One Small Footprint

Usually when I am overseas, I strive to avoid at all costs being put up in a hotel. instead I find myself sharing household tasks with a staff member’s family, Often there will be a local housekeeper whom I can swap recipes with. Here is one from El Salvador for Chipotle salsa. Be careful, as it is powerful, and one does not need to use a lot. A tablespoon or such is often sufficient.

Ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion

4 cloves of fresh garlic

3 whole Roma tomatoes

1 bunch fresh cilantro

2 small cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce*

*you can find these at most all stores, or better yet, stop by a local Hispanic tiendita (“small market”).

Roast at medium-high heat in a dry (not an oiled griddle or skillet such as a #8 cast iron skillet) a onion quartered, cloves of garlic, and three Roma tomatoes (the little pear shaped ones) 

Let them all items roast until they soften a little on one side, then

turning them to prevent burning.

Put them all in a blender with cilantro (minus as many stems as possible to assist in the straining – just the leaves). Add the canned chipotle peppers in   blend on high, then strain

Blend until not too lumpy, store in airtight container in refrigerator. Great on scrambled eggs, as an addition to homemade/store-bought salsa, soups, tacos, etc.

The Wedding Party

It is nearly noon Friday, the day prior to my daughter Amanda and soon-to-be son-in-law Casey Holland’s wedding. I had requested a room for my wife Heidi and I up on the fourth floor facing inside towards the South Atrium where both the rehearsal and actual wedding will be taking place. This is so much easier. Even though we live less than hour away, I knew it would be best to book a room the night before the reharsal as well as the day of the wedding and the following day. We do not need to arrive by vehicle through traffic with the weather to be in the mid-80’s – all hot and sweaty and rushing in for the rehearsal. I also booked a room for two of my sons, Paul and Steven here for this afternoon as well. The only person missing is Amanda’s oldest brother Kristoffer who is currently in training at Fort Drum NY.

Amanda's mother Linda (l.) and my wife Heidi Isaak

I cannot speak of others, but my perspective is a bit unique, reflective, sad, joyful, celebratory and expectant. All of your life, from the moment that you were born, I fully knew – in my deepest of the deeps of what I know, that I was at that moment of birth your “covering”. I was to protect, nourish, support, provide, all those needful and rightful things to get you to this point – this hour – with Casey. I often thought of Casey, years before he came into your life. We knew that he was coming. We both wondered. But you chose, not I, and I fully confirm and enter in to that choice of Casey by yourself. Soon, as I step aside after walking you down the aisle on my arm, my covering will be removed after I respond to the question, “who gives this bride…?” and I respond with a firm but inwardly excited “I do”. As Casey steps to your side, as I step back, the covering is transferred, with no gaps between. That is why Casey and I both are present as you approach.

That is not to say that over the years that my covering over you was not as full or completely extended as it should have, but I think I did okay. Soon, it will be Casey’s covering. As I step back from the two of you as you proceed with your vows, I will then be in a state of expectation (Casey: I Do, Amanda, I Do…) followed by celebration and joy. I’ve been waiting for this a long time.

You are the center of the wedding in a sense – a join before God and Family and Friends of both you and Casey, but it is like two ballet dancers on stage, a beautiful ballerina and the male dancer. Largely, and I have seen ballet in person, (a lot of floor-pounding and gasps and shouts – kinds like a marriage can be!) and the ballerina is the star – graceful, skillful, beautiful. The male dancer is there to lift her to heights, to extend her, to support her, to provide balance to her as she executes deft maneuvers across the dance floor of life. But also, she would be out of place on the stage by herself. She could not provide the beauty, the ah’s and gasps of the audience without his support and encouragement. You both have your role, but by the woman’s’ delicate and fragile nature – one to be cherished and protected. And that confidence I have as my Covering passes over to Mr. Casey’s capable hands.

