Pangeo

No Bigots, No Terrorists

Dubai, UAE… A cup of coffee really can advance world peace.

Our Media Relations Director, Shirin Faridi, is from Iran… and she’s lived in the US since she was 13. During our conference here she invited me to meet a relative from Tehran, in Dubai on business, and his two friends. They were curious to meet an American.

They had said to Shirin, “We want him to know we’re not all terrorists.”

I grinned. I wanted them to know we’re not all bigots.

And so we met. We met at… get this… Caribou coffee. (Yup. We’re in the Middle East, and we met at a freakin’ US coffee company. Sad.)

But we had a blast. I got to meet Siamak and his friends Masoud and Akbar. Great guys!

We talked for a couple of hours. We had so much fun we lost track of time and they nearly missed their flight back to Tehran.

And here’s what’s great… we talked about the same things we talk about with our friends back home… being a husband and father, raising kids, trying to make a living, the economy…. They’re getting their doctorate in economics and they pressed me for insight about why the housing market was declining in the US.

Uhhhhh…. Ummmmm…  I, uh….. Well……… (I gave some lame summary).

Afterwards we exchanged emails and sincere invitations to stay with one another if we’re ever in the other’s country.

Driving back to the conference Shirin summarized it perfectly. “When you meet people face to face they’re just people aren’t they? You never know what one coffee can do to help world peace.”

Totally. Well said, Shirin.

Dubai... the craziest city $100zillion can buy...

(I wrote this in June, preg-blog... but am re-publishing it here)

Dubai, UAE… I will take volunteers on our Humanitarian Compassion Trip to Africa in a few weeks, but this week Mary & I are at our worldwide staff conference in Dubai (on the Persian Gulf... check the map).

OK, yes, you want to know what Dubai's like. We'll... I'll summarize by saying it's the most dazzling city $100zillion can buy.

Think about it: 50 years ago this was a desert area with bedouins. Then the oil-rich sheik over this emirate (same as a "state" in the US) thought to himself, "Hmmm.... I wonder what kind of city I can make me with a few kazillion dollars." (Actually, he probably thought "dirham" instead of "dollars.")

And Dubai was born.

He was very smart. He knew to create a free-enterprize zone... attracting every business known to man in the free world.

Eight-lane highways. Skyscraper after skyscraper after skyscraper. Construction cranes on top of most of those skyscrapers, because at least 50% of this city is currently under construction. We just drove by the tallest building in the world (the Burj Dubai... "burj" means "tower")... and the famous Burj Al-Arab... and the hugest man-made island just off the beach... and the indoor ski slope attached to an amazing mall...

But alas, almost no "history," or "culture." Our hosts laughed when I asked them where we could find a restaurant with "local food." Everything here is MacDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King...

So it's not your most strategic stop for Middle Eastern culture...But it is a great place for our worldwide staff conference.
 
Here's a quick snapshot of the great energy at our conference:
 
One Room, 20 Countries
 
Our daily gatherings are a palette of human color and culture. Sitting around Mary and me are our staff from Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia… Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey…  Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China, Myanmar, the Philippines… and more.
 
Pretty new for this white couple from the US suburbs!
 
Our village-level leaders are here with pics and great stories. They’re reporting on the progress of their local village-development projects (in English no less – not the mother tongue for most)!
 
Children and orphans in Indonesia are avoiding disease thru health & hygiene training. Widows and AIDS-affected families in Ethiopia are learning income-generation thru cooperative farming. Poor Afghan families are saving fuel costs and avoiding smoke-inhalation diseases by learning to use our specially designed solar ovens. And emerging government leaders in Afghanistan are being trained by our Leadership Development staff how to guide a conflict-weary nation with a fresh kind of character and skill.
 
And the poorest… those frequently forgotten… are given hope in the process.
 
New Lessons
 
Also, we’re receiving hours of training in how to help the poor thru micro-lending and microbusiness coaching.

Our teacher is one of the leading bankers to the poor in Bangladesh. He lends to tens of thousands, making very little profit in the process, helping them escape corrupt money-lenders and learn from his team HOW to step their way out of destitution. His expert guidance is adding to our toolkit of ways to help the poor.
 
Thanks!
 
Thank you so much for your interest, care and help. Feel free to pass on any of this info.
 
Blessings, 
--Jeff