Traitor for Tea??

I hosted a public meeting for Operation Hope today so we could inform supporters of upcoming projects and brainstorm ideas for community service. We need to focus on some fundraisers and hope to engage more volunteers. It was a scramble after finishing at the shelter last night at 9pm, baking for Ethan till 11pm, and waking up at 4:30am to get Robert & Ethan off to Qatar for their Boy Scout camporee. I decided to serve finger sandwiches, sweets, & tea; so I got out the miscellaneous china collection everyone seems to love. My plan for the meeting was to re-cast the vision of Operation Hope, then break people up into interest area to work on specific projects.

For some reason, all the new ladies came with me to discuss "Trash to Treasure." I had 3 educators (from India, Poland & the UK) and one young Kuwaiti lady who is starting a community website. After a few minutes it seemed obvious that everyone in the group was likely Christian and operating off the "same sheet of music," even though all faiths are perfectly welcome at this level in the organization. One lady attending did continue to bring in her desire to communicate Christ through our work.

After about 45 minutes I was summoned to the kitchen by a long time OH volunteer who wanted to caution me that the Kuwaiti lady was highly suspected of being a "CIB" ---a what? "like the CIA" she patiently explained...a spy! She went on to explain why the Christian community held her in such regard and it did really raise my naive eyebrows to my hairline! I went from disbelief to denial to shock and anger...if indeed it's true...which we will probably never know. The girl's story of adoption in Kuwait, loss of her Kuwaiti dad, and growing up in California where her mother "passed" (do they say that in CA?) sounded a bit irregular. Her conversion at age 9 when she met a Christian family who modeled the love of Christ to her sounded almost too perfect...at least in retrospect.

Did I host a bright young lady full of questions & interested in supporting OH, or did I just have a traitor to my tea party? "Freedom of Religion" seems to come in degrees. We're thankful for the privilege of worship and assembly here, but I cannot digest the idea that Robert has always acknowledged: "assume you are being watched." I always thought societies moved toward more freedoms, not less. It's obvious there are many in this country who'd be happy to tighten the controls and reverse progress by becoming even less tolerant of democratic ideas. There have been many commentaries in the papers recently about the press getting squeezed by new regulations. Both girls have encountered the textbook police at their school removing material they find that doesn't portray the Prophet how they like, or makes reference to something in history they want to pretend does not exist. Yet in the midst of this, deep dialogue on important matters continues to take place in the classrooms where young minds from all over the world wrestle with topics like ethics & morality in high school honors English class. My kids may have a chance to influence the thinking of the upcoming generation of ruling Kuwaitis...there are plenty from the royal families their classes.

Maid Service

The wonderful thing about having my neighbor's maids here was that I got to teach them to "knot." Anne made a purse, and Venge completed this beuatiful rug in about 5 days working a few hours a day. She had such an eye for color; from a pile of old sheets, a curtain, a shirt, and few scraps I had, she came up with this lovely piece of work. I am so proud of it! I asked if she wanted to keep it or sell it and she insisted she was making it for me. I had to get creative to find a way to give her the money I wanted her to have.

The best thing was being able to have a sample to show her "sisters" at the Filipino shelter. This inspired them so much to see how lovely rugs could be! This week I actually took Venge along to help me. She was so happy to be of service but so heavy hearted to see what women from her country were experiencing. She got to go up to the sleeping quarters where outsiders are not allowed; she said women were curled up trying to sleep everywhere, even on the stairs.

More beautiful, creative bags were presented to us again this week. Several women shared the mission statements they wrote since the last class and we were so moved by their ability to re-imagine a future so different from their present. Some of them were beginning to grasp that they could take these ideas and build a business for themselves once they return. They were asking very good questions and we want to be able to bring in a qualified speaker to address these topics. We told them about a place in Uganda where the women of the village began making these beads and selling jewelry and it has transformed the lives of the entire village. Hope is a very powerful thing.

So far this year...

