Parking!

You can park for free at the old NuMinit Car Wash that's halfway down the block from our shop! Just tell the lot attendents, should they happen to be there, that you're shopping at World Next Door. They'll let up to 2 World Next Door customer vehicles park free at a time.

Because of the extra cost we've incurred to rent these spaces, we do ask that out of respect for us and for the Car Wash that you please pay their normal fee if you end up doing something other than shopping at World Next Door -- for instance, if you browse the shop for 3 minutes, and then go out to eat for 2 hours, it's best to go ahead and pay the $5 they ask to park there.

The NuMinit Car Wash is located on the 100 block of Market Street, in between our shop and Cheeburger Cheeburger. It's directly across the street from TGI Friday's.

Mero Jiwan Nepal Ma

Updates from E-Wray!

She's got a blog. Go to it, and read it, and try not to get too jealous that YOU'RE not volunteering in rural Nepal until July 2009.

http://ewray123.blogspot.com/

Here's a picture. Guess which person is named "Elizabeth."

And here she is with her host family:

We almost feel like we know a celebrity. Or, it's kind of like the feeling you get when you're into this really obscure band, and all of a sudden the band breaks into huge popularity, and then you can say, "I listened to them BEFORE they were cool," as if it somehow makes you cooler by association. We can say, "That's right, E-Wray worked part time with us over the summer as she was raising support to go to Nepal. In your face."

Not that E-Wray is the kind of person who would wish to be made much of. But we want to direct you, loyal blog readers, to her, so that she can direct you to the issues she's confronting in rural Nepal, which are a much bigger deal than any individual person, she or I or you or anyone.

As we wrote in our last email newsletter, E-Wray will be teaching English, health, life skills, hygiene, environmental sustainability, and more.

24:Redemption (yes, I watched TV)

I should begin with a confession: I am addicted to the TV show "24." Usually I resist such widely popular cultural phenomena (I still haven't read a Harry Potter book), but Jency had season 6 of 24 sent to us in our Netflix, and I found myself hooked from the first episode. We've since gone through seasons 1-3 on DVD.

Shocking, I know. But we've found it to be a nice escape from the stresses of day-to-day life. It's got lots of action, lots of political drama, and, believe it or not, lots of great thought-provoking ethical dilemmas. Plus each episode ends with a cliffhanger, and so you find yourself running to Blockbuster at 10:00 PM and spending five bucks that you didn't really need to spend, just so you can go to bed knowing how that little subplot gets resolved.

But enough justifying my addiction. Let's come to the point.

Last night Fox broadcast a 2-hour special "prequel" to the forthcoming 7th season (which will start in January of 2009). A couple years have passed since the end of the last season due to the Hollywood writers' strike, so you can imagine my excitement.

And, knowing that 24 is a popular entertainment program on a major media network, you can imagine my surprise when I saw that the episode is set in Africa (in a fictitious nation called Sangala), and that a central theme is the issue of child soldiers.

And you can imagine my further surprise when I found that the commercial breaks, mainly populated by expectable corporate giants like Hyundai and Sprint, were peppered with spots from Human Rights Watch and the UN showing statistics on things like child soldiers and malaria in Africa. Kiefer Sutherland, star and producer of 24, had an ad personally beseeching viewers to support anti-malarial measures like mosquito nets.

Could mainstream entertainment media have turned a corner?

Who knows. But it's good to see another example of Hollywood addressing important humanitarian crises that have been languishing unnoticed for decades. Here's my open request to Fox executives (not that they'll ever see this blog): partner with existing NGOs doing development work in Africa in order to leverage the potential impact of your 24 fan base. If enough Americans begin to care about what happens outside US borders, we can make a significant difference in the lives of Africans.

And thank you, Fox, for allowing your most popular program to be used as a platform to raise awareness.

Don't Forget the Little Guy

Yesterday (11/14/08) the Wall Street Journal published a front-page article headlined "Wal-Mart Defies Retail Slowdown."

Here is an excerpt:

"On Thursday, after a week of bad news from retailers such as Best Buy Co. and Starbucks Corp., Wal-Mart said earnings for the third quarter rose 9.8% while sales rose 7.5%. At stores open at least a year, sales rose 3%, twice as much as a year before, and far better than nearly every other U.S. retailer.
Behind the figures is a confluence of trends fueled by the downturn. As strapped consumers look for cheaper goods, and weaker retailers go out of business, Wal-Mart is using its unmatched economies of scale to drive down prices, undercut competitors and squeeze costs out of suppliers ever more dependent on the Bentonville, Ark., behemoth.
Indeed, the downturn is increasing Wal-Marts clout just as its dominance was being threatened by diminishing returns on its big-box expansion formula, more-selective consumers and a growing field of rivals. The company's size is now turning to its advantage: for every $1 spent in the last year on goods other than cars in the U.S., 8.2 cents went to a cashier at a Wal-Mart store or a Sam's Club, the company's membership warehouse chain, according to Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers."

This is not a post to complain about Wal-Mart, but rather one to encourage you reading this to try your best to continue supporting local businesses as we all try to navigate the uncertain economic future.

As consumers we have a tremendous amount of choice when deciding where to shop. How we make that decision as a society has a big impact on how our lives and cities look. I hope we all decide to enrich our lives and cities by directing our spending to local enterprise at a level sufficient to sustain local businesses through the current economic slump. Although there is a moderate 'premium' to buying local, I'm certain that, in the long run, the cost to our community of sustaining and maintaining a given local business is much, much lower than allowing it to fail and eventually start over.

Andrew Mwenda on African Aid

Andrew Mwenda is a journalist from Uganda who gave a brilliant talk before TED last September. I agree that his talk is, in his words, "like a miniskirt - short enough to arouse interest, but long enough to cover the subject."

Listen closely, he's got an accent.







His main point is that official aid to Africa should provide national governments with an incentive to focus investment among local entrepreneurs, as opposed to targeting primary health, education, and hunger. The idea is that the current aid arrangement entrenches a system of dependency among African governments and does little to really build wealth. If wealth is built through investing in entrepreneurship, an attitude of self-sufficiency will be created that will be infinitely more potent than continuing to pump dollars into government coffers.

As a bit of shameless self-promotion, that is precisely what fair trade does. We work with several organizations all over Africa that have developed successful businesses along the entrepreneurial model. The difference between what fair trade does and what Mwembe suggests is that fair trade's market exists overseas, whereas Mwembe supports the development of the local markets. But hey, we've got to start somewhere, and so far aid on the official level has yet to make much of a dent.

This would be a great excuse to write a letter to your congressman or senator. And while you're at it, ask them to pressure our city to lower sewage fees for downtown. This water bill is killing me!

Think Fair Chattanooga happened.

We were pleasantly surprised at the turnout. A teacher from David Brainerd HS made it an extra credit event for her environmental science class, which accounted for about half the room. But some people were actually there because of the flier and facebook.

