jolloway

New blog site

2010-05-26T15:25:00.002-04:00

This feels wrong to post on blogger, but I am starting a new blog site on wordpress. Please check it out here: http://www.jolloway.wordpress.com/. The site explains the reasons for the shift and my ambitions for writing in the near term future.

Goodbye.

Prague

2010-04-26T15:38:00.003-04:00

Northern Germany rivals Kansas in flatness, making it a perfect site for thousands of windmills, which blink red in the night like a scene from the X-Files. Similarly odd, but also supporting the German economy, was the string of RV’s with cabin lights on signifying they were “open.” My friend Chad invited me and two Chinese colleagues to join him for a weekend in Prague, and I welcomed the liberating excursion. I let Chad explain the RV’s to our two colleagues.

A brief tangent: incongruous systems of measurement and voltage make some sense to me because of the cost of standardization, but why can’t we all agree on names for places? Is Praha too hard to say? Why does each language create a name for various countries?

Prague has an interesting mix of disturbing history, architectural class, and reserved vivacity. Communist and Nazi occupation left mental and physical scars- in Wenceslas’ Square workers replaced the marble chipped by Communist bullets with off-color material in remembrance, and Hitler’s failed plan for a museum of an extinct race left a remarkable treasury of artifacts to help us grasp the atrocities of recent history.

Prague has a reputation for being a musical city (they have a giant metronome keeping rhythm for the city for Pete’s sake), but I was a bit too eager, and ended up getting duped by an overly commercial gig. Real classical musicians don’t play just the 3-5 minute popular themes of pieces (which pissed me off enough to write “pissed off” here- sorry Mom), and it took focused effort to relax and forget the fact that I had been had so I could actually enjoy it. The musicians weren’t bad, it just wasn’t heartfelt. Sort of…plastic.

But back to the metronome- I looked up the story behind it after I got home, and the explanation of the metronome is weak, but before the ‘nome, a 50 meter tall 17,000 ton marble statue of Josef Stalin stood there. The statue took 7 years to build, yet only 7 years after its unveiling, on the orders of Krushchev, the new Soviet head who denounced Stalin, it was blown up with 800 kg of explosives (what else could you possibly do with a 17,000 ton statue of Stalin? (source: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/66095)).

February-March in Denmark

2010-04-26T15:15:00.001-04:00

February in Denmark

It took too long to make this post because February was one of the hardest months I’ve had in a while. The ache of being away from my wife became more acute. Delays in my project at work stole my enthusiasm. The cold grey sat brooding, sapping my optimism. My joy in the thriving church I found faded as I saw the blemishes and it became simply a place to connect with friends (extremely important, but not everything). Worst of all, it was too windy to cast a fly. It’s tough to see the silver lining from inside the cloud.

What did I learn? Much: to drop the custom of assuming high mutual respect, to not think too highly of myself, to speak up at the right time (not before, not after), and most important- to dig deep for the real well of joy rather than letting circumstances drag down my mood and influence my behavior. The realization that my situation was impacting my attitude challenged my faith in Biblical truths and myself. I have long believed that following Christ is the best way to live and is filled with a joy that cannot be stolen. To live this out is tougher than I previously understood, but now I know it’s true. As my prayer become more real and my choices of how to live each day took hold, my perspective picked up and I found that as I renewed my belief in God, God also believed in me and gave me new opportunities. Like the adage shared among fraternity pledges: “that was the best experience I never want to have again.”

Thanksgiving at Easter

A few years ago one of my best mentors invited me to understand strategy in a new way. He asked me why I thought he did certain things, gave me insight before and after he held meetings, and uncovered elements of our strategic direction that he intentionally did not share with most people. This exposed two simple revelations: there is much more strategy all around than we realize and we can be more strategic in daily activities to achieve more. I feel like God exposed different perspectives of this idea this week. Since January, adapting to new things and separation from many basic joys stretched me more than I anticipated, and many things I was looking forward to didn’t turn out as I had hoped. The week I just spent at home was a bright oasis from the cold grey. Prayers for humility and spiritual preparation for living a missional life were answered like a band-aid pulled off too slowly.

My losses have been temporary and even as I sat jetlagged in Copenhagen’s Kalstrup airport listening to Aaron Copland with black coffee and enduring a seven-hour layover, I realized I brought a bit of sunshine back with me. I left 80 degree weather to find it too cold to sit outside here even wrapped in my coat, though after my little retreat I have renewed confidence and vision. I understand why God let me feel lonely and weak as I learned to lean on Him more, and I can now feel gratitude for the experience.

London- business view

2010-02-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

In travelling to London, we got to experience two blue ocean business models: Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.com/en) and Pret a Manger (http://www.pret.com/).
If you haven't been, the US Pret site calls the shop "a cross between a good restaurant, an Italian coffee bar, and a bullet train," and Ryanair is the airline that last year asked passengers if they would be willing to give up their seats for cheaper fares (http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/free-flight-would-you-stand).

In the phenome, "Blue Ocean Strategy," (BOS) W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue that Pret a Manger correctly identified that existing market options did not meet market demand for a fast, healthy, and reasonably priced option (105-106). While the British Pret site admission that they were started by college friends with "woefully little experience in the world of business" shows that you don't need to read BOS to come up with BOS business plans, Pret serves as a fine example to apply elsewhere. Below I applied the BOS strategy canvas to Pret:

Pret clearly goes against the grain of both fast food options and nice restaurants, converting far and near non-customers. When we went to Pret, I was impressed that everything I saw looked appetizing, with sandwiches that took your Panera ingredients a step more creative, seasonal soups and espresso drinks. Prices were about right to tempt daily and it's the kind of place you just feel cool going to.

Ryanair is a bit more controversial. In a WSJ article/interview published on 12/10/10 entitled "O'Leary Pilots Ryanair Into Lead With 'Mad' Ideas for Cost Cuts," it is clear that Ryanair's business model is unique not only in messing with the strategy canvas to deliver a unique mix of benefits to passengers, but also that the company is trying to change consumer behavior. Charging for checked bags means that fewer people will check bags and Ryanair needs fewer people to load and unload those bags on planes. The infamous, and since revoked, proposal of charging to use restrooms will push more people to go before boarding, which will reduce the number of restrooms needed on a plane, freeing up space for more paying passengers. Another WSJ article dated 2/01/20 called "Ryanair Aims to Bank on Rivals' Pains," explains that while it's a tough time for all, their ancillary revenue scheme is paying off financially. Here's a similar shot at classifying how Ryanair is different:

So what's it actually like? To manage the baggage size and weight limits I had to leave my standard US-size carry-on (too wide), managed to fit clothes for 4 days in my laptop case, and took the advice of fellow bloggers to simply cram a bunch of crap in my pockets. I was concerned when the plane we were to board arrived only 30 minutes or so before our scheduled departure, but they pulled it off (things like removing seatback pockets have trimmed cleanup time). The flight was on time and the cheapest fare I've ever paid (something silly like $5). It was no big deal to ignore the repetitive pestering to buy drinks, snacks, magazines, and smokeless cigarettes. However, I underestimated how far away the airports were. I spent a lot more money and time getting to Billund from Sonderborg, and to our London hotel from Stansted, than the flight itself. My verdict: unless I can fly out of and into a convenient airport, it's not worth it. Put a value on convenience and factor it in. For me, it was novel to fly once, but I got a bad taste in my mouth, and I didn't even try the smokeless cigarettes.

London- slideshow

2010-02-14T03:04:00.014-05:00

Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery Steps:

Danielle, London Eye, Thames, and nice photogenic sky:

I was severely disappointed when I saw this, because the Rosetta Stone website says they offer 31 languages, but I only saw three on this thing in the British Museum:

Lady making funny face to the left of Danielle, oh yeah and Big Ben:

Steamy paella on cold day in Portobello Road Market:

We saw this statue, Danielle asked who it was, I assumed some British luminary and replied sarcastically, "George Washington," but we got closer and it actually was! Right outside the National Gallery. Brilliant!

Me outside Westminster with my handwarmer:

January in Denmark

2010-02-01T12:34:00.006-05:00

That's the scariest title I could think of. I decided to write monthly recaps of life in Denmark as I go, and have periodic special reports on a few preselected and TBD topics. So here we go:

The cheapest flight over passed through Helsinki, where as we landed I saw the imagery the Polar Express was based on, and once inside the airport learned what an extremely thorough security pat down feels like (a little gross). Danielle and I broke a sweat running through the airport to catch our connecting flight that should have already left, though in the first and only exemplary customer service I have found here, they held the flight to Copenhagen so the dozen or so of us could board.

We had just one afternoon in Copenhagen, but we were jetlagged and freezing so we walked around a bit, drank too much coffee just to stay warm, then had dinner so early that our lunch-shift waitress left halfway through our meal and we had to wait 15 minutes because we weren't technically allowed to put in entree orders yet. The food was good, but our bodies didn't really know what meal it was supposed to be, and then we went to bed at 7pm. We'll go back to do it right some day.

To continue two themes, we had a quick bite as early as the hotel would allow, then ran to the train station to get to the airport in time to run to a shuttle and then run to catch our flight. We made it and around 8am had landed in Sonderborg, my new home. My apartment is small but sufficient, though of all things the bedding made me wonder if I could survive here. The mattress is ok, but the pillow is just a loose bag of cottonballs, and the sheets are faded pastel patterns that look like they were stolen from a hospital. Anyway, we quickly checked off the requirements (ID card, bus pass, initial groceries) and took off for London, which was frigid but fascinating and will be a post in itself.

The goodbye was very hard for both of us, softened only a bit because we had already planned the next three times we would meet up and had sort of been saying goodbye for a few days already.

Here are just a few highlights and lowlights of life here so far:

* I like coffee a lot, and the coffee machine at work is an automatic espresso machine. Coffee is espresso and water (cafe americano). My favorite "dessert" after lunch is two shots of espresso and one small hot chocolate.

* Church- I found a good Bible believing church that has enough internationals to have a live translator in the back which feeds into sets of headphones at several seats. I've made a bunch of friends which is helping to overcome what has been a very lonely time for others in my shoes.

* Running has been a bit tough due to the cold and snow, but my longest run took me through a quiet stretch of forest with waves breaking on the rocky coast below, which was glorious.

* I work with a guy that helped rebuild a viking ship and lives in a 300 year old house with a thatched roof. He's helping me plan some cultural outings.

* Gripe #1- customer service that starts with "didn't you see the ___", as in "didn't you see the 'F' next to those bus times?" (which obviously meant only on Friday, duh) or "didn't you see the option to report the problem to the webmaster" (and no I won't help you with your plane ticket) or "didn't you see the information on cancelled buses under...", (and no we are not interested in reimbursing you for the taxi you had to take instead).

* Gripe #2- exactly 2.7% of Sonderborg residents shovel the snow on the sidewalks in front of their homes and businesses, and exactly 96.8% of drivers look at me like I'm picking my nose (while I'm not) and/or try to run me over when I run on the very edge of the road because only 2.7% of the sidewalks are shoveled.

Cafe Yungas

2009-11-29T13:04:00.003-05:00

Since wrapping up the Perspectives course, I have had the chance to visit Bolivia to shadow some missionary friends and learned about a great initiative called Cafe Yungas. Please check out www.cafeyungas.blogspot.comm for more. In short, our friends in Bolivia are purchasing coffee from local growers to help them earn a fair price and grow coffee rather than coca (the primary raw ingredient in cocaine), and I am helping to sell it in the US, with 100% of net profits going back to leadership development in Bolivia. Email me (jonathan.w.holloway@gmail.com) if you want to support this cause by buying a few bags of coffee as Christmas gifts.

Perspectives- Tat Stewart

2009-06-20T11:47:00.002-04:00

Tat Stewart was raised the son of missionary parents in Iran and speaks perfect Farsi. He was pushed out of the country in the Iranian Revolution and came to the US to study. He has since planted churches in the Muslim world and now broadcasts sermons from Colorado to Iran. Tat addressed the topic of Pioneer Church Planting, which focuses on two issues: encouraging a church movement to express the cultural identity of a single people group and handling the radically different cultural complexions of churches that grow in frontier mission situations. The following points combine Tat's practical advice and experience with takeaways from the week's readings:

Though we naturally color our message with our culture and experience, the gospel can cause cultural extraction, and this is not always the missionary's fault. Look at how Christ was extracted from His home.
Christianity was not brought to Iran from westerners, but by Persians. In fact, Iranian Christians took the gospel to China.
In the Middle East, all dreams have significance. Many people that Tat prayed for had dreams that led them to Christ.
Muslims often don't believe our words because they have been lied to many times. Debates rarely produce fruit. They generally judge truth by experience.
Tat built Bible studies in new believers homes in Iran, making sure that whole families were there, and asked tough questions and pointed them to scripture.
America lives in the future, always thinking ahead, but Iran lives in the present, focusing on what is happening with people. This can make ministry and team building in Iran very frustrating to Westerners.
Muslim literally means "submitter to God," so some missionaries take that name and allow Muslim converts to retain almost all cultural habits and religious forms. This walks the line of enabling syncretism and contextualizing, and is a controversial means of sharing the gospel.
By being too careful to ensure true beliefs and right practices, church planters can create a bubble viewed as foreign to a local people. By being too careless, church planters can allow surface level changes that do not address core beliefs.
John Travis (a pseudonym for a church planter in the Muslim world) presents seven concepts that new believers need to hold to avoid syncretism: Jesus alone is savior, follow Christ in community with other believers, study the Bible, renounce and be delivered from occultism, religious customs are not performed to earn merit, religious beliefs are examined in light of scripture, and show evidence of new birth and growth in grace.
In cross-cultural church planting there will be syncretism, extraction, and misunderstood contextualization, but we need to go anyway and recognize that God will use us. We can also be sure that if we stand for the Cross there will be suffering.

Tat brought two Iranian friends that became Christians through his ministry and they expanded and confirmed Tat's comments about Muslim and Iranian culture. Tat also shared an encouraging story of how God works outside of our efforts. A man said out loud to Jesus, "I don't believe in you, but if you are God, prove it." He had a dream that night where he was suspended in the air right in front of Jesus crucified and could see his sweat and blood and feel his breath on his face as Christ said, "I did this for you. Believe me." Not all doubting prayers bear the same fruit, but God cares deeply about all people and does remarkable things to bring them home.

Perspectives- Michele Rickett

2009-06-13T15:55:00.002-04:00

Michele Rickett founded Sisters in Service (http://www.sistersinservice.org/) to lift women and children out of poverty in the least-reached places in the world. They do this by building relationships with Christian leaders and empowering them to change their communities through education, spiritual development, and creation of economic opportunities. Michele addressed the topic of Christian Community Development, providing a glimpse of the needs throughout the world and some of the efforts to help. It's impossible to capture the emotion and stories she shared in writing, but here are a few bullet points of the information she passed on:

In the US we see relative poverty (people without homes struggle to get by), but in the developing world we see absolute poverty (people are unable to meet basic needs).
The world is filled with conflict, poverty, oppression, thirst, hunger, disease, and illiteracy. How should we respond? By entering into the suffering and doing what we can to help. We can also remember that one day, when the gospel is provided to all, this will all end.
Hope integrates us and motivates us. Look at Jesus' compassion, commission, and example for hope.
God's kingdom of righteousness and goodness will come. He will build His church, and He wants us to be a part of it.
There are four main approaches to human need: economic development (macroeconomically focused, criticized as ineffective), political liberation (good, but not the hope we need), relief (important, but not long-term), and transformational development (long-term focus on empowering people).
God is evident in transformational development as people and initiatives are empowered, divine intervention is apparent, and transformational genuine love is shared.
Poverty is often caused by broken relationships, misused power, and fear.
Four things need to be restored to empower people to escape poverty: hope for a better life, dignity to break oppression, authority to step out of a situation, and identity as a child of God.
Six integral mission factors were discussed: becoming agents of change, gaining a vision of change (imagining what God can do), assessing available resources, using proclamation and deeds (tell why you do what you do), prayer (different weapons are needed for this battle), and time (it takes 5 minutes to save a life and may take 5 years to transform it).

As a transformational development practitioner, Michele had many first-hand examples of how God is working miracles to break through traps of poverty. To learn more, she recommended Tim Chester's book, "Justice, Mercy, and Humility." The most important point of this lesson was that we need to think holistically in our service efforts. Poverty can take many forms, and we have tremendous resources to share. The choice of whether to share is ours.

Perspectives- Scott Buresh

2009-06-11T20:10:00.005-04:00

Dr. Scott Buresh, a professor of anthropology at Towson University, spent 18 months in Aceh in Muslim boarding schools, living as the local culture does. He taught on the topic of "Building Bridges of Love," which addressed cultural issues, tying lessons from Jewish tradition in the Bible into modern day evangelization models. First, Scott led us in a meditative reading, Lectio Divina, where he first read a passage, then read it again and asked us to listen for key words or phrases that God may be pointing us towards, then again and asked us to seek an application in it, then again while simply letting the words wash over us. Here are some key points that I took away from Scott's teaching:

The #1 value in the US in independence, though we should plan to live as communities of disciples, since individually we are all very poor representations of Christ.
Jesus was able to do what He did because He relied on His Father, not because He was God.
If we would teach what Jesus taught in the way Jesus taught, we would experience the same response. Jesus was perfect, but He was still rejected.
Jesus was fully immersed in Jewish culture, and was fully dependent on His culture to learn language, Aramaic and Hebrew in this case. He was a real carpenter in a small town. He went from the throne of glory to this, for the sake of people. How much less do we need to give up to reach others?
Jesus taught, "Repent (reconsider what is reality) for the Kingdom of God (God's presence, His rule, His power) has come near (immediately available)."
Jesus taught in daily interactions while travelling, in the temple, out in the open, and He taught through stories, making ideas relevant to an audience.
It is important to serve humbly and with integrity when entering a different culture. Taking a single true identity as a servant that genuinely cares about the community will go farther than misrepresentations that seem to bring one closer to a culture. It is also imperative to keep this identity at home and abroad.

Scott closed with stories of those that have taught what Jesus taught in the way Jesus taught. The early church saw martyrs dying with joy and peace because they had tapped into the Kingdom. The Celts missed persecutions suffered elsewhere and left the Ireland they knew to teach and transform the uncivilized countryside. Hudson Taylor recognized cultural differences in China and took theirs on, serving as a teacher. Frank Laubach took a fresh approach of teaching people in the South Pacific how to read, by requiring that each student teach someone else what they just learned before he would teach them the next lesson. Each of these required some sacrifice and full devotion to God, but each transformed the world for others and for God's glory. It's worth it.

Perspectives- David Shenk

2009-06-06T14:23:00.002-04:00

2/3 of the world are oral learners. Yet many missions efforts focus on disseminating information rather than relating stories that can be heard, learned, and repeated. A result of such cross-cultural miscommunication is found in a phrase that Hong Kong street vendors use to mean "you're crazy, knock it off," which is literally translated as "stop talking Jesus to me." This week, David Shenk addressed the topic of "How Shall They Hear," covering cultural understanding and communications issues. Shenk was born in Tanzania of missionary parents and has spent much of his life understanding Muslim culture and writing books on bridging cultural gaps. Here are a few key points he addressed:

Lloyd Kwast put forth that there are four layers of culture: Behavior (what is the normal way of doing things), Values (what is good or best), Beliefs (what is true), and Worldview (what is the meaning of life and death and what is forgiveness for my shortcomings).
Every culture has a worldview that influences other layers, though technological improvements (e.g. cars into Fatalist culture) and cultural imports (e.g. Hollywood into Confucianism) create dissonance. If you seek to change behavior without addressing worldview, you get meaningless surface level changes.
Cultural constructs are often divinized; people create gods that reflect themselves, shortcomings and all. This means that repentance is unnecessary. When a worldview changes to reflect the truth of the gospel, repentance is instantly required.
Don't assume that people want what you perceive as their greatest need; ask them and it may be that God is their greatest need.
The gospel affirms yet transforms culture, by empowering people to confront evil.
There is a metanarrative (great story) in every culture that explains the worldview. For instance, the Darwinist metanarrative explains that we come from a primordial goo out of which the strongest have survived and humans are the apex of life. This feeds violent repression as people strive to survive by being stronger than others.
The first priority in bringing Christ to a people group is translating the gospel into a meaninful communication that reflects the culture. This should be written, but there should also be a metanarrative communicated in a way that people relate to.

David Shenk closed by digging into how the Islamic worldview overlaps with the Christian worldview and discussing his interactions with Muslims (he co-authored a book with a Sheikh discussing beliefs in a mutually respectful manner). It is important to remember that while it is imperative to contextualize the message, Christian witnesses do not convict people to believe. Even Jesus did not convict people to believe. It is our job to spread the word, and the Holy Spirit will convict people of the truth.

Perspectives- Tad de Bordenave

2009-05-31T17:08:00.002-04:00

Tad de Bordenave, the Director of Anglican Frontier Missions, was small as a kid and nicknamed "Tadpole," which stuck. He addressed the Perspectives topic of "The Task Remaining," which he expanded to "The Scandal of the Task Remaining," which he thought was more appropriate due to the clear potential to reach all people groups with the gospel but lack of mobilization. Here are a few thoughts that Tad shared on why the task remains, how to recover the vision, and the tools that are available:

Many Christians never go into missions because they ask the wrong questions. The point is "where is the greatest need," not "where am I called." How could you be called to a people group you have never heard of?
Some don't sense the need because there are many missions efforts already. But over 70% of evangelical missionaries work within groups that are already predominantly Christian.
There are many reasons to delay, from more pressing needs that take precedence at home (once we fix the floor over there we'll go), to the heresies at home (we need to get our house in order first), to the messiness of missions (we just want to get it right, so we'll keep training). These will never be resolved; at some point you just need to invest.
We can regain the vision by recognizing the call of the church, which is to be God's witnesses to the ends of the earth. The Bible is clear on this. God's glory is being usurped by idols.
Tad brought up justification without distinction, the idea that we as Americans have done nothing to deserve grace, yet we have all the toys (money and stuff). Why do 22 million people in Yemen live without Christ? Because we would rather enjoy our toys than accept God's call to serve.

To start to get involved, Tad recommended living virtually in a local foreign community, learning all you can about a people group, meeting them, hanging out with them, and praying for them. A two-year commitment will change you. Tad closed by narrating amazing stories of breakthrough in the Aceh of Indonesia, the Qashqa'i of Iran, and the Marwari of India, each unique demonstrations of how Christ can overcome what seem to to be insurmountable barriers.

Perspectives- Karen Michener

2009-05-16T16:31:00.002-04:00

Karen Michener of the US Center for World Mission taught us about Eras of Mission History and Pioneers of the World Christian Movement, an essential history to understand the progress that has been made and the task remaining. She pointed out the most important point of Perspectives, a quote by an Indian evangelist: "Do not bring us the gospel as a potted plant. Bring us the seed of the gospel and plant it in our soil." Several key concepts were explored:

Modality (local church, inward focused, stability) vs. Sodality (missions focus, risk tolerant to achieve big goals) in missions efforts. Both are necessary for healthy churches.
Through the centuries, people groups have heard the gospel by coming to Christ-followers and by apostles going to the unreached, both voluntarily and involuntarily, all of which God has used for His glory.
The 1st Era of Missions History was led by William Carey, with Europe as the primary sending region, and was focused on the coastlands with a church and kingdom mission.
The 2nd Era of Missions History was led by Hudson Taylor, with America as the primary sending region, focused on inland areas with a church mission.
The 3rd Era of Missions History was led by Cameron Townsend and Donald McGavran, with the non-west as the primary sending region and a focus on unreached people groups and a recover of the kingdom mission.
The E-Scale rates evangelization of non-Christians from similar through very different cultures. E1 (same culture) is the most powerful because it spreads quickly and easily, though E2 and E3 are the highest priority strategic efforts because they can spark new movements.
Missions efforts should go through the following phases: Pioneer, Parent, Partner, and Participant. As local churches gain momentum, the expat church planters should empower local leaders and step back.

Karen reminded us not to be people blind, a term for the tendency to lump local people groups rather than acknowledging the differences. She recommended "From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya" by Tucker to learn more about missions history and http://www.partnersfortransformation.net/ to get involved.

Perspectives- Fran Patt

2009-04-12T19:03:00.003-04:00

We opened this session hearing from Ravi Zacharias on Adonirum Judson, which is worth a listen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0RRU67DKwc). Fran Patt of the US Center for World Mission is also a professor of history at Penn State. He broadened our historical understanding speaking on "The Expansion of the World Christian Movement." To build on this base, he recommended Fox's Book of Martyrs to dive deeper into what passion for Christ looks like. Here are some key points:

Pax Romana, Roman Peace, was the atmosphere in the most powerful empire in the world, a diverse, pluralistic, assimilating world, with a dominant Latin presence. Romans were excellent engineers, builders, and organizers, and total control freaks. Into this world, Paul and Barnabus planted house churches.
The first century church saw tremendous growth through the Roman empire and was assimilated into the culture, to the point that Christianity became associated with Rome. The gospel became "Learn Latin, become Roman, then be baptized and saved." Constantine organized the church, efficiently chopping neighborhoods into diocese that had to go to specific churches.
In the 3rd and 4th centuries the west was overrun by Germannic tribes the east became the Byzantine Empire, and the Roman church became organized in a power structure to match the government. There was no accountability because lives were driven by power, not humility.
Patrick was an apostle to the Celts, establishing a totally different approach to Christian life, focused on contextual mission to other cultures,and strong lay leadership, as opposed to the Roman ethno-centric order with a strong clergy-laity dichotomy. Patrick baptized over 100,000 Irish.
The Roman model of evangelism was contrasted with the Celtic model, both of which are important and appropriate for different circumstances. Roman: present message, invite decision, welcome them into your church and culture. Celtic: bring people into fellowship in your community, engage in conversation of prayer and worship, in time they discover they believe what you do and you invite them to commit to it.
Logic works when someone agrees with you (i.e. intraculturally) and is cheaper and easier than the Celtic model, though not as relevant in cross-cultural ministry.
After no Christian missionaries went to Arabia for six centuries, Muhammad proclaimed that God was speaking through him. The task of his followers is to spread submission to God to all the ends of the earth. Moslems originally thought they were converting to another kind or denomination of Christianity.
Then for over 250 years, "Christians" killed Moslems in the name of Jesus, and the cross came to represent this atrocity.
Ramon Llull tried another approach, and went to North Africa in his mid-60's, preached and was deported (the aged were revered, so they didn't kill him). He spread the word through Europe to teach Arabic to reach the Middle East and North Africa, then returned to Algeria, only to be stoned. 650 years later in Algeria, a man saw a dream of a man being stoned in a village that looked like his. After it recurred for several nights, he told his wife and neighbors, and eventually found out that all 700 in the village had the same dream. Then Jesus appeared to them in dreams and many came to know Him and trust Him.

Fran left us with two questions: are we here to dominate the world or live the life of Christ, oftentimes suffering the same way to demonstrate His love? Is victory or suffering our motif? This session also made me think a lot about Catholicism in the cultural context, theology aside. Catholics carry on the traditions and cultural style of Roman worshipers. The fact that the Catholic style of worship is still comfortable for many should not be criticized as wrong, nor should any traditions and rituals that honor God be shunned. Whatever brings people closer to God in a righteous way is good. However, it is similarly wrong to push traditions that are not relevant to upcoming generations on them as the only way to worship. By insisting that Catholic traditions, or American Protestant styles for that matter, are the correct way to honor God, we copy the Pharisees, those most criticized by Jesus. We should approach our American neighbors with the same cultural awareness, bringing the gospel in the most accessible way.

Perspectives- Bruce Koch

2009-02-21T14:09:00.003-05:00

This session started with a screening of "Ee-taow" a pretty remarkable documentary of missions to Papua New Guinea. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSBLLuzqfBQ&feature=related (part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyOBPvZSjtE&feature=related (part 2)) Part 2 at 3:45 is what this is all about.

Bruce Koch is a co-editor of the Perspectives course and part of the staff. He took us through "Unleashing the Gospel," a lesson on how the gospel spreads across cultures and people groups, with a focus on Acts 15:19- that the early church deliberately decided that people are free to follow Christ in their own cultures.

The Old Covenant required sacrifices every year, which still didn't relieve the conscience. The New Covenant is once for all, enabling us to freely come to God. The Old Covenant dealt with external issues (cleansing, rituals, behaviors), which is why it was hard to accept that outsiders were coming in to enjoy what they had come to know for thousands of years.
The term "Christian" was first applied to Gentile believers as a derogatory term.
Evangelicals should not try to "convert people" as Jews tried to convert people to their religion and culture, but see people come to know Christ and the freedom He brings.
In Peter's encounter with Cornelius, the Roman soldier (Acts 10), Peter is the one that is converted. The Gentiles come to Christ and receive the Holy Spirit, which converts Peter's mindset to that of a multi-cultural missionary rather than an ethnocentric Messianic Jew.
Christianity is not a religion because there are no rules. It is wrong for some to eat meat sacrificed to idols and ok for others. There are guidelines not to indulge in sin and to have to conform to some leadership, but the whole body is diverse in the way it follows Christ. It is God that purifies men's hearts, not our teaching or conformity to the practice of our religion.
We need to be slow to judge- "do not call anything impure or unclean that I have made clean." God can change traditional cultural practices to bring Him glory.
People do not need to become "Christians" as we use the term, which has negative connotations of loose morals and greed to many Middle-Easterners.
It is the believer's responsibility to become like another culture to get past communication barriers, and allow an audience to remain like their cultural norms in their belief and obedience to Christ. Following Christ is not about how you dress, what songs you sing, and how you worship.

This session closed with a cross-cultural worship experience where we learned some Arabic words and prayed as Middle-Eastern Christians might. It solidified that Western worship styles are no better than those of other cultures, but that all worship in Spirit and in Truth brings God glory.

Perspectives- Jim Rhodes

2009-02-21T13:18:00.002-05:00

Jim Rhodes is a 30-year Campus Crusades missionary that has planted ministries in the USSR, Japan, Africa, and most recently the Middle East. His introduction to Middle Eastern ministry came when his friend convinced him to join him on a trip to Cairo in the mid-1990's, dropped him in the middle of a crowded plaza and took a taxi to take care of some things. The crowd turned and shouted "American!" and though he thought this would be the end, he really just had to work his way through the crowd buying trinkets and sharing personal space. He said that though it was a new strange place, he felt at home like never before, and his ministry has flourished there. The topic was "Mandate for the Nations," which dug into the Great Commission and related commands. We walked through the history of Judaism and how the These points struck me:

Every kingdom has a king, so Christianity is not a democracy.
Al Qaeda is the modern-day Ninevah, where Jonah tried not to go. What is our response for today's "evil empires?" Are we praying for those people?
God's heart is to bless and save, ours is to curse and destroy.
The Israelites were under 700 years of military rule, 400 of which God was quiet, and into this world Jesus came.
To protect their core tenets, Jews were ethnocentric (our culture is best), legalistic (built 6,000 hedge-laws around the 613 laws of Moses to protect against serious infractions), and had a fortress mentality (protect blessing by keeping others out).
Accountability, a popular Christian discipline, can protect against sins but does not change the heart.
Street interviews have revealed that Christians are perceived to be against lots of things, which is exactly like the Pharisees of Jesus' time. Christ was against the Pharisees most of all.
Matthew (a tax collector that took Jews' money to pay Rome, i.e. a traitor) is used to proclaim the Messiah to the Jews. He explains that Jesus has a clear blood line to Abraham and David, but also has blood of other nations mixed in. Therefore, He is the King of the Nations.
Jews of His time were not as mad about His claim to be the Messiah, but that Gentiles were in God's favor. The Samaritan woman, a line descended from mixed-blood Jews, was the first that Jesus told that He was the Messiah.
In Mark 4, Jesus goes across a stormy lake where the disciples nearly drown to a really bad town where the disciples are attacked by a demon-possessed lunatic. Jesus heals the guy, then they turn around and go back. This one guy was important enough to Jesus for the whole trip.
If people really know who Jesus is, they will want to follow Him. But so few know Him.

Jim closed with two points. First, if you are going to walk with Jesus, you have to go with Him, to seek and save what is lost. We were created to have a place in the Kingdom, we just have to find out what it is. Second, it is impossible to say that the Spirit indwells you and not be involved in evangelization. We are blessed to bless others. The question is how we will follow Him.

Perspectives- Scott Simmons

2009-02-15T09:36:00.003-05:00

This week we heard from Scott Simmons, Assistant Pastor at Chapelgate Presbyterian Church in Marriottsville (http://www.chapelgate.org/), on "Your Kingdom Come," which bridged the Old and New Testaments. This quote kicked off the teaching:

"North American evangelicals tend to read the Bible through an individualistic and spiritualized lens. Built into that lens is the idea that future-individual-salvation of the soul is the center of Christianity. The lens causes many evangelicals to interpret all else in relation to this center... As long as this lens is in place, much of the Biblical holistic gospel will either be spiritualized, rejected or considered an appendix to the gospel."

The gospel is both individual and global. Both the individual blessings of justification by faith, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life and the global blessings of reconciliation with God, reclaim of creation, and social justice are immensely important.
Jesus proclaimed the radical idea that salvation has nothing to do with race and nationality but just faith, which drove His contemporaries nuts.
The Old Testament scripture foretold the coming Christ (Isaiah 61), but when Christ preaches on this (Luke 4), He makes it clear that only part of the prophecy was fulfilled at that point. It had become, and remains today, "the favorable year of the Lord," though when Christ returns it will be "the day of vengeance of our God."
Similar to D-Day (when the war turned to an inevitable win for the Allies), the victory for the Kingdom has already been won, but VE-Day (when the soldiers came home victorious) is not yet here. We need to continue fighting for the Kingdom until there is a witness in all people groups.
The Lord's Prayer acknowledges that God's name is hallowed too irregularly, his Kingdom has come too little, His will is done too infrequently, and that God can change this situation. Our prayer, as a rebellion against the status quo, should reflect this.

The session closed with this clip: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJtSWqedMK4).

Perspectives- Steve Hawthorne

2009-01-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

So I didn't actually see Steve Hawthorne (the editor of the Perspectives books and organizer of the movement) but since our class was snowed out, I listened to an mp3 from the website. My type-A-ness made it tough to sit and listen, and reinforced the quality of the in-person classes, but here are my takeaways from Hawthorne speaking on "the Story of His Glory":

Glory is church jargon, but it is what God is so rich in that he creates things that are magnificent.
Jesus did not base his mission and vision on people's needs, but just what the Father gave Him to do. When He died He finished what God gave Him. This indicates that we should not be burdened with solving all of mankind's needs, but just what the Father gives us.
Crayon drawings- like when your child brings you a messy scribble, it is the most beautiful, precious, valuable artwork to you, God loves our worship in song and love, even though angels could run circles around our efforts.
There is something precious about diversity- we are all His favorite sons and daughters.
It is important to see God's story as a whole; there are lots of little stories that are not for their own purpose, not for our good, not for our salvation alone, but all for God's glory.
Blessed to be a blessing to be a blessing- we as Christ followers are blessed by God so that we can be a blessing to the nations, so they can be a blessing to God.
If you want to follow Jesus, you will want to be where He is. And He is all over the world.

A big point of this course (as I see it now, anyway) is that we are all called to bless the nations. We can be compared to Jonah, who turned from this call and ran the other way, but I don't think we as a church are as blatantly intentional in our disobedience. Rather, we don't hear this call from the pulpit, which is part of why I am sharing these notes.

GLC Retreat

2009-01-11T21:06:00.002-05:00

I just got back from a weekend retreat with my church (http://gracelifechurch.com) where we talked a lot about upcoming church plants in Columbia and Canton/Fells Point, where I plan to serve on a core leadership group. Stay tuned, this is going to be big. Info from the horse's mouth is here (http://gracelifenetwork.blogspot.com).

The church leaders encouraged us to think through the continuum of Adam and Eve through the blessings promised to Abraham, the courage and faith of Isaac and Jacob, the Joshua generation and conquer of Jericho, through Christ and the seamless connection with believers today. The same promises God made to Abraham apply to us. We need to have faith in the Person of God more so than the words of any promises, recognizing that good will come as we follow God in relationship with Him. Moreover, we need courage more than more faith; we have faith, but often don't act on it. We need to pray for the courage to live out the faith we have.

Doors of Old San Juan

2009-01-06T21:37:00.009-05:00

El Yunque

2009-01-04T19:49:00.007-05:00

I spent last Monday in El Yunque in Puerto Rico, the only rainforest in the US park system. While the Carribean islands are known for their beaches, this is well worth a diversion.

Palm trees show reddish-orange roots. We also saw what my wife called walking trees, which shoot off roots to support the tree in a new direction, actually moving the tree over time.

Flowers grew wild, with things that I plant in my window boxes or buy at flower shops overflowing the paths.

While the summit was cloudy and most of the hike was rainy, it was worth the trip to the top. Mist rushed up and over the top; the smell was refreshing but musty.

We saw the top of the mountain the next sunny day and wished we could have seen the clear view from the top, but did not regret spending a rainy day in the park rather than missing a sunny day on the beach.

Breaking the Fast

2009-01-01T17:07:00.002-05:00

I just finished a fast from alcohol for a year, through all of 2008. The reasons were multiple: regret from going a bit overboard on occasion, not having enough time to do anything unproductive, concern that I could make unwise decisions that could harm relationships, and a clear calling from God. It was easier than I thought it would be and gave me a great perspective that I would not have had otherwise. I decided to break the fast for similar reasons: comfort that I had gained more maturity and discipline, gaining more time from finishing grad school, and spiritual ease that it would be ok.

I have seen the world differently this past year, partially from traveling and reading to gain a bigger world view, and partially through this fast. This has made me question what is important to me and what I am living for, and given me a fascinating retrospective on what I have said I lived for and what I was really living for in various periods in my life. It has also concerned me about the impact of pop culture on youth and the challenge to think independently. Even bigger, I am struggling with the appropriateness of striving to improve one's own lot, working and using accumulated resources for your own good when there is so much need elsewhere. Is every choice to buy a luxury good equivalent to telling someone in need that your pleasure is more important than their survival?

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T10:24:00.002-05:00

Every time I intentionally enter a natural place, God surprises me with some amazing piece of creation that was made just for his people's enjoyment. This morning I went for a run around the Gwynn's Falls Trail, which is mostly urban but has a few tree-lined waterviews. The rising sun reflecting off of frost crystals on a wood-planked path scintillated a thousand new points of light with every step.

While I ran, I listened to a sermon by Rob Bell of Mars Hill Church about how when God parted the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds, depending on your translation) to enable the Jews to escape the Egyptians, there were some that just looked down. They saw the muddy seabed squishing between their toes, covering their sandals, and complained about the mess.

On this Thanksgiving, I hope I will be able to ignore the mud between my toes and thank God for giving me more than all I need or could ask for.

Deflation?

2008-11-27T10:12:00.002-05:00

Some economists now speculate that the consumption slowdown, with lower demand and subsequent price declines for fuel, could lead to deflation. This makes sense in the short term, as retailers trim prices to attract demand, housing stock continues to sit and get fatter, and consumer confidence is dead. However, low lending rates and money being pumped into corporate America will drive a recovery at some point. When that happens, the Fed will need to decrease the supply of money to avoid inflation, driving interest rates back up. Higher rates and lower liquidity will quelch a recovery. Either way, it will be tough going through 2010.

Why isn't everyone concerned about inflation?

2008-11-15T22:48:00.002-05:00

I have no doubt that Paulson and Bernanke are brilliant and are making the right decisions to restore confidence in the financial system. However, I think that we will see significant inflation in 2009 that will dramatically impact US consumers and this should get more attention now.

First, a common misperception is that when the Fed lowers rates, it just declares such a change and markets respond. The Fed actually pumps money into the financial system to such a degree that the "price" of money (all that interest rates really are) falls to the target rate.

Second, the US government is running two huge deficits that you could think of as a balance sheet and an income statement. We are spending more than we are bringing in (or in other words, taxes are less than government expenditures) and we are growing our share of debt to cover this. The rest of the world, particularly China, have been happy to support our debt habit, but recent events have shaken confidence and it is only because other countries are in similarly dire straits that investors have held tight.

Third, to cover the requests to support ailing industries and struggling consumers, the government will need to keep flooding the markets with capital, taking on more debt to finance this. One easy way to minimize the impact of this debt is inflation, which decreases the future value of money and as such enables debt repayment with "cheaper" money. As an example, if you can borrow $100 to buy a watch today at a 5% interest rate, then see inflation (and hopefully wages) grow to make that watch cost $1,000 next year, you could sell your watch, repay the $105 you owe, and pocket $895 dollars. The money you repay the loan with has been devalued so that the debt becomes a much less significant burden.

The US consumer base is the strongest in the world by a long shot, but GDP growth hs slowed and we are likely in recession now. Increasing the supply of money despite slowing economic activity creates a supply and demand imbalance, driving inflation. I don't expect another 1920's Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation) because with Volcker at Obama's side, the Fed will likely take firm action to abate the problem before it spirals out of control. However, this will require significantly higher interest rates within the next few years, as money is sucked from the financial system to quell inflation.

Oasis or Mirage?

2008-11-12T22:10:00.003-05:00

Strategic Insights into the Bottom of the Pyramid

Background

C.K. Prahalad’s “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” has received praise and disdain for its ingenuity and exaggerated optimism, respectively. The altruistic concept that poverty can be transformed into opportunity is attractive and Prahalad’s case study evidence demonstrates support.[i] Through an examination of support, criticism, and current business practices, this paper recommends when and how the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) should be targeted to minimize risk and maximize profit opportunities.

Prahalad asserts that the BOP offers opportunities for profitability while achieving social good and that profit-seeking MNCs are the best means to achieve this. Aneel Karnani, a fellow Ross School academic, argues that Prahalad has vastly overestimated the market opportunity, that the case studies presented do not prove the stated points, and that in order for the poor to afford goods currently out of reach MNCs must reduce quality. Both arguments have merit, and out of a balanced understanding of risks and opportunities a framework can be applied to evaluate strategic options (see Exhibit A).

Importance of Localization

In identifying the continued importance of physical location in business, with preferences towards an increasingly localized market, Pankaj Ghemawat supports the idea that multinational corporations (MNCs) cannot conquer the world without catering to local markets.[ii] Nowhere is this more valid than in the BOP, where tastes and preferences are traditionally less influenced by branding. Patrick Cescau, the boss of Unilever, host of a hallmark BOP success story, agrees, “The traditional multinational model of local subsidiaries operating with globally-imposed processes, capabilities, structures and branding is not up to the job in these low-income markets.”[iii] This was learned after Nirma, an indigenous Indian low-quality soap brand, increased market share from 12% to 62% between 1977 and 1987 while Surf, Unilever’s offering, shrank from 31% to 7% over the same period.[iv]

Prahalad’s assertion that BOP markets face less competition because MNCs have largely ignored them is challenging to generalize. For every underserved market there are rising indigenous companies that may be better suited to realize new opportunities in the midst of institutional voids. Emerging market companies have the knowledge and experience to navigate through these voids while utilizing talent and capital from developed markets to position customized solutions for local markets.[v]

Synergistic Partnerships

Different local requirements of resources and capabilities to reach BOP markets increase the importance of partnerships. Oftentimes, a for-profit MNC can achieve its revenue and profit goals by helping NGO’s achieve their social goals. For example, Telenor partnered with Grameen Bank to provide phones to budding entrepreneurs, as the “village phone lady” emerged. By demonstrating a social good byproduct, Telenor was able to shift some risk from its venture to public funding. Similarly, Map Agro was able to help Waste Concern, a non-profit focused on removing waste and improving sanitation of slums in Bangladesh, by purchasing waste at a discount and converting it to organic fertilizers, sold to local farmers at a profit. Map Agro gained goodwill from the government of Bangladesh, enabling smooth business license approvals and access to free land for composting. Map Agro had previously focused on chemical fertilizers, but had the distribution channels in place to provide organic compost to farmers.[vi] By recognizing the mix of goals, capabilities and weaknesses of different players in the marketplace, strategic alliances can be structured to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

Recognizing changing political and social trends can create opportunities for managers evaluating partnerships for BOP opportunities. Linking to the Millennium Development Goals or NGO’s engaged in social entrepreneurship may offer access to funding and free resources. Hindustan Lever’s success in creating job opportunities for entrepreneurs funded by the microfinance revolution is an example. By including job opportunities and income generation at the BOP as strategic imperatives, companies can increase their customer base and ensure revenue continuity. Managers should recognize and respond quickly to changes in the political environment and partner organizations; knowledge feedback loops enable agile decision making.
Disruptive Technologies

Karnani is correct in arguing that without new technological or institutional developments, opportunities are limited. However he may be shortsighted in asserting that new technologies are unlikely to develop in product areas beyond electronics and telecom.[vii] Disruptive technologies are valuable in BOP markets for multiple reasons: 1) they may unlock potential unavailable to existing products and services, 2) BOP customers have no reference point to existing offerings and thus less of a hurdle than developed markets, 3) they can lessen competition to enable a foothold from which to launch upstream marketing. However, venture capitalists may shun this approach because BOP markets may require a longer than average time horizon to reach profitability and disruptive technologies may limit the pool of potential acquirers, as they tend to reduce the value of existing offerings. Additionally, venture financiers may view social benefits as profitability not captured, and therefore at odds with their financial return motive.[viii] This finding means that venture-backed firms may be at a disadvantage to both small firms with financially supportive partnerships and stronger MNCs.

Strategic Fit of BOP Markets

Some argue that the near-term profitability is irrelevant for BOP opportunities, given the long-term strategic importance of reaching the next generation of mainstream consumers.[ix] This concept is challenging for managers under pressure from public shareholders for short-term results. To evaluate whether venturing into the BOP aligns strategically with a company’s imperatives, managers must determine the value that its shareholders put on corporate social responsibility, risk tolerances, and profitability time horizons. Hindustan Lever launched their Shakti project to sell products in rural villages through local entrepreneurs funded by micro-lenders. Their success was anchored in long-term benefits of branding to an expanding middle class as much as short-term profitability (evidence of profits is anecdotal). The company has received significant publicity for its innovative and socially responsible efforts that is likely to pay financial dividends in the form of brand loyalty for years to come.

Generalizing about BOP markets has been criticized due to the lack of cross-market success stories. Hindustan Lever began working with Indian rural development in the 1970’s and the Shakti project was initiated in 2001, but as of August 2008 no efforts to internationalize the project have been undertaken, likely due to the different opportunities and challenges across different regions and locales. Unitus is a “microfinance accelerator” that has developed a framework to qualify microfinance institutions for management support, best practice sharing and application, and funding.[x] The very concepts that screening frameworks can be applied and best practices can be shared throughout a BOP industry demonstrate that there are similarities between BOP markets. However, microfinance seems to be alone as an example of expanding BOP strategies across emerging markets, showing that knowledge transfer and scalability can be challenging.

Conclusions

Companies should consider the BOP as either a market or a source, and as a testing ground for new technologies and products. It is important to consider a company’s capabilities and gaps, and find partners to plug the gaps rather than investing heavily to develop new capabilities. Companies should be prepared to invest for the long-term, given that rapid profitability growth has been elusive. In the same vein, evidence that BOP markets can reduce overall risk is lacking, as the global economy seems to be inextricably tied and new markets tend to carry less certainty.

To evaluate BOP opportunities, the “Bottom of the Pyramid Strategic Decision Model” found in Exhibit A is recommended. Through a SWOT analysis, managers are encouraged to evaluate weaknesses or gaps that may filled by either a partner or a change in the competitive environment, referred to herein as a “wild card.” Similarly, once capabilities are determined, the value of specific markets should be evaluated in the context of available partners and wild cards. For example, if a medical product manufacturer has developed a breakthrough low-cost solution, but lacks a distribution mechanism, they may partner with an existing NGO that has access to needy markets. Additionally, if an East African nation was identified as the market with highest demand but political and legal institutions were lacking, it would be recommended to wait until stability was achieved or partner with an organization that can boost stability, such as USAID. Significantly, companies have the ability both to observe and capitalize upon these wild cards, but also to drive them to fruition and change BOP markets. By introducing a new technology, implementing a new distribution model, garnishing support from local institutions thereby adding stability, or bringing publicity and public funding to a need, astute managers can tilt these often flexible market structures more so than in developed markets. By recognizing BOP opportunities and risks and innovatively combining resources inside and outside the traditional MNC box, profitability can be achieved by corporations while social goals are achieved by partner organizations.
[i] Prahalad, C.K. The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Upper Saddle River: Wharton School Publishing, 2006.
[ii] Ghemawat, Pankaj. “Why the World Isn’t Flat.” Foreign Policy 159 (2007): 54-60.
[iii] Mitchell, Alan. “The bottom of the pyramid is where the real gold is hidden.” Marketing Week 30.6 (2007): 18-19.
[iv] Karnani, Aneel. “The Mirage of Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid: How the Private Sector Can Help Alleviate Poverty.” California Management Review 49.4 (2007): 90-111.
[v] Khanna, Tarun and Krishna G. Palepu. “Emerging Giants: Building World-Class Companies in Developing Countries.” Harvard Business Review October (2006): 60-69.
[vi] Seelos, Christian and Johanna Mair. “Profitable Business Models and Market Creation in the Context of Deep Poverty: A Strategic View.” Academy of Management Perspectives 21. 4 (2007): 49-63.
[vii] Karnani, Aneel. “Misfortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.” Greener Management International 51 (2006): 99-110.
[viii] Harjula, Liisa. “Tensions between Venture Capitalists’ and Business-Social Entrepreneurs’ Goals.” Greener Management International 51 (2006): 79-87.
[ix] Mitchell, Alan. “The bottom of the pyramid is where the real gold is hidden.” Marketing Week 30.6 (2007): 18-19.
[x] Unitus. “Unitus - What We Do: Accelerate Microfinance Growth.” Accessed August 19, 2008. http://www.unitus.com/unitus-in-action/what-we-do/accelerate-microfinance-growth.

Exhibit A

Thoughts on Poverty

2008-08-28T20:53:00.002-04:00

Here are a few words I shared in church after the trip:

While I have seen poverty of many levels before, in Iquitos I changed from passive observation to active involvement. We shook hands, hugged, and prayed with people. We walked the same streets and rolled in the same dirt. And from this vantage point, I saw the poorest people of Belen in this poor city of Iquitos in the developing country of Peru as just people like you and me. I saw the beauty and freedom of poverty, that these people simply took care of their basic needs and the needs of their families, sharing what they had and borrowing what they didn’t, celebrating life and its daily challenges and victories. It made the desires built in me by American culture and media, desires for nice cars and clothes, the best food and the highest status, seem completely disgusting. Because the cost of these things was my time, my effort, my attention, all at the expense of what God could do with all of these. My daily strivings to have slightly better things seemed like a complete waste. These people that we shared our faith with were open and available for the Gospel and its power, and the Spirit was moving.

While God showed me the beauty and simplicity of a life of poverty, my eyes were also opened to the tremendous need. The jungle provided produce and shelter and there were fish in the river, but people had no money for things like fuel, vitamins, and medicine. Children live on the streets and stay alive by any means they can. Sanitation was poor, and life-threatening but preventable and treatable diseases like malaria are real concerns. I was raised in the US by a family of faith with the means to provide for more than I needed. This was not by my power or choice or merit. Our neighbors in Belen are brought into this world with major disadvantages in this respect. I don’t have the answers on how to respond, but I know that there is injustice in this world that God calls us to address. I share this with you because I believe that this injustice is not what God wants and is unacceptable to ignore. I am still struggling with how best to give or serve, but I simply invite you to explore how you can make a difference. I found that as we made ourselves available to God, He used us to reach those that desperately needed Him.

Saturday, June 7, Children's Ministry and Departure

2008-06-16T20:59:00.008-04:00

I woke at 5 or so to suitcases banging on every step of the staircase by our room as PR and Cesar left for Lima to work with a church in Huaycan that may join the Grace Life Church family (http://www.gracelifechurch.com/). After another nap I was up around 6:20 to journal and read on the first rainy morning of our trip. I sat in the front staircase looking out to the courtyard enjoying a pleasant breeze and thinking about the people sleeping on the streets as the rain beat down. After a shower and breakfast we sat waiting for the kids to arrive.

Children come mostly from Belen, riding in motocars that YWAM pays for, starting around 8AM. A closed road and resulting traffic jam meant that we had to wait until 9:30 to really start. I sat and tried awkwardly to communicate with kids, but "my name is..." doesn't last 90 minutes, so we played some simple games to entertain. The ninos ranged in age from about 4 to 14.

Osmar and a few women responsible for the ministry led a few Chipmunks songs in Spanish that were fast, fun, and got the kids going. We then led a few interactive songs that we had practiced, but the Chipmunks are mean competition. Our group did Shackles, acted out a Bible story, and helped the kids with crafts of beaded bracelets and fish cut from paper plates to color while we explained the meanings of each.

The kids were then fed lunch of rice, noodles, hot dog slices, and bits of veggies, all mixed up, with a warm drink that looked like runny oatmeal. They were given seconds, thirds if they wanted, which must have been part of the draw. Jae, Danielle, and I washed, rinsed, and dried respectively the onslaught of bowls, cups, and spoons. Meanwhile in the opposite corner of the kitchen, Cecy and Julio's wife cooked for our team a traditional Peruvian dish of chicken pieces, peppers, onions, black olives, and potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce served over rice, which was one of my favorite meals of the whole trip.

I took a nano-nap before starting to clean up our space, pack, and shower in anticipation of a 4:00 departure to the airport. About 10 kids hung around, practicing a flag routine and dance to a big huge Christian anthem en Espanol. I heard the song about 30 times, becoming almost a meditative mantra, but it was perfect: a somewhat sentimental and appropriately encouraging reminder as we were leaving that these kids that we had ministered to are carrying the torch. Though there remains work to be done, these kids singing and dancing are an example of the roots and momentum we helped deepen and advance.

We loaded the bus and waved to our friends. The bus had no windows, just openings, topped with plastic coated with colorful paint, and the floor, windows, and ceiling were all made of wood. At the airport, security was appropriately lax given the far-fetched risk of terror. We thanked Carlos and Osmar for their friendship and hard work before entering the open air waiting area. We heard our incoming jet before it broke through the misty jungle air.

Friday, June 5, Prison and Belen

2008-06-15T07:19:00.017-04:00

I woke at 6:30, walked outside and saw Tim Farmer walking into the lobby. We had agreed to go running this morning, so I quickly put on shoes and we walked out. Due to security concerns, buildings with anything valuable take all precautions. There were multiple locked doors, spiked tenements, and an electric fence throughout the base to prevent anyone from getting in. We walked out into a 30 foot square concrete courtyard in front of the building and closed the door behind us, then realized that we needed a key to get out to the street. About 20 minutes later, Carlos came to our rescue, and we hit the road.

The air was thick with humidity and dust and our energy levels were not 100%, but it felt good to run. We turned left out of the base, crossed an intermittently busy street when sidewalks ran out, and turned down a residential side street for a change of scenery. Houses changed from fairly nice to more simple as the road changed from paved to a single concrete sidewalk to packed, bumpy dirt. Soon we were in slums like Belen. Interestingly, the dogs also became more shabby and menacing, and for the first time I feared for my safety as a dog barked, growled, then chased us for a minute. People still seemed friendly and returned smiles and greetings of "Buenos dias," but these dogs knew no manners. We passed acrid smelling waste, a bustling lumber shop, and a bridge over a small stream with a gorgeous view of a verdant marsh and stilted houses in the distance. We turned around at a church with about 10 dogs outside.

Back at base, the cold shower felt great (there is no warm water in Iquitos), although I was still sweating as I dressed and joined the team for breakfast. At 8:30 we took motocars down a bumpy dirt road to share the gospel with a local prison. For reasons unbeknownst to me, we had to wear khakis and polos, the women in skirts. Barbed wire topped 20 foot walls, where we lined up and provided passports to gain admittance. Outside, we met the pastor responsible for the prison ministry, a large man, moustached with glasses and a big friendly voice. We knocked on a big metal door and a small panel slid open with surreptitious eyes looking out. Inside, guards wore black Under Armour-like shirts with the Peruvian crest on the front left breast pocket and "Policia Nacional" in white on the back, baggy pants with a subtle camo pattern, and black combat boots. They looked intelligent, powerful, and authoritative.

We followed an officer through a cafeteria area, saw almost all men, but some women, across a variety of ages although predominantly 30-45. They wore tank tops, jerseys, T-shirts, athletic shorts, rubber flip-flops, with no commonality. A futbol match was underway on a small concrete pitch, surrounded on three sides by 10 rows of benches, where we sat and waited for instruction. Across the field were the cell blocks, which oddly resembled the slum markets in Belen, with plastic tarps and metal roofs covering narrow paths. A church steeple rose above the walls to the left. The pastor went onto the field and made a few announcements, ending the game, and invited us down to the yard.

I had the guitar ready, and led "Cambiare mi Tristeza" (I'm Trading my Sorrows), then we did Shackles, then I gave my testimony, focusing on how poor decisions in my youth nearly ruined me and it is only by God's grace that I am alive. I introduced Doors, after which Mark gave the gospel presentation. As we ministered to men that came up, Carlos gave his testimony, a remarkable story of how he turned from drug trafficking in the US, spending a few years in prison, to give his life fully to God.

Danielle and I talked with a group of seven or eight men, walked through the tract, and prayed for their salvation. We spoke at length with two men, one stout with a bulbous nose and curly hair, the other skinny, shorter, with a tank top, both very open. The bigger guy tearfully said that Christians are mocked and viewed as weak by other inmates, then asked for a stack of tracts to give out in his cell block. This blew me away.

I then had my best conversation in Spanish of the trip, simply because he kept trying long after it became awkward. He said that he was a Christian and wanted to know more about God, but there were no Bibles available. I had no solution, but committed to finding a way to get Bibles for those that wanted them. Danielle and I also spoke for a while with a muscular guy with curly hair just short of his shoulders named Alex. He said that he would be free next week and asked where he should go to church. Others said they had a year or longer to go, and sentencing seemed to be a random process with little justice.

Outside, the pastor thanked us, and we him, and we returned to the base to put on shorts for a spell before we returned to the Yellow Rose of Texas to save Cecy from the chore of cooking. I had a fried alligator steak with yucca fries and potatoes in a creamy green sauce. Restaurants in Peru feel no obligation to serve the entire table at once, so while I waited about 15 minutes beyond the others, I helped Juanita with her ceviche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche), fresh fish "cooked" in a lemon juice marinade. It was delicious, with bright citrus flavor and cilantro that popped, but I had no idea if it was safe.

Back at base, I put on the same dirty Carhardt pants I had worn to Belen all week, since I had no other pants and there were plenty of other smells there to serve as a distraction. We got in a large canoe to go to a new area, but the weight of our crew beached the boat, and we had a jump and lean for a few minutes to get moving. Dogs barked viciously from floating houses while children swam the butterfly in the waste-ridden water.

We landed in the bright sun and saw a school across a grass-patched field of mud and bumps. Curious kids greeted us and we invited the neighborhood house by house to our presentacion gratis. Osmar entertained an overwhelmingly young crowd of about 100 for a bit before we did Tu Has Cambiado, Shackles, and Doors. Laura Farmer shared a Bible story and linked it to a gospel presentation. We gave tracts to the adults and candy and cross necklaces to the kids.

We crossed back to the main shore as the same dogs tormented us and threatened to jump onto our boat. We picked the next spot near a soccer field with ground so filthy with trash and human waste that we agreed not to fall on the ground in the drama, as this is usually involved at several points. However, I represented Jesus and did not know how to get around it, and eventually was flat in the mud with toilets dripping from stilted houses 15 yards away. I skinned my arm on the ground and put antibacterial gel on it as soon as we were done. We were drained of energy, but shared tracts with the crowd and prayed with people, then Jenn and Danielle and I walked over to the soccer field and met some young guys that accepted tracts and talked to us for a few minutes.

Back at the base, Cecy had made fried rice and french fries for us, which tasted great. The men relaxed and journaled while the women helped lead a women's ministry run through YWAM. A little after 9:00 they wrapped up and we went out to El Zorrito - Parrilladas, a traditional Peruvian restaurant with a glowing grill on the front patio. On the way, our motocar driver took us in a few circles and down bumpy dirt roads with no other vehicles, which concerned us, but eventually he admitted he was lost. Five minutes later we found our group and sat down to sample their chicken, beef, pork, rice, yucca, cow heart, fish, and palm shavings sprinkled with lime. PR also threw caution to the wind and ordered one pitcher of each of their three beverages, a yellow jungle fruit juice, blue maize juice, and something that tasted like iced coffee with floating lime pods. Everything was great, including the three sauces on the table that I tasted sparingly. We went to the plaza briefly, buying a few last souvenirs, and gave leftover change to a young mother. There are few beggars in Iquitos, perhaps because tourism is still lacking, perhaps because of the low cost of living with accessible natural resources.

Thursday, June 5, Children Prep and Belen

2008-06-14T20:36:00.013-04:00

I was up at 6:20 and went on the roof to pray, read, and journal, but I was sweating and had to seek shelter by 7:00. After breakfast, we planned for the children's ministry meeting on Saturday, working through our motions for children's songs, crafts, acting out Bible passages, and general roles and responsibilities.

One of our hosts, David, had become very sick, and his wife Cecy was one of the main chefs for us. David came home and needed help setting up the IV's that the doctor gave him (apparently this is self-service in Peru), so Juanita and Danielle helped the other folks at the base. Cecy needed to take care of David, so we had to make new arrangements for a few meals.

We had a few minutes free, so we walked to a nearby store to get some chocolate, to provide an afternoon energy boost. About 20 men were playing soccer on a small field, and another 4-5 were watching. Slowly, more motocar drivers pulled up to watch as well. Don't these people have jobs? This is a weekday! Who knows. Women began to roll carts of sweets and treats up as well. Soon, mothers began walking young children out of a daycare center I had not noticed, which was the excuse for the drivers. But soccer players, come on! I tried to imagine rolling up my suit pants and knocking a ball around on Charles Street at lunch time back home.

Back at base, Cecy had made us an incredible traditional Peruvian meal of Papa a la Huancaina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_a_la_huancaina), potatoes and rice smothered in slightly spicy creamy chicken sauce, topped with half a hard boiled egg and a black olive. We had purple maize juice as well, which was sold in plastic bags with a straw in Belen.

Around 2PM, we headed back to Iglesia Belen, and walking through the streets I got the same "Hola gringo," from the same kid, who must have gotten a kick out of my positive response last time. While waiting for some church members to arrive, I watched the street scene. Raw meat sat on brown paper on the cart right in front of the church, and prospective buyers came by and felt the pieces with bare hands before dropping it on a scale and taking it off in plastic bags. Across the street, alligator claws hung off the table, with larger cuts behind it. A woman deftly peeled fruit with a small knife and dropped finished pieces into a bucket of water to keep flies off.

We soon moved swiftly through the slum to a dock area where logs were set perpendicular to a waterway to allow walking over the muddy shoreline onto canoes, lined up like a pack of hot dogs. I got in a boat with Danielle and some locals, including Danielle's favorite, a young curly-haired spunky girl.

Houses by the water were set on logs to float with rising water. The boat was paddled about 200 meters to another shore as we passed a man in a canoe fishing with a craggy stick and some string, a la Huck Finn, while jubilant latin music carried across the water. We dropped our stuff at San Francisco (seriously, that's the name) and went door-to-door inviting people to our "presentacion gratis en cinco minutos."

Osmar entertained the local children until we began Tu Has Cambiado, Shackles, and Doors, which Juanita introduced and then gave the gospel message. There were mostly children present, but we gave everyone attention, providing candy and toys for the kids and tracts and prayer for parents nearby. I made friends with a chubby little boy that spoke about as much Spanish as I did, but understood peek-a-boo and liked when I tickled his belly. His mother is in jeans in the background of the picture, probably scared that I was going to take him with us.

Back on the mainland we set up another presentation near the dock, at a fairly busy intersection surrounded by houses on stilts. After Tu Has and Shackles, I introduced Doors and then gave the message, using illustrations of accepting a gift and a lifeless glove that is filled with a hand that I had seen used effectively in Young Life. This time I led all the way through the prayer and was encouraged to see a large number of people praying for salvation with me. Everywhere we went there were at least 100 people watching, but I always felt secure knowing that God would use whatever we did for His glory.

We then moved back to the large plaza with lights where we had been on Tuesday night, knowing that we would see a different mass of people. Tim Farmer introduced the presentation and preached the gospel, and there was a strong response. I had portrayed Jesus in the Doors drama, and at the end, the character signifies that all that Christ did was for each individual, by opening their arms towards the people three times and making eye contact. I constantly prayed for specific people in the audience and noticed many that I could tell sincerely understood the message. Danielle and I moved to talk to a crowd of men, including a thin, smallish man in a white tank top and blue soccer shorts. He asked some questions and read through the tract with us, then prayed to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. This was one of many, but for some reason I knew this guy was special, that his life was forever changed.

After PR shouted, "Let's go!" we went back to the base, showered, and went to Chifa, the Peruvian version of Chinese food. Long Fung's Chifa was cool and bright with a fairly open layout, located across from the "Bienvenidos a Iquitos" sign in the main city square. PR and Cesar ordered and we pigged out after a long day.

Back at the base, we had a team meeting to share some of the interactions we had with people and general experiences in ministry, then headed off to bed.

Wednesday, June 4, Food Distribution and Jungle

2008-06-14T17:03:00.004-04:00

The rooster woke me several times and I was up early for an early breakfast of eggs with tomatoes, peppers and onions, cereal with yogurt, bananas, and fresh papaya. We have two YWAM staff preparing our meals for us and they are awesome, both the people and the meals. We were on the road by 6:40. Glued to the window, I saw black birds with bright yellow underbellies, beautifully curved hilltop tree trunks with white bark, bushes overflowing with purple blossoms, and huge red and yellow flowers growing wild.

At Nauta, we stepped into a stilted house to use a family's bathroom, a wooden toilet seat with a hole channeling to drop 20-30 feet to the ground below. We played with kids outside, imitating all the animals that we saw on Sunday, and then some. Tim Farmer does a great sloth, by the way. I jumped on the speedboat on the way to the village, one closer to Nauta than San Jorge.

Upon landing, I met Diana, an anthropology professor at GW, studying village life and working towards a tenure track. She chose to work here because the people were particularly friendly, organized, and open to having her. She explained that their basic needs of food and shelter are primarily taken care of by natural resources, but they have little money and need soap, vitamins, basic medicines, and fuel. They have no real savings and frequently lend goods to each other as needs arise, so banks are not used. There is a "Mother's Club" that provides goods to mothers in need, and communal work is common. The village governor guides activities, a pastor heads up a church, and a school teaches at both primary and secondary levels. The latter is very uncommon, and students come from other villages to go to this secondary school. The government does a decent job of supporting villages in times of need, and NGO's do even more.

Most villagers stay generally where they grow up, but some go to Nauta, fewer go to Iquitos, and a small minority leaves the area for good. Some young people join the military to see more of the world for a few years before coming back home. This village had historically been located across the Maranon, but moved due to severe flooding in the early 70's. The whole village just picked up and moved.

We walked up a winding dirt path to a simple wooden church with simple wooden benches and a simple wooden pulpit. Walking over to the "radio station," actually a microphone with loudspeakers outside, I met Segundo, a 16-year old resident and student of English, which was pretty decent, and Danielle's Spanish made up the difference. He showed us to the top of a hill with an awesome view of the village and river below, then to the school area where we met his English teacher. Similar to the last village, classrooms surrounded a concrete basketball court sized futbol field. The teacher's English was quite good, although the phrase "at this moment" was a tad overused.

He thanked us for coming and asked if we knew any songs in English to make learning more fun. A minute later I was writing the chorus of "I'll Stand" by Hillsong United and "Better is One Day" on his blackboard, tuning up an old nylon string guitar, and singing praises in English with the students. Osmar came in to help explain the meaning and common mispronunciations.

I ate a butter and jam sandwich hastily as we began Tu Has Cambiado, then Shackles. We taught several students some of the moves and did it again. Then Mark intro'd Doors and gave the gospel presentation. Jenn and I talked to a few adults, including a teacher I had met earlier. They were very receptive and appreciative and prayed with us after we walked through the tracts. We encouraged them to start going to church to learn more, to which they earnestly agreed. The English teacher then took the mic and thanked us, in English, and said "thank you and goodbye," which sounded like he was awkwardly telling us to leave. He followed it with "for this moment," and a chuckle, and gave the mic back to Mark.

I then joined Osmar, Tim Farmer, and Carlos on the futbol pitch to challenge some youngsters, who played a very tight and clean game and left us sweating profusely in the tropical sun. We walked down the hill to help with food distribution, as the governor called family heads by name to come and pick up the packages we prepared.

Tim Farmer learned from our bus driver, who was not a Christian but wanted to see a village and the jungle, how to say "this is a gift from God," to the recipients lined up. Meanwhile, Laura, Jenn, Danielle, Juanita, and Catherine led the children through a craft, making mariposas (butterflies) of wooden clothespins, gold pipe cleaners, and bright tissue paper. The kids loved it.

We then donned our rubber boots and ventured into the jungle to pray for people that live here. The boots were required to protect us from snakes and parasites that can get through simple fabric. A few steps into our trek, we saw a speckled hawk swoop down and grab a snake off of the path. Our guide said the snake was one of the most poisonous around. We crossed over a large muddy pond on unstable logs and a handrail that fell off, up and down a hill to thickening brush. We saw colorful pointed flowers and a butterfly with a wingspan as broad as your extended thumb to pinky, shimmering bright blue as it reflected beams of light. We crossed several more streams, as we hoped no one would fall, but eventually Catherine lost her footing and tumbled into the water below. She was an incredible sport and kept on with the group despite her soaked feet.

We travelled through fields of flaming brush piles and climbed over downed trees to what our guide said was a waterfall, but translation was imperfect, and our destination was a bend in a 20 ft. wide river. Mark, Tim Farmer, and I travelled a bit further in total silence to try to immerse ourselves in undisturbed wild. Something large scampered off the path, and we soaked up the variety of plant and animal life. Monkeys and birds called out from above, although I could not distinguish which was which. Some local boys found bright orange huayuru seeds and gave them to us. We hurried back and got on the boat to travel home.

Tuesday, June 3, Markets and Belen

2008-06-14T15:23:00.000-04:00

After a couple hours of reflection, prayer, and repast, we worked on preparing for food distribution at another river village tomorrow. We went first to a supermarket, much like our own, but bulk rice and beans were unavailable. I just bought a drinkable yogurt, all the rage down south, flavored with lucuma (http://www.lucuma.com/lucumafruit.asp) which tasted like an oatmeal raisin cookie grown on a tree.

Next we went to a busy street market with storefronts boasting everything from rice and beans to cosmetics to motorcycles. We bought massive bags of both rice and beans, 100 bags of salt, and boxes of matches, as well as smaller plastic bags to divide up the goods for distribution. Back at base, we became a processing unit and within an hour we 100 bags each of rice and beans ready to go. We then took time to be quiet and prepare for a solid night of evangelism, broken only by lunch of stir fried carrots, broccoli, and chicken over rice with fried plantains on the side, my new favorite. The day was relatively cool, cold by their standards, enough to warrant long sleeves.

Around 2:30 we took motocars to Belen and met at the church to pray and meet up with some young members who would be our guides and translators. They warned us to cover our bags and stay together, and make sure that women stayed close to men. I passed a boy that said, "Hola gringo!" to which I smiled and said hola, completely unmoved by the derogatory term. We walked through a plaza to a side park area with a circular stage area about 20 feet in diameter, surrounded by a salon, some houses, and vendors of juices in clear plastic bags and cups of jello.

We played salsa music to grab attention before Mark and Cesar introduced Shackles and Doors. Mark also presented the gospel afterwards and many hands went up to accept Christ. One woman listening from a second floor window had her hand up, so I climbed two old appliances and jumped up to put a tract in her hand. Jenn and I called out what it said to her and she prayed tearfully with us to bring her to Christ. She then hobbled downstairs and we prayed for healing in her legs so she could go to church. We then spoke with and prayed for a much less receptive group in and by the salon, just before PR called out, "Let's go!"

We grabbed our stuff and walked to an open street area where we plunked down in front of a house with a woman in front of a grill, plating up food cooked in banana leaves. Houses were all on one-story stilts, often painted in bright pastels, and kids laughingly chased each other through the maze of people and motorbikes. Osmar grabbed attention by rattling off jokes and talking in a high pitched child's voice, then Mark introduced Tu Has, Schackles, and Doors. I noticed a group of high-school aged kids in soccer jerseys off to the left side. Some more came up, then walked off, and I prayed constantly for those still there, that they would have open hearts and that they would feel the tug of the Spirit. We wrapped up our presentation, and while Osmar shared his testimony on the mic, Jenn, Cesar, and I walked over to these guys. They had apparently become Christians at a very young age, but lost their passion, and wanted it back. We prayed with them to begin a new life with Christ. Then, "Let's go!"

The third stop was the open plaza that we had walked through a couple times already. The sun was setting, but the plaza had lights (and roaming police officers). We did Shackles, then I introduced Doors, and after the drama I gave the message. I ran out of steam towards the end and asked Cesar to walk people through raising hands if they wanted to accept Christ and praying with them, but hands went up, and it was amazing to be used this way. Jenn and I prayed with a woman with an incessantly crying baby and a man who said that was already a Christian but did not know of any churches around. We connected him with one of the young members.

We walked with a feeling of victory back to the motocars and ate spaghetti and meat sauce back at the base in an exhausted state. Bedtime was immediate, since breakfast would be 5:30AM to get a jump on travelling to the next river village.

Monday, June 2, San Jorge

2008-06-14T10:37:00.000-04:00

I woke to my rooster friend and sounds from the nearby kitchen for a 6AM breakfast. The bus left at 8AM to head to Nauta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauta), the only city connected to Iquitos by road (both are surrounded by rivers and isolated from other roadways). The drive took about 100 minutes, past small roadside houses of grass and wood, prisoners in orange jumpsuits clearing fields with machetes, women washing clothes in large metal buckets, and exotic trees scraping the skies with round tufts of leaves.

Nauta is a hillside town going down to the Maranon River, which flows north then east out of the Andes before it finds this little map dot. People sold food streetside and children greeted us with amazement and open hearts.

We got in a "real" motor boat, which was meant for fewer people than our group, resulting in a soaked left side of the boat. We cast out a few group members into a passing canoe of strangers that were willing to hold a few extra passengers while our first batch was dropped at San Jorge, our river village destination.

About 30 minutes later, we arrived at San Jorge, a beautiful little village of a few hundred people that live in open wood homes roofed with palm leaves. We explored the village and visited their small church, talking to residents and taking in the native flowers, birds, and trees. The people live simply and seem happy.

We gathered in a classroom at the school to eat sandwiches of butter and jelly or ham and cheese before bringing the schoolkids out for our presentation. We did Shackles twice, the second time with volunteers from the crowd helping us, then Doors. Mark spoke, translated by Cesar, about the gospel and asked for anyone that wanted to accept Christ to raise their hands. Jennifer Kim and I walked around to parents and gave out tracts and prayed for anything that they needed. I read the tract in Spanish to two ladies; my stumbling was humbling.

We gave out candy and small gifts to the children before a futbol game broke out. We played in loosely fitting rubber boots that the YWAM base said we would need, and the resulting blisters were intense. Once we finished, a new crowd had gathered, so we did Tu Has, Shackles, and Family, another drama more oriented towards children. Afterwards as we made our way through the crowd, Jenn and I spoke with a woman that asked for prayer. Her husband had left her for another woman, leaving their seven children (aged 1-19). She accepted our prayer for restoration and also accepted Christ as her Savior. We also spoke with a few men that stayed near the back. We read through tracts and prayed for them as well.

We were given the opportunity to buy local crafts, where I got a small turtle of wood and real shell that cost about a dollar. The first group went back on the speedboat, but Danielle and I took the open air canoe ride, which was such a better way to appreciate the glory of creation. Young kids paddled boats on their own alongside villages while I ate a yellow fruit that Carlos gave me. On the way back, Osmar (on the right side of the picture), a YWAM staffer and one of our local translators and guides, shared his story. He grew up in Iquitos to a broken family and frequently lived on his own on the streets. His friends got into drugs and alcohol at an early age (9 or 10) but he met some missionaries that he held onto and after gaining some language skills and working as a tour guide, he joined YWAM.

When we returned to Nauta, Cesar met a woman with a disabled child. Angie wore a bright yellow-green jumpsuit and was in a makeshift wheelchair with mountain bike tires and a plastic lawn chair seat bolted together. Nine years old now, she had fallen on her head five years earlier and has not walked since. She cries frequently for no apparent reason and has occasional seizures. We gathered and laid hands on her and prayed for several minutes. PR tried to help her up, but she was still unable to use her legs. We vowed to continue praying for healing and restoration and bid goodbye to her thankful mother.

Iquitos Exploration and Church Visit, Sunday, June 1

2008-06-14T07:41:00.000-04:00

I slept well, waking only a few times to nearby crowing roosters. The breakfast bell rang at 8:15, welcoming us to scrambled eggs, white bread with butter and pineapple preserves, bananas, papaya juice, and tea. Bananas were small and tree ripened, tasting much sweeter and fuller than what we pick up in grocery stores. We met with Rene (http://www.ywamperu.com/en/lopez.htm) to get oriented, then practiced "Shackles" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY848n09F_o)and "Tu has cambiado" our hip-hop dance and more tame body worship, respectively. Rene's son, Jaiel, a rambunctious and playful five-year old with endless energy, brightened the day with his laughter as we dribbled soccer balls around on the rooftop terrace.

We travelled in four motocars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldZvghfiKQY) to an Amazonian crafts market with beaded jewelry, dried piranhas, toy blow guns, and a little monkey running around.

Then we were off to the famous Yellow Rose of Texas, a restaurant with American and Peruvian food, owned and managed by a real Texan that spent time in Peru with the US military and never left. I chowed on alligator nuggets with yucca fries.

While our food settled, we travelled to a busy market area with countless grills serving up fish, fruit, chicken, and banana leaf wrapped goodies. We all got into a long canoe with a blue plastic tarp as a canopy and a long hand powered motor to get us around.

We moved from the wide Nanay river to the golden watered Momon river to an island zoo with monkeys rampant and a roaming anteater. The monkeys made friends with us quickly, climbing on our shoulders and heads. We saw and held anacondas, sloths, prehistoric turtles, and small gators. Juanita was the monkeys' favorite.

Back on shore, Carlos convinced us to eat grilled suri, a beetle grub found in decaying palm trees. I made the mistake of eating the head, a hard and crunchy part that you are supposed to discard, but it was otherwise rich and fatty with a slightly tougher skin, flavored with wood smoke. Not bad if you can keep your mind off what you're eating. We then had grilled nuts that tasted like roasted peanuts but were crunchier and more crisp. The abundance of the Amazon jungle is incredible.

Back at base, we showered and ate a supper of burgers with tomato slices and lettuce, trusting they were safe. We dressed in the best we had, old khakis and a blue oxford in my case, to head to Iglesia Belen, our partner church. We road motocars through less inhabited streets to a neighborhood with fewer streetlights, smaller houses, and plainly dressed people with years of hard life seen in the lines on their faces. Carrying our speakers and bags of props for dramas, we drew a few double-takes as we passed carts selling raw and cooked meats, peeled fruits, spices and sauces. I went into olfactory overload from piles of rotten produce and trash, fresh grated garlic and cumin, human and animal waste, wood smoke, and sweat. Two blocks down the road was the church, bright with yellow walls and filled with about 75 people young and old singing praises to God in the hot and stuffy air. I sat under what I realized later was the only working ceiling fan of about seven.

They finished two more songs, then introduced PR and our group. We did "Tu has," Tim Fermin gave his testimony, and we did "Doors," our primary drama gospel presentation. PR gave a sermon tying in Jeremiah 32:27 (I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is there anything too hard for me?), as written in Spanish on a banner over the pulpit, then called anyone that wanted to step up into church leadership to come forward, as well as anyone else that needed prayer. We layed hands on people and prayed passionately, and frequently they started weeping, sometimes shaking. This was an incredible reassurance of our usefulness and unity with the Spirit.

Saturday, May 31, Lima and Travel to Iquitos

2008-06-10T21:23:00.000-04:00

After waking every 20 minutes, I touched down in Lima at 4:30 AM. It was relatively easy to get through immigration and baggage shenanigans, until I had to take the amplifier I was carrying for our street dramas through security. "What is that!?" I stammered, "speaker, amplifier, musica," to one stern guard, while another said, "it's ok, just push the button," which I am convinced he knew would light up red. Still, the x-ray and searches took only minutes and I was soon rechecking bags for Iquitos. We then met Mark and Cesar, two YWAM (http://www.ywam.org/) staffers that would lead our efforts. Cesar is a Lima native with a big smile, spiked hair, only a slight tint of Spanish in his English, and an air of friendly confidence. Mark is a wiry and energetic story-teller that looks a bit like a young Keith Richards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron) with a faith that has been built on years of missions experience. I stepped away from the group to go the bano, which felt a bit like riding my bike away from my parents for the first time, as any conversation would likely end in "No hablo..." and a grin that says "you stupid gringo."

The air outside was rich and musty (a spot of rain had fallen, a portion of only a few inches that Lima receives annually), with smells of vegetation and light smoke. The early hour meant an empty parking area, where "Capitaine" had a small bus waiting and took us to Cesar's home to rest. We travelled fairly clean roads past some manufacturing plants, retail big boxes, and colorfully painted homes. Cesar lives in a clean and spacious pad with colorful walls and utilitarian furniture. We passed a bakery on the way to the second floor, which was heaven. Cesar and Mark bought 20 rolls, some ham and cheese, and a bottle of manzana yogurt. We ate in an awkward fatigue-induced stupor until Mark shared a story. I slept on an air mattress in a room cooled with a window open a crack.

Like the kid in the Disney commercial, I was too excited to sleep, and was up a couple hours before everyone else, with time to read, reflect, and prepare mentally and spiritually. Once Mark and Cesar were up and about, I accompanied them along with Tim Farmer and Danielle to a market area to explore a bit. Traffic is not nearly as crazy as India, but still worthy of serious attention where you're walking. Cesar told us to keep walking as they went to talk to the money changer, as rates can vary based on clientele, and a few obvious Americans don't help. We then passed three long lines at ATM's before finding a reasonable place to get some Peruvian soles. Apparently workers get checks every Friday and cash them Saturday morning, all at the same time. We found a fruit stand, filled with color and flavor.

We got back to an anxious Pastor Roger (PR), ready to head to his favorite Peruvian greasy spoon, Miguel's. Famous for sandwiches piled high with whatever you'd like and topped with a fried egg and cheese whether you like it or not, they were also reportedly safe for unaccustomed visitors. I got a chicken sandwith with two chorizo patties and the standard egg and cheese, delightful, washed down with some Inca Kola, a bright yellow Coke product with the flavor of sweet bubble gum (and interestingly, the Peruvian beverage market leader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Kola)).

From there, we were picked up by Capitaine and dropped at the airport again. Cesar took care of some logistical work at the airline desk and we then had to rush to pay airport taxes, a darling inefficiency, and run to our gate, only to wait for our plane to arrive. Meanwhile we met some American pharmacy students travelling to reserves in Iquitos to study natural medicines. I sat next to Azzam, a guy from this group, on the flight, which ended majestically over forests with monkeys swinging from trees and mists rising at the magic hour when the sun makes everything seem surreal. We got off and jumped on a small bus and followed Rene and Keith on motorbikes to the YWAM base to end our 30 hours of travelling.

Despite our fatigue and readiness to sleep, our watches read 8:30, so we travelled by motocar to Plaza de Armas, where we were met by street vendors with candy and balloons, a bright glowing fountain, street performers, and a bright Catholic church. We bought postcards at a Christian-owned small shop, saw "human statues", and some kids with fake instruments made of wood that were jamming to their own tunes.

Friday, May 30, Miami

2008-06-10T20:51:00.000-04:00

La Carreta, the Cuban restaurant in the Miami airport, has mediocre food, but phenomenally flavorful habanero hot sauce. It was still tingling warm in my gut the realization hit, "I'm not sure what I'm doing here." I'm confident of God and His presence, but I'm curious what I can do in Peru without Spanish. I am also fearful of how spiritual warfare could materialize on this trip. My eyes are getting heavy and I hope I can sleep refreshingly on the plane, which would be a first. I will need to rely on God for everything on this trip, yet I feel remarkably comfortable about that.

January 17, 2008

2008-01-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

India Trip Summary

At the majority of the meetings we have attended, we have been told that India is no longer a land of snake charmers and elephants. This comment moved from slightly humorous to an overdone cliche in no time. As a side note, I was slightly disappointed that we saw neither. While I think this perception of the outside world's view is inaccurate, I do believe that American business owners generally do not grasp the extent of what globalization means and need to reevaluate their strategies in order to compete successfully in the long term.
Some significant considerations include:

-There are many more similarities between business in India and the US than I anticipated.

-Managers talk about the same strategic concepts, value relationships similarly, and need to invest time to understand their target market's needs.

-The top two buzzwords were innovation and scalability. Innovation refers not to an R&D lab as part of a company, but a mindset whereby any and all strategies, products, and processes need to be constantly updated to meet changing market needs and competitive dynamics. In a market of 1 billion people, including a vast low-income consumer market, scalability means bringing solutions to the individual level through cost-effective technology and easily replicable delivery methods.

-Outsourced services have become very sophisticated. Call centers are just scratching the surface. To be competitive in the changing business environment, managers need to understand the opportunities and embrace them.

-Low average ages of 26-28 at Wipro and Infosys reflect the general shift of valuing KSAO's over experience. Learnability is a valued trait and popular buzzword.

-The IT infrastructure at top companies in India is on par with the top US companies. Sometimes Indian subsidiaries teach their foreign parents how to use IT.

-The pace of change is so fast that disruptive technologies need to be searched for and exploited quickly.

-India is very diverse, so generalities are meaningless, and local market research is key. Companies that learn this will likely also succeed in the next major growth region: Africa.

-Indians are ambitious and proud of their progress. Businesspeople tend to be resourceful and have a can-do attitude. Companies have become more acquisitive, but still prefer partnering with targets (ex. Tata Steel and Corus).

-Venture capital is flowing from all over the globe to support economic growth in India. Entrepreneurship is valued and respected. Still, the lackluster expected returns for developed economy equity markets has overheated Indian stocks.

-Possibly due to the obvious social needs, companies frequently undertake social causes and divert significant cash flows to charity.

-Bureacracy burdens many interactions from retail purchases to starting a business, but this is changing. "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" taught me that villages are riding the IT wave to improve efficiency of everyday transactions, boosting productivity one person at a time.

-High demand for talented labor means turnover and wage inflation of 50% are common. HR managers say it cannot continue, but global demand continues to stoke the fire.

The big question is "Can the growth continue?" We have heard multiple overwhelmingly bullish perspectives, but uncertainties about price and wage inflation, government intervention, and infrastructure constraints remain. Most major consultancies and research institutions are predicting Indian Real GDP Growth of 7-10% over the next several years. In order for this to materialize, educational institutions need to improve starting at the primary level to build the knowledge workers of tomorrow, the government needs to improve efficiency to promote business activity, the business landscape will need to decouple from developed economies to avoid following the US into recession, and companies will need to continue to innovate to improve productivity of existing human capital and infrastructure resources.

January 16, 2008

2008-01-16T21:41:00.000-05:00

I woke and joined Dr. Mithas, Ali Cherry, and Anthony Cain for breakfast. The three of us stayed later than others due to an airline billing quirk whereby we saved a few hundred dollars to stay an extra day. Drs. Ritu Agarwal and Kislaya Prasad had provided a few sightseeing tips the night before, so we hired a driver for the day. We visited a few markets including Dalli Haat as well as a beautiful park filled with exotic plants and birds. At Raghomull's in Connaught Place I bought a T-shirt emblazoned with "Keep Walking," resembling the Johnny Walker logo, with an outline of Gandhi. I felt that the slogan was much more fitting to Gandhi's hike across the country to protest the salt tax, a passionate demonstration of purposeful revolution, than a brand of whiskey.

We were also treated as guests by one of Dr. Mithas' friends, who lived in a gorgeous and spacious home with huge marble tiled floors, stunning artwork, and a dance and music studio in the basement. The diminutive "helper" served us beverages, several dishes of hot and cold appetizers, and velvety spiced tea with milk. The two sons of our host family spoke of their ambitions to either work up to their father's position or go into an IT-related field. They were clearly bright, took their studies seriously, and planned to work in India based on their preference over the US lifestyle. We parted with an exchange of gifts; the hospitality would blow American Southerners away.

I was dropped off at the airport with three hours to spare; my first time alone in India. It took a while to navigate through crowds to find Continental, but the process was a breeze and I was through customs and security within an hour. I grabbed a quick paneer masala sandwich and settled in to read a spell. Boarding began an hour prior to takeoff, which took me by surprise. The preponderance of Americans meant that lines were orderly, but after having my boarding pass scanned I simply moved into another line for airline specific security. Some passengers moaned, but I appreciated the added measure.

As I sat down on the plane, I noticed that my TV screen was scrambled and asked a flight attendant if I could change seats. The fact that I had a middle seat directly in front of a bathroom served as additional motivation to raise a fuss. Meanwhile, I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, a Christian missionary from Puerto Rico working through Maranatha [1]. She reported that she had worked alongside Hindus, Moslems, and other Christians to build a school for villagers in Uttar Pradesh, and was humbled by the joy and hospitality of the impoverished villagers.

A flight attendant tapped my shoulder and showed me to an aisle seat with a functional TV screen (and no one in the middle seat, Hallelujah!). I noticed Praphul Kumar, a classmate, across the other aisle and shouted over jubilantly. The man that we were talking over entered our conversation; he turned out to be Dr. Gerald Zeitz, a professor of HRM at Temple University, who had coincidentally been staying at MDI as well. His trip had been focused on classroom learning with just a few company visits, and his greatest takeaways were that the theories discussed in US business schools are implemented rigorously in Indian companies, oftentimes better than in US companies and that the acceptance of rapid change and innovation is cutting edge in Indian companies.

The flight seemed quicker on the way home, likely due to a combination of longer in-flight sleep, less anxiety about the coming days, and accustomization to the long trip. I read the lion's share of 'The Fortune at the Bottom of the Period' by C. K. Prahalad on the way home, and ironically did not use the TV screen. The flight touched down at 4:30 AM and I was amazed that I was through security, customs, and immigration in about an hour, with three hours to spare before my final flight home. I grabbed a huge coffee and set down to plow through some more of the book.

January 15, 2008

2008-01-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

Day Eleven: Course Wrap-up and Convergys
After breakfast our class joined at 9:30 to summarize our learnings and evaluate the course. The major learning points will be summarized in a separate section. We presented business plans that we had developed as a side project. I was impressed with the ingenuity despite limited preparation time.
After lunch we met with Sanjit Singh Bal, Director of Business Development for Convergys in India. We discussed the prospects of business process outsourcing (BPO) in India and competing countries and how companies are partnering with Convergys to improve efficiency. Click here for the Convergys transcript.
After our meeting, about eight students and our professor reconvened by the front gate to head to a local shopping mall featuring a store called Fabindia, reportedly a great place to get authentic Indian clothing for fair prices without bargaining. We were not able to secure a driver from MDI, taxis were occupied, and rickshaws seemed full. To our rescue came Rahul, a student at MDI that offered to drive us pro bono. He was a first year from Chandigarh and very friendly. We got to the large mall, plastered with advertisements, but I was amazed at how empty the mall was and how many stores were closed. We grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the trip with our professor.
A few interesting notes after a few days in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi: The power outages are so routine here that business as usual proceeds without interruption. Cars dodge cows but edge each other to near collisions. Poverty is everywhere, but taxi drivers will not pick us up for short trips because the standard payment is insufficient.
I wrote and packed until about 1 AM, attempting to push my circadian rhythms slowly back into US time zones.

January 14, 2008

2008-01-14T21:40:00.000-05:00

Day Ten: MDI and Eli Lilly
No yoga this morning. I enjoyed sleeping until 7:15, having a cup of tea while writing briefly, and moved to the dining hall. We convened at 9:30 to discuss our upcoming schedule, followed by two presentations and interactions with MDI professors, one finance and one human resource management. Both were extremely informative and I was encouraged to know the vast similarities between the US systems and India's.

Following a quick dining hall lunch, we ventured to Eli Lilly's India office, which was located in arguably the most impoverished area I had seen, a campground of tarps and rags. Two girls greeted us off the bus with what looked like a petition, but we couldn't make sense of what they wanted. The Lilly office, a three-story building inside a guardhouse, was very nice. We met with a senior HR manager and training facilitator that had been with the company since its India presence began. Our discussion moved from the broad economy to the pharma industry to specific challenges and opportunities for Lilly India. Turnover of roughly 40% is the biggest HR issue, but the rising middle class offers huge opportunities for drug companies, especially given the proliferation of lifestyle ailments like diabetes and heart disease. Click here for the Eli Lilly notes.

After returning from Lilly, I met with two group members to prepare a business plan presentation for tomorrow morning. We then met as a class for a cultural presentation of traditional dance as performed by a regional expert. It was informative and fun to watch. We had dinner at a nearby country club, which was well appointed but dramatically different stylistically than American counterparts which tend to be classic in appearance. This club was more "New York chic" than "classy conservative," with a dance club downstairs cranking out bass that shook through our dinner. I couldn't imagine justifying a country club membership in India given the in-your-face poverty. We ended dinner with a toast to Hugo and Susan, our two classmates that will complete their degrees with the conclusion of this course. Cheers!
I need to add that while I miss my wife and home, the comraderie built on this trip has been very unique and has added a lot to the experience.

January 13, 2008

2008-01-13T21:38:00.000-05:00

Day Nine: Agra and Lohri
At 8:30 we travelled to the Taj Mahal with our tour guide who provided a solid historical narrative. Upon reaching the Taj, we were read an extensive list of no-no's and frisked prior to entry. The first view was dramatic and upon closer inspection I was amazed at the intricacy of design and skilled craftsmanship not captured in most photographs. An interesting note is that the pillars by the main building are leaning slightly outwards by design, so that if they ever fall, they will not damage the primary structure. The Taj was built from 1631 to 1653 and required moving huge blocks of marble 400 miles from Rajasthan via camel cars. A Turkish architect developed the design of remarkable symmetry combining Moslem and Hindu influences. Inside the mausoleum visitors find a perfect replica of tombs, with the actual tombs in the floor below. This was done at the time of completion, anticipating the visitor demand. After leaving, we drove by the Red Fort, a 2.5 Km circumference fort built over a period of 80 years by the Mughals. The fort included a 30 foot outer wall and a 70 foot inner wall, each originally surrounded by a moat, one with crocodiles and one with wild land animals. Next we visited a specialty cottage industry shop where we saw skilled craftsmen shaping semi-precious stones for inlay into white marble. I was given three tiny pieces as a souvenir. The shopkeeper then led us into the store to see the finished goods, which were remarkably intricate and commensurately expensive. 3" by 5" jewelry boxes exceeded $100 and I was barely able to count the number of digits on the larger statues and tables. I passed.

On the way back we stopped just once to use restrooms and held a relay race to break the monotony. The farmland was remarkably lush, which we had missed in the darkness of our bus trip to Agra. Other sights included small villages of grass and mud huts, a group of five partially clothed children standing outside a set of tents by a railroad track, shepherds with sheep, and some of the ugliest dogs known to man.

The trip back was much faster due to a lack of traffic, and we arrived at the cultural celebration of Lohri just after the prescribed time of 7PM. Lohri is a traditional festival of great social significance that celebrates the winter crop with thanksgiving and a renunciation of poverty. Upon entry, I saw several Indian males in traditional festive garb as I ran to the restroom. When I took my seat, music was blaring as they were jumping, waving, and smiling in time on the dance floor. Dances were separated by drum solos. Following the dancing were two separate multi-religious groups performing traditional folk music. We were treated to an outstanding buffet and warmed our hands by several small wood fires and our bodies around a huge central bonfire. Towards the end of the night, our professor led the charge to get our group to dance. After three or four were on the floor, I joined other classmates, and a very Malcolm Gladwell-esque charge followed. Soon the area was filled and an older woman danced into our circle weaving her hands in rhythm. A middle-aged man in a turban jumped in the ring and began to perform as we did our best to mimick. The music was fast and lively and we had a blast. We returned to MDI full and exhausted, and I made tentative plans to join some classmates for on-campus yoga at 5:30 AM, but yearned for a full night's sleep. I hit the hay at 1 AM.

January 12, 2008

2008-01-12T21:38:00.000-05:00

Day Eight: Delhi, Apollo Hospitals, & Journey to Agra
In the morning we left MDI at 8:30 to get to see Qutub Minar, the world's tallest brick minaret, where were greeted by the world's most excited schoolchildren. We stopped by the Bahai temple famous for its architecture resembling a lotus flower and India Gate, where we saw our first camel and our one millionth youngster trying to sell us trinkets.
Travelling to Apollo hospitals was a treat and a challenge, as we had sufficient time to scope the environs fighting traffic. We passed two ancient mausoleums with domed tops, both about the size of the presidential monuments in DC. We also passed some child beggars that had developed their own circus. Rather than stand at stoplights with a cardboard sign to invoke sympathy and guilt like the American homeless, these children put on a show worthy of compensation.
We pulled up to Apollo Hospital in Delhi, surrounded like most of urban India with congested traffic, the poor making do how they can, and dilapidated buildings, to see a busy scene of cars unloading and crowds moving through the lobby. A sign greeted us stating that Apollo Hospitals Group is the first Indian hospital to be accredited with international standards. Everything we saw reflected that fact, from the nurse/patient ratios, overall cleanliness, use of hi-tech equipment, and quality of caring employees. We learned about the hospital's structure from a senior manager and viewed a background video before interacting with the hospital's managing director, the equivalent of a CEO, the first white American we had visited. We then toured the modern facility, which included meeting the chief cardiologist. Notes on the meeting will follow, but the key takeaways are that I would be totally comfortable coming to Apollo for a major surgery, and I have mixed feelings about their profit strategy of serving the upper echelon of society. While they designate 100 out of 600 beds for charity, they operate a retail model whereby you pay in advance for all non-emergency services, and pricing puts most care out of reach for the bottom of the pyramid.
Our travel to Agra was slowed by the endemic traffic, but I did get to see a cornucopia of domesticated animals amongst grass huts neighbored by tall offices of large multi-national corporations. I saw my first peacock, along with pigs, dogs, mules, vultures, and of course cows. The trip, originally slated for four hours took about six and a half, including a stop to get beer and watch Steve get chased by a cow and use the restrooms of a motel where I bought a juice box of mango nectar. We arrived at Taj View in Agra at about 10PM, and after dropping our things in our rooms we chowed on the dinner buffet of Indian treats until we had gotten our 900 rupees worth of value. For me this included hot and sour soup, a salad of exotic fruits, a heaping plate of all of their vegetarian dishes, and three trips to the dessert table. It was healthy, mind you, because it was all vegetarian.

January 11, 2008

2008-01-11T21:37:00.000-05:00

Day Seven: Avery Dennison and Cybermedia
Delhi is more pleasant than I had expected, based on what students that we met at the Infosys campus had to say. We are staying at the Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon, which after staying at the "Taj Paradise," a Freudian slip on Taj President, has been dubbed the "Monastery of Management" due to the comparative lack of amenities. The facility is excellent by Indian standards, and is warm, comfortable, and relatively clean, although the shower water temperature is a crap-shoot, there was a mosquito buzzing through the room, and the bed is three inches of foam on plywood. I truly enjoyed being awakened by a knock on the door letting me know that a pot of hot water was outside so I could make tea. Brilliant! Breakfast of oatmeal and two unidentified Indian dishes was quite good in my opinion.

Our meeting with Avery Dennison (AD) provided some great insight into the challenges of starting a company in India. We met with the plant manager and managing director (MD) of the Indian operation for a tour and interaction. The Indian subsidiary has a 57% growth plan, which reflects the reliance on developing markets noted in the 10-K. The equipment looked new and employees were polished and actively engaged. The company runs 24/7 producing roughly 150 products based on demand. AD is expanding manufacturing capacity with a new plant in Pune, with additional land to grow into in coming years. A transcript is attached here, but the major takeaways were that understanding a new market takes a lot of time and effort and that a lack of an existing market should mean a major opportunity rather than an impossible sales challenge. The MD spent a full year learning about market transactions and talking to potential customers before beginning any local operations. While previously no one used pressure sensitive labels, the MD decided that they were a better solution than existing options, and has secured a huge market share by moving first.

We travelled directly to CyberMedia, a division of IDC, who publishes several magazines about the IT sector and researches economic and business data. Included in this visit were guest appearances from the CIO's of Bharti/Airtel and Suzuki/Maruti, the largest cell phone service provider and the largest car manufacturer in India respectively. Airtel recently outsourced their entire IT process to IBM, and the CIO declared to us without a moment's hesitation that their core competencies are selling and branding. This is an interesting business model and it has a ton of potential applications to enhance profitability, but foreboding implications for high-cost unskilled labor (e.g. most American workers). The founder and MD of CyberMedia declared that the Indian entrepreneur is a valued commodity in society, which is a new phenomenon. The panel also mentioned that the economy is riding on the back of the IT revolution. I asked whether social entrepreneurs can use IT to impact the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) effectively and profitably. The answer was an emphatic yes. A transcript is found here.
At both offices, the hospitality of refreshments and generous time given to us was puzzlingly generous compared to American standards, but certainly appreciated.

In the evening, our class split in half, with one contingent traveling to downtown Delhi. I chose to accompany the professor to a local shopping mall for a South Indian restaurant. The mall itself was comparable to American quality, although the stores had a cultural flair. Dinner was excellent, cheap, and filling. My stomach and I have become sufficiently comfortable with Indian food to consume American quantities.

January 10, 2008

2008-01-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

Day Six: IBM India, HP Labs, and Travel to Delhi
(As an impatient American, I will take the liberty to note that I am typing this entry for the second time, and will save every couple of minutes to avoid losing my work to a power outage like last time.)
I could not sleep last night, even after turning on my light to finish 'Banker to the Poor' at 4AM, so I went to the business center to reply to emails at 5:30. I ran with Scott at 6:30 this chilly Bangalaroo morning (apparently some locals say Bangalaroo rather than the British-given Bangalore) down MG Lane, the major shopping street; past some homeless sleeping in the streets; a park where an informal cricket match had broken out; and some palacial government buildings where we were greeted by unwelcoming guards with big guns.
Even after seeing the Infosys campus, the business park with IBM, Microsoft, and Yahoo was impressively modern and would fit in with its best American counterparts. Upon entering the IBM facility, we interacted with a government contract manager, a university liaison, a strategy guy, and the manager of the service science lab. The latter, a curly-haired PhD with extensive US business experience, at first seemed to be talking in circles until I realized that the problem was on my end. He was one of the "scary-smart" executives that I had been briefed on, and once I grasped the concepts that he weaved, I felt honored to be in the same room. Click here for the IBM interaction notes.
Upon returning to our hotel, I packed, checked out, and joined our group for lunch with Nidhi Mathur, a manager at HP Labs responsible for market research and product development. Nidhi was relatively young and was the first female to present to our group. My greatest takeaway is that you need to understand the local culture at a deep level to conduct market research and prepare a business plan. Her example was taking a leading technology product to an Indian to get feedback. Indians are very nice and respectful and would rather compliment your idea and indicate that they would most certainly buy it than provide honest criticism. As a result, HP took products to market in India and found consumers were not willing to step up to buy as they had previously indicated.
We moved to the airport, a cultural experience to be sure.
Our group arrived amidst a clogged artery of rickshaws, pedestrians, and cabs providing a cacophonous symphony. We moved to have our baggage to be checked scanned through security prior to getting in line to obtain our boarding passes. We then moved to the personal security checkpoint, where we had our carry-on bags x-rayed and walked through a metal detector. No plastic bins were available so I kept my pocket items as they were. The guard did not like my camera and required me to run it through the conveyor solo. The officer nodded approval and let me pass and I grabbed my personal effects and joined my colleagues to wait for our plane. I had my second experience of buying something at a counter, which is worth describing. In both instances, I had been waiting to catch the eye of the attendant while an Indian moved up beside me, held out money and garnered the purchase before me. In this case, all I could do was lean into him and stare a bit, to no response of course. This was a situation where I wanted to impose my American standards but was able to extricate my emotions and learn about how things are done here.
As we began our cattle call to board, I provided my boarding pass to the attendant, who entered my seat number (why?), and let me proceed to the officer waiting by the door. He brought it my attention that my name-tag had been partially torn off of my laptop case and would need to be replaced. I went back to the boarding pass-taker-guy and asked for a tag, to which he pointed me to the security clearance area. I sighed audibly and ran to the officer that had cleared me, who pointed to another officer, who then pointed me back to the first officer, who grunted and pointed that I would need a tag before they could provide the authoritative stamp. I took a deep breath and ran back to the boarding pass area, reached over and grabbed a tag that I saw (thanks buddy) and ran back to the officer that had originally cleared me, who pointed me again to another of his colleagues. After begging three times, he stamped my tag (without looking at my bag, mind you), I ran back through the boarding pass area with not a word to the attendant, showed my victory tag to the officer who finally allowed passage, only to see a bus pull away on the tarmac. My heart skipped a beat before I saw two last classmates boarding our plane about 40 meters away.
Bureaucracy and inefficiency are no longer cute.
The flight to Delhi included another meal, which I find makes the flight seem shorter. The lack of sleep caught up with me and I was able to read no more than five pages at a time before dozing off. I read a total of twenty pages, with four mini-naps interspersed.
The Delhi airport noted significant development was underway with several pictorials of the 2009 vision. We passed a few Hare Krishnas jamming on a guitar and a drum. The luggage conveyor was appropriately sized, and the chaos to which we had become accustomed did not ensue until leaving the baggage claim. I strategically snapped a photo of the best mustache ever, featuring tennis-ball-sized bushy barbels. We negotiated our way through oncoming traffic of motorized rickshaws to reach our bus. On to MDI.

January 9, 2008

2008-01-09T21:35:00.000-05:00

Day Five: Wipro & Infosys
I woke to the automated wake-up call at 5:30 and prepared for the busy morning of checking emails and suiting up before our 6:45 departure. While the roads were reported to be abysmal, we arrived at Wipro an hour early. Small dwellings and dusty shops lined the road before we turned into a compound of well-appointed two-story buildings. A new office was being built to house an additional 8,000 employees. We waited in line to have our pictures taken for name badges and were questioned about our electronics: apparently laptops are a big no-no given the confidential nature of their client work. The presentation by Sailesh Menezez, Sr. Manager, covered the history and outlook of the Indian economy as well as the Wipro story. I took copious notes of the fascinating presenation and interaction. We were treated to coffee and snacks prior to departure. The stark contrast of the Wipro campus and the free-roaming pigs, cows, and dogs outside reminded me where I was. A transcript of the Wipro Technologies interaction is found here.

Driving to Infosys we passed beautiful and expansive offices of Intel, Accenture, AOL, CapGemini, Northern Trust, and Intuit, neighbored by tin roof huts, piles of rocks, and partially completed construction. This came as a surprise to me. When I had heard that "Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India," I had expected to see the entire city planned and orderly. While the air seemed fresher, the lights seemed brighter, and many people were very well-dressed, there remained the poverty, pollution issues, and infrastructure challenges we had seen in Mumbai.
Driving into Electronics City, the home of Infosys, HP, and other big names, fit my predilection closely. The campus itself was unbelievable, with too many buildings to count spread over 80 acres. I found out later that this is one of their smaller campuses; Mysore has 350 acres! A classmate described the entire image as "sleek," with which I would agree. Everything from the tight security, electronic carts and bicycles for cross-campus travel, and spectacular appointments of the auditorium to the timely scheduling of each interaction developed the image that these guys really have it together. Notes from the Infosys interaction are found here.

From my cultural interactions, it has been fascinating to learn how inefficient a lot of processes are. For example, at a government store with several small sections that I went to yesterday, I bought a small item and the particular counter gave me two receipts. I took them downstairs to the counter where you pay and stood in line for a couple minutes. After I paid, I took the stamped receipt and stood in another line to pick up what I paid for. Could you get any more convoluted? Another example: I wanted to buy a cup of coffee from a coffee shop. No one was at the counter when I walked in, although five employees shuffled around preparing specialty drinks. Another guy walked in behind me and held up some money. I did the same and made sure I was waited on first. They took my order: a cup of black coffee. They told me to sit down and wait. I refrained from shouting, "just give me my coffee," as I so badly wanted to. About three minutes later they gave it to me. My first thought was that they should constantly be making coffee and be ready to get me out the door immediately. My second response was that I am incredibly impatient given that only 5 minutes had elapsed.

While I am learning a lot about the global economy, international business, and business in India, I still do not understand how the average middle class Indian lives. We are staying in excellent hotels, we see run-down apartment buildings and shacks. Where would our hosts shop for groceries? Where do they dine? What creature comforts do they have? I will post this when I learn.

January 8, 2008

2008-01-08T21:33:00.000-05:00

Day Four: Wartsila & Travel to Bangalore
The ringing phone woke me at 6:15 and I met Scott Clark for a run: our last Mumbai morning. While still in twilight, the city was rising, with women stoking fires, men waiting for buses, and children running to their school bus stops. We caught up with another runner and started talking to him. He was in the navy, training for the Mumbai half-marathon coming up next week. We ran up to the Hilton hotel (recommended by the Taj President staff) and followed the sea along the Queen's Necklace, a long, curved street lined with lamps that sparkled through the smoggy sunrise. Traffic became more frantic as we returned; our timing was superb.

After another great breakfast and a continuation of my conversation with Ravi Iyer, the Berkeley professor/consultant, who just happened to be eating at the same time at the neighboring table, we met the Wartsila executives. We discussed the Indian economic outlook, the shipbuilding industry, the company's IT strategy, and the dynamics of business in India. A transcript of the interaction is found here.

After the meeting, we took a long bus ride through the crowded Mumbai roads. Calling the traffic a result of bottlenecks is an understatement. It is more like an hourglass.

The airport was small but modern, with wireless internet access and huge flat-screen TV's. Security was nominal, and no one asked to see my ID ever. We took a tram to the plane and saw the setting sun across the runways. The flight was short and pleasant, and included dinner, which was slightly different from the other Indian fare. Upon arrival, we crammed into a roughly 50 foot conveyor where people three or four deep scrambled to grab their bags.

Walking out of the airport was refreshing with noticeably cleaner air, well-lit streets, no beggars, minimal trash, and a more modern feel overall. Driving to our hotel in a bus, several fresh sights caught my eyes: no one sleeping in the streets, signs that matched the stores below, and a generally more casual pace of life. The hotel was remarkable and my room was much nicer than the prior location, with hardwood floors, a king-size bed, a single bird-of-paradise vased before a mirror, a large flat-screen TV, and attractive furniture. My request for an iron was fulfilled within a few minutes, and after preparing for the coming day I went to bed at about 11:30.

January 7, 2008

2008-01-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

Day Three: Tata Sons & More Tourism
I reneged on the tentative arrangement to meet with a classmate to run at 6:30 AM since I had written until 1:30 AM the night before. I showered, dressed, and went to breakfast. I learned that bitterwort juice is absolutely awful, but the fresh figs, pomegranate seeds, and papaya made me happy. I met a gentleman named Ravi Iyer, an engineer, development consultant, and professor at Berkeley. He was Indian by ethnicity but this was his first time in India; he was visiting to help with a consulting project.

The Tata building looked very similar to many others in the commercial district, which was less congested and cleaner than most streets I had seen. The hospitality was outstanding and the opportunity to speak with top executives of such a huge and successful company was fascinating. Complete notes are found here, but the major takeaways were that Americans can be overwhelmingly ignorant, the US economy could very well fall behind India and China in my lifetime, and Tata is a socially-minded, forward-thinking company that is well-positioned to succeed in the global economy.

Upon leaving Tata, we moved down the street to Bombay Shop, an orderly and extensively stocked shop where I purchased a traditional Indian shirt, which I ended up wearing the rest of the day. My first cab ride in Mumbai brought us back to the hotel. I only burst out laughing twice because of the ridiculous driving. I still don’t understand the rules of the road, but it just seems to work.
We changed quickly and left for a mosque accessible only through a path cutting through the sea from the shore. We made our visit while the tide was out, which meant pungent smells of smoke, salt, waste and rotting fish. This was where the beggars hung out. Images of amputees and the crippled lying in circles of three to five, chanting “ya la” in time while a leader shouted above them haunt my mind. Children picked through abundant trash and held their hands out while blind young and old shouted repetitively. The mosque itself was aesthetically interesting, but I sensed no spirit of holiness. Unwelcoming glances from the presumed faithful were offset by other residents that asked us to take pictures with them. There was a food stall serving the multitude that just sat around. Periodically a prayer chant would come mournfully over the loudspeakers, to which I had expected some reaction from those present, but life went on as if we were watching a ballgame. Putting myself in the shoes of the Muslims I decided that the photography may have been getting excessive and pushed the group to head back.

From the mosque, we took another cab ride which included a screeching tire stop to avoid a collision to a street market where we were told we could test our bargaining skills. I had expected a busy area with stalls on both sides of a walkway, which was basically true. I did not expect to be pestered by guys selling Indian drums everywhere I went. The traffic was heavy, but Indian merchants know American chumps when they see them and focus inordinate attention on securing a high margin sale. I bought a pair of sandals for 90 rupees (roughly $2.25) that our professor said we would need for the bathrooms in Delhi, where our accommodations will be a “more authentic” Indian experience.

I also parted with some rupees to buy some milk and rice for a young girl. Once I bought into buying something, we went down a sidestreet to a small store where she pointed at a bulk can of dry milk and a huge bag of rice, which would have fed her family for a month and cost 1200 rupees ($40). I laughed, recognizing I didn't even have that much cash and pointed at smaller portions. In America I am more willing to buy food than just give money, but I think that she just recognized that this is a better way to get money than sticking your hand out like other beggars. I asked her to take a picture with me and she followed me back to our group, where she had a brief exchange in Hindi with a classmate. She ended the conversation asking my Indian classmate not to be angry with me and ran off, confirming the thought that I had been duped.

Back at the hotel, a classmate inquired about the amputees at the mosque to a concierge, who told us that organized groups cut off limbs to provoke sympathy, sometimes within people's will and other times against it. Regardless of the veracity of this atrocity, the sheer number of beggars meant that those in need would never gain a foothold above poverty.
Feeling too tired to wait for dinner and having no interest in joining comrades at a club, I went back to my room and ordered a delightful curry dinner, took a long hot shower, and took to writing. I planned to wake at 6:15 AM and run with a classmate through the streets of Mumbai.

January 6, 2008

2008-01-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

Day 2: Mumbai Tour
I woke up at 7:15 AM and felt fully alert, despite having just 4 hours of sleep. I felt like I had a sty starting in my eye and became anxious and regretful for not bringing any eye drops. I decided to go to the gym and run, which felt awful, likely due to lack of proper rest and a despicable eating schedule while traveling. I listened to Chris Tomlin while running and a sermon by Rob Bell when I got back to the room, in lieu of hunting for a church. After I showered, I picked up a phone call from the front desk, following through on the 9:00 AM wake-up call I had requested. Breakfast was outstanding: fresh papaya, various Indian dishes, potatoes seasoned like I had never experienced, and starchy donuts. I had a glass of carrot juice, which was a tad risqué, but thought nothing of it at the time.

Our group met in the lobby at 11:00, and I was one of the first to meet our tour guide, Rusi Khambatta, a lifelong Mumbai resident and an officer with the Indo-American Society. We climbed aboard the bus and took off to our first stop, the Taj Mahal Hotel, a spectacular creation of one of the Tatas, spurred by his exclusion from another popular hotel. The architecture was phenomenally detailed and grand. Surprisingly, Christmas decorations outshined any other religiously affiliated items.

The India Gate was directly across the street, and after snapping a few photos from strategic vantage points in the hotel, we traversed the busy street a la Frogger. The Gate was under construction, which meant scaffolding marred the image and workers were chiseling tiles by hand for the courtyard, right before our eyes. Several young boys hawked postcards and trinkets, while older men competed for the ice cream popsicle trade. Beggars were few, but convincing, with eyes displaying pain and disappointment in humanity, while motioning toward their mouths to indicate hunger.

We moved up the street past a booth raising awareness for vaccinations to the Cottage Industries store, a government run market, seemingly targeting tourists, with quality-ensured goods from scarves to carvings to tea. I grabbed a bag of fine Darjeeling and delayed other purchases.

Next we drove a few minutes through comically narrow streets (passersby stopped, pointed, and laughed at the size of our bus) to a low-income street market area where I felt very uncomfortable. Not unsafe, but intrusive, evident from the stares we got. It was loud, dusty, and I could not for the life of me figure out who would buy all the old car parts and widgets that were presumably for sale. Obviously not a bunch of white kids in polo shirts. We stopped in a store to see a clock, a really big clock purportedly in the Guinness book, with about 12 smaller clocks on it. As we were waiting for our bus to pull around, I saw a man pushing an old wooden cart with four large sacks of potatoes who had trouble stopping his momentum and nearly plowed into a car that stopped ahead. The mix of old and new was striking. As I boarded the bus, I decided to take a picture of four young boys that I thought looked fascinating. Before the flash they were on me aggressively begging. I barely escaped.

The next market we stopped to see was much more civilized, and I only bought a SIM card in hopes of calling home cheaply. The store manager was highly adept, assertive, and would likely have held a solid middle class job if she were in the States.

Next we travelled to the Ghandi museum, a house were the Mahatma had lived, donated by rich philanthropists to the cause of commemorating his life. The photos, models, letters, and his old room were fascinating, especially with the Ghandi movie fresh in my mind.

Our next stop was the local produce market, a street with many small booths displaying colorful fruits, vegetables, and spices. The street was relatively calm because it was Sunday. Our guide ecstatically purchased a square of white goat cheese from a street vendor and offered to share. I glanced to our professor, whom I knew what not let us eat something (this early in the trip anyway) that could cause stomach problems. He seemed ok, so I ate it, and it was mild and delicious.

Next we moved to the laundry, where much of the cities clothes are washed by hand through a well-coordinated system. While seemingly unsanitary, our guide took pride in the fact that his grandfather, father, and himself all had their clothes washed in the same manner at the same place. There has got to be a better way. There was a family aggressively selling various bags, jewelry, maps, and postcards that moved as a team. I supposed that if someone showed any interest in buying something, they could cross-sell.

Next we visited a Jain temple, where shoeless worshipers bowed and prayed to the 24 statues of teachers. The bright colors, gold and marble, complexity of design, and various quotes and proverbs on the walls was a striking difference from Christianity, and I was not moved spiritually, other than regret that in my mind the followers were missing the boat.

Last we explored Kamala Nehru Park, a beautiful conglomeration of flowers, topiaries, red dirt paths, children flying kites, and brightly clothed families picnicking. The trashcans, shaped oddly like penguins, were some of the first I had seen all day. It seems like the waste management system is in dire need of help. Part of the park had wonderful views of Mumbai, displaying the Queen’s Necklace.

We then returned to the hotel, hungry and anxious to eat. The appetizers were plentiful and the buffet of traditional Indian fare was right on target. Dessert was a special treat, with fried goodness dipped in caramelized sugar and some kind of milk based pudding. Our visitors from Tata were swamped by classmates and I spent the meal conversing with other comrades. After dinner I got to see how much nicer the other rooms were as I borrowed a outlet converter and an iron, amenities I was not privy to.

January 5, 2008

2008-01-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Day 1: Travel
Boy, that’s a long flight. On the plane, I listened to some music and a Rob Bell sermon, read ¾ of “Banker to the Poor”, won a game of chess on the in-seat console, ate two meals and three snacks, slept one hour, went to the bathroom five times, and watched the movie “Gandhi” while the Indian next to me watched “Grease.” I’m not sure if he caught the irony.

The airport was remarkable easy until we got outside, where a crowd stood around to help with bags and provide transportation. I negotiated my bag carrier down from a $10 tip to $1, while other classmates gave various amounts to their helpers from 10 rupees (25 cents) to $20. What a lesson in assertiveness.

The drive to the hotel took about 30 minutes of fast and furious driving, dodging cars and pedestrians, which in my sleep deprived state I found both scary and humorous. Sights along the way include too many cabs to count, too many stray dogs to count, and more people sleeping on the streets than I had ever seen. I supposed they could not afford to cobble together a tarp over a handmade shelter like so many others. We also passed crowds of people out enjoying their Friday night, myriad Vodafone signs, a FedEx store, and a Porsche dealer. Overall, the flow of life seemed chaotic with no order.

We arrived at the hotel at 1:00 AM, had no trouble checking in and got a dot of red powder on our foreheads. The hotel room is nice, but not extravagant, and is missing an iron and an alarm clock.

January 4, 2008

2008-01-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

I am packed and ready. Having learned as much as I could, here are my predictions:
- When we arrive, the airport will be circa 1950, and the baggage claim will be a zoo, with people clamoring to help me carry my bags, find a taxi, and wipe my nose.
- There will be vibrant colors, lively sounds, and despicable smells as I travel about. It will take a few days to become accustomed to it.
- People will be friendly and respectful everywhere I go. Beggars will be rampant, but not intrusive.
- Tips will be appreciated, even in very small denominations.
- The hotels will be on par with the finest in the world. The water is another story.
- Mumbai will be a clash of extreme poverty and extraordinary wealth. Both will seem satisfied with their lot. Everyone will be working hard.
- Bangalore will have more green than Mumbai, although traffic will be abysmal. Facilities will be very high-tech.
- Delhi will seem older and more stately, with a mix of styles between Mumbai and Bangalore.
- The managers we are meeting with will be so smart it is scary.
- Power outages will be frequent, although the hotels will have generators. Roads will be clogged with standard and creative means of transportation.
- Everything available in America will be available there, from toiletries to tailored suits. While prices are negotiable in most markets, high-end stores will hold fast to pricing.

Recommendations I have received:
- Eat only hot food; vegetarian food is excellent.
- Take a small (3" by 4") notebook to record news on the spot.
- Get a group and buy a few cheap cell phones with minutes. This will help us coordinate activities while we are there.
- Don't give money to the poor. It may be a well-orchestrated ring that barely benefits those in need.
- Take small denominations (10-20 rupees) for tips for minor tasks.
- Cheap jewelry is very cheap and makes great gifts for Americans.
- Go to church. Experience all you can.
- Do something you would not do otherwise. It may be a catalyst for new adventures.
- Ride in a rickshaw.
- Only take one carry-on bag. The airlines may frown upon my typical limit-pushing.

January 2, 2008

2008-01-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

In 48 hours I will be on a plane to Mumbai. I have gotten my Indian visa, immunizations (which caused me to pass out - shots are my greatest fear in life), plane tickets, Immodium, a fully loaded iPod, and am ready to dive in head first. Still, the 15 hour flight and 10.5 hour time zone difference are imposing hurdles.

Outside of the administrative rigamarole, three things have helped to acclimatize my mind in advance. Reading "India Unbound," by Gurcharan Das, provided a rich perspective of the social and economic gyrations that have colored modern India's character, strategic advantages, and competitive challenges. The two class meetings in College Park were invaluable to understanding the economic virtues of modern India, provided an opportunity to hear first hand from an expat with outstanding Indian business experience, and facilitated a Cliff's Notes overview of the companies we will be visiting. Lastly, today I sat down to lunch with a friend, colleague, and U.S. business owner with extensive knowledge of Indian culture and business. My next post will include some of the wisdom that he shared, combined with other expectations and premonitions.