Originally founded at the suggestion of Albert Einstein to assist Germans suffering under Hitler, the International Rescue Committee has grown to assist refugees, initiate emergency relief programs, establish hospitals and children's centers, promote and protect women and girls' human rights, and much more.

Three years ago this fall, I was in Switzerland studying at an International Communications school. The goal of that school was to learn how to communicate about issues around the world from a Biblical perspective. Part of our training was to track and study 10 "issues" in the news for three months. At the end of those three months, we had two weeks to write a report on the issue from the perspective of a specific domain in society. I wrote on Gender Injustices and looked at how it affected families.

After this year of traveling to so many countries, meeting people, and hearing their stories, I already have a lot to process. It really is impossible to travel so extensively and not learn something about oneself. It's hard to put into words right now. But I know this year is so much "bigger" than "just" preparing the way for long term missions. I know that I am not the same person that I was in April as we boarded the plane to India for our first leg of the journey. And I've changed since being in Cuba this summer. I'm anticipating deeper change yet as we complete this year in Africa.

"...travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." Miriam Beard
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

"I quote others in order to better express my own self." Montaigne.