Valentine Greetings, Honduras Trip Pending, Friday Night Massacre, Sanders, Bloomberg, Corona Virus, Visa Lottery, Pope Francis, Dowry vs, Bride Price, Late Term Abortion

Last time, I made a shorter post that all fit on the page. Let’s see if it can happen again.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  ¡Feliz Dia de San Valetín!

It’s that time of year again. I plan to leave before long for my annual volunteer medical brigade/humanitarian trip to Honduras, where I keep a low profile and try to pass as a non-gringa.

Honduras violence: Gunmen storm court building to free MS-13 leader https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51501103

Got a phone message saying “Your social security is about to be terminated.” My son had gotten the same message 2 days before. One of my recent e-mail messages warned that my account was going to be eradicated. These ersatz warnings must be sent out wholesale in the hope that some poor suckers will respond to their regret.

Mr. Trump now seems emboldened by the failure of the Senate to remove him from office and is now having a field day settling scores. Because employment and the economy seem strong, people may feel comfortable with Trump, they may not like him personally. Because the economy is somewhat fragile and based on an enormous federal deficit, vulnerable people are going to suffer if Trump gets another term. He has pretty much promised as much, cutting funds to almost everything except his wall. I would rather pay more taxes than see Trump remain in office. Whoever becomes president next time around is going endure and have to inflict some economic pain.

Gordon Sondland had his glory moment after contributing $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. He was rewarded with a diplomatic post and direct phone access to the president, where they seemed to be on a first-name basis, even able to exchange raunchy jokes. But Sondland’s frank and sometimes colorful Congressional testimony sealed his fate. Will he now quietly return to his west coast hotel empire? Or will he write still another Trump-themed tell-all book?

Since AG Bill Barr has been such a lackey to Donald Trump, it came as something of a surprise to hear Barr publicly chide Trump for his tweets on Roger Stone’s sentencing. However, that outrage may have been orchestrated between them, with Trump sending a tweeted message to his base that he is still totally in charge, while Barr feigned distress at the blatant interference, though he actually yielded by reducing the recommended sentence. And super-sensitive Trump, who has fired folks for less, failed to chide him for speaking out.

Though Mr. Trump has shed copious crocodile tears about his unfair, terrible, and unprecedented suffering during impeachment, he is a man without discernable empathy for anyone else. Children and families are separated at the border. asylum applicants are sent back to danger in Mexico or death in their home country, school lunches and food stamps are slashed, folks are evicted from public housing, and whistleblowers are threatened, with worse still to come should Trump be reelected. Even his staunches supporters are attacked mercilessly if they stray one iota from whatever he says or does, however incoherent or fluctuating. If he has been unbound by law or custom up to now, just wait to see him in a second term! Fortunately for his wife and young son, Mr. Trump apparently pays little attention to them.   

Trump is pretty much a fake all around: fake emotions, fake tan, fake hair, fake deferment, fake university, fake charity, fake presidential victory. Trump is definitely an even worse president than Richard Nixon, who actually managed to support a few helpful policies during his tenure and who finally went quietly away when the jig was up.

Joe Biden looked like a sore loser for leaving New Hampshire before primary voting was even over. He is going to have to make a lot of ground after having started out as the reputed front runner. I feel a lot of unease about Bernie Sanders who talks a good talk and deserves credit for keeping up a grueling schedule after his heart attack, which he frankly admitted to having, though his health does not seem to be a big concern for his supporters. Of course, if he is the Democratic Party nominee, I will certainly vote for him. But I don’t think he has accomplished much in the Senate, has not been a member of the Democratic Party, has a strident personality that may be off-putting to many voters, and, frankly, may have a platform too far left to make most voters feel comfortable and which will open him up to direct Trump attacks on “socialism.” Of course, Trump will affix that label to whoever his opponent is, but voters are more likely to buy Trump’s argument in the case of Sanders who calls himself a “Democratic Socialist.”

I wouldn’t put it past Trump and his operatives to manipulate social media to try to boost Sanders, considering him easier to beat than Biden or perhaps some others. I don’t know where Sanders falls in terms of stature, but certainly Mr. Trump, who is relatively tall, implies that shorter men are inferior and likes to make fun of them. But he fired AG James Comey who would look down on Trump from on high since he is considerably taller.

