Summit

My body is tired (brain, too, come to think of it). A half day of travel and a half day of catching up with friends, colleagues, and fellow development workers as we have gathered from all parts of the US. There are a few Scots here too. Tomorrow morning we'll be joined by the Haitian contingent (the hospital doctors, nurses, and administrators) of our summit as we begin to establish a new and improved way forward for La Gonave's only hospital: Hopital Wesleyenne d' La Gonave. Interestingly we're not meeting on at the hospital, not even on the island.  That's probably good.

We're staying in a mission guest house in Montrous, on the mainland, right on the sea. The ocean is about a hundred feet from me right now, the island of La Gonave 12 miles out there. As soon as I submit this post, I'll shut the lights off and hope that an ocean breeze keeps me cool as I sleep.

In addition to the work of the summit, I hope to start catching up on some writing while I'm here.

I hear President Clinton is in country too. (He must have heard I was going to be here). I sat next to a guy on the plane who was attending the Clinton Global Initiative meetings being held today and tomorrow. He owns a high-end chocolate company and buys cocoa beans from all over the world and is looking at Haiti as a possible future source.  We had a long coversation. I told him about Starfysh, he told me about cocoa growing.  We exchanged cards.

Enroute

I'm enroute to Haiti again tonight. This is my first time using in-flight internet which is pretty cool. I still cannot wrap my brain around how one can click his fingers on a keypad while traveling at 600 miles per hour at 35,000 feet in the air and click send and immediately have his message available for people down on the ground to read (Why did I say still?... as if I am expecting to one day comprehend it).

I will spend this entire week on the mainland, save for Thursday when I hope to get out to the island for the day. The first half of the week will be spent in discussions with all those involved with the hospital rebuild. ("Rebuild" is a misnomer. It will be a totally new hospital). The second half of the week will be spent sitting down with other people and organizations who have projects going on on La Gonave. I am excited about both meetings and feel privileged to have been invited to these summits.

I hope, in addition to the meetings which are the main thing on my agenda, that I can also start to catch up on my writing, which has gone woefully wanting (and I am hearing about that).

Our November newsletter is in the process of going out in the mail (snail- and e-). It was too long and we have decided to email-publish it monthly starting in January, 2012.  We'll still do occasional snail mailings, but they are expensive to do (paper, printing, postage, time), so they'll go out maybe quarterly.

I am excited that Starfysh's communication piece is coming together and people should really start to see a big change for the better in the quality and frequency of what we're doing.

It is Good to Gather

Doesn't seem possible that a year has passed. On a blustry, snowy evening last November, a bunch of friends braved the elements and joined me in an airport hangar for the official launch of this thing we had decided to call Starfysh.  Today, exactly one year and one day later, folks continue to gather around this campfire of an idea that maybe... just maybe... something significant is in the works.

The Starfysh board of directors met this morning, in the same coffeeshop... in fact, at the same table in the same corner of the coffeeshop where we first met a year and a half earlier.  I didn't think about that until just now, typing this.  I would have certainly mentioned it this morning had it come to mind. I am nostalgic, if nothing else!

Today, people continue to gather, inspired by the same vision that brought us out at the airport a year ago: that together... as a gathered people... we can make a difference.

Just last night I swung by one such gathering.  Someone, whose name I'll not share (let's just say her initials are Denise Johnson) had organized a road race, inspired by the TV reality show, "The Amazing Race." The race took a competetive group of racers through a series of photo stops and roadblock tasks through the busy downtown district of Grand Rapids. They called it "The Amazying Race."

Just a couple hours ago I received a call from Denise saying they had raised over a thousand dollars for Starfysh, and asked that we use it to get clean water to La Gonave.

In our gather-ing we become a force for good. A force that is much stronger than the simple sum of our parts.

It is good to gather.