In a DC neighborhood, I talked with a family facing homelessness because their benefits and assets had just run out. More recently, I visited a Tribal Community in Oklahoma, and a slum community in Nairobi, Kenya.

The country became a part of my life when Kenya exploded into the headlines in 2007-2008…The post-election violence led to the death of 1,300 people…and a major disruption in the economic, social, and political conditions of the country.

Despite the complex arguments and battles over aid vs. development… I always come back to a simple image that continues to transform my thinking about how we address poverty.

Centuries of evolution, the emergence of empathic impulses, and increased cohabitation on the planet has led to better understanding and cooperation. Quite simply, we have learned how to get along.

This five-hour, one way trip to several communities seemed like just one more humanitarian mission. For reasons I cannot totally explain, it became so much more.

I spent most of the year in the developing world with particular reminders of Ethiopia, Swaziland, and Kenya.  I observed for the first time a Church working underground in a hostile political and religious environment.  I was both amazed and startled by the harshness of religious bigotry and the courage of people who have made commitments to [...]

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami that swept across 14 Asian and African nations in 2004, killing 283,000 people, one of the first aid organizations to arrive in countries with body bags and 72 hour kits was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – the Mormons. The Mormons rallied with 72 hour survival kits, and [...]

We are all familiar with the clichés of “show me the money” or in investigations related to property crime or corruption, “follow the money.” The point of these phrases is that there is an object that defines our behavior or actions. I must confess I am an unashamed and unabashed pursuer of money. Over the [...]

Balkanization: To break up (as a region or group) into smaller and hostile units. Webster’s Dictionary Balkanization is a term coined to describe the political and ethnic divisions in that region of the world known as the Balkans. For the past 30 years I have worked internationally in a variety of capacities. Most of my focus has been on international development, substance [...]