With aspiring Democratic presidential candidates inevitably attacking each other. Mr. Bloomberg (mocked by Trump for being 5’ 8”), remains somewhat aloof from the fray, but he is certainly saturating the airwaves and every other medium with his ads. An unsophisticated electorate may be especially attracted by his wealth, just as many voters admired Trump as a successful businessman. In Bloomberg, Trump would find himself overshadowed by an opponent who bests him handily on the wealth score, which has been Trump’s major calling card. A battle between 2 billionaire titans would arouse new public interest in a race that now seems to be flagging somewhat.

With such solid Republican political support behind Trump and so much money being poured into getting him reelected under our skewed Electoral College system, Bloomberg might actually be a safe bet. Bloomberg instead of Sanders might have the best shot at becoming the first US president of a Jewish background, though neither seems traditionally observant. Bloomberg would not be my first choice, but I’d support him just as I would whoever gets the Democratic nomination. Above all, Democratic voters must not succumb to fatalism by considering Trump unbeatable, though he certainly did beat the odds by getting into office in the first place and he has played his cards pretty shrewdly for a guy who seems so lacking in basic smarts and any coherent strategy.

Trump puts Cuban doctors in firing line as heat turned up on island economy  https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/11/trump-puts-cuban-doctors-in-firing-line-as-heat-turned-up-on-island-economy

Yes, as mentioned in my books, Cuban doctors and other health providers have long been sent to Honduras--I often worked with them as a health volunteer in the Peace Corps--very competent professionals and, in Honduras, they spoke the same language as their patients. But it's also true that the Cuban government exploits them by keeping more than 75% of the payments made for their services. Although they often have families back home who will suffer if they defect or fail to return, I've met numerous Cuban doctors and other practitioners who have stayed on in Honduras, where they have enjoyed success in both public and private health settings. Cuban doctors and Cuban health providers have such a reputation for excellence that Hondurans clamor for their services when they stay on. Honduran physicians in private practice often find it advantageous to team up with Cuban doctors. The irony is that Cuba sends its best clinicians to overseas service, while at home in Cuba, local health services are increasingly inadequate.

More than two-thirds of migrants fleeing Central American region had family taken or killed. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/11/migrants-fleeing-central-america-guatemala-honduras-el-salvador-family-taken-killed-study

More than two-thirds of the migrants fleeing Central America’s northern triangle countries – Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – experienced the murder, disappearance or kidnapping of a relative before their departure, according to a new study by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. And now, follow up investigations are showing that many of those being deported are killed when they return. 

The virus now spreading from China to the rest of the world, whether called a Corona virus or something else, has finally halted Hong Kong’s demonstrators. Xi must be glad of that, though the virus and his government’s handling of the outbreak has thrown a monkey wrench into his carefully laid plans. It’s rumored that pangolians from Africa and western Asia may have been the source of the disease, those small, shy animals that don’t bother anyone. 

              Baby pangolians typically ride on their mothers' backs. 

Could the virus have passed to humans from pangolians? (Ebola was rumored to have come from people eating raw monkey brains. SARS is said to have originated with bats.) In China, defenseless pangolians are killed wholesale for their scales, which are used in traditional medicine though, as with rhino horn, without any proven value. If the virus passed to humans from this barbaric and useless practice, that is a fitting pangolian revenge.

A recent radio documentary featured a Somali refugee in Kenya who had applied for and won the US visa lottery, which Trump has vowed to eliminate, but which is still on for this year. Because of the difficulty of fulfilling all the requirements, reportedly only half of lottery winners actually make it to the United States. As would be expected, the Somali refugee had a very hard time after winning. But he did finally manage to be approved and ended up in Maine and later became a US citizen. However, he reportedly now lives in Canada with his wife and children, though I do hope he will still vote in our election. Through sheer perseverance and luck, he had managed to get out of Somalia, then out of Kenya, and then had made it across the ocean.

I don’t need a radio show to tell me that just winning the visa lottery, against very formidable odds, is not enough. To begin with, to even apply requires computer and internet access. Many Hondurans I’ve known have given up even trying and even those who’ve won have faced tremendous financial and paperwork obstacles.

Decades ago, I can’t remember exactly when, lottery applicants had to apply by snail mail and if they were already in the US with a visitor’s or student visa, they could even apply from here. But, if they won, they’d have to return to their home country to complete the process. Winners would also be notified by postal mail.