Advertising events online and around town is a lot like throwing baseballs at a dunk tank in pitch (no pun intended) darkness. Looks like we hit the mark with this one.

It's encouraging. I think we'll be doing this some more. You know, when we have some free time to plan another one. Will and I were talking about the possibility of a film/book review series to take place during the spring school semester. Stay tuned.

I misspelled a five letter word...

...In a flyer that was distributed all over Chattanooga and the internet. And I'm the one who created it.

It would be one thing if the word were something like, "dystopia," but it wasn't. The word was "trade." As in, fair trade. The whole organizing principle of our business.

Apparently in Marketing, a good strategy is to turn negatives into positives. So to that end, I'd like to think of this limited-edition poster art as a collector's piece that is sure to appreciate in value significantly over the coming decades. Capture a little World Next Door history for yourself, and hang on to those fliers for our "fair tade awareness event" in the same safe you keep your most precious valuables.

Or, find out what "fair tade" is and spread awareness for it!

Robin Hood

This was an awe-inspiring event last year. Our very own E-Wray (that's Elizabeth Wray) spearheaded the effort last year, mobilizing the GPS student body to raise over $60,000 to fund the construction of a girls' school in rural Afghanistan.

It's happening again this year, and everybody seems to speculate that last year simply can't be matched. But public opinion won't stop things from moving forward. This year the fundraising will benefit the construction of an all-girls' charter school here in Chattanooga.

It's a weeklong festival on GPS' campus featuring all kinds of programming. We'll have several booths set up in the quadrangle selling fairly traded goods, and we'll be donating a large percentage of profit to the Robin Hood effort. E-Wray is consulting with Jency to get our part of the game together.

Technically Robin Hood is a GPS event, but anyone is welcome to come and support the intiative. It will take place Oct. 27-31.

Think Fair Chattanooga

October is Fair Trade Month. We're gonna do something about that.

We're teaming up with our friends at Main & Mocha to put on a small event. You want to read a marketing blurb? Thought you'd never ask...



Think Fair Chattanooga will be an evening of engaging Fair Trade with the eyes, mind, and taste buds.

Come in from the autumn chill for a hot cup of coffee brewed from fairly traded beans, and stay for a viewing of Buyer Be Fair: The Promise of Product Certification. This film takes the viewer around the globe to show how conscious consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling.

World Next Door will produce the event to be hosted by Main & Mocha, located in the Carter Center at the corner of Main Street and Market Street in Chattanooga's Southside district.

What: Think Fair Chattanooga
When: 7:00 PM Thursday, October 23
Where: Main & Mocha, 1463 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN
Why: For the poor, for Chattanooga, and for free coffee and chocolate!

The Grace Episcopal Bookstore

World Next Door now has another remote location -- Grace Episcopal Bookstore.

The official opening (or reopening, rather) was on September 21st. But I just now made it over there to take some pictures. Feast your eyes! Kim and Jency did a wonderful job of creating a bright, colorful, appealing display. They're quite good at it.

We worked with Dabney Carter at Grace to get everything set up, and we're excited to be there. We very much believe in mobilizing those who follow Jesus to engage and support fair trade in their community of faith. As ones who believe that God hates injustice, we're excited to partner with the American church to promote fair trade and its mission to combat injustice in the economic realm.

The Grace Bookstore is open Tuesday-Friday from 10:00-2:00, and Sundays 9:00-10:30 and 12:00-12:40. It is also open Wednesday evenings, 4:00-6:30. The church is located at the corner of Brainerd Road and Belvoir Road in Chattanooga.

Here's a small part of our section. We also occupy lots of shelf space and a couple windows.

Other items for sale in the bookstore include books of theology and Christian apologetics, as well as commentaries and more. Other gift items are offered, including hand-blown glass balls, wooden sculptures, and more.
There's a lounge area too, for anyone who wants to just hang out and enjoy the atmosphere and community.

We're excited to be there, and there's more in the works.

We're currently exploring a partnership with a coffee shop on Main St., one of Chattanooga's hottest spots for new development. More to come as things develop...

CultureFest was muy festivo!

Here are a few pictures from CultureFest. It was a great event. Sometimes (read: Riverbend) events are just lots of work. CultureFest, which took place Saturday, didn't feel like lots of work, even though we were there from 9 to 7. Coolidge Park is a great venue for things like this. Everybody goes there anyway, but to have tents and food and performances going on just adds to the already pleasant energy.

We sat at our little booth talking to folks, listening to the range of music coming from the stage, and smelling the awesome food. I had some chicken tikka masala and a samosa from the Curry Pot, Chattanooga's newest Indian restaurant. Jency had some Thai stir-fry, but I forget where it came from. Both were awesome.

We heard Chinese opera, Japanese taiko, a bilingual drama act, and lots more. The music closed with this Isreali drummer who displays complete ownership of his many instruments. Simultaneously.

Sales were good for us, and we got to connect with the great people at GoFish, who also had a booth. So all in all, a great day! Here are a few pictures...

Culture Fest - Saturday 9/27

Just a note to let everyone know that World Next Door will have a booth at CultureFest this Saturday! Coolidge Park, 11-7.

It's put on by our Arts and Education Council. Here's a line from their site...

"AEC Culture Fest is an annual celebration of the Chattanooga area's rich cultural diversity through music, dance, food, and fine arts."

Last year it was lots of fun. There was music, dancing, food... well, basically everything the AEC said. Anyways we really hope to see you there! Admission is free, and it's a great afternoon if you've got kids.

Good News from India

The following is an email we recently received from Mata Traders, one of the organizations we work with. It is always encouraging hearing good news from the other side of the world!

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Greetings to friends and customers,

Michelle and I have been working in India on Mata's Spring 09 collection for a month now, and I just wanted to check in and tell you all how it is going. Being in India reminds me of a postcard I got once at a museum in Germany, with a funny looking man in spectacles holding up a handwritten sign that says: "Everything is connected. The point is to know it and understand it." While we meet and get to know the women in India who make our clothing, YOU and your customers are actually the ones that make our work here possible. We thought it would be nice to share a little bit about these ladies, and to let you know how you are connected to making lives better in such a faraway place.

One particular story I'd like to tell is about Harshali. I met Harshali two years ago when she was a shy 17 year old with limited English speaking skills. At that time she was working as a helper at our Mumbai cooperative and we struck up a friendship on our shared path home after work. I was staying in an apartment close to the co-op, and Harshali's grandmother and sister were selling fish on the side of the road next to the apartment complex. After work at the co-op Harshali would help her grandma and sister until the small stand closed, at around 9 pm. Harshali is from Tamil Nadu, a state in the south of India, and her parents died when she was very young, leaving her and her younger brother and sister behind, with only her grandmother to fend for them. Joining the millions of others who comprise Mumbai's enormous migrant workforce, Harshali's grandmother decided to emigrate to the big city in the hopes of finding work to support her two granddaughters. Two years ago Harshali had just started work at the co-op. Soon after she was able to afford to send both her younger siblings to school, as well as start a college economics course. Now she is an assistant to one of the co-op's designers and oversees all sampling work, and is just about to graduate her program. She dresses smartly, in cute matching salwar suits that show her evolving fashion taste, and speaks English well, with the confidence of a young professional woman. I believe she is on her way to becoming a designer herself someday, and I know that without her work at the co-op she could very well still be selling fish on the side of the road with her grandma and elder sister.