Don't even ask me where I've been! When life was slower after our Egypt holiday, I was not inspired to write; now that I'm back at galloping speed, I have no time to write.

Part of me didn't want to be honest that the honeymoon was ending. It was hard to return to Kuwait after being away. All three kids seemed to be struggling with physical/emotional/social issues for several weeks. Then there were the birthdays to celebrate, and the ever present nursing course to navigate to completion (sometime this summer I hope.)

But here I am! And, with such great news to share. We returned to the Phillippine Embassy Shelter in mid January to find the room we'd been using had been turned into a new office space and was fully occupied. Mr. Jimenez was determined to make a place for us and we brainstormed how to proceed. The obvious course of action was to move to an evening when the downstairs was not teeming with activity. Many of the difficulties we faced were due to all the distractions and limited space of trying to run workshops in the midst of their other business.

It was decided we would introduce the course on "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and see if we could get 20-30 to enroll. The night of registration, he had all 200 of the ladies squeezed into one room and they applauded us like rock stars when we arrived. He promoted the class so well nearly everyone wanted to sign up and they had to select only 30. During this particular evening, we later learned that one of the "wards" who remained upstairs was discovered as she attempted to throw herself off the roof. The first lesson on being Proactive instead of Reactive was so relevant it seemed.

We are 2 weeks into an 8 week course that will end in a graduation/expo which is such a big deal to them. We have a team of 4 volunteers now who attend each week. Becky and I are doing most of the lectures, Nerissa is teaching the jewelry making from magazines, and Runda is our hospitality coordinator who serves the ladies refreshments and takes care of many details. Watching these two ladies find their niche and bubble with excitement each week is as much fun as seeing the joy on the faces of the maids.

After the lectures we break into the Trash to Treasure part of the evening and they divide into two craft groups. I taught myself to make rag rugs called "toothbrush rugs" from youtube videos using strips of ripped fabric and a paperclip. Molly started bringing me home bags of old clothes from Operation Hope that were not suitable to give away; these included enormous blue jeans that were ripped or stained. I played around with using torn denim and Molly suggested I use the seat to make a purse like one Emily carries. I took the ladies my sample on week one, but only taught them how to do the flat part composed of knots. The following week, they had produced beautiful bags that I have NO clue how to make! Best yet, they passed out the paper clips, shared the old clothes, and did as we requested: taught the other ladies to do what we'd taught them. We heard that no one was idol; everyone seemed to be making bags or beads. The pride on their faces was so precious. This photo could not go on facebook but as my blog is private, I will share it with you.

Yesterday, I showed them how to do the blue jeans "Four Seasons" handbag and took them loads of fabric scraps so generously donated by an Indian tailor who barely understood my request. I bought buttons, trim, scissors, needles, thread...basics to keep them going. The profit margin on these will be very high as the cost is near to nothing. I really can't wait to see where this goes in the 8 weeks of this class. Molly came home from work today (she got a terrific job at the school where Emily & Ethan go) and told me the teacher she works with wants to host a bead and bag party to sell the stuff we are making! From such a small spark, a flame is spreading!

Meanwhile, in the middle of such a busy week my neighbor came over and asked if I would keep her 2 maids while her family went on holiday to London. These are the dear women who we took to church once and who have become friends. Neither they, or us, could believe she let them stay with us but it has been a double blessing. It will be nearly 2 weeks we get to have them. I insist they sleep in, eat with us, relax, watch movies, and let them call home on our phone. They insist on cleaning up after all of us, doing laundry, ironing, keeping the house neat and helping me cook. I have two extra girls we are hosting for a school function who are here for 4 nights. The girls are from the international school in Cairo and oh, so sweet. Having the extra help for this entertaining has been such a gift. Best of all, they get to go to church with us for two weeks in a row.

The new website for Operation Hope was created by Molly and can now be seen at

operation-hope-kuwait.com There are also pictures in the gallery on the site.

Egypt Trip

I'm getting back in the groove after a long Christmas/New Year hiatus. Our fantastic trip to Egypt is being beautifully documented by Molly on her part of the blog and I may or may not get time to write from my perspective. I've been uninspired to write lately but her descriptions bring back great memories of our family's journey back in time.