At the time, 3 visitors were staying at my home, from Argentina, Japan, and Tunisia, respectively. All applied for the visa lottery. First, a letter of approval came for the Tunisian, who excitedly made immediate plans to return to his country to complete the process and return with his wife and children. (The family eventually settled in Virginia Beach.) The two other guys watched the mail assiduously thereafter, wondering if lightening could strike twice in the same place, which it actually did, with the man from Japan winning next. Then, against all odds, came approval for the Argentinian! I can vouch that it was no easy task to fulfill all the requirements, as I helped guide each one. Eventually I attended all their citizenship ceremonies. After that, visa lottery applicants clamored to stay with me, but no others ever won.

Pope Francis has succumbed to pressure and withdrawn his support for married priests in the Amazon, too bad, though he’s hinted he might revisit the issue later. I’ve already made obvious arguments for allowing married and women priests in the Catholic church, both on this blog and in my books, so won’t repeat them here. This is one of the issues, along with the worldwide pedophile scandal, that has alienated me from the church.

Having traveled the world over and seen marriage in many forms, I got curious about the use of both dowry and bride price. To the extent that either exists in our country, where even marriage as a lifelong commitment is falling out of practice, probably dowry predominates, at least in the form of the wedding ceremony, usually financed by the bride’s family. Where polygamy is common, with one man taking possession of numerous women, the ensuing scarcity of women for the left-over men may incentivize them and their families to offer a bride price. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

An evolutionary psychology explanation for dowry and bride price is that bride price is common in polygynous societies which have a relative scarcity of available women. In monogamous societies where women have little personal wealth, dowry is instead common since there is a relative scarcity of wealthy men who can choose from many potential women when marrying..

Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska has introduced a bill called the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” requiring a baby born alive after an abortion procedure to receive appropriate medical care. That may already be happening in most cases. Probably Senator Sasse’s main objective is to just to re-open the abortion debate.

Few live births would result from even a late-term abortion because the fetus in utero is often given an injection beforehand to stop its heart. The question is complicated, as usual, by the partisan divide, with Democrats arguing that introduction of such a bill is an assault on abortion rights, while Republicans accuse Democrats of promoting infanticide. Democrats argue that late term abortions are rare. How rare? In Minnesota, there were 10,177 abortions in 2017 and only three resulted in an infant born alive. None survived. (Would they have survived if allowed to be born later and without abortion intervention?)

As mentioned before, I am torn on the issue, both as someone who has given birth and also adopted children born before Roe who might not have been born if Roe had been in effect, I also assisted during Peace Corps in Honduras in deliveries in a rudimentary health center offering no pain relief and where sometimes the electricity went out, with some efforts having joyful outcomes and others quite difficult in which the baby sometimes did not survive. Most first-time mothers there were teenagers. Abortion was and still is illegal in Honduras and motherhood is highly valued.

As a Spanish interpreter since then, I have also seen babies born in the US after 21 and 22 weeks gestation who have survived, albeit with some special needs, though their personalities were intact. I would not have said their lives were not worth living. I don’t agree with Republicans on most issues, including support for or the lack thereof for social programs, food stamps, taxes, gay marriage, voluntary euthanasia, gun control, climate change, and the death penalty (which I oppose). But late term abortions, occurring at the point of possible viability, are a tricky issue. What is that point? It keeps getting earlier in a pregnancy.

Of course, a human baby born alive requires care for quite a few years, whether from parents or someone else. And not every baby becomes a contributing member of society. An infant may grow up to become Abraham Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, or Barack Obama. But Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were all babies once. Donald Trump was also once a cute, pudgy infant. But if we value all babies for their human potential, then late term abortion becomes a legitimate issue of concern and debate. Could it possibly be an issue that actually brings Democrats and Republicans together or is that just wishful thinking?

Amy Klobuchar is quoted as saying: “We need to build a big tent for anti-abortion Democrats.” She’s right. Many would-be voters, like myself, pivoted fairly quickly on gay marriage, as that’s a compact between consenting adults, but abortion is still a controversial issue, lo these decades after Roe. 