India as a whole is not a society that encourages social mobility. Economic brackets are enforced by caste lines, and like most industrializing nations, the poverty class is growing as the rural poor migrate from villages to mega-cities to find new kinds of work. The opportunities for economic advancement that fair trade organizations offer to women in poverty are truly a rarity. Being a part of the fair trade community means that we are ALL connected to this positive change.

Working on Spring 09 clothing!
Harshali at work

Agnes and Sustainable Living

What would it be like to be able to live off the land? A couple of weeks ago, Nathan, my family, and I spent an afternoon with Agnes. When I was little, we used to go over to Agnes house, but I haven't been in a long time. I had forgotten what an experience it is.


Agnes is a little lady, probably in her late 70's, that lives on a farm. She says, "I'm a depression baby, and this farm is my dream." She has a HUGE vegetable garden, big blueberry bushes, apple trees, chickens, cows, horses, lamas, peacocks, sheep, 10 dogs, some cats, and more. Agnes was a hair dresser for years but finally quit to start the farm she had always wanted. It wasn't that she wanted a farm in particular though; she wanted to be able to sustain herself off the land. And she has definitely done this.

We picked blueberries and tomatoes (from her 150 tomato plants) and wandered around looking at all that she does every single day. She kept saying, "take more! I can't eat all of this!" And so we did! We were about to leave, and Agnes said, "wait, you are going to take some eggs, aren't you?" My mom tried to protest, worried that we were taking too much already, and Agnes said, "I have 10 or 12 dozen in the frig! I can't eat all that!" So, we went and got fresh eggs from underneath the chickens to take home.


One thing that Agnes said though has stuck with me. She said, "I think I must be crazy. Every morning I wake up at 4:00am and I can't go back to sleep. I am so excited about all that I have to do that day that I can't sleep! Do you think that makes me crazy?"


How many people do we know that can say that? That they are so excited every morning about what they have to do that day? Agnes has more energy and works harder than any lady of her age I've ever met. And, she's doing what she loves. Nathan and I were encouraged from our afternoon with Agnes to continue to do what we love. We love being involved in the fair trade movement and are excited to keep learning and figuring out what that means for our lives. We don't really know where that will take us, but God does, and that's all that matters really.

So, eventhough we'll probably never be able to fully sustain ourselves off our little backyard, we have more motivation to plant a few vegetables to eat. And I hope that when we are Agnes' age, we can say that we did and are doing with our lives what we love.

Relief for Africa - Bring Donations to the Store.

We're teaming up with Calvary Chapel once again. Last time it was to bring Shawn McDonald to Chattanooga. This time it's to send relief to southern Africa. There's a lot of need there, and we hope to be a small part of filling that need.

World Next Door will act as a dropoff point for donations. Right now we're seeking school supplies and bulk food (dry, non-perishables).

We recognize that this one relief effort cannot fully solve any of the problems currently ravaging the region. Recent statistics paint a mind-boggling picture of crisis, one that will require collaborative action on the part of Western governments, NGOs, neighboring states, and grassroots organizers to turn around. Our hope is to fit into that process in a small way by providing much-needed material relief to a small community of orphans that the Chattanooga church has been nurturing a relationship with.

This is what we like to see.

Read this article from IJM...

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Wednesday, 18 June 2008

Former Slaves Build Successful Groundnut Business

Release has rightly paved the way for [Gowshik and Geetha] to live a life of dignity and freedom.

- IJM Chennai Social Worker

CHENNAI, INDIA – In February 2006, IJM and local authorities intervened at the rice mill where Gowshik* and his wife Geetha* were held in slavery. The mill owner had subjected dozens of slaves he held by force to extreme physical and verbal abuse. When these violations of Indian law were uncovered through IJM investigation, IJM’s Chennai staff partnered with local authorities to bring rescue to slaves at the mill, freeing the laborers even as the mill owner attempted to incite a mob to stop the operation.

IJM staff ensured that every slave freed in the operation received official government release documents certifying their status as emancipated slaves, which entitled them to critical government assistance as they began the process of rebuilding their lives.

Since their release from slavery through IJM intervention, Gowshik and Geetha have developed a small groundnut operation into a successful business venture, which now employs several people.

IJM staff also worked to ensure that the victims were safe from any harassment from their abuser and began gathering evidence to support his prosecution.

Indian law provides a rehabilitation payment of 20,000 rupees (approximately $467 USD) to freed slaves, in order to help them establish new employment in security and to reduce their vulnerability to re-victimization by slave owners. When Gowshik and Geetha received their rehabilitation payments, they decided to use it to begin an agricultural business. They budgeted a portion of their funds to rent a plot of land on which to cultivate groundnuts and purchased the necessary supplies to begin planting the crops.

Today, Gowshik and Geetha’s groundnut venture has proved remarkably successful. Their initial crop yielded a substantial profit, and they have used their earnings to invest in additional crops. Now their operation is so large that they have hired several people to assist with the operations. They pay their workers fair wages and have saved a substantial amount of their profits, as well as invested more of their earnings into fertilizers and additional supplies. Gowshik and Geetha are living securely and sustainably – and providing employment for others.

IJM staff ensured that every slave freed in the operation received official government release documents certifying their status as emancipated slaves, which entitled them to critical government assistance as they began the process of rebuilding their lives.

Others freed from slavery in the same mill have pursued diverse employment opportunities: One former victim owns a mobile merry-go-round, another has a mobile toy shop. Several have taken up agricultural work, multiple women own small shops, another group of former slaves is raising cattle and one former slave now cuts and sells wood .

All of the slaves released from the mill are visited regularly by IJM’s aftercare staff, who continue to ensure that they are able to transition successfully to freedom by providing health and business trainings as well as other vital services. After a recent visit to their land, their IJM social worker noted, “Release has rightly paved the way for [Gowshik and Geetha] to live a life of dignity and freedom.” IJM’s staff in Chennai and Bangalore continue to partner with local authorities to ensure that many more people trapped in slavery have the opportunity to live in the freedom that Gowshick and Geetha do today.

Stop, Drop, and Roll

I want to post this story before I forget. This actually took place a couple weeks ago.

We met a great guy named Daryl who lives in Cartersville, GA. He got really interested in the shop and we ended ordering a bunch of stuff for him to sell at an event in his area.

One of the things he was selling for us was our line of recycled feed bags. He had a mirror set up so people buying jewelry could look at their reflection. The mirror happened to be positioned in a way that focused the sunlight up onto the feed bags hanging above, causing one of them to catch on fire and burn a big hole through it.

So sadly the feedbags are not only not waterproof, they aren't fireproof either.