Amanda Isaak's Wedding Shower - July 2009

It is here. My wife Heidi and I are checked into the hotel which is the venue for my daughter’s marriage to her fiance’ Casey Holland. The bridal shower has already been given – hosted at Amanda’s friend Nicole’s house. My wife Heidi planned and prepared for that gathering.

The wedding takes place in Lynnwood, WA at the Embassy Suites hotel. I travel quite a bit and I see many different hotels. This hotel has provided a great experience for us all.

Peter Chopelas Prepares the Paschal Lamb

A couple of years ago, after Heidi and I’s marriage, we rented a small house in the woods east of Arlington, WA USA. We had decided to rent out the house that we owned in town to escape the city and start anew. The following Spring we noted a gathering at our neigbors, the Chopelas’, that was accompanied by the aroma of a lamb being roasted on an open air spit. The father, Peter Chopelas, is Greek by heritage. They attend Saint Andrew Orthodox Christian Church , in Arlington, WA, which is part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Peter, and his entire family, have enriched our lives and understanding of what it is to “be” Greek.  I was aware that they observe the holidays and festivals, associated with the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar and how that the calendar differed from the one that most Americans are popularlyfamiliar with. Therefore, for the past two Springs, I was not surprised that “Easter” was celebrated by my wonderful Greek neighbors seemingly a week later. I later learned that Peter and his family celebrated the Pascha, or the Feast of the Resurrection

I have found that over time as I have matured (hopefully), that listening to others is far more interesting than listening to myself. Therefore, recently, I glided over to where Peter had assembled the fire pit and located a freshly butchered lamb on the roasting spit. I asked a few questions, not being content this year to remain ignorant of the details of this event. I have found that it exacts very little cost to become informed. Peter patiently explained the differences and root historical differences between the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar. I was also keenly aware of the spiritual significance of the meaning of the Passover, or more rightly, the “Paschal Lamb”.

Peter Explains The Paschal

Peter explains it:

The Paschal Lamb

Front page of note written in 1998 by Kayla Eland when she was nine years old

My son Paul Isaak now lives out on the Tulalip Indian Reservation west of Marysville, WA. The house that he shares with his work friend and long time soccer partner Tyler has access to the beach. Several weeks ago Paul was walking along the shore and discovered a bottle washed up on shore. It contained two sheets of paper that contained handwritten notes by two young girls who had vacationed on Whidbey Island in the summer of 1998. The girls listed their favorite hobbies, and they included some information about families. The back of each girls note also contained drawings.

I took an interest in this eleven year old find. I contacted a few newspaper columnists. As a result, the Everett HeraldFortunately, each of the children provided information on their home addresses and even a phone number.

As you may possibly be aware, ten non-governmental organizations (NGO) were told to leave the country of Sudan in response to the United Nations International Crimes Commission indictment of the President of Sudan for complicity in the devastation to the peoples of Darfur. I was in Sudan for ten days from late January until my departure on February 2nd 2009. I spent five days in El Geneina in West Darfur visiting the Krindle I refugee camp briefly and a food distribution point.

El Geneina, West Darfur state, Sudan

The following is an exceprt from Andrew Epstein, who I shared a guesthouse of Save the Children USA with during my time in Khartoum. A note, “ex-pat’s” is short for expatriate,  which means “to leave one’s native country to live elsewhere” and is typically used to describe relief workers that are non-native to the coutry in which they are living and working in.

During this whole “occupation” people at first were very on edge often shouting at each other as the security guys were literally thugs whom seemed to enjoy flexing their power. I had brought a huge, huge bag of lollipops with me from the states to take to schools, so I brought it down from my room and gave them out. The thugs gleefully took huge handfuls and then suddenly all was quiet: everyone had a lollipop in their mouth! They were like big babies!

Most of the ex-pat staff managed to make it to Khartoum and I must say it was an honor and a pleasure to have met them. The night before people began to depart for their home countries…Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Guinea, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Canada, the US…we all gathered at a restaurant in Khartoum and the devastation of what was happening began to sink in. It was like being at a funeral: where all these people who are aware of each other, like a family spread out across the globe connected by stories and email, finally meet each other in person, but under unfortunate circumstances. It’s was almost too much to think about what the impact will be on the people of Darfur and Nuba Mountains in the absence of these organizations. Notwithstanding the criticism international NGO’s and their staffs endure, it was clear that many people are going suffer severely in their absence.