Phone Scam, Honduras Mission, Impeachment, Caucuses, Corona, Comments

Got a surprise call; a youthful voice on the other end said “Hello, Grandma.” I haven’t spoken with my 17-year-old grandson for years now because his mother cut off our communication. I was excited at the prospect of heating from him again. “Where are you?” I asked. He said he was in jail after a car wreck. He needed money for bail. I wanted to know the name of the jail so I could check, as it was sounding suspicious. “Here in Oregon,” he said. “Why are you in Oregon?”  “No. I’m in here New York.”  At that point, I hung up, as it was obviously a scam. My grandson does not live in either place. If we had gone on any further, I would have asked his name and birth date.  

Apologies, I see from the last posting that shorter blog postings are better, as the reader had to click on “read more” to get see the whole thing last time. Will try to be less wordy and post more often and perhaps not write

down everything that pops into my head.

Will be leaving soon for my annual volunteer medical brigade/humanitarian trip to Honduras. Have been checking the weather there. The south already has had days in Feb. where the high temperature has exceeded 100 F. It was rather brutal living there in the Peace Corps during the dry season and not much fun either during the rainy season when roads turned to mud and bridges washed out. But many people on the planet live full time under such conditions, which seem to be getting more extreme due to climate change. After not having any luck with Honduran friends in finding wheelchairs for sale at the Tegucigalpa WalMart (though some were there when I checked last year) and hearing about factories halting production in China due to the Corona virus, I panicked and ordered 2 wheelchairs from WalMart here. Let’s see how I manage to get them there, along with everything else.   

Ken Starr gave a dramatic performance in defense of Donald Trump, followed by well-prepared White House lawyers, who had done their homework, unlike their boss. They repeated the arguments that an election is coming up and that Ukraine officials have denied feeling any pressure. What do you expect Ukraine officials, who are being shaken down, to say?

Rep. Adam Schiff gave a very impassioned and convincing speech before the final impeachment vote. He was right to say that history will not be kind to this president. I suspect many Republicans know that to be true, but won’t switch their vote. I could absolutely fall in love with Schiff, despite the disgustingly childish nickname that a Trump has affixed to him. Maybe Schiff will run for president one day.

Trump is taking his victory lap after the Senate voted against impeachment. He and his supporters seem to feel emboldened now. Senator Mitt Romney will go down in history for his honest vote. We still need to hear from John Bolton whose book publication is being blocked by the rump administration on allegations it contains classified information, which Bolton demies. But a court fight could delay it until after the election.

As for the caucuses, privileged voters with the power to choose presidential candidates need to represent not only their own personal preferences, but to anticipate the preferences of moderate and swing voters. Because the stakes are so high to beat Trump, since he has shown that he can win while losing millions of votes in our skewed system, there needs to be a huge landslide—bigger than in 2016—to defeat him. It would be great to take down some Republican senators in the process as well.

So I wouldn’t want to take a chance on a “Democratic Socialist” like Sanders, a woman like Warren, although I like her, nor an outsider like Yang, though I do agree with his guaranteed income plan. No, maybe we need to go instead with good old Biden, the guy Trump fears the most, but who didn’t come out on top in Iowa, where the Democratic Party failed big time with vote counting, a fiasco that tarnishes the party image. We simply cannot afford 4 more years of Trump. Of course, I would vote for any of the above, or anyone else the Democrats might choose. But I would disagree with those who insist only on voting for the candidate with whom they most agree. Those who voted in the past for a third-party candidate on the basis of principle have sometimes lost elections for a Democrat.

Trump against Bloomberg, a contest between billionaires, would make for a stark and interesting spectacle. No longer could Trump tout his business credentials, since Bloomberg is the more successful businessman despite his so-called short stature of 5’ 8”, something which Trump likes to point out while bristling at mention of his own small hands and possible other small body parts.

Apparently Mr Trump needs reading glasses, but avoids being seen wearing glasses, so his teleprompter font must be pretty large and he needs pay attention to it and not deviate. But unless he goes off script and says something outrageous, his base won’t be energized. Because of the huge and growing financial deficit, thanks to Trump’s big tax cuts, he would certainly slash social programs if re-elected. In fact, he’s already started. His State of the Union address was a campaign rally.

Trump continued the next day at the prayer breakfast and another meeting to crow about his “victory” over impeachment and to excoriate his opponents. Lots of lies, fake facts, name calling with everyone applauding. It’s really sick. He wasn’t “exonerated” by the Senate, they merely failed to impeach him under dire political threats, both open and implied.