On the plus side, Daryl did more business in 2 days in a town of 900 people than we did all week at Riverbend. Way to go!

Giving In

...is the title of a song written by my friend in Nashville. And it's not a country tune.

I remember when he wrote it. Or at least I think I do. We had a class together in college that covered the Renaissance and Enlightenment and all the "isms" that wre birthed during that time. Or maybe it was the class we took on the "mind-brain problem." I kinda forget which one it was. We had quite a few brainy classes together. I'm pretty sure it was the Renaissance and Enlightment course, because so many people in that era were doing some serious thinking on the 'hows' and 'whys' of humanity and the universe. Reason was the new Coke, and it asked the big questions with the hope that the human mind could 'reason' the big answers. Anyway the song has to do with a sense of captivity in 'intellectual attitudes' that keep us from being able to really define the movements of God. Or in other words, man-made instruments, whether material or mental, cannot fully explain, describe, or predict the movements of God. There's an element of giving up self and 'giving in' to what you perceive with faculties endowed by your Creator that are made to resonate with His movements. One of the lines in the song goes, "I've seen how you move and I know that you're there, though I could never say exactly where."

The last week or so has been characterized by that sort of feeling. I can pretty confidently say that something inside me has perceived the movement of God -- my 'radar' has gone off, so to speak -- but I can't define the movements, say what they are, or put them into clear terms. So I'll just talk about all the seemingly unconnected things on my mind to see if something emerges by the end.

Jency and I have been married for a little over 3 weeks now (yeehaw). But last week was the first time we'd experienced anything close to beginning our lives together. The first week of our marriage was the honeymoon. The second week we came back to Chattanooga and worked Riverbend until our brains turned to mush. So last week was the first time we felt like normal life had really begun. And it's been really nice. We had Ryan and Natalie over for dinner last night, and totally felt like a married couple having friends over for dinner. And not just because we ARE a married couple that had friends over for dinner -- there's something about using the matching place settings and cooking with all your new wedding registry gear that really solidifies it. Anyway it was a cool experience because of the way the Lord magnified blessings on all of us that we didn't see coming. For Jency and I it was a great bonding experience to construct the evening together, assembling the food and atmosphere that would launch conversation. That sounds cheesy, but it really was a beautiful thing. For Ryan and Natalie it was very much a life-giving time for them to come and enjoy a peaceful meal after what was a physically and emotionally exhausting day. I could sense tensions easing over the course of the evening and I think that they walked out of the apartment feeling much better about themselves and life in general than when they walked in. So it was cool to see how God used them coming over to bless Jency and I through the preparations we made, and it was cool to see how He also used the fruit of our preparations to bless our friends that night.

It kinda reminds me of fair trade. We're in this business because we want for our daily work to contribute to the increase of love in this world. Our thinking is that doing it through fair trade blesses the overseas communities we serve, as well as the customers that shop in our store. And it blesses us in the process, providing us with work that we enjoy, believe in, and can do together as husband and wife.

Jency gave me a Bible for my wedding present. It's great. My old Bible is falling apart. If you pick it up too fast, everything from the second half of Luke on through Revelation will fall out in about 7 or 8 chunks. The new Bible is slick and shiny, and more importantly, it stays together! It's so much easier to read. So I've been reading little passages out of it to her each night before we go to sleep. A couple nights ago I read some chapters out of Isaiah, 61 and 62. Isaiah 61 encapsulates a lot of what we feel about our lives and our work. If you click one link in this entry, click that one -- it's worth your time.

Today in the shop three young ladies from Canton, GA (does that make them Cantonese? They definitely weren't Asian...) stopped in and were very excited about our merchandise and what we're doing as a business. Which was really encouraging. They made their purchases and continued on their vacation day. I was glad to have sold some stuff, but didn't really think much of it until they came back in right before closing. They had with them Chattanooga's Street Poet. I haven't caught her name yet, but many of my fellow Chattanoogans know who I'm talking about. For those who don't, she's a woman, probably in her late thirties, who roams downtown and offers to recite an original poem in exchange for a few bucks. I think she's homeless, but I'm not completely sure. I'm pretty sure she's not employed and has a hard time providing for herself. I'm also pretty sure she's not a crackhead or an alcoholic. Anyway the C.S.P. tried on a few outfits for the Cantonese ladies, who gave her their honest opinions in the way that only a group of women shopping together can. The C.S.P. picked out a blouse and skirt outfit that really made her look nice, and the Cantonese ladies picked up the tab for her. This is a woman who usually walks up to you in a grungy T-shirt and tattered jeans. She left the shop with her new clothes on and a new smile on her face. I learned later that they had also taken her out to eat earlier for some Thai food, which she had never tasted before. It was an honor to assist in my small way with such a beautiful picture of anonymous love. The Cantonese ladies did not have an air of doing the C.S.P. a favor. I think they were sincerely enjoying her company, even though they're from out of town and had only just met her.

So here again we've got blessing magnified on several angles, unexpected by all parties. You've got the C.S.P., who had a wonderful night out on the town with spur-of-the-moment friends, and who is now enjoying a nice, new set of clothes. I'm sure she feels like a million bucks right now, and more importantly, she might even have some inkling that she's worth it. I hope she writes a poem about it. Then you've got the Cantonese ladies, who enjoyed her poetry and her company, and found in her an opportunity for a really sweet ministry that even other members of the body of Christ might not have gone so far as to pursue. Then you've got all the overseas cooperatives that benefitted from their purchases -- in India, Kenya, Ghana, China and Ecuador in this case -- receiving the fruits of the fair trade movement. And then there's me, the guy at the cash register, sitting back and watching it all happen, but in the back of my mind knowing that part of the reason it can happen at all is because the Lord has placed me in this line of work to keep the shop running and open.

Incidentally, one of the Cantonese ladies is going on a year-long mission to 11 countries with her husband, and she'll be blogging about it at tarabruce.theworldrace.org.

So anyway.

There's not much continuity to this long, rambling post, but I feel like all these things are connected somehow. I can't really put my finger on why, but maybe I don't have to, or maybe that's the whole point. If I could really explain it, I mean really explain it, I might miss part of the mystery in the process.

My achin' back...

Well, we're not dead.

We're not even injured!

In fact, we're fine. But we're exhausted. The WND team put in some loooooong days last week keeping the shop open and participating in this year's Riverbend festival. Yours truly put in at least 3 16-hour days back to back.

But we think it was worth it. The cost of participating was super cheap, so our overhead wasn't that debilitating. I must admit that sales were rather disappointing. I thought I did some really conservative estimating when projecting expected sales for the week, but I guess I wasn't conservative enough. It turns out that Riverbend goers don't want to shop -- they want to party! Duh. Between all the beer and music, but mostly beer, it seems folks just didn't have enough energy left over to come learn about fair trade and maybe pick up a thing or two. So that's a bummer. The good part is that we generated lots of interest in the shop, and got to talk to tons of people about where we are and what we're doing. So all in all, it was worth it just for the sake of advertising alone.

