Free Market and Basic Needs- Lessons from Haiti

I’ve long held the view that ideologies trump solutions every time but the kernel of truth contained in most ideologies could be opportunistically applied to find solutions and to placate those baying for blood at the mention of a worldview he/she opposes.

In my view the “free” market, the laissez faire industry, a social safety net, government control and accountability for the frameworks and infrastructure that constitute the basic needs of people are not contradictory. Moreover what is meant by government control and accountability is situational- it is different in different places, times and situations, and needs constant revision based on equitable principles. Elsewhere I have argued that economic progress as measured in macro terms such as GDP, NNP-MP, Per Capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity and so on is insufficient and even counter-productive.

In Haiti, Tom and I had a conversation on how India compares to Haiti. Tom offered the view that India was in worse shape. This is true if you took absolute numbers into consideration- such as the number of HIV/AIDS patients, the number of people below the poverty line, the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation, etc. 

But when I suggested this to a colleague in our company (a white collar professional who is paid highly and would be considered among India’s 1%), he was visibly upset- he mentioned that the per capita figures told a vastly different story. The per capita GDP with or without adjusting for purchasing power is way above Haiti’s. In nearly every social, political and economic indicator, this would appear to be true- from his perspective. In office a few weeks ago, after Mr. Modi became India’s prime minister, my boss and an American colleague were discussing the social challenges in India. The American colleague mentioned the caste system to be at the root of these problems. My boss was not pleased about this and claimed that the caste system had long been abolished and was not operational any longer. He is a Brahmin, and if one allows for some wiggle room, maybe he is just plain ignorant of the realities faced by Indians at the other end of the spectrum. But he too was right in a way- from his perspective.

I think it is important to note that both these points of view are right. I would like to add another view, which I think is the most important among them all. If one were to use the “per capita” point of  view and list every individual in the lowest third of the population (or lowest strata; the exact percentage does not matter in our current consideration), and tried to understand how many of them have access to resources that would be considered basic needs- clean water, equal and real opportunity to jobs, access to those jobs, good education (in the business language of the community), safety from structural violence, punitive justice, roads, sanitation, healthcare, communications, nutrition, shelter and other indicators to be revised as they are added to the list of essentials- one would find that each country would need to aggressively treat the conditions as if they would a dangerous pathology.

Such treatment would need to be initiated first and foremost by the public sector. We entrust some of these duties- such as the machinery for law and order (police, lawyers and the judiciary) to the public sector (lawyers being overseen by the Bar) because we believe it is the fairest method to govern them effectively. The police is the only monopoly on coercion we allow in any country, except in extraordinary circumstances when the military or peacekeepers take on that role. This is because we fear that coercion can and will be abused by any other party. In fact, of course, even the police forces in many countries routinely abuse their authority. This is another reason why the people in the lowest strata in third world countries need protection. Private security is among the most booming businesses in these countries, and with a combination of private security, bribed officers, lawyers and judges, the rich can and often do get away with crimes- while the poor are often mistreated for crimes they may not have committed. So says Gary Haugen in ‘The Locust Effect.’

In ‘Haiti after the Earthquake’, Paul Farmer makes the point that international aid, social workers, short missionaries (like ourselves at HART) and organizations like the UN have bypassed the public sector and set up NGOs, international political outfits, church-based charities and for-profit organizations to do what the public sector should have done. They are both effective at what they do and ultimately destructive in waylaying the foundations that make for good governance- the lasting and self-sustaining institutions in every country that is driven by local leaders and participation.

In India, institutions like the Christian Medical College with campuses in Vellore and Ludhiana were initiated by American missionaries, in particular by the founder, Ida Scudder who arrived in India as a short term (for those days) medical missionary. Today it is among Asia’s largest teaching hospitals, and though it received oversight from a New York charity, it is very local and self-sustaining. There are several such stories in India of institutions that have been created by others, but nurtured by Indians- my own alma mater, Madras Christian College and other such as St. Stephen’s College and Stanley Medical College being examples.

Without local leadership, they will perish- just like the abandoned windmills described by the anthropologist Tim Schwartz in his book ‘Travesty in Haiti’. Noone knew where those windmills came from, who built them or when. Some missionaries let him know that an unremembered foreign aid organization had built them in the early 1990s and the US military personnel helped maintain them during the occupation, but after they left had fallen into disuse and abuse- some people had ripped out their guts. To Schwartz this was an accurate picture of foreign aid in Haiti- its rips gutted by people who had other uses for it.

In Mountains beyond Mountains, Tracey Kidder describes when he first met Paul Farmer during the occupation in the 1990s. Farmer had gone into the US military compound to speak to a captain about apprehending a murderer who was running amok. People were losing faith in the military because they had failed to bring him to justice. The captain replied that he would love more than anything else to slam him, but he did not as yet have enough evidence that it was he who committed the crimes, though everyone in the village knew for sure. He said he had to follow due process, and without it the military leadership would lose all credibility and would jeopardize its own integrity. Farmer argued back that in a country which (at the time) had no constitutional law, arguing for due process was not logical. Kidder states it was an unusual sight- Farmer who clearly considered himself a champion of human rights arguing for penalty without trial and the captain who had come to Haiti as an occupier arguing for due process.

This highlights the tension between providing direct assistance and building systems which support lasting changes. Both are necessary- and indeed people like Farmer have been doing both. Haugen and his organization have been successful in working with local law enforcement- in spite of widespread corruption and different motives- in creating such lasting change.

In the end local leadership- represented by the public sector- must be responsible for the basic needs of the people. All else is icing on the cake and must be subject to the vagaries of the free market. This is true for India, China, Brazil, Haiti and even the US. If there are 2 million HIV/AIDS affected Indians while the economy has been among the fastest  growing and the third largest in GDP by purchasing power parity ($5.42 trillion) terms in the world, is India really in better shape than Haiti? Ask me another.

Even More Post-Mission Thoughts

Local doctors, nurses, physicians’ assistants, medium and short term missionary doctors, social workers, the long term missionary-priest. This would be my ideal mini-ecosystem for medical care in the village in Haiti that we serve.

The advantages of having local professionals is clear. What is less clear is how a well-paid team of professionals can invigorate the economy. High-paying jobs create an average of 4 other jobs in developing economies- I can’t cite the source at this time, but as someone with a business, accounting and economics background working in an industry which has created over 3 million jobs in technology in India and 12-15 million ancillary jobs in the process, I can speak with some personal knowledge to this fact.

A Haitian doctor would earn $6500-7000 a year. Even if half the money goes directly into the local economy (and it will because she would need to build a home, purchase grocery, pay service providers who will maintain the premises, coo, clean, attend to kids and perform several other functions), the economy would prosper so much more. Add to this the other roles I mentioned and it would build a core economic mini-ecosystem in the village. In addition, the medium and short term missionaries could help in building an EMR with internet connection for use by all future teams who come to assist.

In addition to this, a doctor needs to learn more and perhaps teach other aspiring doctors.

What would this cost? Here are my estimates:

·         Doctor’s salary: $6500

·         3 nurses: $4000 X 3 = $12000

·         1 physician’s assistant: $4000

·         EMR maintenance and hardware (high estimate): $2000

·         Doctor’s training and ongoing learning: $2000

For about $27,000 a year, we could support this team of professionals. What would take for it to be a committed figure, given that we are slowing down on funding the constructing church building? A core amount to be raised and entrusted for 2 years- this would leave 1 year’s expenses in escrow, earning interest at 2% or more at a local bank and paying for future increases in pay, while allowing the mission to fund the current year’s pay.

