Why not Cincinnati?

Photos: Left - Day 1 group photo again. Day 1 photo of one of the classrooms storing some stuff.

Over the past few days people have asked me? "OK, going to South Africa to help - that is a good thing. Congratulations on doing that. But, why not help out in New Orleans, or local homeless, or Over-the-Rhine (a Cincinnati neighborhood).

Well, after a conversation this morning, I think that I have a good answer for that. "Because, if we were in Cincinnati, we'd still be taking cell calls, we'd leave what we were doing to see our friends and family -- or in short We wouldn't be totally immersed."

Everything in South Africa has been stripped away. We don't really have anything to worry about here except ourselves, what we're doing, and what we're seeing. Sounds kind of selfish -- but I think that if we were in Cincinnati, we'd return to our own homes and our own issues and then not be totally immersed.

Now, moving on, I think that going through this immersion will ultimately help New Orleans, Cincinnati, or even our local neighborhood as we'll remember what we've seen here, how we've gone about helping and how we've connected.

Here, we've stripped everything away so that now it is people to people - no agendas (hidden or open). Just a mindset of "This is what improves things."

On a personal note, Today, Darby is 1,000,000 minutes old (at 3:47 a.m. eastern)- so if you see her, wish her a happy millenia.

Disclaimer: I have not proofread this (or any of the blogs) as time and internet connections here make it not really worthwhile.