The kicker is that Jency and I jumped neck-deep into all the craziness the day after getting back from our honeymoon. It was a good test of our patience and ability to adapt as a newly married couple. But I'm so glad that we share the load, because it would have been doubly worse if only one of us worked this job -- not from a workload standpoint, but from a time together standpoint. At least we're able to still be with each other while we're busy.

Many thanks to the Jennings-Grishams for their help last weekend, and to our own Ryan for all his extra efforts and long hours.

THIS HAPPENED...

...on May 31, 2008. Come congratulate us.

UK "Buy Fair" advert...

I was reading one of our vendors' blogs (Handmade Expressions - The Socially Responsible Way), and saw this. I liked it. So now I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy.

It's World Fair Trade Day

Tomorrow (Saturday May 10) is World Fair Trade Day. It kinda snuck up on us, so sadly we didn't have time to put together an event of our own (but I have big plans for WFTD '09).

But not to worry! We will still be at AN event tomorrow! It's called Pangea Day and it's a global event celebrating international unity through film. It'll be at the UTC Benwood Auditorium, and we'll be there with a booth, and maybe even some free coffee and chocolate.

See, part of World Fair Trade Day this year is that the big fair trade organizations are teaming up to promote the "fair trade break." They're trying to set the world record for the biggest ever coffee break, so they want everyone participating in WFTD to pause at 3pm Eastern time to consume something made from fairly traded ingredients. That means that chocolate counts!

So maybe we'll bring some of our wonderful Equal Exchange coffees and chocolates to share with everyone who comes to Pangea Day.

La Paz Market fun

Well, it's been well over a month since our last post. Shame on us. And thanks to you, loyal blog reader, for not forgetting about us!

I don't have much of substance to say at the moment, only that we had fun participating the Chattanooga Market this weekend. This week's market was sponsored by La Paz De Dios, a great non-profit here in town that does wonderful work helping Hispanics integrate into the local community. One of the stipulations of being part of the Chattanooga Market is that the artist who produced the goods must also be present, and I think they want things that are produced locally. Being a fair trade importer, we can't really have our artists present, and our goods sure as heck aren't produced locally. This kills us, because we'd love to be in the Market on a regular basis. This time we were lucky enough to be included under La Paz' auspice, since we do work with Latin American countries, and we ended up giving them 10% of our sales.

The atmosphere was great fun, and everyone had a good time -- Latin music and dancing, awesome burritos, and the usual faces behind artists' tables.

Now we're trying to figure out how to get into Riverbend's marketplace.

Green Banana Ball Soup

So if you ever have to choose between "green banana ball" and "chicken" for your first lunch course in Ecuador, definately go for the local tradition. To call my Spanish "sketchy" would be a gross overexaggeration, so I'm not exactly sure what it was I ate. Let's just say it was a delicious surprise.

Which sort of typified our trip. It seemed like at every turn there was a little something pleasantly unexpected. We stayed at a great hostel with small cabanas run by a Belgian woman who was married to a local indigenous man. She turned out to be a wonderfully hospitable French cook! We were well fed and healthy which was great for all of us, but especially for Gayle who had anticipated primarily eating Luna bars. The only down side was the traveling "local news" broadcast every morning at 6:00 am over a bull horn from a village pickup truck.

Our travelling companions, Liisa (the Finnish college professor who has been researching the area for a decade and is writing a book on the region) and Jason (the grad student-translator-driver who we wanted to just put in our pocket and take home with us) were invaluable. Liisa's relationships with the producers allowed us immediate access to the people we needed to talk with. I was utterly flaborgasted at what we saw and who we met. Who knew that there would be functioning jeans producing workshops with industrious, creative, ingenuous people at the helm! They have an association of the registered producers who we were fortunate enough to meet with. Their collaborative competition was a new take on capitalism for us and was a welcomed surprise. Most everyone is related in some way and so no matter how much they are in competition, they really seem to be looking out for one another. After meeting at length with producers and visiting the workshops it became apparent that they are already doing fair trade. Subsequently, their prices are higher and therefore cannot compete in the US with (sweatshop?) jeans offered at significantly lower prices. Also, input from a US designer (Gayle), was invaluable to them. I was afraid they might eat her with a spoon. It was great.

So what now? We were not exactly anticipating the quality, productive capabilities, fair trade bent and willingness to export that we found. We've got a whole new set of questions to answer. In addition to pow-wowing with the World Next Door team and researching the next level of detail, we're going to need to start looking for investors if this thing is going to be a go. We're looking forward to exploring the next steps!

Jeans Jeans Jeans

Oh my. We have just spent the past few hours walking through stall upon stall upon stall of as many kinds of jeans in as many colors as you can imagine...and then some more. We had no idea. Our heads are so full its hard to even know how to write!

We obviously have arrived safe and sound in Ecuador. Our only hitch was a cancelled flight out of Atlanta but we got good exercise (and good conversation) out of several hours of walking the airport. We are the resident experts on each terminal! Our hosts in Quito are great and it was awesome to see old friends. Our efforts to learn Spanish on the plane have been at least a mild success because we took a taxi to meet our new friends this morning with no major event.

So today has been an utter whirlwind. We drove several hours through the Andes to the jeans producing region with a professor of economics and her grad student-driver-translator. They are delightful. And we have learned quite a lot about economics, politics, history, environmental issues, human rights of Ecuador, Latin America, the world and of each region we passed through. Wow. Not to mention that we talked a lot about the jeans industry! Fascinating stuff even if it is a brain stretch!
So tomorrow we meet with the Pelileo Guru of Jeans, the granddaddy, the Don...and learn even more. Then we´ll meet with little producers up in the hills. Apparently we´ll need the 4-wheel drive. Lots and lots to process. We had no idea the magnitude and capability of the Pelileo jean industry.

Gayle is the greatest. I hope all of you reading this have a friend who would willingly go with you on a 3rd world adventure! If not, please go seek one out! We´re enjoying being together and its great to have a likeminded friend to hash things out with.

Back to Ecuador

Who would have thought I (Kim) would be heading back to Ecuador just a little over a month after our last trip! The children are all in an outrage that they don't get to go...and a tiny bit worried about having their mama gone for a week. "Who's keeping the children?" is the FAQ of late and we've seen lots of smiles and raised eyebrows when we say "DADDY!" They'll have a great time and be just fine.

My dear friend Gayle and I are heading down to explore the possibility of starting a fair trade (hopefully eco-friendly) jeans cooperative in a small town called Pelileo. They've been making jeans for generations and would apparently welcome the opportunity to talk about Fair Trade possibilities. Gayle has past experience in the fashion industry and is a jeans designer. (You should ask about hidden talents of your friends. They may come in really handy!) We're armed with loads of questions and some ideas to pursue. Incidentally, feel free to toss any ideas into the hat about a name.