Spending time in another Muslim country gave me better perspective of Arab nations in general. It would be easy to have a skewed notion of the Arab world by only seeing life in Kuwait with it's 2 tiers of high class, and No class. Egypt is an interesting blend of the Middle East and Africa where Islam is King, but Christians seem to be well tolerated...I say that, but just after we came back there was an incident of 7 Christians being killed near Luxor over an earlier alleged rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man. Tensions there brew around the edges of the tourist destinations but the tourism police were everywhere to secure our well being and keep us from straying into areas of danger.

While poverty here is limited to the areas where Third Country Nationals live, poverty looked to be much more the norm in Egypt. As Molly describes, being viewed as the wealthy foreign tourists everywhere we went was very uncomfortable to me. This prevented much genuine interaction between us and the people we were meeting which always saddens me.

December 13: True Christmas?

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Perhaps this is a secret code of some sort? Nah, just PeBUH walking across the keyboard to position himself next to me while I blog. He inserts himself with total confidence that he is welcome in the middle of anything we are doing, be that playing ping pong, or sleeping.

As we eat our cheeseburgers tonight, a school night after a busy work day; we will light the third advent candle. I almost forget that it is Sunday, let alone Christmas! Driving through the city, the only decorations on display are the colored flags of the nations attending the Gulf Cooperation Council summit for the next two days. About 2 weeks ago the city started laying tile, planting flowers, and draping flags in preparation for this event (that is planning ahead for this place!) I think they may have even swept up some trash. However, the only place where Christmas decorations can be found are in the malls, salons, private homes, etc. The occasional strain of Christmas music or smell of pine is a rare delight.

Amid this, I find myself once again at the Philippine Embassy Labor Office with a couple hundred disillusioned women in waiting. This poem in "Watch for the Light - Readings for Advent" put my time with these ladies in a different perspective.

No one can celebrate

a genuine Christmas

without being truly poor.

The self-sufficient, the proud,

those who because they have

everything, look down on others,

those who have no need

even of God - for them there

will be no Christmas.

Only the poor, the hungry,

those who need someone

to come on their behalf,

will have that someone.

That someone is God.

Emmanuel. God-with-us.

Without poverty of spirit

there can be no abundance of God.

Oscar Romero

When I arrived at the small room where we meet on Sundays, there were two ladies filling out forms while tears splashed down their fear filled faces. New arrivals, fresh pain, raw emotion. As I tried to comfort & assure them they were safe, one sobbed "but I don't have anything" as she had escaped with just her handbag. Her employer had forced her to strip off her clothes and told her they could be alone since the wife was away.... One lady confided in me that she was hungry. Fortunately, we had brought home baked Christmas cookies to share and I could give her something to hold her till the next meal.

Many of these women were grieving the loss of Christmas as they were used to celebrating it. We talked of these memories. Yet, I could not get away from the thought that women away from home, trapped by circumstances beyond their control, living in a temporary shelter dependant upon others...this was much closer to what the birth day of Christ was really like! Mary could not have dreamed about birthing her baby in a smelly barn away from the comforts of home. There were no twinkling lights and steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Into our neediness comes God-in-flesh! The "poor, the hungry" are most able to appreciate the gift of Christmas I suspect. While I had an overwhelming urge to "fix" the immediate problems of these women, I had to just be with them, hug them, and pray with them as we formed a circle and held hands. God was there among us. Blessed are the poor in Spirit. We were blessed.

During the morning, there was also laughter and rejoicing; 21 ladies had received word their cases were being dropped. They would be transported to the police station, and from there, they would be flown back to the Philippines without their documents on a special flight. It is encouraging to have been there long enough to see that situations do get resolved, even though it seems to take forever.