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I went to the Wheaton Public Library to get another copy of Gary Haugen's 'The Locust Effect' for Alma (I already have a digital copy on Amazon). But I couldn't find one, though I did find Paul Farmer's 'Haiti after the Earthquake'. There is a touching passage about an incident Farmer encountered a week after the quake- this speaks so much of the Haitian heart for God and his people:

"Late one evening, about a week after the quake, I spent the better part of an hour trying to convince a gasping, skeletal, young woman, her lungs half-consumed by tuberculosis, not to join the exodus that had emptied the wards after yet another aftershock. We were both inside when the shaking began, and I remember putting a hand out to steady her oxygen tank, which weighed almost as much as she did. Never had I imagined such a scene: grasping the top of a heavy tank inside a trembling building and trying to comfort a patient and wondering whether the whole place was about to come down.

The patient's name was Natasha, and she was alone, except for a young man sitting on the bed next to her. I assumed he was a family member, or perhaps a nurse's aide. It turned out that he was a Good Samaritan, who'd never met Natasha before. He'd just traveled from a town south of Port au Prince with his own sister, badly injured when the quake destroyed their modest house. His sister had died a few hours before, he said, and he'd not yet decided where to go. So he lay down, alone in a fog of grief, in an empty hospital bed.

And then the ground started to shake again. He leapt up to join the general exodus, but saw Natasha straining against her life-saving contraptions, including the oxuyen tank. He stayed in the building and did his best to calm her. Blood was seeping from around the IV catheter in her arm; panicked, she was also tugging against the tube that piped oxygen into her nose. Claire Pierre and I arrived just then and begged him to stay until we could find a staff member to assume these duties. They were both there the next day, still unassisted, but by then he was sitting next to her, reading from a well-thumped Bible. He had also gone out into the fractured streets and found her something to eat."

More Post Mission Thoughts

Some more thoughts, having to do with my attitude towards short term missions. STMs or as we call in our church STAMP trips have been criticized a lot, and for good reason. Most such trips do for people what they could or should do for themselves, thereby creating dependency and eventually destruction of industries which could prosper without such intervention. Donating food, clothes money, etc have a place- but they cannot make up the whole mission.

HART in my view has been more successful than most other trips. Some of the reasons, I think, as these:

1. Each STAMP trip revolves around supporting an anchor missionary stationed long-term. In this case the anchor missionary is Father Roosevelt who is local and invested long-term. There is great trust between him and his people. Often a foreign long-term missionary lacks this trust, but does carry a lot of trust from his church or support teams back home. The inverse in true in cases where the anchor missionary is a local leader. In HART's case both these problems are non-existent. Father Roosevelt is not supported for his daily living by the Detroit churches, he is invested in his people and he carries enormous trust in Detroit. Each time he visits there is great love and affection, and many STAMP trips have over several years seen his work for themselves and come away impressed.

2. In HART's case there are 2 'medium-term' missionaries, one of whom is committed enough to go to Haiti at least once each quarter. He also spearheads the construction effort for the church HART is building in Haiti. The accountability is stronger with these missionaries' efforts. But such medium-term missions arise out of personal desire and investment into the people. They have found their own personal missions- in the case of one, supporting orphans with medical care and other resources. The bond between the local mission and the overseas church becomes stronger with this quarterly contact.

3. STAMP missionaries are committed to go each year to the same country. In our church each year different STAMP missions target different countries. I remember a STAMP trip to India a couple of years ago, and another one a few years previously, but the frequency of contact and constant investment isn't there. In HART's case there are a few countries they are invested in- Haiti, Uganda, Cameroon, and some others- but this list is limited, and the team is committed to travel to these places each year. The number of people on each team is limited to 25 people but the wait-list is 25 people-strong.

4. Medical care is sorely needed in this region- this does not necessarily create dependency. Without this medical care the people simply will not get any other such care. Best of all, the missionaries make it clear they they are there because they love Jesus. The youngsters who go with the team live in spartan facilities with 25 people to 3 restrooms, having 2 meals a day, supplemented with energy bars they bring with them. Eventually though I think HART would benefit from having a Haitian missionary doctor stationed long term and supported by the church financially.

5. HART is made up of people from 3 different parishes. This is great, and creates the best form of accountability. Also it provides critical mass for the number of people who could be a part of such trips.

6. The 'No Negativity' clause works wonders. Mission trips are often compromised by hurt feelings, sarcasm and other such issues. Most of the time HART missionaries were kind- I can vouch for this, as I myself messed up on several occasions- particularly my lack of care in keeping my sickness to myself- but people were forgiving.

7. Often having heart for missions means saying No to a trip. In this case Tom let me know that his wife did not come because she felt it would be good for some others to be a part of the trip. A true missionary is intentional this way.

I have not yet been on a college church mission trip. But I sometimes wonder if our mission trips could learn from this one. We usually have an anchor missionary who is financial supported by the church and other churches, but local missionaries who partner with them (if they exist) are not heard of at all. In our church we pray for the missionaries we support but not local partners. Such partners also do not come to our church to interact with us. The lack of communication, except in the form of periodic emails requesting prayer and detailing small events, makes for an impoverished form of partnership. Considering that our missionaries are supported financially (each family getting $4000-$5000 a month), this is strange.

We pride ourselves on being a sending church- the fact that half of our annual budget of $6 M goes into missions speaks for itself. Besides this the STAMP teams support themselves, and the long term missionaries raise funds from among the congregation as well as other congregations, which is not a part of the $3 M missions budget. It is likely much higher than the 3 HART parishes put together. We are present in several countries- I wonder if we are spreading ourselves too thin in this way. Alma and I support 2 missionary families in India financially, but the inadequate communication and partnership is not a good thing. There is a lack of clarity as to their work, and there is typically no mention of local ministry partners, no requests for prayer for such people, no introduction of such people to the team in the US.

Medical missions in my view are an excellent way to minister to people. I do not see a focused effort to build such teams in our church. A lot of point to ponder.

Post-mission thoughts

I'm still processing all that Haiti meant to me, and I look back and realize that 9 days have the power to change the course of a life. I had not actually expected this though I was told this time and again. The common mission model is that of having an anchor missionary in a place and having teams of short term missions full of eclectic people with varied skills come in to do focused work throughout the year. The anchor missionary should be accountable and trustworthy in order to be able to do this effectively. To avoid situations wherein teams of short term missionaries go to third world countries to build a house that noone lives in or paint a building that then gets abandoned, the missionary needs to plan for these short term trips in advance.

I'm glad to say that our Haiti trip works well in that limited sense. It is only once a year that it happens, but Wayne State University is going in December, and I believe other teams go there as well. Father Roosevelt is clearly a man of the people with his heart firmly planted in Point a Raquette. He lives in modest conditions, and while there are those in the US who would ask why he is building a church when he could use the money to help the material needs of people (like a disciple famously asked Jesus why a woman would spend so much money on buying a perfume to wash his feet rather than spend it on the poor), he knows his people and they love him- it is so obvious.

