Zaydaya's Dad

the discovery of skin cancer on my face

I have not put this on my blog but this is an email I sent out just before I left for India on Nov 9 -  My surgery is December 21 here in Indianapolis to remove the cancer - 

EMAIL ON NOV 9, 2007

"My doctor's office called me as I was driving to the airport today.  I am on my way to India for our 10 year anniversary and leadership conference where 60 church planters.  The call contained some sobering news.

This week I went to the dermatologist where a biopsy was done on a spot on my face.  I have basal cell carcinoma spot on my skin which a form of skin cancer.

I am told it is the most common form skin cancer and it does not spread into your organs like melanoma ---   The doctor says that this does not spread.

As I am sure many of you know, whenever the word "cancer" enters into conversation it is humbling and causes you to face your own mortality in the face and reflect on what is eternal and most important.

2007 has already been a full month of health issues from my disk-replacement surgery -Leaving for another journey overseas with this news has been a shock for all of us..."

Planners vs Searches: Easterly's book worth reading

I am reading a book that I suggest for anyone interested in the cause of making a difference among the global's poor and forgotten.  Easterly is a economics prof at NYU and involved in other things as well -  He is not too high on the "big plans" of ending poverty and offers a fine critique of even

"Sixty years of countless reform shemes to aid agencies and dozens of different plans, and $2.3 trillion later, the aid industry is still failed to reach the beautiful goal.  The evidence points to an unpopular conclusion: Big plans will always fail to reach the goal"

Easterly draws 2 different kinds of people when they look at global poverty: The 'planners' vs the 'searchers' -

"The Planners:  determine what to supply,  Searchers find out what is in demand.  Planners apply global blueprints, Searches adapt to local conditions.    Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom, Searches find out what the reality is at the bottom.    Planners never hear whether the planned got what it needed, Searches find out if the customer is satisfied...."

This is what I really like --

"The Planner thinks he already knows the answers; he thinks of poverty as a technical engineering problem that his answer will solve.  A Searcher admints he doesn't know the answers in advance: he believers that poverty is a complicated tangle of social, political, historical, institutional, and technological factors...".

just returning from asia

was just in asia for the past 11 days.  lots of travel, speaking,and meetings.  Got sick on the road which is not fun -   However, God was good and sustained me throughout - a few images

Kevin Sites Book of 20 global wars

I was recently speaking in Texas and picked up this book at an airport. I had seen some blurps online about this guy but really enjoyed reading his book and life as a journalist -  Sites goes to 20 wars in the world as a "solo journalist" -   Hotzone site of his travels

He goes to a London based group that acts as a clearinghouse of info/news of armed conflicts raging around the world - International Institute of Strategic Studies - A GREAT SITE!   He takes off to cover stories of 20 conflicts in 1 year.  There are so many great stories to tell you about but his reflections after returning to the USA were so excellent thoughts..

"We in America have unparalled acces to information, yet on the most important matters of our responsibility as global citizins, we live in information poverty. America is a third-world nation in its per capita knowledge of the people, issues and events outside its borders..One of the reasons I wanted to do the Hot Zone project was to help educate the west about places they barely knew existed. My expectations were unrealistic, but when it ended and there was no miracaculous wellspring of newly aware Americans, I felt defeated - then angry. It has yet to subside.."

Sites gives his expressions of his anger to the oversimplication of news media of war, the political baggage, economic interest ---

The book is an excellent read and something for your library as it gives an objective (in most places) overview of many war torn regions -