Greetings, Friends!

I returned from IMYM earlier this week with a full heart, renewed spirit, a bagful of music and writing from gifted IMYM Friends, and very heavy eyelids. (Who goes to a Friends gathering to sleep??) Mike Gray, coordinator for the IMYM/AFSC Joint Service Project, gave me and Anthony Manousos a ride to the airport, with a couple hours’ stop in Santa Fe. We ran into Friends Florence Ntakarutimana and Sara Keeney no more than a block from our van. IMYM was lucky to have Florence visiting from Friends Peace Teams’ African Great Lakes Initiative in Burundi, and I was lucky to get to wander the plaza in Santa Fe arm in arm with her, looking at trinkets and artwork by locals.

Florence commented to me, “It is good to travel and see the world. The things I have seen. So beautiful! But expensive–in one shop, there was a dress for $400. $400! That would feed my family of eight people for one month.” [her emphasis]

Her direct translation of dollars into food struck me. The inequality of a world where hungry people and $400 dresses can coexist is startling when it is laid out in front of you on a crowded plaza full of expensive art and people with the means to purchase it. I am grateful for Florence’s words, and for her work to alleviate suffering among the people of Burundi. And I am grateful to the Friends of IMYM, who made me feel so at home among them. I look forward to getting to know you all much better.