Good that China is being more transparent and aggressive about the Coronavirus than it was with SARS. This Corona virus seems to be less lethal, but much more contagious. The spread of the virus and how it is being handled is not only threat to the global economy, but to Chinese internal political control.

I’d already mentioned in the last posting that the Peace Corps was closing its China program, something for which Xi might well have advocated. The Peace Corps Association posted this diplomatically worded notice: 

On February 5, Peace Corps announced that due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and related school closures and travel constraints, all Peace Corps China Volunteers were safely evacuated out of the country. The 139 Volunteers will close their service. The evacuation of current Volunteers follows a recent decision by the Peace Corps to graduate its China program.

t’s not surprising that many deported Salvadorans have been killed after being returned to their home country. (Doubtless the same in Honduras.) 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/05/salvadorans-deported-us-killed-abused-report

Folks who carry guns may feel safer, but except in rare instances are actually less safe because of accidents and being unprepared to draw their weapon, or if they do, they may make a mistake and hit an innocent person, sometimes their own family member. In the Texas church where recently armed parishioners brought down a gunman, the armed men there were actually on duty as trained guards always on alert. That’s different from ordinary random citizens carrying guns.

Electoral College, John Bolton, Impeachment, Corona Virus, Peace Corps Exits China, FMG, Honduras Mission, Weinstein, American Dirt

The terrible truth is that the Electoral College could give Trump another victory even if he loses the popular vote again by millions. Republican Senators, mindful of needing the votes of Mr. Trump’s faithful base, will keep on obstructing further witnesses and his removal from office. And because the Electoral College favors Republicans and now gives them such an advantage, they are going to protect it at all costs.

Nor does the contentious Democratic primary process bode well for Democratic Party unity at election time. If Hillary Clinton has actually said that no one likes Bernie, that is a damaging statement that hurts her and the party more than Bernie himself, though she may have intended it as payback for his damage to her campaign in 2016. However, while he has garnered attention for his stated vision for the country, including the popular Medicare for All, Bernie has had few actual accomplishments to point to in his many years in the Senate nor is he actually a member of the Democratic Party. However, his recent heart attack does not seem to have presented an impediment.

Joe Biden is still probably safer as a presidential candidate than either Bernie or Warren, although I do like Warren, but no time right now to promote a woman candidate when the stakes are so high. Of course, if running against Trump, I would vote for either Sanders or Warren in a heartbeat. But it still looks like good old Biden is probably our best bet, which is why Trump targeted him to begin with, but Biden does need to get out there to get more traction.

While I’m not particularly keen to see Mike Bloomberg become president, another billionaire (probably even richer) confronting Trump would make for an interesting matchup. Bloomberg is right that folks earning billions or even millions yearly can afford to pay higher taxes, so it wouldn’t cramp their lifestyle in the slightest. The same goes for estates in the several millions and billions. Of course, I and many others would vote for Bloomberg over Trump and their confrontation would take some of the wind out of Trump’s sails since Bloomberg is probably much richer and certainly much smarter than the self-described “stable genius.”

Since Trump’s lawyers have complained about having senators vote on impeachment without any witnesses, then, by all means, let’s bring on some witnesses! If Mr. Trump was so concerned about corruption in Ukraine, what about corruption in other foreign aid recipient nations? Hunter Biden and his father may rue the day that Hunter accepted the lucrative board position in Ukraine, an obviously unwise move, but hardly equivalent to what Trump has done, nor is the Trump administration in a position to cry “nepotism” with Jared and Ivanka in the White House. 

Many Trump administration officials seem to be in way over their heads and temperamentally unsuited for their jobs: Pompeo, DeVos, and Carson, just to name a few, not to mention “stable genius” Trump himself who lurches from one thing to another, but revels in the perks and pride of office. For many members of the voting public, who are equally uninformed, morally compromised, and intellectually challenged, whatever Trump and company do may really seem just “perfect.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, by lashing out at NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly, then barring NPR reporters from his trip to Ukraine, has shown himself to be as vindictive and petty as his boss and certainly in way over his head, at least in terms of emotional control. 

I’ve never been a particular fan of John Bolton, but he may yet save the day and enact revenge for his firing. I suspect that he has taken careful notes and that Mr. Trump may come to rue his firing. Republican senators are tying themselves into knots trying to explain why he should not testify on live TV in full public view, though some have agreed they should take a look at his book (which is not sworn testimony). But now the Trump administration has even blocked publication of the book, saying it contains classified information.