We had our fair share of tears at bedtime tonight. It was a great opportunity to talk a bit about what we're aiming to do and what we're dreaming about. I said to our oldest (Simeon, 7) that we're hoping to go make friends with some people who know how to make jeans. I told him that I'm pretty sure their lives are a lot harder than ours. We decided that if we didn't have clean water, or money for the doctor, or a chance to go to school, or enough to eat that we would hope that someone would come and be our friend and try to help us. I'm not sure what we'll find out and who we'll meet and what will come out of all this, but it felt good to articulate our hope.

We'll arrive in Ecuador tomorrow night, stay with our friends who live in Quito and travel 4 ish hours down through "volcano alley" to Pelileo on Tuesday. There's no hotel or restaurant in Pelileo so we're staying in the next village, Salisaca. (We googled Salisaca and saw a few good images of the town and the people. It looks very Ecuadorian!) I'm not sure whether or not there will be internet access, so this may be it until we return! Looking forward to the adventure!

Fair Trade Weddings

Some of you may know by now that Jency, the store manager, and I, the bookkeeper/whatever else guy, are getting married this spring.  That's right.  Sorry, the rest of human males, she's mine.  Any of you wise guys tries anything, and I WILL beat you up.

But seriously.  All this wedding planning stuff has had me doing Google search after Google search for things like invitations, flowers, even rings.  Something cool I've been finding through our MySpace friends are fairly-traded alternatives for many common components of the American wedding.  Here's a quick list of things I've seen so far:

• Fairly traded flowers
• Fairly traded, eco-friendly, conflict-free rings
• More fairly traded, eco-friendly, conflict-free rings
• Fairly traded, handmade paper for invitations/programs
• More fairly traded, handmade paper for invitations/programs
• Fairly traded, handmade guestbooks and photo albums

We're actually using a few of these items in our wedding.  

We're getting these cards from one of the store's vendors, Originals from Africa, to use as our invitations.  They come from Zimbabwe.  Jency just took a sample to a local guy that does letter-pressing, and it turned out AWESOME.  These are going to be very cool, and not too expensive.

We'll also be using one of these guestbooks from another of our store's vendors, Handmade Expressions.  This one's handmade and leather-bound in India.  I don't think they're available for purchase directly from their website.  If you're interested in any of this stuff, talk to us and we can probably order it for you.

After I created our MySpace account I started friending anyone I could find with a similar mission.  One place I found is a fair trade store in Maine.  They've got a whole section of their website devoted to fairly traded wedding stuff.

There are all kinds of resources on the web for making your wedding 'socially conscious' -- i.e., green, fair trade, conflict-free, etc.  Getting married soon?  Check it out.

Back from Ecuador ---> Back TO Ecuador?!

The Honeycutts returned from their 3 weeks in Ecuador two Tuesdays ago. Since then we've been frantically catching them up on what happened here in Chattanooga while they were gone, and hearing more and more about what happened on their trip.

As you may have read, they visited lots of different co-ops and artisan groups in attempt to make connections, build relationships, and find new and interesting products. I won't go too far into what happened, since you can read for yourself their firsthand accounts further down the page.

What I will mention is all the goods they brought back, and all the commotion that's arisen as a result. Jency and I went over to their house two weeks ago to see all the stuff. We saw lots of clothing for men, women, and children. We saw lots of bags. We saw lots of jewelry. We saw lots of scarves, toys, games, and even some hammocks! I'll post pictures when I get a chance. But the amount of stuff piled up in their living room was a testament to several things. It was a testament to upper body strength -- they lugged it through airports with their 3 kids! It was a testament to diligence and productivity on the trip. And it was a testament to the value of itemizing all your declared merchandise when going through US Customs on reentry!

Some of the coolest stuff was some tagua nut jewelry made by refugees from Columbia. Did you realize that there's a humanitarian crisis happening in Columbia? I sure didn't. I don't really pay a great deal of attention to the news, but I do pay enough attention to know that it's not really being covered. But then, many of the world's humanitarian crises don't receive much news coverage. But that's a rant for a different day. How we might fit in to the Columbian refugees' situation sheds a little light on the challenges of fair trade. These people live in very secluded rural areas where little infrastructure exists. Without things like electricity and telecoms, communication becomes a very big barrier to doing business. How would one place an order with an artisan community without phones or the internet, where the only communication happens by weekly mail? How would one ensure that the artisans receive their payment in full? How does one create sustainable, long-term opportunities for communities like this? Though business has been done for thousands of years without modern conveniences like the internet, the fast pace of business today creates big constraints when thinking about the developing world.

But I digress. As much as we'd like to work with the refugees, that project might have to wait for the less-than-immediate future. The most promising lead we're currently working on is... well... I think I should keep it a secret for now. But do let me say that if we can get things up and running, it could be something very good for Ecuadorians as people and for World Next Door as a business. We're planning a short trip to go back to Ecuador in the next couple months to explore things further. More to come on that as things develop...

We haven't put all the Ecuador stuff in the store just yet, but we're bringing more stuff in every so often. Stop by if you want to see some of it!

Chattanooga featured on CBS

Hello, blog readers. We've been in a bit of a whirlwind since Will and Kim returned from Ecuador and haven't had much time to post. More on that in a future post (sorry). First, I wanted to share a link that came across my email this morning:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3846807n

Somehow CBS News' Early Show got ahold of a magazine that features our lovely Chattanooga as a top destination for eco-friendly "green" travel, right up there with the Galapagos Islands, the Dry Tortugas, and Burlington, VT (what a sample). The show's host's response was, "Who knew?" Check out the video. It's always interesting to me to see what other people find interesting about the place where I live.

It makes me glad that our city is making a name for itself in this way. A couple weeks ago, Jency and I wrote an article for Natural Awakenings Magazine that discussed our perception of a rising level of global consciousness among Chattanoogans (I think it will appear in the March issue). Based on some events we've been a part of, and on comments we've overheard by customers in the store doing their Christmas shopping, we really think this is true. Seeing the CBS clip makes me wonder if it might have been good to talk about Chattanooga's environmental sensitivity as another aspect of this global consciousness. The clip mentions the waterfront renovation and the electric shuttle, but of course those of us who live here know that the list of Chattanooga's "green" institutions goes on and on. I think it indicates that Chattanooga as a city is positioning itself toward development along sustainable lines. That's a big part of what does it for me, why I like living here. At first glance, Chattanooga is just a beautiful place. But when you spend a little time here, you find a large contingent of people that think on a scale that encompasses more than their immediate surroundings -- it's one that encompasses global awareness as represented by environmental and social responsibility. I know that Chattanooga the city and Chattanooga the people do things that contradict those ideals, but overall I think we're headed in a positive direction. As a fair-trade business, we're all about sustainability. Seeing this attitude reflected in our community is a cool thing.

Homesick

We arrived safe and sound and all the better from our rich adventure! We are in the midst of unpacking all of our treasures. It's quite an explosion from our 8 bags. We made it through customs without having to unentangle our carefully arranged puzzle of luggage. The extra packing tape went thankfully unused. It felt a little like making it through Russian Roulet. I'm afraid we were quite a spectacle.

