You've come a long way (10/15/07)
I was talking to an American friend who is living in Northern Africa. I asked her specifically about how she's treated as a woman, and she didn't mince words in her reply. "I have never felt more like a sex object in my life," she said. "I walk down the street and have men openly eyeing me, making inappropriate comments, and even grabbing. I have been proposed to at least a hundred times. I'm not kidding."...

The land of opportunity (09/15/07)
We have a lot to be thankful for, don't we? All of my experiences have taught me just that -- how much we have to be thankful for. We live in a land of opportunity. We live in the country the rest of the world dreams of coming to. A country where jobs are available, and so are clean water and electricity. ...

Ian's gift (08/27/07)
The good news.  We just finished a police station this last week.  Just in my small province recently, we've turned over a new police station, three electrical substations, new power grids for seven neighborhoods, and soon we will complete several hospitals. ...

Our body guards (08/13/07)
It's too dangerous for us to visit our projects very often. Most of the field inspection is done by local Iraqis who report back with reports and photos. When we do go out, we have a team of bodyguards that we take with us.  The team of bodyguards is a real gang of characters, all ex-military. ...

Welcome (back) to Iraq (06/01/07)
Sitting in the airplane, waiting to fly out of Denver, I stare listlessly out the window. I am empty. The gray clouds above spit gray mist down onto the gray pavement. A raindrop streaks down my window like the teardrop that burned down her cheek when we said goodbye...

Things I've learned in India (03/03/07)
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You can tell a lot about a man from his turban (02/27/07)
Monstrous vats and barrels of honey tower around us. We are visiting a honey factory, one of the largest in the region, and our tour is now taking us back to the packaging process. The thing that has surprised me the most about India is the affordability of labor. ...

Second to Gods (02/20/07)
I question whether kings are greeted with as much fanfare as we've received. One place where we arrive has a band waiting to play as we pass. We are behind schedule so the band has been waiting hours in the hot sun just to play a few measures as we enter the building. At another town we are taken to a sport match and given seats of honor, our names announced on live television. Before the match, we are escorted to the field to shake hands with all the players...

Take care of your woman and your cow (02/13/07)
Three of the tenets of Sikhism I expected. "Be true to God." "Share what you have." "Help others." It was the other tenet that evoked a politically incorrect laugh from some of the group. "Take care of your woman and cow." It was one of the women of our group that defended them. She first reminded us that cows are held sacred here. She added that Sikhism has its roots centuries back when women couldn't survive on their own...

Stories from Punjab (02/09/07)
Having generations of roots in Punjab, Dr. Herbans Sidhu is unmistakably a Sikh. Sikhism was founded about five hundred years ago by the tenth guru, Guru Gobenda Singh, as a monotheistic branch of Hinduism. The people were being raided at the time, invaded from the north, from Pakistan, and Guru Gobenda Singh taught the people to fight back. He taught them that they must become fearsome, like their enemies, even looking in some ways like their enemies...

The first question is ... why? (02/05/07)
The first question that deserves asking is the question, "Why?"  Why, if you have a comfortable bed and a good job and friends and family here at home, why if you have all of the comforts and conveniences of American life--why would you subject yourself to jet lag and disease, to water you know you can't drink, and to food you are not sure you want to eat?  Why would you exchange the Super Bowl and American Idol for an upset digestive system and living as a foreigner in a strange land?...