I also see genuine faith. The petty differences in denominational affiliation that mark us out in the US or for that matter in India do not apply here. Protestants here seem not to carry so much baggage from the protesting attitude stemming from Reformation history against the Catholic church. Catholics on the other seem very similar to protestants in their worship. The sermons I heard and conversations I had with both US and Haitian leaders in Haiti point to this fact. The "bipolar gospel" or the "evangelical two-step" that makes a firm distinction between salvation of our souls and the desire to see God's justice accomplished among the poor also doesn't seem to exist. The people I met were worshipers and seekers of justice. There is no such thing as a "mercy ministry"- it is part of the package.

I've thought long and hard about going back with the same group. It opened my eyes to be part of a Catholic group, the leaders of which are Christian in every way that I consider myself to be. But I wonder if the future holds another opportunity to make more opportunities to go with another group. HART has a group of 25 who go yearly- they also have a waitlist that is 25-strong. After 5 years of serving God in this way, this has become an established mission group. They also go to Uganda, Cameroon and other places.

Father Roosevelt tried hard to get Joyce to return independent of the group. She wasn't sure, but clearly there is great need for more people to go. If we can have another group going to Haiti it would help the cause. I checked with Tom to make sure there would be no issues concerning a different denomination serving with him- he assured me that there would not be.

A recurring piece of conversation is the capability to implement EMR. Each year they talk about it but where there is scant internet access (except in the rectory) and difficulty in carrying networking equipment, computers and printers, not to mention the money needed to customize the EMR for the Haitians' needs, it has become a tough task. Although this is the case, I have an idea to create spreadsheet-based EMR that is not networked. Just like the triage forms we use now, we could fill out this information in a spreadsheet-based form which would then be consolidated into a table. The data from the triage, nurses, doctors and the pharmacy would then be consolidated at the end of the trip, and uploaded to a central location. It would need laptops (preferably tablets) with Microsoft Excel installed in each, as well as portable light printers capable of printing 1000 forms each day. Each station (doctor/nurse/triage/staff) would need to have one. Clearly this would limit our ability to carry pills and equipment due to baggage restrictions, but if we could get this equipment to Haiti as a one-time expense, it would help future missionaries. I will talk to Tom about creating this.

Another thought I have been having is about creating awareness. Tom and I talked about the intentionality of missions. Most of us in the team could afford to buy a ticket to Haiti and back with our own money. But one of us, Dr. Post created a letter that he sent to friends and associates in order to raise funds for the trip. This way a partnership could be established and more people could share in the riches of God's kingdom- the rules of which are to serve people that he came to save. Both Tom and I have had conflicting thoughts about publishing our activities on social media, in that we need to be careful to draw a line of distinction between promoting ourselves and sharing the news of God's transformation of the Haitian people. This is tough because our own motives are often mixed.

Friendships are among the most treasured souvenirs of this trip. Besides the friendships among missionaries, the bond between people in Haiti and myself is a priceless thing I would not trade for anything. It has been a very long time since I have seen people go out of their way to do something out of love, even simple things. This opens up a whole new dimension of Jesus' character that I have seen but also seen it fading away over the years.

More such thoughts, and I will try to pen these down in the next few days...

Days 7½ and 8 in Haiti

Day 7 had its share of patients that tugged at one’s heart, particularly one of Joyce’s. She had cervical cancer that was very advanced and there was no way to treat it. Joyce says it had to be at least 3 years late. I kept thinking of Dr. Paul Farmer’s concept of the “long defeat”. He says, “How about if I say, I have fought for my whole life a long defeat. How about that? How about if I said, that’s all it adds up to is defeat? I have fought the long defeat and brought other people on to fight the long defeat, and I’m not going to stop because we keep losing. Now I actually think sometimes we may win. I don’t dislike victory.”

Sara Groves who took inspiration from this wrote a song called the long defeat. She makes the point that we are “so conditioned for a win, to share in victors’ stories, but in the place of ambition’s din, I have heard of other glories.” And “I can't just fight when I think I'll win; That's the end of all belief; And nothing has provoked it more than a possible defeat.”

I think of the cross, a criminal’s death, so much what seemed then a long defeat, and yet the battle is not ours but the Lord’s, and it ends in victory that will last. And we know that the Christian faith wears the resurrection on its sleeve clearly for all to see. But this doesn't come without the terrible darkness of Good Friday. Again, quoting Dr. Farmer responding to his classmates at Duke and Harvard who frequently challenged his faith, "“You want crucifixion? You ba----ds, I’ll show you crucifixion.”

We spent the evening of Day 7 on the rooftop, and shared our one big takeaway from the trip. We went around in a circle and I was towards the end. For some reason my fevered brain kept thinking of only one thing- how cool it would be to have a zipline from the rooftop to Port au Prince. I wasn’t thinking much, so I said some things that came to mind. On more sober reflection, I think the one takeaway is the same I experience when I come across great acts for God- seeing Christ in the lives of people who are committed to Him. In these days of scandals involving priests, evangelists, megachurch pastors and other ecclesial or various leaders of faith, we need a Pauline (or Petrine if you are Catholic) figure towering above the rest to look up to. I’m glad to say that I have seen many such living saints, and this has been a rampart for my faith. We sat there on the rooftop against the darkening sky and I heard distant drumbeats eerily floating to us from the forests below. Dave told me those were voodoo drums. There is a lot of voodoo around the area. It felt strange to hear them with the mountain silhouetted against the sky in the night on one side and the glimmering lights of Port au Prince against the Atlantic Ocean downhill on the other. One of those moments when I think to myself, “Where have I come?”

We woke early in the morning on Day 8 and packed up our things and waited for the bus to Port au Prince, which was magnificently late. We often joke among friends about Indian Stretchable Time. It has nothing on Haitian Time. Clearly due to the non-existent infrastructure, the concept of time here is different from the world of our workaday world. The only way to deal with this and maintain one’s sanity is to relax and take on a laissez faire attitude towards unimaginable delays and unforeseen circumstances such as a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully we did not suffer from the latter problem this time around, but Tom shared that it happened last year on the way back downhill.

A local bank on the way downhill

Prior to leaving we said goodbye to everyone. The kids were the most difficult to part with. I have never seen more trust, more smiles, or more innocence anywhere else. I took pictures with some of them- Jonathan who lives with Father Roosevelt at the rectory, little girls Missena and Gyn (?) both aged 9, a year younger than my daughter Emma. As the bus drove off, I felt a hollow feeling in my stomach, which I realized was not hunger, but an indication of how much I missed Alma and the kids. I kept thinking of these kids. It is no wonder that these missionaries broach the question of adoption each time they come. As I looked at the little girls when we drove away, I thought to myself: When I return the year after next, if HART will have me, will they retain their trust, their smiles? Will they suffer much when they, as they undoubtedly will, go through chikungunya, HTN and God forbid, the terrible ailments we saw? My thoughts turned to how it would be if these girls were with us at our home in Wheaton, playing with Emma and David, how wonderful it would be. People who know me well know I almost never tear up, but as these thoughts raced through my mind I couldn't hold back. Thank God I had my sunglasses on.

Missena and Gyn

With Jonathan (right) and his friend 

We drove through Port au Prince and stopped at Patrick’s home because his daughter was sick. Joyce examined her and thought it must be the beginning of chikungunya. While Joyce was with the patient, I talked at length to Dr. Carol about Paul Farmer- she said she will read it and ask her kids to read it as well. I never tire of recommending it to people, though I give them the disclaimer about slightly colorful language, especially if they are Christian.  

