Author Archives: Karyn

A Tale of Two Books

Is the measure of a good book in its story or its telling? Truly great books will have both, but sometimes one is enough.

I’m not sure if The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, is truly well written (although, it is definitely clever). I’ve heard opinions (from people I respect) on both sides of the spectrum. But I do know that the words of the story relentlessly hit on my heart like the heavy, pounding raindrops of a summer storm on a tin roof.

This story of a missionary family’s tragic mis-adventure in the Belgian Congo of 1959 is told from the point of view of the five women in the family. I can relate to all of the roles: wife, mother, daughter, sister. Perhaps this made the book all the more bitter and sweet. But, even my husband (who is not a wife, mother, daughter or sister!), was affected by the story (see his review here).

I read TPB several months after reading Fieldwork (by Mischa Berlinski). Fieldwork unravels the story of an anthropologist, a multi-generation missionary family, a journalist, and a murder.

I read Fieldwork almost non-stop. I could not put it down. It tore through my soul. I read The Poisonwood Bible in daily fits and spurts. But its story haunted me through the hours in between turning the pages.
The Poisonwood Bible   Fieldwork

I think these two books should be required reading for people preparing to work overseas (particularly as missionaries or NGO workers). They are not instruction manuals or glowing tales of missionary faith. Neither are they outright condemnations. But both books reveal the heart of darkness that is sometimes carried into a place by the very people seeking to bring light. And that is what both of these books capture so well: the knife-edge between darkness and light, life and death, hate and love, understanding and ignorance, arrogance and humility.

The characters and situations–in both books–are vehicles for the larger issues the authors illuminate. Do not be distracted by the (sometimes) strong caricatures and miss the emotional workout that the authors ask the reader to commit to.

Reviews by friends of mine:
Fieldwork (Mindy Withrow)
The Poisonwood Bible (Mark Traphagen)

Light

A picture is better than a thousand words. ‘Tis true. Look at the light in their eyes!

Ethan & Maggie light their menorah
Photo by John Free (our son-in-law).

As we celebrate Chanukah and anticipate Christmas, I’m also reading and hope to get some reviews up soon. Stay tuned!

Chanukah (Ethan & Maggie light the candles)

Ethan & Maggie light the candles for the second night of Chanukah. Tomorrow they will join a Jewish family from school for a party. What fun that they can participate in the celebration (and even get to practice some of the Hebrew they are learning). One special thing about our candles this year is that we hand-dipped them ourselves! The kids even helped.

Directory of Tools for eLearning

Jane Hart, from the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, has compiled a very complete and helpful directory of tools for eLearning.

There are currently 3,141 tools catalogued, and 2,381 of those are FREE!

You won’t be overwhelmed because the site is well-organized. Even if you are not involved in distance education, you will find some helpful tools to make your teaching/life more productive. Check it out!

Jane also has several blogs worth following. For example, Social Media In Learning or Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day.

You can also follow Jane on Twitter: @C4LPT

Kiva

Tall Skinny Kiwi (Andrew Jones) draws attention to the organization Kiva today.

If you are not yet familiar with Kiva, please check out their website (the “about” tab has lots of information). While I know there are some people who question the micro-finance system as a whole (see the first comment on Andrew’s post), I think some people can easily dismiss a very good opportunity in the name of trying to prevent supporting those few who tarnish a system.

I think Kiva is great, in fact they’ve recently won the ThinkSocial Award. I’m personally very happy to support Kiva.

Here’s how it works: Kiva administers micro-loans (in increments of $25) from people around the world like you and me. They work with local groups (verified for their reputation) to identify individuals who want a loan to help their business. Small descriptions of the currently identified loan opportunities are posted on the Kiva website. You pick who you want to loan your money to. Then the benefit of technology comes into play. You make your loan to Kiva and then you get updates about how the loan is being repaid. I know exactly who has my money, what they are trying to do, how long it takes them to repay (it is common for me to get an email that says something like “$2.09 of your loan to xxx has been repaid.” I get to be a “cheerleader” of sorts when I post a note for the entrepreneur (which gets passed on to the loan recipient). And here’s the best part: once the loan is repaid, I GET TO LOAN IT AGAIN!! Right now I have loans out to people in South Sudan, Kenya, and Ghana. Loans to folks in Peru, Ghana, Kenya, Togo, and South Sudan have already been repaid and I reloaned the money.

Here’s a video that shows the process and what Kiva is about.

A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.

This video is from Frontline:

Chanukah (Part 3)

One more day until we light the first candle of Chanukah! Hopefully, you have done some of the background reading that I suggested to understand the background for this holiday.

First, just a little explanation of the English spelling of the holiday. You have probably seen both of these spellings: Chanukah and Hanukkah. The reason is due to differing transliterations for the Hebrew letters in the word: Chet-Nun-Waw-Kaf-Hey חנוכה. The Hebrew word means “dedication” or “consecration.”

The holiday commemorates the eight days that the one-day-supply of consecrated oil burned in the Temple until more consecrated oil was available. This miracle of the light is re-enacted by lighting candles each night for the eight days of Chanukah. A special candelabra/menorah which holds 9 candles is used (this is different than the 7-branch menorah). One candle (the Shamash) is used to light the other candles. So, on the first night there are actually two candles burning, on the second night, three candles burn, etc. The candles are lit and allowed to burn until they are completely consumed.

Chanukah Menorah

Rather than give you details of how the holiday is celebrated (which you can easily find with a quick Google search), I want to tell you why we celebrate it as a family. We’re not Jewish. But our Christian heritage is rooted in the Hebrew bible and the journeys told in Scripture. It’s not that we have to celebrate the holiday. Rather, it is an opportunity to choose to celebrate a miracle that demonstrates the power of God and his care for his people. We celebrate other holidays (Independence Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day… we even join with our neighborhood in celebrating Halloween). Why not also celebrate a holiday that specifically remembers and recounts a part of the history of the people of God? It is a great way to get into the history of Israel.

As we celebrate, I’ll post photos of some of our traditions (and maybe even a few recipes!).