As we survey the diverse piles of Ecuadorian artisan wares it is hard to let it all sink in. Each bag, scarf, hammock, bracelet, article of clothing...has such a story attached. We feel like soaked sponges. Long after our bags are unpacked we will still be chewing on and digesting this great experience. We are extraordinarily thankful for the opportunity we have had and hope we put it all to good use in our hearts, lives and in the shop!

A closing anecdote:
I think we may have failed to mention that Jessie (3), tossed her cookies in every province of Ecuador that we visited. Quite a feat. Last night we arrived at home after 15 hours of travel and the poor girl upchucked right here in Hamilton County. (She's very equitable in her distribution.) So its after midnight, we're sitting on the bathroom floor and she's crying, "I'm sick. I'm home. I'm homesick! I'm so so homesick!" Welcome home!

Fair Trade Learning Curve

Hmmmm...how to get all this great stuff back to the States. Will and the children have gone to Claire´s (our host-friend) 6th birthday party at her Spanish speaking school and I´m attempting to pack up all of our wonderful finds. It occurred to me that we haven´t explained much about Fair Trade and the shop.

Our friends, Chris and Trish, are with the Episcopal Church here in Ecuador. Not only have they been wonderful hosts (allowing us to use their apartment as home base, feeding us, sharing their washing machine...), they have graciously facilitated artisan connections as though it is their full-time job. They know folks all over Quito and Ecuador who know artisans in need of a US outlet for their goods. Most of our travels have been to go meet with people and see their wares. Because of their relationships we are able to pursue trading in a fair, just sort of way. Its a lot harder than we even thought!!!

We have met with a group of disabled folks who do all sorts of weaving (baskets, hats, bags, belts), some Columbian refugees who are making jewelry out of Tagua nuts, a few women who weave the most exquisite bags called Chigras (they are more art than bag), villagers way up in the green mountains an hour or more by dirt road, a family who works with fired clay, women who do unbelievable embroidery and crochet, a man and his family who weave bags on their looms in their ¨dining room¨...just to name a few. Without exception people have been friendly, kind, generous and a joy to meet. We have had the unusual opportunity to eat in people´s homes more than a couple of times and have had to decline invitations because of time.

One story to illustrate the kind of treatment we have received. Saturday, one the Episcopal priests who works several hours south and spends 2 weekends a month with his family in Otovalo invited us to his home. It was about a 15 minute walk out of town to a small building that his family (wife and 4 children), his brother´s family and his father and mother share. It is also an instument workshop, a music school and a bar. They fed us generously while the 2 brothers played all sorts of traditional music for us. Our children enjoyed pulling water from the well, watching the parrots in the trees, walking through their garden plot and kicking the soccer ball with their children. What a rich experience with lots of laughing while trying to communicate mostly with our hands and minimmal spanish words. Definately a memory to cherish!

Our hope is that these budding relationships will allow us to begin to do business in ways that are genuinely fair, just and helpful to everyone. We have bought LOTS of samples and some things in bulk to put out immediately. Many many seeds are germinating and we´ll wait to see how this all grows. Lots and lots to think about!

Brothers

We talk to our boys alot about being friends together. That is, not just simply being genetically related, but becoming two individuals that care for each other and stick by one another. This is not always an easy concept to articulate and even harder to see implemented.

Sometimes brothers seem born to fight.

But this trip has drawn their hearts together in some beautiful ways.

They are learning to be friends.

I hope that when Simeon and Eli are old men, they will sit in some hole-in-the-wall cafe in some distant country and recall their adventures together with their grandchildren.

Jessie enjoys life

Simeon in his element(s)

Eli likes to have fun

Things you get used to

Well, we fly home in two days. So much more is in our heads and hearts than we have had time to write during our time in Ecuador. Simeon said yesterday that ¨we are having lots of small adventures while on our big adventure¨. I think he is right.

In many ways we are just getting settled in and now we have to leave. I am used to putting my toilet paper in the trash can instead of flushing it. I am used to not drinking water out of the tap. (On the occasional time of forgetting and drinking, a shot of Ecuadorean moonshine is said to kill anything that might live in the water. We have received a couple bottles as gifts and it has come in handy twice. I do not think it would pass customs upon our return. Our host Chris takes the concoction out of the Sprite bottle that it is usually ¨packaged¨ in and puts it in a glass bottle because it has been known to melt the plastic. ) I am used to chilly nights since no one has central heat. I am used to sleeping in the same room with my wife and three kids. And I am mostly used to taxi drivers using their left hand to talk on the cell phone while shifting gears with their right hand while passing a car on a curve in the road going uphill.

I am still not used to the majestic views of the Andean mountains and volcanos, the generosity and hospitality of our new Ecuadorean friends and the poverty that presents itself each and every day.

Adventure in Otovalo

We´re spending our last few days in Otovalo, a historic town known for centuries for being traders and expert artisans. We´re armed with a Spanish ¨cheat sheet¨that we carry in our pocket. So far so good. Thankfully, we´re pretty good at charades and smiles and laughter go a long way while we are butchering the language. The children have been fantastic at greeting folks and introducing themselves. Jessie regularly hollers ¨pero¨, spanish for dog, at the many specimens roaming the streets.

Today was quite an adventure. We took a taxi an hour or so north to pick up the goods we ordered last week from a woman running her own microenterprise out of her house. We didn´t realize quite how remote her bario is. We finally found her and our fun Ecuadorian blouses for women and girls. What a talented, gracious, creative woman! She employs many women from her neighborhood in a sunny workshop behind her small home. Her husband is permanently in a wheel chair from a bike robbery, but she is perservering in a beautiful, hopeful sort of way. We are thankful to have met her and to be able to bring her wares back to the shops.

Tomorrow we will rise with the sun to go to the local animal market, then hit the largest artisan market in all of Latin America. I´m sure it will be something to behold! More later on our plentiful Otovalian adventure.

The Blob

We´re feeling a bit self-satisfied that Will figured out how to upload a few pictures! For those of you who know us well, this is quite an accomplishment. Simeon´s quote is pretty telling of the state of the family as far as technology goes, ¨Mama, are you going to put this on THE BLOB?¨If you´re interested look back and see some images to get a bit of the flavor of things.

Our visit with Caroline

So much to tell. We´ve had a great few days in Quito that has allowed for at least a little decompression time.

Meeting with Caroline, our sponsor child from Compassion, was a beautiful experience. Despite the language barrier it seems as though we all were able to make a connection. We had an excellent translator who spent the day with us. We met at a mega-mall, which made Hamilton Place look rather quaint. Caroline had never been and may never go again. Apparently, this was to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for her. So, as non-mall folks we decided to go with gusto.

Initially, we played UNO and talked together, getting to know her, her mother and her little sister. Then we went to the game place, rode bumper cars, ate Happy Meals and KFC, had ice cream...Simeon commented that Caroline didn´t stop smiling all day. A little weird to be the gringos with the cash but we hope she could see our genuine interest and enjoyment of her.