Then we stopped at a store called 'The Apparent Project' (http://www.apparentproject.org/) where we bought arts and crafts created by local artisans. I bought a beaded necklace for Alma made out of clay. They make these necklaces because Haitians eat clay from the acute hunger. It is a reminder of this horrendous plight. I bought similar other things for the kids. We ran into a blonde girl working there and talking in Creole to the Haitians working there. She said 5 years ago she had come to explore, didn't know Jesus, and had now changed and working there in marketing. Tom, to my surprise, jumped in and said, "We are Catholics." He let me know he does to surprise non-Catholic believers and to see their reaction. The girl kept smiling but I think she was surprised. Then Tom pointed to me and said, "We are all Catholics except him- he is a Wheaton boy. We decided to take him with us." She said they get a lot of people from Wheaton. I wonder who.

We then drove to our hotel, a Best Western, the only one of its kind in the city. This area of town is called Petionville, the wealthy area of town. Sean Penn has a home here. That is not saying it looks like it could belong in Hollywood, much less in Bollywood. But it does have the consuls and diplomats’ residences. We entered the hotel, and let out a collective gasp. It was very much like a US hotel. Tom and I are sharing a room. Looking out our window it felt odd to see the dirt and grime of Port au Prince and the clean order of our hotel room. It is a 4 ½ star hotel. I looked at our bags which traveled downhill separately from us, in a pickup truck. They were covered with thick grey dust.

Later today we plan to go to a local orphanage to distribute rice, beans, medicines and candy. 

Day 7 in Haiti

I feel much better though I’m yet to completely recover. I’d rather fall sick at home than here but at a place where there are 6 doctors and 5 nurses, there is no denying the care you receive if you do fall sick. I got plenty of meds, helpful advice and a lot of TLC, including a shout out from a nurse about my prayers for the people. What more does an affirmation junkie need?

This is not our last day in Haiti but is the day we wrap up the medical camp. We go to Port au Prince tomorrow morning to spend the day at a nice hotel by Haiti standards. I guess we can only take so much of sharing space in cramped rooms and bathroom rules that declare “if it’s yellow let it mellow, but if it’s brown flush it down”. I can’t say I won’t be relieved. The hotel also lessens our “reverse culture shock” when we reenter the US, which the missionaries have reported in the past.

The triage area again went well. We took pictures with some kids holding up signs saying thank you to Fed Ex, a church and a minor league baseball team, which sponsored some gifts. I left some of my clothes behind for Father Roosevelt. I will leave my guitar behind after tonight’s worship as well.

Among tough cases, one of the students reported a case of a child having worms in her nose! I have to say that these students will have seen far more unusual cases than even the docs who travel to other third world countries. Haiti is a unique place.

Days 5 and 6 in Haiti

The triage area is a now well-oiled machine- it’s amazing what duct tape can do. We sealed off the boundaries and gave definition to the path a visitor needs to take. There is no more jumping the line or squabbles as to who came first. Human beings anywhere are naturally prone to getting ahead of each other when they are desperate to get something for which everyone is clamoring. The way to address this is to give the process definition and set boundaries which are visible. Someone jumping the line when there are clearly marked dividers does so in full view of everyone else. When there are no such markers, standing haphazardly may well mean inviting someone to get ahead. A structure- that’s what makes the US work at airports, movie theaters, Dairy Queen or just about any place. It works just as well in Haiti.

Joyce and I had the opportunity to speak to the crowd of people in the mornings on days 5 and 6. I love how the Haitians interact with the speaker. Unlike in most of our churches, they think of a sermon as a conversation. African Americans tend to do this more often in the US, but I find the Haitian version less a cultural type than it is a normal way to process the word of God.

We found several cases- a girl with chikungunya, covered with rashes, a skinny pregnant woman who ate on 3 times a week as her husband had lost his job 7 years ago and never got another one (she was severely dehydrated), and several others- that makes one wonder how we could live with the ambivalence.

Oriol, one of the choir directors came up and played some songs on the guitar with me. I gave him several pages in a binder that contained musical notation for many hymns and songs. I plan to give the guitar to Father Roosevelt when I leave.

A trip like this brings about several interesting reflections and conversations. One topic that frequently comes up among the missionaries is the question that many ask of us- why go all the way to Haiti when there are so many poor in the US. This is, in my experience, a smokescreen for their guilt. It is usually asked by people who have not themselves done anything for the poor either in the US or anywhere else. This guilt is not necessarily a bad thing. As Paul Farmer says we experience ambivalence when we see poverty juxtaposed against our prosperity. There are 2 choices we could make when we experience this- either do something about it or make excuses. As he says in Mountains beyond Mountains, “among a coward's weapons, cynicism is the nastiest of all”.

In the evening on Day 5, Dr. Tom and I visited the homes of 2 of our Haitian helpers- Markenson and Enock (sic). Markeson is planning to come to Chicago on September 29 with Father Roosevelt, and I would like to meet up with him and Tom. I felt great to visit them and build those relationships. Markenson lost his mom in the 2010 earthquake- her grave site is in the compound of his home, marked by a cross. He lives with his brother. Enock is a younger guy who is very friendly. He introduced us to his family- mom, his younger brother and his friend who was finishing up his dinner at their home. A cow, a bull and chicken roamed about the yard. Funnily enough, after I finished praying for some patients in the triage, he asked me if I were a Catholic or a Protestant. It felt great to tell him I'm a follower of Jesus. Was that a cop out? If it was, I don't care.

I could take hours to write about the great helpers we have- Philippe who doesn't take a lunch break in the triage, Robbins who lost his dad last week and is trying to raise funds for his funeral, all the while spending entire days with us at the clinic, and so many others.

I came down with a cough and mild feverishness on Day 6, but I’m quickly recovering. The chik virus doesn’t bring about sniffles and Dr. Tom told me it is good to have the cold as viruses compete for dominance of the body. So if you have the cold, the chik virus may not get a chance to operate.

We distributed Bibles in church today, the Creole version of NIV. Everyone wanted one- where there is a famine for the word of God people treasure their Bibles.

“I think Farmer taps into a universal anxiety and also into a fundamental place in some troubled consciences, into what he calls "ambivalence," the often unacknowledged uneasiness that some of the fortunate feel about their place in the world, the thing he once told me he designed his life to avoid.”

― Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World

Day 4 in Haiti

A day unlike any other so far. We began the clinic in the morning after the mass. Dr. Graves (Tom) stood outside the gate and spoke to the crowd of people who had come, “We have come because we love Jesus.” One of our team, Dave, led us all in singing and a student, Conor, talked about his prayer for God to work through him.

I was a little frustrated in the beginning because the task of maintaining order in the triage was getting to me. I kept reminding myself what I was here for and why I wanted to come. Eventually the task became easier and new ideas came up that helped me manage the crowd. I saw members of the team smiling as they did their work and giving me a thumbs up every now and then, and felt convicted that my frustration was not good. I prayed and felt that God was prompting me to pray for patients waiting in line at the clinic to see a doctor. So I went there and started laying my hands on and praying for each one, specifically for the sickness stated on each triage form. More and more patients began to thrust their triage forms into my hands asking me to pray. I prayed for most of them. As Sara Groves said, “your faith has changed me, your hope inspires, your courage asked me what I knew of love, and your courage asked me what I knew of God.”

