostly already prepped) eats! These are assembled by women part of the Women's Bean Project. Each one is stamped with the name of who handmade the item. I love it--eat for a cause!

Here's info about them:
Since 1989 we have been helping women break the cycle of poverty and unemployment. We are a nonprofit organization that teaches job readiness and life skills for entry-level jobs through employment in our gourmet food production and handmade jewelry manufacturing businesses. Women come with the goal of transforming their lives and moving toward self sufficiency.

To visit their website (more great gift ideas) visit here. BTW, it's not just food either.


soaps made by Palam Rural Centre (India)
About Palam:

Palam Rural Centre (“People’s Association for Leather and Allied Manufacturing”) offers employment opportunities to people of the marginalized Harijan community in a village in Tamil Nadu region, southeastern India. In the Tamil language, Palam also means “bridge”; Palam Rural Centre seeks to build a “bridge” to the markets of the rest of the world. With money from product sales, Palam has purchased land and homes for artisans (ownership traditionally unavailable to lower castes) and built a school for artisans’ children. Other artisan benefits include health care and retirement pensions. Palam artisans see education of their children as the key to hope and change. Through this work, Palam Rural Centre is providing dignity and security to artisans and helping to break down caste walls in society.

Started in 1978 by David Edmunds, Palam Rural Centre was founded to improve the lives of people of the Harijan community in Tamil Nadu. Traditionally leather workers, they found little market for their products. Very poor and often exploited, they did not own land, suffered from illiteracy and ill health, and were underpaid working as seasonal agricultural laborers for large landowners. In the 1980s, the leather market declined with the rise in synthetic materials and with multinational corporations moving into Indian markets. After several years of experimenting with soap making, Palam Rural Centre diversified into vegetable oil-based soap production. It also continues to develop new designs of leather items.

To order: visit here.
Onward to my favorite:

such detail..

My prized possession -- I stared at this for days...I wasn't sure if I should splurge. I couldn't get it off my mind so I finally made the purchase. Then, I had almost had a panic attack when it wouldn't fit in my suitcase making me explore a million ways to get this baby home in one piece!
As you can see, "we" made it. I envision it in my office or at some point, in the bedroom of my adopted child.

It was an old oil drum (who knows, we Americans may have left that trash) in Haiti. It is cut and painted by local artists. Here's some info regarding the organization:

Haitian handcrafts are a reflection of the vibrancy and creativity of its people, and for over 30 years, Comite Artisanal Haitien (CAH) has been committed to working with Haitian artisans to find markets for their products to help them earn a dignified living.

CAH represents more than 170 individual Haitian artisans and groups, including the artisans from Cite Soleil and other poor areas in and around Port-au-Prince, who create beautiful works of art from recycled metal drums which have become hallmarks of Haitian craftsmanship.

In Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, jobs are scarce and the money earned from craftmaking is not just supplemental, it is often the sole source of income for most artisans and their families.

Idaho Day 3 (Thurs, 9/15/11)

Today, I learned that farmers do not need a gym membership. ever.

This morning started with work on the farm. The kids and parents went over and picked more tomatoes. We thought we had picked them all yesterday, but it's amazing how much you overlook when you aren't "looking." They came back with more for the share holders and to sell on the farm truck.

Claudia, Christy + I worked on moving a HUGE pile of dirt/wood chips over to spread among the rows of planted vegetables. We shoveled in loads into the wheelbarrow, then took it to the garden, and unloaded and spread. I felt every muscle in my shoulder and arms. I asked for muscles right?!

Then, Christy and I went out on the farm truck with Tyler. Fun! It is like the ice cream truck in that it plays loud world music from a 1950s Ford truck and stops in neighborhoods so people can come out and buy from the impromptu farm stand. How grand. We went around town and then set up in a downtown-like area called Hyde Park so that share holders could come pick up their shares and locals could stop in for whatever caught their eyes. (the others had gone to help with job training that day with the refugees)

We ended the night with $1 taco night with us and some of the CCG staff.

Here are some highlights from the day:


the farm stand in the neighborhood



the farm truck -- how cool?!?


we got some tastes of the watermelon before heading out -- delish!


working out..moving wood chips

Idaho Tuesday, Day 1 (9/13/11)

We arrived in Boise around noon after an EARLY but easy morning of travelling. We were picked up at the airport by Angie, CCG staff, and the whirlwind began.