Instead, individual and sometimes hilarious stories about their experiences were shared as all their hard work and commitments lay there like a white elephant lying in a coffin in the middle of the long dinner table. Peter told the story of how a Janjaweed militia hijacked a Save the Children land cruiser and all the personal belongings of the staff inside. So the next day, he went and found the hijackers in their camp and negotiated the return of the stolen items in exchange for being allowed to access food aid: they were starving too. From then on Peter was the liason between Janjaweed and Darfurian; he was even invited to proceed over Janjaweed weddings.

Lake Crescent, Olympic Peninnsula, Washington state, USA

I found the chance meeting of schedules for both my self and my middle son Stephen to take a couple of days for a ride over the Olympic Peninsula. This area is dominated by the Olympic Mountains which rise to over 8,000 feet northwest of Seattle. Even though it is only a half hours ferry ride across Puget Sound form Seattle, then a couple hours drive, it has always seemed a bit detached from the metropolis of Seattle. One of it’s first expedition of exploration, known as the Press Expedition traveled from north to south along the Elwa River in 1889 – 1890. Even though the Olympics Mountains could be clearly seen by Seattleites in the late 19th century, it was largely an hour unknow except for a few independent hardy souls. This Press Expedition was well-chronicaled in the book Across the Olympic Mountains: The Press Expedition, 1889-90  by Robert L. Wood, and also The Good Rain by Timothy Egan, 1991.

Southeast Shore of Lake Crescent

I have traveled to this region several times, the latest with my wife Heidi just last summer. Stephen and I came over her for a day trip in the late 1990’s that was largely limited to the north coast, including a stop at arguably oldest continually operated general store in the state of Washington located in the city of Joyce. This general store figured prominately in the 1984 movie Kid Colter and was a favorite of my family even while we watched it on video when we still lived in San Diego in the late 1980’s.

Wynola, California Store (Formerly "Manzanita Ranch")

 There is quite a gap here between this blog entry and my prior departure from Darfur. A lot has happened since then. In short, I thought it prudent to exit from Sudan a couple of days early due to the imminent indictment of the Sudanese President by the United Nations International Crimes Commission (ICC). I was to await my Save the Children USA Monitoring and Evaluation co-worker in Khartoum those last two days. But, her trip to Sudan was cancelled due to insecurity in the area. Since I really had no remaining work in Sudan, I contacted my wonderful travel agent Pamela to change my itinerary. She is really wonderful and instantly responded with a new itinerary.

View From my Dubai Hotel Room

I flew out of Khartoum Tuesday night of 3 February to Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. The layover would be for nearly twenty-two hours, but then I had a direct flight back to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. I booked a room in downtown Dubai to get some rest and take a shower. I did not necessarily like Dubai. it is probably the most expensive and clean city that I have ever seen. But it has an international touch to it that was influenced by the raucous hotel that I stayed in. It was comfortable but there seemed to be an unsavory cast of characters posted outside the lobby bar and other transaction of dubious nature. I was just there to sleep.

View From Inspiration Point in east San Diego County, CA USA

Soon, however, I was on my nearly sixteen hour flight to the U.S. After a quick stop in Atlanta, I was on my way to San Diego for a week to visit my mother and sister. I also took a day to drive up into the mountains east of San Diego. The picture at the top of this post is where I used to frequently stop whenever I was on my way to go hiking or camping in the Cuyamaca Mountains during, say 1971. This small hamlet of Wynola is just west of Julian, a delightful little town nestled in the mountains. It had snowed a great deal there, so I was unable to park in town. Instead, I drove a few miles south to Inspiration Point overlooking a 4,000 foot drop into Imperial Valley to the east.