I came back after lunch and finished triage duties. The highlights of this day was a pregnant woman who came into the triage with high blood pressure, whom Joyce diagnosed to have preeclampsia. She decided to induce the baby in order to save its life. After 8 hours, baby Frank was born and the lives of both baby and mom were saved. One of the Haitian team members told me, "This is why God will always bless you." Father Roosevelt told me, “That Joyce is awesome- she should stay here forever.” After we discharged the woman, she had to walk to her home which was nearby. This was a makeshift hospital which we needed to use the next day. Her family members accompanied her and she went home limping! As we walked back in the tick Haitian night, Brun told me in a hushed tone, “This was a miracle.” I nodded and then he asked me, “At any point were you afraid for the baby’s life?” I said I wasn’t, but I was scared for the mom’s life. I told him that when we were expecting Emma, Alma asked me a few times, “Am I going to die?” I now tease her about it.

Did I not write yet about watching the second half of the US Ghana game? That shows how much electricity was in the air. It was indeed, as Brun said, a miracle. I'll never forget it.

Day 3 in Haiti

Day three. Tough to put everything to words. We did a lot of work setting up the clinic. I’m slightly nervous or excited about tomorrow. Over a thousand people will show up. We did my favorite thing- worshiped with singing for over 1 hour. In the morning we attended the service at the makeshift church. As it was in Creole,I did not understand most of it. Some I made do with my limited knowledge of French. I recorded some of the singing during the service and it was awesome, very joyful. Kids swarmed about us today, asking for things. One wanted my camera, another my sunglasses, still another my hat. I plan to give a lot of things away on my return but not those three- the hat because it is not mine to give. 

The poverty doesn't shock me- I've seen similar levels of lack in India. But the fact that nearly everyone seems poor is unsettling. In India both fabulous wealth and grinding poverty are easily visible, and it is easy to see that the society is truly mixed. Not so much here. The rich are far away in enclaves of their own, but I was told that the land this village sits on, including the rectory, school, and the church we are building, are all owned by rich people who let all this happen. All the land is owned. I wonder how all this happens. If in a country there are 7 million people, and only a handful of people own all the land there is, surely this must have come about in a devious manner. How could people be dispossessed of land except by force? Surely these people must have land from the past to lay claim to.

But of course, from Gary Haugen’s writings and others like Paul Farmer and Tracy Kidder, we know how this happens. The same story in every single third world country. Mounting debts, paying it off through unfair labor practices or some other means of giving up fundamental rights. Nothing new under the sun.

Day 2 in Haiti

June 14, 2014

Today was an off day- we had time to relax. We went for a hike to see a quarry from which they were mining smooth sand to make cinder blocks and cement. They had carved down from a high mountain down to a canyon using minimal heavy machinery. Dump trucks which were used before in the US trafficked back and forth through the unpaved, bumpy paths. When we came back I found a kid with a soccer ball. We played for about an hour passing the ball back and forth. An older kid- perhaps in his late teens- came up and wanted to play. He challenged me to a dribble contest. We dribbled for about 15 minutes against each other- he was very good, like street kids in most of Latin America. It was great and I enjoyed every minute- but I soon realized how much older I had become since my soccer days, when my heart started panting faster. I came back and finished off 2 bottles of water and a cup of Gatorade, before polishing off a granola bar and one hour later, lunch. Hypoglycemia- I need to refuel fast in these situations.

Others from our team went for a longer hike up the mountain. They came back and let us know they’d seen big, beautiful homes like the ones you see in Grosse Pointe. Owned by wealthy Haitians. Makes one wonder. Injustice in the third world works that way. A narrow band of the wealthy and powerful lords it over the poorest people in the world, all the while denying their claims to public wealth and restoration. Something I know only too well in India, and even in the US.          Wealthy Haitians are mainly government employees. Many of them got wealthier after the earthquake in 2010 by getting checks from the government for the damages they sustained, and now they are living it up.

In the evening there was another soccer game, but I was worn out and didn’t play. It was very good, though short on strategy. Reminds me of street kids in Kerala who are good at the game. I think this is the root of the Latin American prowess in soccer- individualism and flair, as opposed to strategy, technique, method, etc in Europe. Of course, I’m generalizing, but these countries have been known for fielding one or two star players who carry the game on their shoulders, the most famous of course being Diego Maradona in Mexico 86. Everyone thought it was crazy to assume that one player could help Argentina get to the top, but he did and they did. Compare that to 1990 Germany whose captain Jürgen Klinsmann, now US coach, led them to the cup. The team was a symbol of German precision engineering. Both great styles, and both work for the teams that field them.

Day 1 in Haiti

June 13 2014

This is our first day in Haiti. We landed in the afternoon and spent 2 hours waiting in the airport for the luggage and later waiting in a big van with 16 others from our team, as well as our coordinator Patrick and Brun, a police officer who came with us. After this we drove through what seemed to me like a mountain path cut with handheld tools to Father Roosevelt’s rectory. We talked along the way about poverty in the Third World, similarities with India and so on. But even with the crushing load of poverty India has, I don’t think a road so bumpy and treacherous leading out of any city exists anywhere in India. I’m beginning to understand Dr. Paul Farmer’s reasoning behind his bad back as being the difficult travel from Port au Prince to the central plateau and back.

Most of what we travelled through in Port-au-Prince felt like an extended Mumbai slum with no end in sight. While I was prepared to find poverty and was not shocked, the sheer pervasiveness of it throughout the city was something I had not expected. Joyce had prepared me for this but it was clearly not enough. I had expected some nice looking places, but I did not find one along the way. Curiously I found, among signs advertising John Deere, Peugeot and other Western brands, both Mahindra and Tata showrooms. Besides these occasional glimmers of private capital at work, most of what I saw was wretchedness. The arguments against “poverty porn” seem to fizzle out against such a staggering reality. The effects of the 2010 earthquake have not yet fully disappeared. It was sweet to see the faces of kids smiling at us from outside the van windows as we went by. For a moment I thought of Pat Robertson’s insensitive comment about the earthquake being God’s judgment upon the Haitians for practicing voodoo. More flippancy upon the wretched of the earth.

We arrived at Father Roosevelt’s place after a 2 hour drive along this bumpy mountain path and were greeted by kids and youth who live nearby or at the rectory. After spending some time setting up our mosquito nets, we had lunch and gathered at the rooftop to worship. I played the guitar and we sang ’10,000 reasons’, ‘Blessed be the Name’ and other such songs. I feel this group has been so kind and hospitable to me to let me come with them, all under the pretext of being an alleged “worship leader”. What a deal! Father Roosevelt spoke briefly and talked about demonstrating Jesus’ love to the people. Very touching. I found the same mango variety in the rectory compound (‘moovandan’) that we have at my parents’ home in Cochin. It is a beautiful place, full of trees we know and love in Southern India, especially what we call the ‘Gulmohar’ or the flame of the forest.

We checked out the church Father Roosevelt is building, the school, the clinic and a nearby half-finished outdoor stage-like place, where the local youth had gathered around a TV set to watch the Australia vs Chile soccer match. I got to practice my French on some unsuspecting Haitians who obliged me by responding in English. I continued firmly in French. This should be the subject of a sitcom- it would make for good viewing provided you knew both languages. What great kids- they parted with me saying God bless you. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, when we will visit the village. On Sunday we set up the clinic and from Monday through Thursday we will see patients. I will work the ‘triage’ or intake area with one of our team. Looking forward to it.

5 Common Traits of Highly Successful People

Most successful people have at least 1 bowel movement each day.
Most successful people speak English.
Most successful people do not have major health issues.
Most successful people used to be kids at some point in their life.
Most successful people aren't you.