McConnell was out twisting arms to get the votes he needs to block witnesses. Wishful thinking is envisioning him being defeated in the next election. Bolton is certainly a better political strategist than Trump and Co. ever will be.

While Trump’s lawyers have not engaged in histrionics, as the man himself does, they have not seemed particularly persuasive either, focusing repeatedly on the founders’ intent and the first impeachment of Andrew Johnson when the world has moved on. The founders limited voting to white males. Some were slave-holders. And so the US should now move on from the Electoral College, which has become a dangerous anachronism, allowing the present anomaly of a president remaining in office who has never enjoyed majority voter support. But the Republicans are going to defend their advantage at all costs, especially since they now seem to have become a minority party.

Of Trump’s legal advocates, I found Dershowitz to be the least unconvincing, arguing that maybe what Trump did was not quite correct, but that it did not rise to a level requiring his removal from office. These lawyers’ hair-splitting arguments may also be focused on Chief Justice Roberts in case the matter should go to the Supreme Court.

Among the new countries now included in Trump’s travel ban are Eritrea and Nigeria. My current housemate is originally from Eritrea and I recently served as a reference for a US visitor visa applicant from Nigeria who had once stayed at my house. Now, I assume that his visa will be revoked.

The Saudi government, and apparently the Egyptian government as well, have not contested the very lopsided “peace plan” for Israel put forth by Jared Kushner, just as the Trump administration has not contested their own abuses.

The Trump presidency has aroused strong feelings among voters and increased tensions and political divisions by deliberately taking controversial and even unpopular positions. Trump himself seems to relish publicly insulting opponents, not on the merits of an issue, but with schoolyard threats and childish name calling. While his base may love his insults, his tactics do nothing to heal the political divide and have put Republican lawmakers in a tight spot.

The Corona virus, sparking an epidemic of a very contagious and sometimes deadly disease, may finally put the damper on Hong Kong protests that have now continued for more than 6 months. The appearance of virus is one of those unexpected events that may throw a wrench into the Chinese, and certainly into the world, economy. Nothing in life is totally predictable. Chairman Xi, a rational and calculating long-term planner certainly did not plan for this, nor did Donald Trump, who is not a planner at all. Such surprises keep life interesting and challenging.

It’s a little advertised fact that the Peace Corps program in China, there since 1993, was quietly terminated by the most recent US-China trade agreement, probably at Xi’s request. The action had nothing to do with the Corona outbreak, as it was in the works beforehand. Now it would be hard to reinstate China, even if a Democrat wins the White House next time. 

The New York Times recently published an opinion piece by French journalist and essayist Jean François Fogel alleging that Cuba under the Castro regime is "a segregated society: 70 percent of black and mixed-race Cubans said they didn’t have access to the internet, compared with 25 percent of white Cubans. The racial wealth gap was also vast: While 50 percent of white Cubans had a banking account, only 11 percent of black Cubans said they had one. Moreover, white Cubans received 78 percent of remittances to Cuba, and they controlled 98 percent of private companies."  

Five men from south Asia are on hunger strike in US immigration detention, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/30/asylum-seekers-hunger-strike-louisiana-ice-detention

Poetic justice, high winds have reportedly toppled a new section of Trump’s border wall over into Mexico.

In Egypt, 12-year-old girl dies after genital mutilation, AP, January 31, 2020,, https://www.yahoo.com/news/egypt-12-old-girl-dies-125836798.html

I mentioned FMG in my article published after my 2006 mission to South Sudan, file:///C:/Users/melan/OneDrive/Desktop/Barbara%20Backup/Downloads/Sudan%20article.pdf I tried while there, though handicapped by my outsider status and lack of local language skills, to talk local medical practitioners into abandoning the practice, but without success.

I’ve now decided to go ahead with my annual volunteer medical brigade/humanitarian trip to Honduras, my former Peace Corps country (2000-2003), but which the Peace Corps left several years ago because of security concerns. I’d been waiting to see if my daughter in Hawaii would be all right after her December auto accident. She is now back at work, but is continuing to make her biology-themed sewing gifts which serve as therapy for her. Here’s one of her latest efforts.