Afterwards we visited the afterschool program where Caroline is tutored and cared for three afternoons a week. This is also where she gets three good meals each week. We were overwhelmed by the hugs of all the joyful, friendly children. Out of four hundred kids in this particular program sponsored by Compassion, about five kids a year get visited from their sponsors. We wondered what it was like for the other children to observe us as Caroline´s sponsors.

We ended the day with a visit to Caroline´s home. Her home was very simple. We have had the opportunity to be in a number if Ecuadorean homes and Caroline´s was the roughest. We were welcomed and hosted well by Caroline and her cousins. We sang songs and laughed a lot together.

We have had an ongoing conversation with our kids since we have been here: What is the difference between poverty and simplicity? Is there a line to be drawn? Where is it gray? When are conditions absolutely unacceptable by any standards? When am I imposing my own standards that might have very little bearing on the cultural context before me? When is simplicity misunderstood as poverty? What is it like to be in a place of material wealth and be totally impoverished? Many questions have been asked. We are struggling through the answers.

So so much to unpack about this day. Caroline walked us all the way to the bus and waved and waved until we were out of sight. It really was a weighty, beautiful priviledge to be together.

We are convinced that sponsoring a child through any of the credible organizations available is some of the best use of our financial resources...and it has sparked some wonderful conversations with our kids.

togetherness

Not really sure how to write. I´m so extraordinarily thankful to have my sweet husband back in our room telling the children a story. Car accidents can happen anywhere, but this was a sobering day. We´re thankful to have at least one more day together and hopefully many more. Its good to be reminded of good gifts.

Not surprisingly, I´m thinking a lot about togetherness. While we´re here at Chris and Trish´s apartment, we´re all sleeping in one room, with the children on the floor on mattresses. Its pretty cozy. For several mornings I´ve walked past them all piled together on 1 little mattress entangled like a litter of puppies. We´re reminded of the beauty of simplicity. Its also good to know that the 3 children and I can all fit in one seat on the public trolley. 3 coloring books, one set of markers, a deck of UNO cards and some bubbles have been our main source of entertainment.

The entertainment highlight, however, is Daddy´s story that started in Chattanooga the night before we left. The basic premise is that some bad guys have stolen all the smiles of all the children in Ecuador and it is up to the Honeycutt children to solve the mystery and restore the smiles. The story has developed in installments depending on the day, the situation and the need for distraction. (You can really develop a plot on the 2 hour drive to Atlanta.) It weaves together the places we´ve been and the people we´ve met. And the children are passionately involved as they give suggestions of how to get out of sticky situations or where to go to next. Will is a deep well of creativity these days!

One other quick thought. We´ve been trying to keep a journal and let the children, particularly Simeon dictate. Its been a great way to debrief and help him process through the things we´re experiencing. You never know what strikes them, or confuses them, or captures their heart unless you take time to stop and ask. Tonight I´m reminded of the gift of being together.

Unpredictability

We have been staying in Quito with our hosts Chris and Trish Morck. This morning Chris and I left early to head three hours south to investigate some possibilities with a denim cooperative. Kim was to go with Trish to meet with another set of artisans. It was to be a divide and conquer sort of day.
The roads were wet from the rain and the car next to us drifted into our lane as we rounded a bend in the road. Chris breaked and honked as is the usual custom down here. Things would have been fine but the other car came even further into our lane bumping the front right panel. Hitting the curb of the median our truck flipped and we landed up-side-down, hanging from our seat belts, the cab crushed above our heads. I waited to be hit again by cars coming from the oncoming lanes or from behind. Little did I realize that we landed perfectly on the grassy median in a section with no trees.

We walked away from the accident.

Our lives were preserved for another day.

The scenario could have been very different.

Chris and I are doing alright. Chris took a cab to the hospital to get his head and neck checked out. He returned with a neck brace.
Other than being rattled and emotionally exhausted, often finding myself just tearing up, I am doing good. I sure savored the hugs from Kim and the kids when we finally returned home.

Piranha Fishing

In the Amazon we were priviledged to see lots of amazing animals and plants. We were only ten minutes into our first canoe paddle when we came upon a sloth making his way up a tree. Unlike a zoo, the animals never remain in the same place. So, you find yourself wanting to stay and stay, just looking at something you may never see again. Sure enough, it was the only sloth sighting in the last few months.
On the first morning, I took the boys on a nature hike. While we were out Kim lounged in the hammock with Jessie. Three Giant Otters swam up to the dock and wrestled for a while before setting out again. What makes this rather extraordinary is that this view was even rarer than the sloth. Only 2,000 of the endangered otters remain in the world and Kim enjoyed three of them. Needless to say, the other guests were more than jealous.
We saw four types of monkeys, many of which played tag in the trees above our lodge. We saw around seventy bird species that we have never seen before. And we observed the Blue Morph butterfly darting about the river banks.
We had two sort of ¨rights of passage¨ experiences for the boys. The first entailed going out at night looking for caimans, alligators. During the day, for the most part, they hide in the marshy edges of the lagoon and creeks. So, with a big battery operated flashlight we set out to spot the red eyes of caimans lurking in the water. Nothing like being in a low canoe, with fifty red eyes all about you. Both boys were between my legs as we paddled up (within reason, Grandmas and Grandpas) towards the caimans for a better view. A portable blood-pressure indicator would have revealed increased pulse for all of us.
The day before we left I went out with the boys for a little pirana fishing from the canoe. Just a bamboo pole, line, a hook and some red meat is all you need. Drop it in, wiggle the line and pull up when you feel a tug. Up close, those little guys are pretty cool. And, yes, their teeth appear really sharp. Since it was catch-and-release, it was nice to have the guide in the boat to do the ¨release¨part. However, I did not anticipate the fiestyness of the pirana, enough to get itself free of the hook and flip about the floor of the canoe... one of those times you wish you were not in your sandals.

Deep in the Amazon

We will spend alot of time refering to and evaluating our time in the Amazon jungle.

East from the slopes of the Ecuadorean Andes is the headwaters of what becomes the Amazon River. We began the day with a 30 minute flight over the Andes mountains, leaving 50 degree overcast weather and greeted with sunny 85 degrees and a bit of humidity . After a quick ¨bus¨ride to the Napo River we boarded a motorized canoe for a two and a half hour ride east down the river. This was our first upclose view of the Amazon region. Very lush and green as one might expect, the beauty only broken by the obvious influence of the oil industry. We slowed to enter a small tributary and transfer to a dugout canoe, literally carved out of single tree. The last leg of this trip involved a one and a half hour paddle (by our native and biligual guides) up a creek to the lagoon which we would call home for the next five days. We would have been exhausted if it was not for the sheer granduer of pure, endless rainforest.
For those who enjoy GoogleEarth, type in ¨Napo Wildlife Center, Ecuador¨. This will give you a sense of the remoteness of our experience.