Xiwan and I

I just spent the day with my friend, Xiwan, from Nepal and look forward to more time in the next week with him, here in the United States. The most common thing I asked him before he came here and since is ‘How can I serve you?” It is a common statement I use.

I have always had a heart for service. I remember my dad asking me to help usher at our Presbyterian church when I was VERY young, maybe 7 years old. I learned to be at church early and how to count the money, clean up and make the deposit afterwards. Pretty simple tasks I performed about once a month. Fast forward through my youth and young adulthood and I was a Boy Scout (my son John went much further in Scouts) and spent some time in Army ROTC down at Georgetown University and after college during the Cold War wherever Uncle Sam sent me. Sarah and I volunteered at The Cincinnati Art Museum and SPCA while we were dating and also after we were married. I worked as a cop for ten years…more service.

Today….well today I serve partners in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Kathmandu (and other areas). What does that look like? That‘s tough to explain but I will give it a go. I have learned, been taught, and experienced the best way to serve people is to submit to them. I have very little clue of the best way to interdict human trafficking in countries I visit but I believe my Indian, Nepali, and Brazilian (wild story) friends do. I have learned that America is a rich country with tons of resources and great ideas and great opportunities but I certainly do not pretend to know what is best for a Nepali teenager who just wants to return to her country that she was kidnapped from, nor the young Bangladeshi girl I met in Kolkata who made some of the coolest clothes I had ever seen. I have no idea what their hopes and dreams are based on their culture, religion or life experiences but I know that my friends with ‘boots on the ground’ there have a better idea. So, I learn from them and ask how I can serve them.

Xiwan owns a trekking company that travels through some serious human trafficking areas. I’m not talking ‘coyotes’ taking people across the Rio Grande (which is trafficking); I am talking about village leaders (think mayor) who basically kidnap young girls and then send them to brothels that his wife owns in another country. I have visted Southeast Asia’s largest brothel area, Sonagacci, and seen that misery in Kolkata. How do you stop that? It is pretty daunting stuff. One way is to keep on trekking (literally) with Xiwan. The money we pay in part goes to villagers that we stay with. When I say stay with, I mean….in their house eating what they eat and using squatty potties. The amounts we provide, paltry by our standards, can mean the difference between them eating that month or selling a daughter for a bag of rice….I will never have to make that choice. Our partners help women/girls who have been trafficked and also ones that are at risk of being trafficked. Girls are literally one bag of rice or one bad harvest from being sold or traded.

Is it a blast to travel there? Heck yeah, I have ridden motorcycles thru Kathmandu, trekked the Himalayas, helped fund a school (we still do), visited Mother Theresa’s mission in Kolkata, and made a ton of friends along the way. Do you have to have a heart for service to go….? Nope!!!

Wanna see it?

Drop me an email or call me and join me on the next adventure….Have a vacation with a purpose in 2022.