I set my alarm extra early one morning last week, so I could see the stellar event I’d been reading about: the “blood moon” and eclipse that had been scheduled for the wee hours of the morning. The eclipse was interesting to watch, but the deep red color the moon was supposed to be didn’t live up to its hype. That’s okay, though. Just the act of getting up to see it made me think – as these events always do – about the days [...]
Whenever I meet someone new, I enjoy chatting with them as we share basic information about ourselves and learn a little more about each other. Depending on where we are, and the circumstances of our meeting, this might consist of where we’re from, what kind of work we do, our family background or demographics, and what brought us to the place or event where we met each other. More often than not, there will come a point – either at that first meeting or at [...]
That’s not a pick-up line. Well, actually, it can be, but that’s not what was on my mind when I was introduced last week to someone who looked very familiar, though I couldn’t quite place where I knew her from. She had the same reaction I did. “We’ve met before,” she said, “but I’m not sure where.” For the rest of the evening, we tried – unsuccessfully – to determine where it was that we knew each other from. The event we were attending was [...]
I just fired myself. And it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Not long ago, I was on the phone with the business coach I’d been working with for several months. At one point during our coaching call, she asked me a few questions about my work in Uganda. After I answered them, she said, “You know, when you’re talking about Uganda, you sound like a completely different person than when you’re talking about your business. You sound more confident, more focused, [...]
I still have difficulty answering a question that many people have asked me about my trip to Uganda last month: What did I do while I was there? I can list many of my actions and activities. Spending time with the young women in Ki-Mombasa that we are helping to break free from a life of poverty and prostitution. Distributing books, handmade dresses and teddy bears to the children. Speaking to several classes at a Catholic Girls School about discovering and developing their gifts from [...]
“Compliments of George L. Barry.” That’s what was stamped in red on a handful of new, unsharpened pencils that made their way recently to an eight-year-old boy in Uganda. “You have to use these pencils all the way through university,” he was told, and he nodded seriously. I’m pretty sure that’s what he intends to do. The scene made me think of a story I heard a few years ago about the actress Linda Gray. She was in Malawi, Africa, and was approached by a [...]
My bedtime routine during this trip to Uganda: 1. Plug my converter into the outlet and charge my camera battery to be ready for the next day’s photos. 2. Turn on the water heater in my bathroom so there’d be enough hot water for washing up in the morning. 3. Brush my teeth, using bottled water for rinsing my mouth and toothbrush. 4. Pull the mosquito netting down and tuck it in around my bed, leaving an opening big enough for me to crawl through. [...]
I’ve just returned from my fourth trip to Uganda in the past three years. I’ve gotten to the point where landing at Entebbe Airport makes me feel as though I’m coming home. So much about each trip is different from the others, with different teams, schedules, plans and programs. But so much about each trip is comfortable and familiar. I know that after I retrieve my luggage, I will be greeted and warmly welcomed by people I’ve come to know as family. After hugs and [...]
I arranged for my columns to get posted on my blog automatically while I was in Uganda, but this one somehow slipped off the schedule. It should have been posted on August 8. I hope you will still find it timely and relevant. I was sitting outside on the steps of our deck one morning last week, notebook and pen in hand. I was doing the morning ritual I refer to as my Prayer Exercise, which is a combination of praying, journaling, and asking God [...]
I am currently in Uganda. While I am gone, the Villager is rerunning some of my early favorites. The following column was first published on December 2, 2004. People can really be a puzzle. By that I don’t mean they’re confusing, although they can be that, too – especially if they’re teenagers or members of the opposite sex. What I’m talking about is more like a jigsaw puzzle, where every piece is a little different from every other one, even though they all have the same basic structure. [...]