One of the Younger Soccer Players in Aden, Yemen

I am now back at my home east of Arlington, WA state after over 22,000 miles of travel. Time for a rest.

El Geneina, West Darfur - Sudan

I am now esconced in a modest hotel room in Dubai, of the United Arab Emirates. I departed from Khartoum, Sudan the day after I flew from the West Darfur state. It was a humbling experience. A part of me definitely wanted to depart. However, I seemed to thrive in the climate and the people were so warm and welcoming. I was repeatedly advised not to take any photos, since a special permit from the Government of Sudan is needed to do so. This is in addition to the travel permit I was required to have before I left Khartoum.

Still, the ocassional gunshot outside of our compound walls were unnerving. I do not think I would of lasted ten minutes if I had ventured outside our steel-gated walls at darkness. Military were garrisoned frequently at street corners, some of which I had difficulty determing if they were the UNAMID (joint United Nations – Africa Union) troops or some other paramilitary group.

Street Outside of Save the Children Office - El Geneina, West Darfur

On my next to last evening, the guard at our guest house compound approached me as I was reading a book under the lights of the generator. I thought that he wanted me to evacuate. He only was telling me how a UNAMID driver had been shot at a couple of blocks away. I had heard the shots about ten minutes earlier. The driver was evacuated to Khartoum. It must of been serious, since I was told that the medical doctors could handle most any gunshot wound. I found myself always on alert, but never afraid. I was well taken care of. That was not the case for those outside the walls.

Save the Children PDA Team - El Geneina, West Darfur

Still, the thirty-five Save the Chidlren staff (my largest training group) were enthusiatic and in no need of cajoling to participate. I also had the opportunity to visit a refugee camp nearby (Krinding I) and also an impressive food distribution site. This latter was one of the most orderly and efficient that I have seen. Save the Children is the largest NGO operating in Darfurand distributes food commodities to nearly half a million internally displaced persons (IDP’s) refugees and returning persons.

Map of West Darfur, in West Central Sudan

I just was handed my travel papers allowing me to board a United Nations flight early tomorrow morning to El Geneina in West Darfur. I am excited. I was told that they have arranged for me to visit one of the nearby refugee camps in order to obtain the context for use of the PDA’s for the survey.

View From Guest House

Sudan is the largest country in Africa and covers an area the size of Western Europe. Darfur, of course, has received notable visibility the past several years due to the famine and conflict there. Try as I might, I am unable to clearly understand the causes of the conflict. I guess politics are just beyond my understanding. It is, like most things in life, complex with several stakeholders and interests. I am going there for a much simpler reason.

Morning in Khartoum

 I will  return to Khartoum on Sunday the 1st, and i am unsure whether I will have internet, email, orcell phone connectivity,

Mobile Vendor - Khartoum, Sudan

I am still in the city of Khartoum (“HAR-Tomb”), the capital of Sudan. I am staying in the Save the Children guesthouse but two blocks away. There are three private rooms on each of the three floors, which includes a common kitchen area and bathroom/shower. I am very pleased with the accommodations. I share it with another consultant, Andrew.

The Save the Children Guesthouse - Khartoum, Sudan

On my first evening, knowing that it would be best to cook my own meals in the guest house, I had the driver take me to the Western-style supermarket – Afra. It was expensive, lacking inventory and customers.

View of Khartoum, south of city center

Last evening, I accompanied Andrew and another consultant, Sue, to the Al-Soug al Markzi – the Central Market,  across the busy highway . There are few things that I enjoy more than visiting an open air market. If you would want to sample a region quickly, the market serves that purpose. It is a concentrated area where there is the expression of the agricultural products of that region all dictated by the demands of the customers – it is what they use.

Chair on roof of Save the Children building

I know absolutely no Arabic. I was unable to take any pictures since you actually need a permit to use video equipment in Sudan. It is a crowded are in the open with vendors hawking their piles of fresh leeks, tomatoes, watermelons, beans, onions between aisles not much wider than two persons. An army of boys approach potential buyers with offers of plastic bags to hold their purchases. These young men also offer to carry the filled bags for a small price for both bag and effort. There were also boys and young men with metal wheelbarrows constantly hemming me in and slowing my progress.

