Traditionalism is Fossilizing

Ok so I did take the title from a book called “The Blue Parakeet”. Oh well. But it is true when you think about it. So let me explain my situation and my thoughts.

I am in Haiti. I’ve been here for almost a week now. I have been put in a leadership role that is titled “Medical Supply Coordinator”. WOOHOO. Isn’t that exciting. (and I’m not being sarcastic. I LOVE IT.) I really do feel like I’m helping people. So the last 3 days I’ve been trying to evaluate where the medical supply organization stands. I am happy to say that the medical supplies are just as organized or more organized than I left them about a month and a half ago. (That is a very good thing) Anyways. So back to that title of mine.

In the book, “The Blue Parakeet”, (and please know that this is just my take on it) it describes this way of traditional thinking as a bad thing. In short, If you think traditionally, you are thinking the same way people thought a long time ago. This thought process leads to actions that somebody would have taken a long time ago. Therefore you do not change anything, i.e. – There is no movement in day to day life. Henceforth, you are fossilizing. You become a statue, a historical marker. People look at it and say that’s the same thing we did back in the day. This concept could be applied to all sorts of things. Now I’m not saying that change is always good. But I would say that never changing could almost always be bad. You see people change, evolve, mature, become more educated, and because of all this you would think that our day to day lives need to change. Simply put, my day today is a whole lot different than a random day was when I was a child. I have changed a lot since then. I could go on and on with more illustrations but I think I’ll save that for a more necessary time. So what does this have to do with my work in Haiti?

So my job is to organize all the medical supplies where we get rid of what we don’t need, and make the things we do need easily accessible on a day to day basis. The easiest way to do this in the states is to have an inventory system that is constantly updated and at any given moment you could look on a computer and see what you need, what you don’t need, what you are getting rid of, and what is coming. Well, here at Mission of Hope, the majority of the doctors working in the Clinic are only here for a week at a time. There are a few that are permanent. But the majority are medical teams that come for a week and leave about the same time that another team arrives. There are not many accessible computers. There is not much manpower to keep up with all the supplies. So it is left to the momentary doctors and nurses to figure out what they need on a day-to-day basis. This makes my life a little more complicated. Each team of doctors does things a little differently. Needless to say, uniformity doesn’t often appear. You can see the problem I hope.

My goal is this: to make a uniform system of organization/inventorying so that a doctor /nurse could learn how to calculate necessary inputs/outputs in about 10 minutes. In other words, set up a system of organization that is simple enough to teach in a short time, efficient enough to keep everything moving in a timely fashion, and detailed enough to always know exactly what we need and what we don’t need. Just to give you an idea of the scale of my work. Last week, before I got here, MOH received 34 pallets of medical supplies in one shipment. There are about 100 more pallets that are supposed to arrive in the next month or so.
(SIDE NOTE: A lot of these supplies we will not have the capability of using. These supplies will probably be donated to another organization. So I would call another organization and say “Hey, you don’t happen to need…” and list the items I have that are up for grabs. If they say yes then they would have to come and get them. That is the simple form of the donation process. )

So, as of right now, I am strategizing how I am going to go about doing all of this. But I have to keep in mind that the traditional way of thinking is keeping this area of work stagnant. It’s worked before and it is still working. The only problem is that doctors are spending a lot of time looking for things, which turns into less time with patients, which turns into less patients being treated, which turns into more ill Haitians. The goal of Mission of Hope is posted right above where I am sitting right now at the guesthouse at MOH. It states, “As an Organization following Jesus Christ we seek to bring life transformation to every man, woman, and child in Haiti.” Now as impossible as that may sound, it is still a goal. And if we aren’t working to achieve that goal than what are we here for. And if my job is to help achieve that goal than the thing I need to do is to not think traditionally. Which means I have to strategize the best, most efficient way possible to run the medical supplies in this environment.

Similarly, I’ve come to realize, that the Christian walk could be the same thing. As a Christian, I am called to be like Christ. Jesus Christ, as we all know, was perfect and never made any mistakes. As impossible as it may sound for me to achieve that, it is still a goal. I am called, similar to every other Christian out there, to try to reach that goal. Which means that I have to strategize every choice that I make to be the best, most Christ like action possible. The description of Jesus in the Bible never does change, and thus, most of the “best” actions of a Christian are pretty straight forwarded and could be said to be set in stone. But there are still a plethora of Christ like actions that I could partake in that would be totally different today than 20, 40, or even 1000 years ago. I think it’s important that we remember that change can be extremely beneficial to our lives. If we strive to never change than we cannot gain much. We become historical markers. This is not a good thing.

So as I continue chasing my goal of setting up this organizational system here in Haiti, I will also be pursuing my creator and I will always strive to be better than I once was. I am not saying that I will always achieve this goal. But without a goal, I will not go anywhere. If I have nothing to pursue than I will chase after nothing. If I chase after nothing, I probably won’t be moving. And if I don’t move, I will become a fossil.

"The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works." - Oswald Chambers

Off Again

Some of you may already know but I will share again anyways. I am leaving in about 6 hours to go back to Haiti for 5 months. I haven't posted in a while so let me fill you in on what has gone down in the last month and a half or so. So I got back from Haiti and felt deep down inside of my heart that I was supposed to go back. (To make this post a little shorter I will skip some of the details) So I went about raising money and convincing my parents that it would be ok. The money was raised. I bought the tickets. And I'm leaving tomorrow. How exciting is that. I can't wait!!! Anyways. I hopefully will be able to post a little more often this time around. Please keep me in your prayers. I will need all the strength and wisdom I can get in the next 5 months. I will be returning on December 16th. My work will be the same as last time. (managing the medical supplies at Mission of Hope clinic) I got a new video camera today and will hopefully be able to post some short clips of what I am doing. I will also be sending out emails to anybody who wants to receive updates directly. So whoever wants to be put on the list please send me your email address at danielwalton0@gmail.com. Well I better get some sleep. God Bless You All.

Much Love,

-Daniel