A Matter of Jurisdiction

I just finished reading Gary Haugen's book, 'The Locust Effect'. Among other things he notes that in countries like India, when bullies are slapped with a lawsuit, they have many courses of action available to them, not the least of which is delaying the execution of justice. Frequently they do not need to exercise these options as the police carry it out for them in their inefficient ways. Typically this could involve citing the matter of jurisdiction.

I came across an article about Devyani Khobragade today in The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/khobragade-case-india-questioned-us-authority/article5698046.ece). All it says is that in September 2013 the State Department had inquired about the diplomat's compensating her maid at less than minimum wage. In reply the Indian government filed an injuction against the maid top stop her from approaching any US court. They also responded to the State Department that this was an issue internal to India and the US should not interfere.

Deja Vu.

It is easy to see the scourge of slavery and injustice when you see the symptoms.

Conversations to Convict

It's true that we define social, political, economic and faith systems in the way we want to project its benefits or evils. Take these definitions for capitalism. I like the urban dictionary best.

Capitalism:

Jubilee Center: The economic system that seeks to maximise the financial return on investments above all other criteria.

Google result: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Merriam-Wester: a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government

The Free Dictionary: An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

Wikipedia: an economic system in which trade, industry and the means of production are controlled by private owners with the goal of making profits in a market economy

World Socialist Movement: Capitalism is the social system which now exists in all countries of the world. Under this system, the means for producing and distributing goods (the land, factories, technology, transport system etc) are owned by a small minority of people. We refer to this group of people as the capitalist class. The majority of people must sell their ability to work in return for a wage or salary (who we refer to as the working class.)

Capitalism.org: Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights.

Urban Dictionary: An economic system based on private ownership of the means of production, in which personal bling can be acquired through investment of capital and employment of peeps.


It is useful to compare these with definitions for a stone (or rock):

Definitions for stone (or rock):

Wikipedia: In geology, a rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids.

Stone age people: Material widely used to make implements with a sharp edge, a point, or a percussion surface.

Builders: longest lasting building material available, and is usually readily available

Violent protesters: Useful missile to aim at


See where I'm getting at. Capitalism is an economic system. We tend to give it social, political and religious slants. A faith like Christianity (or a variant of it like Evangelicalism) is just that- a faith system. We broaden it by calling it a worldview, but smuggle in politics and economics into it, as it may suit our opinions. Politics enters into economics as a handmaiden but does not replace its function. Capitalism is given an area of jurisdiction depending on the political system that oversees it.

But this is how people arrive at personal convictions- by talking, sometimes irrationally, stepping out of lines. Whether we are intellectuals talking about the meaning of life, or bakers talking about the texture of cake, our conversations are meant to seek, reinforce or very rarely, question, our personal convictions. Often we tend to avoid talking, or in some cases, forbid certain topics for conversations, for fear that it may rock the boat- any boat, whether the boat of family allegiances or that of political or social expediency or any other. When we do that, this basic human need remains malnourished.

Sometimes, however, we mistake the purpose of conversation for being a way to continually keeping questioning without actually seeking. This ensures that we aren't nourished at all. The ideas concourse through us and never leave anything of value behind- because we don't want to commit to anything. A personal conviction is important. Without it our conversations are hollow. 

Healthcare Debate among Christians

My thoughts these days are on the healthcare reform. The PPACA (Obamacare) rollout has provided cannon fodder to those opposed to it in principle. Anyone who has worked in our industry can see clearly that the CGI engagement in building the healthcare.gov exchange has been deeply flawed in design. I can't blame CGI squarely for this either. Many critics allege that they had 3 years to fix it, but the reality is that serious work on this began only after the June 28 2012 Supreme Court ruling that Obamacare was constitutionally compliant. CGI needed to size the infrastructure, go through the hardware installation, design, application development and testing for a system that will handle the enrol-to-claim process, providing analytics, external party integration and reporting for 50 million people! And all this in slightly more than 1 year- in my experience, that is more than aggressive, and was destined for failure from the beginning. A lot of it has to do with the Obama administration, which is CGI's sole source of inputs on the business requirements, volume of traffic, compliance and all other related functionality.

The Act has also come under fire for the fact that many hundreds of thousands of 'sub-standard' health policies are getting canceled as they do not meet the standards set by the administration. When the policyholders switch to Obamacare, they end up paying higher premiums. Many who do not quality for vouchers to pay these premiums are being financially hurt. This was contrary to Obama's promise that 'those who like their current health insurance policies can keep them.'

Paul Krugman, who rarely pens articles that I find to be the 'whole truth', has written a great column in the New York Times titled 'The Big Kludge', talking about how the current complications are a result of bypassing a 'Medicare for All' law and settling for Obamacare.

My thoughts on this topic stem from my experience trying to sign up my mom for the PPACA. She is a green card holder, well above 65 years of age, but cannot get Obamacare or Medicare. These programs exclude senior immigrants who have not lived in the US for at least 5 years continuously.

There are some strident American voices out there who oppose including them in either program. Here is an excerpt from a blog post on an AARP forum:

Frankly I resent senior immagrants being eligible for any SS or Medicare.  They didn't pay into and for them to come to a foreign country and expect to take advantage a program they never paid into is appalling.  I respect your wanting to take care of your parents but you should be doing it on your dime and not on the backs of the citizens of your adopted country.  If you are so concerned about your parents maybe you should consider moving back to Argentina.  This may sound cold and unfeeling but SS and Medicare has been a political volley ball and is abused by  political parties, refuges and immagrants to this country.  Those that paid into and collect SS themselves have been cheated out of cost-of-living raises and have to deal with diminishing and inadequate health care.  There are countless senior citizens in this country that worked hard throughout their lives, paid into SS and retirement programs and still can't afford to live the comfortable life they had planned.  Social Security despite what you hear is NOT an enttilement program like welfare or programs you may get through a State.  This is a program that people pay into for their entire working life, it comes out of their checks and was meant to be used to take care of those retired/retiring, disabled workers or families where the bread winner has passed on.  The SSA has abused it by making it an entitlement program through SSI.  What does your native country do to provide for it's retired citizens and what exactly is it that you expect this country to pay for?

Observe the language "I Resent"... How could anyone resent a senior getting healthcare? If a new immigrant can be denied healthcare, why not go the whole hog and deny them access to water, emergency services, et al? After all, these are all taxpayer-funded. In these days when cities go bankrupt, perhaps we should throw off our veneer of compassion and demand that no services be provided to these needy and helpless people. Maybe they should be looking to their home country to supply these.

But this is a fairly typical sentiment- that those who do contribute should not receive anything. While the government should use its taxpayers' money effectively, this is, of course, completely contrary to Christian teaching- and when Christian caregivers or payers refuse to provide for such people, they refuse Christ himself:

"And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." (Matthew 25: 39-40 NRSV)

Matthew 25 does not talk about people who paid into the system. Christians MUST care for such people- through setting up proper health insurance for them, period. Those trying to influence public policy on gay marriage should remember that influencing public policy on healthcare on behalf of the helpless is virtuous.

The difference in perspectives comes from how we view people. Abe Lincoln's parents were very poor. If they lived today, it is unlikely they could have afforded decent health insurance. However Lincoln became president, and today we sing the praises of Nancy Lincoln. But if she were alive today and Lincoln were president, we would refuse her health insurance because she did not pay into the system. Or did she? Did she have anything to do with Lincoln's achievements? Of course, she did. We are not of our own making. We all have to thank millions of people for everything we are and everything we have. But our idolatrous culture defines contributions as monetary in nature. We consider mammon to be the most important reality in our lives. Nothing else matters.

