Nepalese Pan and Nepali Friends

I love Nepalis. Nepalese Pan, though, is the foulest-tasting thing I have had in while!
Some of you know that my friends and I here in Minneapolis are sponsoring two refugee families from Buthan. Ten people, ranging from ages 1 to 70-something, were forced to flee 17 years ago from Buthan into Nepal, where they lived in a refugee camp. Finally, they had the opportunity to come into the United States in spring of 2009.
We welcomed them at the airport and have helped them get settled in.
A scarce few weeks have gone by, and they now have apartments with furniture (we have generous friends!). They have learned how to use their EBT cards and to grocery shop. They are actively learning English 4 times a week and every time we visit them, they know a few more words and phrases.
My friend Molly and I took the men to the grocery store, and on the ride back to their house, they thanked us with "pan," a Nepalese delicacy, composed of excessively strong spices, including fennel, which I particularly dislike. All these spices are slathered in a pickled honey and wrapped in a big leaf. Apparently, you are supposed to shove the whole thing in your mouth and chew on it for the next thirty minutes! Molly and I tentatively tasted a small bite and miserably drove for 10 minutes with the spices burning our tongues and gums, while our Nepali friends loudly chomped on their chew and laughed uncontrollably and hysterically at our reaction.
If you'd like to try it, Molly and I still have the majority of ours, available to share!

Are we listening to our leaders? (48days.com)

“Today we are faced with the pre-eminent fact that if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships, the ability of peoples of all kinds to live together and to work together in the same world at peace.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1882 – 1945, President of the United States

“We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another – until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.” Richard M. Nixon, 1913 – 1994, President of the United States

“The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.” John Foster Dulles, 1888 – 1959, American Secretary of State

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on.” John F. Kennedy, 1917 – 1963, President of the United States

“The peace we seek, founded upon decent trust and co-operative effort among nations, can be fortified not by weapons of war but by wheat and by cotton, by milk and by wool, by meat and by timber and by rice. These are words that translate into every language.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890 – 1969, President of the United States

My Mama in Congo, a post by Harper McConnell

I wish I had a picture of Harper and Mama Noella to do her honor for this fabulous story that captures so much of what it feels like to be with and learn from women of strength like Noella.

This woman is fearless and enters all areas of eastern DR Congo, creating change and issuing help and hope to those who are in unreachable places.

Read Harper's story, you'll enjoy it!

http://blog.sojo.net/2009/06/01/my-mama-in-congo/