A Crazy Day - Life in Kurdistan The painter was coming at 10 with a friend’s father, although it would probably be 10:30 because life in Kurdistan runs on Kurdish time. When I got the call that the painter couldn’t come until 5 pm, I wasn’t terribly surprised. My car was stuck in a store [...]
Where is Home Anyway? The past six months have been a whirlwind filled with new friendships and experiences. It’s hard to remember how much things have changed since we first arrived. Somewhere along the line, relationships developed with the students, and with it evaporated the vast majority of classroom behavior problems. Somewhere along the line, [...]
People Always Ask About the Food Team dinner was always a special event. The team of teachers in Suly would share a meal together while Skyping with the SGI team in Nashville. It was not only a time of fellowship, but of relaying news, solving problems and just keeping in touch. I got to be [...]
Visiting My Daughter in Iraq (part 3) Over the next few days we met the rest of the team and shared several meals with them. We got to meet many of the students and saw her interaction with them, their questions about everything. We got to go shopping, both at the markets in the city, [...]
THANK YOU!! In just the last two days we have raised over $7000 dollars to provide much needed shoes, socks, and warm coats for refugees moving back to their homes in Iraq. Included in that are 207 pairs of shoes for children, 142 pairs of socks, other coats hats and gloves, and lots of undesignated [...]
The recent ban on immigrants and refugees from certain parts of the world doesn’t mean we can’t love and care for those who need our help. We have teams on the ground in far away places working to help provide clothing, shelter, and schools for families who lost their homes and jobs to war and [...]
An opportunity to serve with SGI in Kurdistan. Background: Since 2014, when ISIS first encroached on Iraqi Kurdistan, Servant Group has been working with the refugees who bear the burden of this conflict. Initially we helped to start a school in a refugee camp near Dohuk, followed by another school in the recently liberated Sinjar [...]
Visiting My Daughter in Iraq (part 2) She lived upstairs in what we would call a duplex. It was surrounded by a wall, and there was not a yard, though several neighbors had potted plants barely clinging to life. The floor and walls were all tile, and many of the wall tiles contained scripture verses, [...]
I Visited My Daughter in Iraq So, your daughter lives where?! Is she in the military? This is the response I would usually get when I told people that my eldest lived in Iraq. They didn’t understand the heart that she had to love and serve these people. It could be really hard. I watched [...]
IHOP Broke My Spirit There’s this thing called reverse culture shock, and man is it a real kick in the head when it hits you. I’m American, born and raised, and had my fair share of intercultural experience. I even have a degree in intercultural studies. Of all people in the world I should be [...]