We first stopped by to take a look at the farm and be introduced to some of the refugee staff. The farm is located outside a church and is not your stereotypical farm that is surrounded by greenery for miles around. Here's the farm:











After the farm, we went to the kitchen and then off see the offices. We went out to dinner downtown at a spot that buys locally (including vegetables from CCG).




We passed the state capitol while walking to the restaurant.

Looking back to 9/11 and forward to Idaho

With the passing of the anniversary of September 2011, I have been reminded of how lucky I am to have been born in the United States. On that day 10 years ago, we were introduced to terrorism and had our first glimpse of what daily life can be like in war-torn countries. It is crippling to consider how man-made racial, religious, and political boundaries spark such intense hatred and war. It has forever changed the way we live our daily lives and shifted our perspectives. We have redefined ideas such as “community,” “hope,” “heroism,” and “security.”

Can you imagine living the fear knowing that 9/11-like activities WILL occur daily or weekly or monthly? My thoughts drifted to the many refugees from countries whose lives are defined by these events and those that have to flee their countries with nothing just because they aren’t the right religion or race. To see my post that defines a refugee and the process of becoming a refugee, click here.

I didn’t realize the timeliness of our Idaho trip. We would be leaving 2 days after 9/11. On Sunday the 11th, I was a mixed bag of tricks feeling emotions of despair, hope, sadness, pride, and anger as I remembered that day in 2001. I realized that the timeliness put me in the best posture for learning, listening, and being a better servant to the organization (Create Common Good) and refugees we will serve this week. Our team has been focusing on knowing God as our refuge and how we are all foreigners here, just passing through.

We depart on September 13 (Tuesday) at 6:45 AM (ouch! yawn!) and return on Monday the 19th. Please remember us in your thoughts and prayers.

Specific prayer requests include:

Refugees
● strength and encouragement as they struggle to learn enough English and skills to secure an entry level job in 8 months all the while assimilating to a very different culture
● almost weekly, someone’s 8 months of government assistance is up and families face eviction if jobs aren’t secured (not as easy as it used to be with the current state of the economy)
● Refugees wish they were able to return to their countries but are unable. Pray for peace with their state of affairs as they face loneliness in a different culture. Imagine moving to a country you were assigned to JUST because they agreed to take you and it is safe

Create Common Good
● renewal of spirit and energy as they live out their daily lives but also emotionally carry the burden of the refugees’ stories and needs
● financial needs be met to sustain
● partnership with the community (we will be working with them to provide a festival to bring awareness to the community on Sunday 9/18)

Team
● safe travels
● no missed opportunities to show love and encouragement to CCG and refugees and anyone else along the way
● renewal of spirit and mind and purpose -- what does this trip have in store for us? what will it mean AFTER the trip?

Personal
● rest & focus--I’m TIRED and I want to be able to give 100%

I'm not sure if I'll be posting from the road...I'll take my laptop just in case!


With a cup overflowing with love and gratitude,
Danielle

Create Common Good

As many of you know, I’m heading to Idaho in September (13-19) to serve alongside an organization that serves refugees. What you may not know is much information on the organization itself. In a previous post (http://backtosa2010.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-is-refugee.html), I described the process of refugees and how they get here in the United States. I want to give you information about this particular organization, Create Common Good (CCG), which is helping refugees help themselves be better members of our society. I think these two videos best show what CCG is all about.

About Create Common Good: http://www.createcommongood.org/video.html and http://www.vimeo.com/24451207 (shown at NewSong)

Please take a few minutes and watch the couple videos and think about ways you can become involved. Some tangible ways were included in that previous post and are as follows:

Ways you can partner:

1. Help raise awareness. Repost this link on your FB or other social media when there are updates.
2. Donate financially. We each have a goal of $765 each. Instructions for giving are on the right side of the blog in a column.
3. Pray for our team, refugees in the US and in camps throughout the world, and for our partner Create Common Good.
4. Donate needed items. [see list below]

Items (farm supplies) needed by Create Common Good for adults:

• socks
• gloves
• good work boots
• warm coats
• farm hats

This is a story from Fox 12 Idaho news featuring the organization, CCG:

Vegetable Delivery Man Helps Refugees

Posted: Jun 09, 2011 6:35 PM PDT Updated: Jun 27, 2011 9:49 AM PDT

Boise, Idaho -- He's not your average neighborhood delivery man.
Boise's Tyler Smith is on a mission to bring fresh food to the City of Trees. He blasts reggae through a loud-speaker and parks on street corners with a handwritten sign advertising organic produce.
This is his first day on the job.
Smith's vintage 1965 Ford pickup truck is loaded with fresh, organically-grown radishes, mustard greens, dill, and Swiss chard.
Later in the summer it will include corn and watermelons.
"People don't know quite what to make of it yet," Smith says candidly, as he grips the steering wheel of his delivery pickup and turns a corner in the Warm Springs neighborhood.
During Smith's four-hour delivery route, plenty of people stop to ask him questions, and more than a few buy fresh food from the truck.
Boise's Stacy Beeson is among them.
Beeson is a registered dietician at St. Lukes' Hospital in Boise. She's familiar with Tyler's organization called "Create Common Good." She says she recognizes Tyler from the local farmer's markets.
"I didn't know what vegetable to have for dinner tonight, and I knew that Tyler was in the neighborhood," Beeson explains as she loads a bag full of radishes and salad mix into her backpack.
And that's the goal of Smith's organization -- to spread awareness of locally grown vegetables throughout Boise.
"People are busy these days. They've got kids at home and it's hard to get out and it's hard to get to the grocery store," Smith says. "We're just bringing it to 'em."
The whole idea, Smith explains, is to give people an alternative to corporate grocery chains while helping the unique individuals who grow the organic vegetables on a farm in Southeast Boise.
Individuals like Devi Khalel, a former political refugee from a country called Bhutan, are among them.
After emigrating from Bhutan, Khalel found work in Boise on an organic farm and how helps to train other refugees who journey to Boise.
Muyengya Kamulete also lived in a refuge camp for 13 years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now works with Khalel on the organic farm.
Kamulete has eight children who now live in Boise, and once worked as a principal in the camp school.
Guru Adikhari and his friend Khada Nanda Timsina are also political refugees. The men are from a country called Bhutan and are used to growing rice, millet, and buckwheat. However, thanks to the organization "Create Common Good," they're now learning different methods to produce different foods.
The men tend the organization's large garden for much of the day and take great pride in what they produce.
Devi Khalel takes even more pride in how it's grown.
"This is organic," Khalel explains. "Totally organic. We don't spray anything else on it, and it's very good for the health."
For more information, or to find out how you can participate in their program, visit http://www.createcommongood.org/

And, of course, if you aren’t following me…what are you waiting for? Go to the right side of the page and there should be a place for you to enter your email. You won’t get spam—only my updates as they are posted. I’ll be sending updates before, during, and after the trip.

First team meeting!

Last night, we had our first official Idaho team meeting! I hope to post pictures soon of our team and what we are up to. For now, here's the team:

Josh and Claudia Vazquez along with their son Moises
Christy Egbert
Amy Getchel (Leader) along with her son Ian
Yoonjin Stovall along with her son Sammy
Me!

I have never been on a mission trip with kids on my actual team, but I'm excited to experience service through their eyes and learn as I watch them openly love the refugees with such childlike innocence. It reminds me of Jesus' love for the children in Matthew 19:14, "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"

We have not yet set the budget as we are waiting on feedback from the organization. It will be between $500-1000.

As usual, specifics of the trip are up in the air, in "true missions style," but I know we will be providing for (financially) and assisting with a Community Festival in Boise on September 18th. The purpose of the event is 4-fold: to connect with the community, introduce the organization (Create Common Good), build partnerships, and allow the community to meet and hear from the refugees.

Can I tell you how excited I am!?!?!

Some of you have asked how to donate (Thank you!!) so I included a bar on the side with instructions. For some reason, it cut off the first letter of every word on the left side so it'll be a little like a puzzle to solve but I trust you all can conquer the challenge!

I also added a place (on the right side) where you can subscribe. That way, you'll get an email every time I post a new entry so please please follow so you won't miss a thing!