There is another perspective, however- this one views human beings as those made in God's image, and intrinsically worth saving. That is the ONLY perspective a Christian should have.

Earlier this year in April, a Christian hospital illegally deported (via a process called 'medical repatriation') an 'illegal immigrant' despite his life-threatening injuries. Fully knowing that this man desperately needed timely care, he was sent to Mexico to die. The strident voices who responded to this column, presumably Christian, claimed that the man had essentially killed himself because he 'chose' that when he decided to enter the US illegally.

One sane voice had this to say:

First, the article is about ontological arguments on religion and sickness and NOT of the burden of state. You can't call yourself a good christian without following his teachings, and as far as we know Jesus would not have thought twice about going bankrupt if it meant helping everyone. 
Could the hospital contacted an in country hospital with the facilities necessary? Yes.
could agencies better oversee illegal workers working in dangerous environments cutting corners to save the boss more money in safety and wages? Yes.
I'm a medical dr. And i see often people without insurance for free because once upon a time when i was young, and illegal, and hospitals turned me down for treatment (good "christian" hospitals) a doctor stepped in and paid, and helped me ever since to pay for school. Now i am returning the favor.

Isn't this wonderful? Doesn't it put to rest all the nonsense about the 'moochers'? My own parents had a big part of who I am today- and I have contributed more than my "share" into the well-being of this country. But the idolaters of our country would deny them healthcare and justify it with arguments that will one day be heard at the judgment seat of Christ. We already know the verdict from Matthew 25. Here it is (NIV):

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Emma Lazarus' poem 'The New Colossus' contrasts the brazen giant, Collosus of Rhodes with the new, gentle Colossus, the Statue of Liberty.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Would Emma Lazarus stand by these words today? Or have become the brazen giant ourselves?

Conference Call Etiquette for the Technology and Operations Industry

• Do not begin a response to any question with “So…” You may think it makes you sound intelligent; it actually makes you sound uncertain of what you are saying.
• Be very uncomfortable with interrupting a speaker with “I would like to add on to that” or “I would like to chime in”- if it absolutely does not need to be said, Do Not Say It.
• Consciously work to minimize “uh’s and ah’s:. If you are looking for a word, try to remain silent where you would otherwise use such fillers.
• Some clichés have stood the test of time despite being very annoying. Some of the usual: “big ticket item”, “phenomenal amount of…”, “ad hoc response”, “value add”, and several others.

I don’t get why we do not have a preparatory course in this and other verbal communication skills in an industry that thrives on this kind of communication. Executive coach Dr.Paul Charlton who used to work at Wipro provides this and other skills now as an independent trainer, but it seems to me that this is something a company should make a mandatory course.

Misunderstandings

My home country India is a country that is hurting from wounds to its psyche, especially the religious side of its identity. When many Hindus relate to Christians and Christianity, it is through a prism of competition- that of an upstart religion trying to upend centuries of thought in an ancient country, and focusing on such narrow categories as conversion, a prophet who started it all, a holy book, and an attitude of condescension towards Hinduism. Much of this attitude can be attributed to Christians who have not actually engaged in "life" conversations, but simply insult the Hindu way of life and posture an easy bite-sized "commit and be saved" form of salvation. There is so much misunderstanding in the following account (likely fake) of a conversation between an American girl and an Indian man on a flight.

More than anything else, it shines light on the hurt in the Hindu mind arising from perceived slights from Christians- notice how the writer describes the American girl looking at the Hindu as if at a "caged animal". If anything else, it is important for Christians to reflect Christ's provision of freedom from sin and self to an unbeliever. It is equally important for us to view Hinduism as a Hindu sees it- not as if it were a religion that divides people into castes or one that teaches that nature is to be worshiped (though it has engendered all of these), but as being a worldview that seeks to unite mankind. When a Christian engages a Hindu in conversation, it needs to focus on such ideas first. Jesus breaks down the divisions between us both temporally and eternally.

Here is the post:

A Hindu was flying from JFK New York Airport to SFO San Francisco Airport CA to attend a meeting at Monterey, CA.

An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours.

He was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk.He told her that I am from India

Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 'What?' He didn't understand the question.

'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?'

'No!' He replied, 'He am neither Christian nor Muslim'.

Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?' “I am a Hindu”, He said.

She looked at him as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what He was talking about.

A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.

But a Hindu, what?

He explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth.

'Who is your prophet?' she asked.

'We don't have a prophet,' He replied.

'What's your Holy Book?'

'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,'
He replied.

'Oh, come on at least tell me who is your God?'

'What do you mean by that?'

'Like we have Jesus and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a God?'

He thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.

According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion needs to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. He understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of God.

He tried to explain to her: 'You can believe in one God and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in God at all, still you can be a Hindu. An Atheist can also be a Hindu.'

This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces.

'I don't understand but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?'

What can He tell to this American girl?

He said: 'I do not go to Temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes'.

'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'

'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'

She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?'

'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning. I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' He told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority..

'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.

'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'

'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'

'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' He told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal Gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.

'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?'

'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,'
लोका समस्ता सुखिनो भवन्तु !!! ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः !!!

'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'

'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Let there be Peace, Peace,and Peace every where.'

'Hmm ..very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free' she exclaimed.

'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'

'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'

'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but it is a Culture, a way of leaving life, a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single Authority or Organization either to accept you or to reject you or to oppose you on behalf of Hinduism.'

He told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one Guru to the next.

For a real seeker, He told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life.

Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 'Isavasyam idam sarvam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you.

Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.

Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.

He said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception'

He said "I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence - 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' means - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn't condition my mind with any faith system.

A man/woman who changes his/her birth religion to another religion is a fake and does not value his/her morals, culture and values in life.

Hinduism is the original rather a natural yet a logical and satisfying spiritual, personal and a scientific way of leaving a life..

Unmistakable Signs of Genocide- I- Marking Homes

There is a news report making the rounds that Christian businesses were marked out prior to being attacked or burned. History repeats itself. Watch out for another unmistakable sign- denial after the fact. This is true in all these cases below:

Egypt, 2013:

Christian businesses and homes in the town are facing similar dire circumstances. One Christian resident told an AP reporter that Islamists “painted a red X on Muslim stores and a black X on Christian stores [and] you can be sure that the ones with a red X are intact” compared to the destroyed facilities marked with black paint.

Rwanda-Burundi:

"I had eighteen people killed at my house," says a man named Etienne Niyonzima. "Everything was totally destroyed -- a place of fifty-five meters by fifty meters. In my neighborhood they killed six hundred and forty-seven people. They tortured them, too. You had to see how they killed them. They had the number of everyone's house, and they went through with red paint and marked the homes of all the Tutsis and of the Hutu moderates. My wife was at a friend's, shot with two bullets. She is still alive, only ... she has no arms."

Gujarat, 2002:

In most places, Hindu houses amongst Muslim bastis had been marked out before the attacks using saffron flags, or pictures of Ram and Hanuman, or with crosses. Evidence before the Tribunal shows that in some places this marking was done a few days before the Godhra tragedy on February 27 and which was the ostensible justification for the 'retaliation'. These markings were to avoid inadvertent attacks on Hindu homes and businesses in areas that were targeted later.