Firefighting Station - Save the Children office, Khartoum, Sudan

Well, I was disrupting the local labor pool. I was obviously taking away jobs by carrying my the heavy produce that Sue was purchasing. My “payment” was observing her skills in communicating and negotiating the prices and quality.  I was her “boy”, much to the amusement of the vendors and young workers that I had temporarily displaced.

Myself and My Northern Yemeni friend - Aden, Yemen

Even this post should describe my initial impressions regarding my first visit to Sudan, I have placed a photo of myself with a Yemeni taken on the beach at Aden in Yemen.

Aden Waterfront, Yemen

On my next to final day in Yemen, my guest house co-guests, Seifeldine and Craig, went to the beach front in Aden.

Fish Market, Aden, Yemen

First, we went to the fish market to select three fish for ourselves that had just been brought in by smal fishing boats. Then, we delivered said fish to a nearby restaurant and had them prepared and cooked for our repast.

Fisherman Dwellings Adjacent to Restaurant

The flies were pretty thick, and severeal cats hovered nearby our table. i am practiced to gently, and seemingly unconsciously, wafting my hand across the dinner plates that we share, as we converse and dine.

The Fish Restaurant

The fish was delicious, slightly barbequed whole – head and tail. We used pieces taken from unleavened flat bread to select communally a morsel of fish torn from its flanks.

Yemeni Friend at the Beach - Aden, Yemen

After our repast, and to leave the flies to the detritus remaining, we drove to the beach that was drawing crowds of visitors.

Sea Wall at Aden

Hookah That I Used to Smoke Shisha (apple-flavored tobacco)

Whenever I order coffee in Yemen, there is much discussion. For example, in the country largely consisting of tea drinkers, at the airport my ordering of coffee with milk and lacking sugar was exciting. First, the counter attendant requires me to repeat that fact that I do not want sugar – this is inconceivable.

Usually, another person is brought to confirm that I, indeed, do not want sugar in my coffee. Even after this transaction transpires and i am walking away to pay the cashier, I notice faces alternately leaning and casting glances toward myself, discussing the lack of sugar in my coffee.

Finally, as word circulates among the patrons, nearly everyone is watching me raise the cup of un-sugared coffee to my lips. Whew! If I did not enjoy coffee so much…, but at least I can provide some entertainment.

Aden, Yemen Guest House Main room

I am fortunate to be able to stay in, what is termed, a “guest house” during my stay in Aden, Yemen. The house is owned by Save the Children and provides housing not only for the Area Manager, but short term visitors as well. It is male only and has a bit of a “Man Cave” distinction to it. I have a very comfortable upstairs room. We have mostly eaten out quite inexpensively ($1 – $2).

I really dislike hotels where I often stay, and I have written of this several times prior in the blog. In a guest house, I do not need to evade hotel staff, nor request the most basic of needs from another pserson. In a guest house, most items are provided, but you generally wash your own laundry, prepare your own meals in partnership with other guests. It is just like home. The best part is the low cost. I still have a difficult time having the non-profit agency shell out a couple of hundred dollars a night for a hotel room and meals.

Last evening, one of the other guests, Craig, took me into Crater, asection of Old Aden. Yes, it is located within the extinct crater of a volcano. I just love wandering around the narrow streets of the markets. It reminded me of those that I visit in Barisal in Bangladesh..

Yemen is well know for being both the present and historical source of the fragrant Frankincense resin, which is often used here to provide an aroma to the interior of a house. Upon our return to the guest house each working day, our housekeeper would place afew crystals of the Frankincense onto bits of glowing charcoal withina metal bowl in each room

This evening I will take a late flight from the nearby airport to return to Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. the following morning I will travel the Khartoum, Sudan. this city is situated at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile.