A Xenophobic Christmas

A friend encourages me to go to Church on Christmas Eve. “Great music, It’ll put you into the Christmas Spirit.”

I'm already moving in that direction.

Earlier in the day, I travel to a neighboring village and help Operation Feed provide a hundred families with food and gifts and toys for their children. 

Families gather at Operation Feed

 The program is a collaboration between Mexicans and expats. A local Mexican leader and restaurateur spear-heads this and many other weekly projects.

Augustine and volunteers become a Christmas message

I meet two women who tell me more.

“We’re the egg ladies,” they announce. “We help sort eggs for distribution out into the village.”

They tell me it’s a volunteer job but they pay 200 pesos each time for the privilege. 

Imagine paying to volunteer. “It’s egg money,” smiles one of the women. “How else can we have money for eggs?”

The organization’s motto is... Stop The Hunger - Start The Hope. 

What a wonderful Christmas message, I think.  

I hop on a crowded bus and make my way to music and Christmas eve worship. 

As expected, the music is grand. Harmonies mix with congregational singing. We sing O Come All Ye Faithful – all 6 verses.

Nativity fills the Plaza at Ajijic

The sermon starts with a light hearted joke and promises to be brief. 

A story unfolds of expats celebrating a first Christmas in Mexico. “We had no church, but we made a large living space feel like church.” 

We settled into traditional Christmas worship even though we all had been transported from our homes to Mexico. It felt good to be with other expats.

Afterwards continues the Pastor, “we decide to go into the town to see how Mexicans celebrate Christmas. 

We had images of a Mexican procession moving slowly towards the Church with candles in hand,”

Posada in Mexico

But in stark contrast, we meet “utter chaos.”

Raucous, loud, alcohol out-of-control masses are some of the derogatory words used.  Negative caricatures follow in describing this Mexican Christmas celebration.  It jolts me.  

The sermon continues poking fun at Mexican behaviors.  A few congregants begin to snicker.  

I’m feeling more uncomfortable. To me, it sounds xenophobic. Why would a sermon poke fun at Mexicans on Christmas eve in Mexico? 

It must be something unconscious – maybe an ignorance saying that our way is the better way.  Could that be why some of the people around me are now laughing and not growing more uncomfortable as I am.  

The sermon concludes with Church bells says the Pastor. “At first, a single bell rings out.  And then others join in. Soon many bells are filling the town air and quieting the Mexicans,” reassures the Pastor. 

He ends the sermon with a broad smile.  Next is passing the Peace of Christ.

People clasp hands and a few hug one another. An older woman quickly clasped my hand and then just as quickly turns away. 

What's it like to be an outsider?

Huh? I look around towards others, but no one returns the glance or makes an effort.

Even the Pastor, when he comes down the aisle, skips my row. I’m not sure why. But it does make me feel like an outsider. 

It’s then that I decide to leave before Eucharist is served. I think, “It’s not a place for me.”

On the bus ride home, the sermon still rumbles within. I need an antidote.

I regain some comfort in seeing ordinary Mexican men and women with children in tow making their own way home. A guy plays his guitar and fills the bus with song. I pass him some money. 

 A young man stands to give up his seat. I shake my head, not necessary, but with a smile, he insists. Unexpected kindness on a crowded bus.

I get home. I watch a new movie, The Two Popes, and regain some perspective. I surf the net for sermons and Christmas messages.

In spite of my recent experience, I’m reminded how lively Christmas Spirit can be. 

Congregations do act with kindness, justice and peace and not just at Christmas time. They stretch themselves to welcome the stranger and embrace the forgotten.

Sure, the sermon was unfortunate. But ironically, it opens a broader reflection into the insidious persistence of xenophobia. 

It can slide into conversations and sermons without awareness. I feel a new urgency for the message of Christmas...especially here in Mexico.

Tear gas used on Mexican families at the border

Too many cruel and hate-filled images of Mexicans are in our media and on the lips of our leaders. 

Insistently Xenophobia seeps into awareness smearing good people who just want to live... a little differently.

Singing with some students at a Christmas party

I want to keep my focus on the kindnesses I’ve experienced here and embrace human differences that surround me everywhere in Mexico.

So when the bells ring out tonight for Christmas eve, I’ll be thinking of angelic words proclaimed to ordinary shepherds.

Peace on Earth and Good Will to All.

Older women belong here

I’ll keep remembering expats paying to volunteer and a Mexican leader who cares for the poor and lives  the Christmas message every week... 

End The Hunger. 

 Start The Hope

http://www.operationfeedsjc.org/

Announcing - Leadership for Social Change

Ideas start in the mind. Along the way, many get forgotten or rejected.  But some ideas remain... growing stronger over the years until they are realized.

For me, this one started in 2011. 

I'm at the Peace Corps office in Kiev saying my goodbyes. After two years of serving in Konotop, Ukraine, I'm flying back to America tomorrow.

“Jud, we're hoping that you'll record your 21 tips talk before leaving,” says Iryna, the PC training director.

My talk of practical ideas for community integration had been well received by Peace Corps Trainees. Iryna wants to use it in future trainings. Of course, I'm flattered and soon find myself sitting in front of the camera for my first ever video – 21 Tips for Community Integration.

I don't know it at the time but a new idea is forming.

Flash forward and I'm back in the Peace Corps.  This time I'm in Macedonia. Here I'm serving as an organizational development specialist helping young community leaders with management and leadership issues.

I learn a lot. I develop short in-office trainings, bi-weekly emails with “Leadership Tips”, and spend lots of hours coaching.

I don't know it at the time, but I'm organizing a body of content.

Moving into present time, I'm back in America again and missing my relationships with community leaders. I'm wondering how I can keep relationships and make new ones.

That's when the idea for a YouTube Channel crystallizes. 

 On YouTube, I can open a space for sharing and encourage community leaders in their work for positive social change.

I think to myself, “I can do this.”

But soon I discover that I can't do it alone. While I have inspiration and content, I don't have knowledge of how to make and post videos.

My son, Matthew, starts my learning process. He helps me map out a plan and shares some links for more learning. And just as importantly, his support motivates me.

Nesko and Ratomir, colleagues from Macedonia, help me solve technical problems. Other, like Sally, Bob, Fran and Barb, are a constant sources of support. When I'm about to give up, I'll talk with one of them.

Once again, I learn that ideas don't easily become reality. This one takes six years and six months.

Yet here I am on July 4^th announcing a new YouTube Channel.

 Leadership for Social Change. 

It's a place where community leaders can discover new ideas and adapt them into their own leadership.

I'm hoping that it will reach community leaders both in America and developing countries.

Maybe Peace Corps Volunteers and others who work with community leaders can pass-it-on.  

I won't be monetizing this project.  It's about helping others. 

So if you can, why not help me pass-it-on.    

Here's a couple of ideas to get you started.

1.  Subscribe yourself.  Leadership for Social Change. When a channel has more subscribers, it shows up more frequently on searches. 

2.  Post these links in your Social Media and tell people about Leadership for Social Change.  

By passing-it-on, you open possibilities for reaching leaders who might benefit a lot.  It's a "three degree of separation" thing.  

     Blog  

http://juddolphin.blogspot.com 

  

     YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5BcjFBQROBx7G5ONjQTbaw  

Thank you so much.  

Like I say in one of the videos, “We're in this life together. And we are leaders who are working for a better world...one community at a time..”

Peace Corps Response and Chance Opportunities

If I tell you about my work week, you might ask, “Are you really in the Peace Corps?” 

Unlike popular images of trekking across barren lands to teach an English class or digging wells to provide safe drinking water for an entire village or saving the world in some other amazing way, my experience is more mundane.

You see, I spend much of my week in front of a computer. I'm searching for information, analyzing, thinking and writing. I might be working on a methodology for problem solving or a strategy for our Internet and Social Media presence or a presentation for a workshop.  Ordinary stuff. 

I'm always calling the staff together for strategy planning.  We use a lot of mind mapping and brain-storming.  Our white board gets used so much that it seems like we are always buying new markers. After meetings, I compile notes and try to keep us moving forward.  I guess I'm a nudge too.

Recently I've been learning about CRM or Customer Relations Management. It's a data base that can be used to build relationships with customers or in our case with our constituents. 

My organization is poised to use CRM.  We want to to deepen relationships with our contacts and engage them in our mission of positive social change. 

As a colleague often says, “We always had dreams, but we didn't know what we didn't know until we knew it."

But there's a problem. All the CRM software seems to be English based. It doesn't take or, more importantly, export Cyrillic letters. We're looking for a work around. If anyone has an idea, please let me know.

When I step away from my desk and computer, I'm likely to be meeting new people. Yesterday I repeated my workshops on Time Management and Mind Mapping for about 45 business, education and NGO leaders as well as some students and unemployed people.

It was part of Skopje's effort to equip citizens with new skills for personal development. It was well received and I'm even invited back in February.

That's about as pictorial as my work week gets. Mostly I'm at my desk.  I guess I could easily be mistaken for a bureaucrat whose office just happens to be in Skopje, Macedonia.

It's not that I'm complaining. I'm not. I believe Peace Corps work, like mine, has value even if it's not so flashy.

I'm part of the Peace Corps Response Program. It places returned Peace Corps Volunteers and other qualified professionals in assignments around the world. These opportunities are based on sharing professional experience and skills to help host country organizations grow in their reach and effectiveness. 

My organization in Macedonia, known as Public, has a mission of working for positive change in Society. They do it through social issue research, public education and calls to action. 

Sometimes my work week is interrupted by surprising opportunities.  As best as I can tell, it works like this... 

Someone who knows me tells another about me who passes it on to another and then to another. Finally, I'm asked, “Can you help us?”

Today, I'm making my way to the St. Kliment of Ohrid National and University Library. I know the way because a section of the Library houses the American Corner.

American Corner is a space where computers, English magazines and books are made available to the public compliments of the US Embassy. I few months ago Maja, one of the key staff, asked me to teach several of my Organizational Development workshops there. It was fun and a rewarding experience. I love teaching.

Now my trip to the Library is to meet with Maja's boss. It's about some grant they are submitting, but I'm fuzzy about details. I've been learning that I don't have to have it all figured out. All I need to do is show up and as they say, “Go with the flow.”

I lock my bike to a pole. I bike everywhere in Skopje unless it's raining. Maja greets me with a warm “good day” and takes me to her Director's office. 


Soon I'm confronted with a surprising opportunity.  I hear about an emergency of dire consequences.

“Our building is 45 years old. Inside, we have the irreplaceable cultural heritage of Macedonia - rare books and manuscripts, first editions of famed authors, icons, art works, and so much more.” She shows me list naming more than 30 different collections. I had no idea and now these collections are at risk.

“Our roof is leaking. It's getting so old. Every time we have a hard storm water leaks into the reading room and now into the stacks. We're trying to cope with buckets and plastic, but it's not working.”

Then she shows me a grant application. It's a US Embassy application for the “Protection of Cultural Heritage.” The director wants my help. She confides that she has little experience in writing grants and using English, especially for something so important. I gladly agree to help.

I'm thinking, “How fortunate to be here. Thank you Peace Corps Response. And how fortunate I am to have met Maja. And how fortunate I am to know about grant making.”  It's surprising how things can work out for the good.  

Together, the director, Maja and I settle in by a sunny window to work through the proposal. I make the director promise to let me know when she gets the grant and then to send lots picture of the new roof. She smiles broadly.

It's another one of those chance meetings that make a difference. With nearly 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in 63 countries world wide, I'm wondering...

• How many chance encounters are saving cultural heritage,
• Restoring human dignity
• And yes, improving human lives with safe drinking water?

Maybe one day we'll do even more when we stop preparing for war and invest our national treasure in peace making.

Macedonian Collaboration and Social Entrepreneurship

Coming together is a beginning,

keeping together is progress,

working together is success.
                           ...Henry Ford 

Our office is buzzing with activity.  Tonight at a cafe, we'll launch another issue of Лице в Лице, our street magazine. 

Lice v Lice means “face to face” in Macedonian.  The name is based on the way the magazine is distributed.  Instead of selling on-line or by subscription, it’s sold on the street “face to face” by vendors.

Our vendors are the homeless, Roma, disabled and others living on the margins.  They go to office buildings, street corners and other public places selling Lice v Lice. For their efforts, they collect half of the cover price - about a dollar.   It’s a form of social entrepreneurship. 

Social Entrepreneurship is an idea that has been expanding among NGOs. Business practices are used to sustain NGOs while achieving social good. For my organization, the business need of selling the magazine also achieves income and opportunities for those who have little of both. 

Street papers are a movement that has been spreading across the globe. Recently leaders from 115 papers in 36 countries gathered in Seattle, Washington to share best practices and be inspired by achievements of one another. 

Together the street papers boast 6 million readers for each edition. Learn more. 

Lice v Lice participated in the conference and presented a workshop. Others were impressed with the depth of our magazine's content. Every issue is over 65 pages and focuses on a major social issue.

To give you an idea in English, here is a link.  Read more about this social issue called Embrace Rarity.

I like the mix of data with human story and policy suggestions. People say they buy the magazine to support the marginalized but then discover it's a good read on issues that rarely are heard in mainstream media. What do you think?

The launch event starts.  We're filling the Rakia Bar, a trendy place in the heart of Skopje. The event is part of an emerging marketing strategy. It draws attention of the media and brings together a growing number of supporters. 

Tonight 200 will eventually spill onto the streets.  It's exciting.

Bundles of the magazine are carried in. I leave the heavy lifting for the younger ones. This month’s issue focuses on social responsibility and collaboration between business and NGOs. 

According to Klimentina, Director of my organization, “It’s an area that is not well developed in Macedonia. We want to encourage more.”

Underwriting tonight's event and publication costs is Knauf, an international building supply company. 

It's a first for them in Macedonia and demonstrates corporate leadership. Robert, our liaison, tells me he admires the work of Lice v Lice and is glad Knauf can help.

Robert and Klimentina

Actually, his involvement sparked a creative idea. In transporting their products, Knauf uses industrial bags. Could these bags be re-purposed?

I'm not sure how, but together Klimentina's and Robert's creativity went into over-drive. They caught an idea that these old bags could be transformed and made into something beautifully unique.

Klimentina contacted a designer friend, Irina. Soon she came up with a pattern and created a prototype for a tote bag. Other designers got involved with original art work to decorate the bags. From industrial bags emerge totally unique totes. Collaboration works.

At the event, the bags, a la totes, are on display for sale. People crowd in to take a look. It feels a little like bargain day at Filene's basement. Before long, actually less than 30 minutes, all the bags are sold. 

Cory, the Peace Corps Director in Macedonia, beams as she snags one of the last ones.

I think it adds excitement and an urban edge to the evening.  And I can’t help making an analogy. If these industrial bags can be transformed, then maybe urban societies can be too. People on the margins included and valued face to face.  Read more about the bags

But there’s more to the evening. I had assumed that the proceeds would go to Lice v Lice. Budgets are always a challenge. But no, Klimentina informs me that there's a special purpose.

“We decided to organize a collaboration with the Center for Street Children,” she says. She goes on explaining how they helped them before, but nothing sustainable. The Center tries to offer a lunch program, but sometimes there's not enough food.

Staff: Aneta, Zarmena, Alexsandra, a vendor, Klimentina, Maja
Nebojsa missed this picture.  He is off doing something important

Unknown to me, Zarmena on our staff makes many calls until she finds 4 food companies ready to donate. Tonight's money will provide the missing link.

“We'll rent a van and every week the driver will collect and deliver the food,” says Klimentina as she turns to me and asks, “What do you think?”

I’m amazed. Food for street children. 

 Lice v Lice not only writes about collaboration, publish a magazine about collaboration and gets Knauf and designers involved, but they also manage to create collaboration where street children are fed. And to make it even more amazing, it's sustainable – food from re-purposed industrial bags.

I'm thinking...

“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.” 

Henry Ford said it first and now I see it in Macedonia.  Collaboration and social entrepreneurship working together.  

Success.