One very precious girl who is only 22 was among those leaving. She has been there many months and is the one who carried the "Trash to Treasure" project when we were not there. She poured her heart & soul into the creation of these beautiful ornaments. She presented us with the most lovely necklaces she had made for us from beads taken off a pair of jeans. They are such a treasure to Molly & I as we remember this dear girl. She is a Muslim and I saw much of God in her. She hugged me and held on for a very long time while her tears wet my shoulder. Her gratitude was such a gift to me. She was very optimistic about her future: I just hope all the current conflict in her part of the Philippines does not dampen her can-do spirit. I wish I could bring her home with me.

Road Rage

December 6, 2009

This was just too funny not to share. As I was driving home today in the taxi, we came to a crawl near my home as there were several cars stopped in the middle of the road at random positions. It was unclear if one of them had actually hit another car but several people were out of their vehicles. As my eyes took in the scene, I could scarcely believe it: a Kuwaiti man was lunging into the passengers window of a car while wildly swinging his black coils (egal) used to secure his red & white head scarf! His scarf and dishdasha were blowing in the wind while he used his head accessory as a weapon against what I think was an Asian man. While he was whipping his coils, other drivers had exited their cars and were leaping to pull him off of his victim. How sad is this??? The insanity of these roads never fails to astound me.

I guess I'm a little slow, but I failed to put 2+2 together regarding the lack of addresses and the "poor" mail delivery in Kuwait. I'd heard the mail was "unreliable" but this week I realized I've never actually seen a mailbox OR a post office here! When our travel agent needed to send me our tickets from Egypt, he sent them by a colleague who I had to track down by phone, then meet him on the street by the Philippine Embassy where I was working to collect my tickets. Once again tonite we planned to go to a Christmas concert and I even had an address. Sadly, our GPS did not recognize the address and we couldn't even find it on Google Maps so we took off our party clothes and settled into the homework routine with the kids instead. No mailboxes...that should have been a clue!!!

Christmas Spirit

Ethan helps pack 1500 winter warmth bags

December 4, 2009

The photos are in random order but show a pack up of winter clothes bags at Operation Hope, a distribution of bags to hospital cleaners, ornaments made by the housemaids, and some of the ladies who worked on "Trash to Treasure." There is also the set up at the Movenpic Hotel where we sold the ornaments at a bazaar.

This week, Ethan & I helped to prepare for a big distribution to hospital cleaners. Socks, gloves, long underware and hats were packaged to give away. I also got to go on the ditribution where bus loads of workers were dropped off in the lot, they filed through in orderly lines, and recieved their bags with such gratitude. I love greeting the ladies because I kiss them (one, two on each cheek) but I always worry if I'm offending a man if I shake his hand.

After several weeks of working with the Filipino Run Away maids in making ornaments, throwing out "practice" ones, and supporting their efforts to produce good results: it all paid off! At the British Ladies Society Christmas Bazaar Operation had a booth and sold both our ornaments and baked goods. It was decided that ALL the profits of the day would go back to the Philippine Embassy, so instead of the 60 dinars from ALL of the ornament which sold, we earned 145 dinars = 522 US dollars!!! I was so amazed that the ornaments generated such interest on their own merit. While some people were excited about the HOPE that was represented in each piece of artwork, others just really liked the recycled magazine ornaments and purchased handfuls of them at a cost of $1.80 - $4.00 each. The ladies had expressed their desire to have socks as cooler weather is upon us; they also wanted more over the counter medications for the sick ones. With the money we earned, I went shopping with an Indian lady & her husband who know just where to purchase wholesale. We got 260 pair of cute, warm socks for the ladies plus a box full of tylenol, cough syrup, and other meds, AND we still have about a third of the money left.

Sunday:

The Labor Attache' came down today for the photo op and congratulated the ladies on their hard work before they passed out socks to every one of the 210 women in the shelter. The smiles were so rewarding. I was so proud of them: this is empowering them to do something that boosts their self respect and allows them to make a difference even while they are living in such difficult conditions. As I got to speak again with Mr. Jimenez about our work, he assured me we would have more space in 2010 to do what we do because he sees its value.