Bosnia:

The announcements broadcast on the radio also obliged non-Serbs to hang a white cloth outside their homes as a demonstration of their loyalty to the Serbian authorities. Charles McLeod, who was with the ECMM and visited Prijedor municipality in the last days of August 1992, testified that while visiting a mixed Serb/Bosnian Muslim village he saw that the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) houses were identified by a white flag on the roof. This is corroborated by the testimony of Barnabas Mayhew (ECMM), who testified that the Bosnian Muslim houses were marked with white flags in order to distinguish them from the Serb houses.

Shame Theory in our Business World

Snake Oil Inc. is a tough place to work in. Like Mckinsey and other large consulting companies, Snake Oil believes in firing 10 percent of its workforce each year based on some performance metrics. There are several employees, highly paid, but unsure of their longevity in the company. Our protagonist is Trusty Rusty. We will pick a representative from the rest of the employees who behave the same way- Honest Sam. Each employee considers his or her employment in the company as a zero sum game- meaning, their being or not being in the bottom 10 percent each year depends not only on themselves but on how others perform. It is in Trusty Rusty’s interest to ensure that Honest Sam does not get a performance rating ahead of him.

Consider the scenarios before Trusty Rusty:      

• There are 2 possibilities for him: Getting rated above or below par.
• There are 2 consequences: Getting retained or getting fired.
• If he gets rated above par it is likely he will not get fired, but it depends on Honest Sam’s rating as well.
• If he gets rated below par, it is likely he will get fired, but then again it depends on how Honest Sam does.

Trusty Rusty is highly qualified, and will have no problem finding a job, but this job is highly desirable, and his goal is stay as long as possible. The longer he stays the lesser his chances of being fired in the subsequent years. However, he figures Honest Sam is also thinking the same thing. There his best chance for being retained is to keep fighting the good fight and aim for a better rating than Honest Sam.

The above are not things he has complete control over. He could smear Honest Sam’s reputation by bringing to light his errors. Honest Sam could do exactly the same thing. What could the consequences be? If Trust Rusty exposes that Honest Sam has been upbraided by a client privately, he is sure to be rated below par. This increases Trusty Rusty’s chances of being retained. On the other hand, if Honest Sam does this to him (Trusty too has not been a client’s favorite), Trusty’s own rating would be below par. If they do it to each other, both will be rated below par.

Let’s give a score to each possible consequence from Trusty Rusty’s perspective alone:

• Trusty Rusty gets fired: 0
• Trusty Rusty is in a limbo- it is down to just him and Honest Sam and both have the same rating: 5 (it is now up to a coin toss, so beyond this point Trusty Rusty has not control)
• Trusty Rusty is retained: 10

Consider what could trigger these consequences:

• Accidental Cooperation: Trusty Rusty and Honest Sam separately decide not to rat each other out. In this scenario, both of them have equal chances of being retained or fired. According to our score chart, this carries a score of 5
• Ratting Out Scenario 1: Trusty Rusty rats out Honest Sam, without any reciprocation from Honest Sam, ensuring his retention. Score: 10
• Ratting Out Scenario 2: Honest Sam rats out Trusty Rusty, without any reciprocation from Trusty Rusty, and Trusty Rusty gets fired. Score: 0
• Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): Trusty Rusty and Honest Sam rat out each other, and both have equal chances of being fired: Score: 5

What should Trusty Rusty do?

• Do not rat Honest Sam out: As we computed above, the potential score for this would be the sum total of the scenarios “Accidental Cooperation” and “Ratting Out Scenario 2”; i.e. 5 + 0 = 5
• Rat Honest Sam out: The potential score for this scenario would be the sum total of the scenarios “Ratting Out Scenario 1” and “Mutually Assured Destruction”, i.e. 10 + 5 = 15.

This is clearly a case for Trusty Rusty to throw caution to the winds and rat out Honest Sam ASAP, and more importantly, hopefully a case for why our so-called performance appraisals are fostering an atmosphere of untrustworthy, uncooperative people in business. If business do not allow room for employees to grow and mature, they are bound to be filled with people like our protagonist, who I think we can all agree we should have less of.

Blue Like Jazz- Blue and Despondent

I watched the move Blue Like Jazz yesterday. I'd heard about it, of course, and the book as well, as several friends love both- but somehow I never found the time or inclination to watch the movie, but finally I did yesterday. I tend to read movie reviews after I watch the movies, and so I did after watching this one. There is quite a bit written about it, and often somewhat vague reviews- like the movie and the title, they are usually without a satisfying resolution. So instead of a review I just thought I 'd share my feeling after watching this.

I'm a very feeling person- a movie, a book or a work of art is a visceral thing for me. Given that I'm a Christian, and well acquainted with the struggles of identity and conscience that many other believers have gone through (not to mention my own such struggles), this movie reminded me of that pain vividly.

My background being Indian Catholic, the Gospel of Jesus was virtually unknown to me until I attended Madras Christian College. In my final year at MCC, I came to faith. What was once a grey world without meaning, and resembled closely the highly liberal world of Reed in the movie, I found a shining, exciting, new thing. People who came to faith with me shared something special with me. Together we experienced incredible worship, joy, witness, healing and, for many, maturation that has been so Christlike.

Alongside this, something else happened- especially to those of us who had been raised in Christian families. They began criticizing their churches and other Christians. Eventually that evolved into calling themselves anything but Christian, evangelical, Baptist, Born-Again or other such terms. As the years passed I can see a little of why this happened. The secular, progressive world outside, especially in the US, hasn't helped either. While in Blue Like Jazz the antagonism is direct ('Do you have any idea what your hateful, bullying tribe has been up to?'), the real life opposition in my life has been more implicit. The suggestions are more inclined towards diminishing and questioning the sheen of my journey to faith, than a direct statement which would imply prejudice on the part of the questioner.

This movie, while somewhat realistic, mirrors the society's attitude towards Christians. But more importantly it mirror's our own faith. Hardened political Christians who use childish, pithy statements to explain the Gospel, and living hypocritical lives, worldly progressives Christians distancing themselves from their conservative brethren, and seeming in no way different from the world, ideas that are loose and vague, inclusive but not with compassion toward struggling Christians.

I found this to be a true picture of contemporary life. But is is depressing. I find in it and here in the US a world where Christians have lost their moral compass on the right and the left- political grandstanding, either sexual promiscuity or judgmentalism, salesmanship. Is there no hope for this country? Will God rescue us? Or should we bury ourselves and let the world take over?

Donald Miller, the author, has become a revered figure in the emerging movement. I find this movement depressing as well. I simply do not find meaning in the moral infallibility of Gen X and Y seeking to thumb their noses at the others through their acts of charity and generosity. First these acts are not in any way unique to such groups, except that they trumpet them much more, second, they seem to consider doctrinal clarity- even at a minimum- as a bad thing. Reading through the New Testament, there seems to have been no such lack of clarity in the apostles' preaching- or for that matter, in Jesus'. There was of course, love and compassion. Are these opposing forces? Why is it that the Western world with its comforts seem to hold itself up as the authority to speak for Christ, either in the conservative or in the 'liberal' movement?

I feel sorry for American Christians. In my darkest moments, I think of some friends in India who face threats to their lives daily, but who minister to those who are poor and sick- both physically and spiritually. Those to whom they minister consider them as not fundamentalists, but as angels. When I think of them I think of Jesus. Who can Americans think of? The protagonists in Blue Like Jazz? The chasm in my mind is deep and vast.