More Than Potatoes.....

It has been a while since last posting. I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster ride for the past 8 months. I’m glad to be off and have my equilibrium back (somewhat).

Many have already asked me “Are you going back to South Africa this year?” as that has been my summer plans for the past 4 years. Overseas did not feel right this year, no matter the location. I have been thinking about and have been questioned about my missions experiences lately. What have I learned? What has God been teaching me in South Africa through so many visits? I think the answers have started to form the past few months.

Overseas missions has taught me invaluable lessons for serving my neighbors state side. I believe that we often have to travel around the world to figure out how to see needs and serve here. We have to put ourselves in a state of discomfort and remove ourselves from our ethnocentric worlds to truly see the value in other opinions, cultures, and views on relationships. We have to be reliant on others “on their turf” to look deep within ourselves to be ready to serve on ours.

The biggest lessons I’ve learned that still permeate my daily routines and are ever present in my thoughts and habits have been these:

• · Do not waste food – it’s scarce for so many. For me as a “foodie,” it is a fun past time and is always in plenty. For so many others, it is a necessity that doesn’t come often enough.

• · Appreciate the little things. When I go to the gas station and see the fresh water in the bin for us to use for our dirty windshields, I think of so many in the world who don’t have clean water. Even the water that has been dirtied by the windshield cleaner is cleaner than a majority of the water people in other countries are relying upon for health. My heart aches a bit every time I pass a sprinkler, free flowing, just to make our grass greener and lawn prettier. I’m thankful that this still hurts and reminds me of how blessed we are here to be able to use water as needed for a variety of reasons.

• · Live in the moment. One of my favorite memories in South Africa was in 2007 when we served soup at an elementary school on a cold and rainy day. By the end of the day, I was starving and freezing (I was getting the hungry “angries”—Ladies, you know this feeling), when one of the last boys came through the line. I gave him his 1 slice of white bread (which they lay on top of their cups and head out to eat). He was beaming and said enthusiastically “Can you imagine anything better than this?” At that moment as my own hunger rumbled, I couldn’t. Appreciate each moment for what it is and dwell in it. His image always comes to mind when I nestle in with a bowl of soup on a cold or rainy day.

• · Invest in people and take time for relationship. This is the hardest one to put into practice. We are busy. Others are busy. How do we make this happen? It’s a daily struggle but one I’m committed to.

While investing in neighbors is an ongoing project, another area had taken root in my heart. Since I have overseas experience learning about others and because I’ve been the “outsider” and have so appreciated the kindness and hospitality of those who assisted me, I wanted to return the favor to international students or immigrants in this country. International students are not really in my line of path but I did have a connection that I could pursue for this opportunity. I can’t just approach immigrants to see if they need a happy smiley face welcoming them or a listening compassionate ear. I wasn’t sure what would happen but I had the feeling….I have pretty good intuition (well, really good) so I knew something was coming....

AND THEN IT DID!!

Recently, I went to a short term missions meeting at NewSong because I was helping, not going. I was sitting there listening to the list of usual countries we would be visiting when I heard “Boise” come up on the list. My attention was gained immediately. Seriously, Idaho? What’s there other than potatoes? Well, I found out that it one of the largest resettlement cities for refugees and that in 2010, the US authorized up to 80,000 refugees relocation. Once here, they receive assistance for less than a year and then are expected to be self sufficient. For someone who has never held a pencil and isn't literate, this must be scary. I can't imagine what one must have to process and learn.

Before this moment, I had never given much thought to refugees. I realized that this was my opportunity to return the favor to serve and show kindness to those displaced and struggling to find themselves in a new country. So, in September (13th-19th), in partnership with NewSong Church, a team of us will travel to Boise to partner with Create Common Good – www.createcommongood.org.

Create Common Good provides training and unemployment to refugees to others in need. More specific information regarding this organization will be provided in an upcoming post but you can click the link to take a look for yourselves. I had the honor of meeting the team and hearing their stories a few weeks ago, and I knew this was indeed my opportunity to serve “overseas” on this side in my own backyard.

Details will be coming soon regarding specific prayer requests and donation information should you decide to partner with us. In the meantime, think about and/or pray about how you may join this journey with me?