When People Go Away . . .

"Why does everyone want to go away? I love being home," was Beth March's query to her sister, Jo, in the movie "Little Women." The phrase has been on my mind with the departures from our community in recent months. We have shared sad news of a deportation, a drowning, and other deaths. These are not people who wanted to go away; circumstances simply took them.

We move ahead but the emotional burden adds up. One begins to feel the weight of mortality; the shoulders sag a bit.

First chair in the saxaphone section was vacant (see video clip). Kay had played earlier, but now was off bidding good-bye to classmates. Her visa difficulties had prompted this parting. Rob's send-off message encouraged listeners to Carpe Aeternitatem or Seize Eternity (this clip is even shorter.)

In the wider community, we lost three members of a family to a car crash over the Carnival weekend. And so, just weeks after Kay's special graduation, the chapel filled again for a memorial service for Emilio and Ana and their young son, Asaf.

These were people who seized eternity; they lived with a view to eternity. Amid the routine, there was a reasoned response to Jesus' claim that "he who loses his life for My sake, will find it." They lost themselves in something bigger (SomeONE bigger) than their own existence and so the tragedy of that weekend served as mere transition. Their eternity looks different to them now . . . but we don't know just how different it looks. They apparently saw it clearly before, even if "through a glass darkly."

Not long from now, a few dozen more will leave us for far flung places of the planet. No matter how the commencement speaker challenges these young people, I hope there has been, is and will continue to be an underlying theme of their years with us: Carpe Aeternitatem. Seize Eternity.

Russians Are Coming? No, Not Really

It will just never work to falsely report that your country is being invaded.

Afterthought attempts at damage control will see only limited success. Your media outlet will face angry accusations decrying that the independent media (pro-gov, anti-gov - no matter) is irresponsible.

A recent example occurred in the republic of Georgia, where an Imedi TV broadcast showed images of what could happen if the Russians invaded. The director of Imedi Media Holding, Giorgi Arveladze, at once apologized for, and rationalized, the controversial broadcast.

"We wanted to show something that we never want to happen," he said. As I watched, I noticed no disclaimer across the bottom of the screen.

Possible misinterpretations?

A true event.

Or perhaps nationalistic fervor overriding journalistic integrity.

Or maybe political opportunism on the part of the instigators.

Entertainment (ever growing as news content) also plays into such coverage. History shows that the martian invasion fantasy of New Jersey prompted public panic in the 1938 radio version of The War of the Worlds (reprises in Chile in the mid 40s and in Ecuador --with reprisals -- in 1949).

Re-broadcasts can even go awry. One month after and again one year after horrifying tornadoes whipped through Louisville, KY, WHAS radio attempted to rebroadcast audio describing funnel clouds that dropped down for devastating results. On both occasions, public panic prompted the coverage (which was to later win multiple journalism awards for WHAS) had to be pulled from the broadcast.

We could all learn a lesson from Georgia (in Euro Asia), but just watch. We will do it again.

Very soon in fact, we will do it again . . . as some fools stage an April Fool's Day "newscast" that will indeed fool those who still trust the media.

Surgeons Volunteer Time, Talents for Kids

Around a table are people from Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and the U.S.

But it’s not for a conference. These are friends who’ve come to Quito, Ecuador. And they’re not sharing a meal together either. Laughter, stories and food will come later—after the work is done.

Instead, they’ve gathered around a young patient on the operating table, just as this team of surgical specialists did a year earlier, and the year before that.

“They do it because of their friendship and because it’s interesting,” said Dr. Eckehart Wolff of HCJB Global Hands.

In the operating room at Hospital Vozandes-Quito, he takes a few moments to answer this reporter’s questions before hustling off to assist with another surgery. “They’re all specialists,” he said, “teaching at universities in their countries.”

Different techniques are considered as each team member brings something to the table. “We have learned a lot, especially from the Colombians,” said Wolff, a German physician who has served in Ecuador with his wife, Klaudia, since 1989.

Months before the arrival of each international surgical team, led by 71-year-old surgeon Dr. Jim Gage, Wolff does much of the preparation work. He studies the cases of several dozen Ecuadorian and Peruvian children whose mobility has been severely curtailed by cerebral palsy or other maladies and injuries.

Then in the months after the team leaves, Wolff watches the miracles of mobility occur during his follow-up care of the children. On the most recent trip in January, team members operated on 34 needy children.

(Story and video segment by Ralph)

Dental Assistant for a Day

Some instructions on sterilization
After an hour's drive, I'd say
sees us receiving our first patient by ten
I am dental assistant for a day

Scrub and sterilize instruments for re-use,
disposing of needles with care.
Set up Dr. Monica with all of the tools
before the next patient climbs into the chair

Receptionist, cashier, supplies

--all part of the job as well

One of the names stumps me

a name la doctora helps me spell

Both doctors meanwhile, see oodles of kids

whose parents had brought them around

to find good care and the gospel

when the medical caravan has come to town.

Facing Catastrophe With An Eternal Hope

When the mountains are falling
When the waters are rising
I shall be safe in You
-M. Redman

Please see the video that our friend, Martin, put together after his return from Haiti.

HCJB Global Hands Aids Haiti Quake Victims

I set out the Marantz recorder and began showing its features to Martin, who would fly out for Haiti the next morning (Thursday, 14 January) with our disaster response team.

The recorder, microphone and mic cable lay beside small model planes on an airstrip that Martin and his young son had built together.

This little coincidence wasn’t lost on me less than 24 hours later when Martin wrote from Florida,

“Big problem is getting to Haiti. Airspace is clogged with aid flights and very limited parking space at airport in Haiti. Fuel shortage also means that FAA have halted flights into Haiti for now. It looks increasingly probable that we will fly in tomorrow now.”

On Friday, the team arrived in Haiti, to relieve a surgical team that had already put in 48 hours. Sheila tells of her team's work :

Martin, who has kept communications flowing, along with his real specialty – water.

I have helped to tell this story, mostly with a computer screen in front of me or a phone receiver to my ear.

Martin's photos are displayed as part of his "Aid Worker's Diary" on the BBC website. Please click here.

See more of the Haiti medical response by clicking here.

What I Did During Vacation

Billy wants a pair of skates; Susie wants a dolly.

Sally wants a story book; she thinks dolls are folly.

=

And the trombone player wants a trombone shiny and new

Not the old one that her brother always blew

Her dad's suggestion: "Let's repair and renew."

There is, of course, the question of the "how-to"

Quite honestly, Dad had not even a clue.

And so it was that Billy (not the one mentioned above, but pictured above) instructed me how I might remove the lacquer from the trombone, then proceed, shining it up with Brasso, applying degreaser, then spraying on a new layer of lacquer.

He also loaned me an unrepairable that cannot be damaged by my experiment.

(The steel wool was my own solution to stubborn lacquer, but likely would not be endorsed by a professional restorer.)

I have made a start on this project. So far it convinces me that there may be an easier (albeit costlier) to give our daughter a "new" horn.