REI Blog

Ice Cream and Poverty

Djibouti, Staff Story l
Image: Ice Cream and Poverty

A Life Overseas … by Rachel Pieh Jones

My 7-year old went to her Somali/Arab/Afar dance class one Saturday afternoon. The guard outside informed us that there was no longer dance on Saturday afternoon, no matter that we had signed up, no matter that we had paid just last week.

Discouraged, we ran errands instead and ended up at a store which sells Magnum Bars. Be thankful drool doesn’t come through the internet. Mmmm….Magnum Bars….mmmm…My husband was a country away, my twins were at boarding school two countries away, dance class was canceled…We decided to buy two ice cream bars and eat them while taking a stroll through the neighborhood together.

I left the store with three little white plastic bags of items like canned corn and tomato paste and toilet paper. As I reached the car I heard my Somali name.

New Year’s Resolutions!

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New Beginnings…

Some have given up on them, but others are obsessed with them. Many resolutions relate to regret over the past: the diet or exercise program that failed, the relationships that needed to be mended―but were not, or that project that was never finished. But for nearly everyone, the New Year is an opportunity for a new beginning.

Senior English Language Fellow with Vietnam’s National Foreign Language 2020 Project has REI Roots

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Image: Senior English Language Fellow with Vietnam’s National Foreign Language 2020 Project has REI Roots

Dr. Diana Dudzik and Dr. Hung, Director of NFL 2020 Project

Diana Dudzik, a Senior English Language Fellow with the US Department of State’s English Language Fellow Program working with Vietnam’s National Foreign Language 2020 Project (NFL2020), has her roots in REI-Vietnam. Diana’s work involves helping the NFL2020 Project to build the nation’s English capacity. “It involves impacting systems and strategic planning at the macro level,” says Diana, “and that’s what motivates me.” A desire to help Vietnam develop their English education sector has been on Diana’s heart and mind for a number of years. So where does Diana’s love for English Education and Vietnam have its roots?

Java Bite Sweet Dried Fruit – A Sweet Treat!

Indonesia, Staff Story l
Image: Java Bite Sweet Dried Fruit – A Sweet Treat!

REI Indonesia Staff Member Brings PT. SunRei Food Products to U.S. Store

In 2009, Chuck Nicholson introduced PT. SunRei Food Products’ dried mangos to a U.S. grocery store. It was the first time the product had been sold commercially in the United States. A few years earlier, when Chuck first started talking to rural families in Tiron, Indonesia about drying mangos, their eyes narrowed at the idea. They had many questions including, “Why would anyone want to dry a mango?” and were puzzled by the dehydrating machines they had never before seen. Chuck was working with people with a 5th grade education, who had never ventured far from their village, and they questioned the notion of exporting dried mangos.

[Orient]ation – Adjusting to life in Vietnam

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Image: [Orient]ation - Adjusting to life in Vietnam

by Donna May Lyons, Communications and Fundraising Assistant

Two of REI’s newest workers, Sarah and Samantha, began their [Orient]ation into Vietnamese life and culture just eight weeks ago. The two graduates of Northwestern College, Minneapolis, Minnesota are Resident English Specialists at Hanoi University in Vietnam. During the past eight weeks, Sarah and Samantha have made many adjustments to their way of living and thinking as they have experienced the vast differences between life in Vietnam and the United States.

Back to School Across the Globe

Krygyzstan, Media, Staff Story l

Image: Back to School Across the Globe

by Donna May Lyons, REI Communications & Fundraising Assistant

Across the United States, thousands of children have either returned or are returning to school. According to the most recent U.S. Census numbers, a projected fifty-six million students will be enrolled in the nations elementary through high schools (grades K-12) this fall.

REI’s Global Forum

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“Building People to Build Nations” for the Next 20 Years

From July 5-8 more than fifty people from most of our REI countries will gather in Colorado Springs to attend the REI Global Forum to continue the conversation and complete the work that began during the 2010 Strategic Thinkers’ Forum.

Middle Eastern Turmoil, Part 2: Update on Djibouti

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Image: Middle Eastern Turmoil, Part 2: Update on Djibouti

REI staff report that things have calmed in Djibouti.

Last week, the REI home team received the startling news from our staff that Djibouti, like most countries in the Middle East, was beginning to experience pangs of uprising. With presidential elections on the horizon (set for April), the political climate had become tense in the region, with small protests erupting in Djibouti City’s suburbs. However, we had heard that all of our staff were still safe and that they weren’t concerned that their safety would be threatened.

On Saturday, we received a report from staff that Djibouti has calmed. There had been rumors that strikes would come from last Saturday (February 19) through Friday (February 25), but they remained rumors and none of the strikes occurred.

Middle Eastern Turmoil

Breaking News, Djibouti, Staff Story l

Image: Middle Eastern Turmoil

Our staff in Djibouti give us an update of the turmoil in their country.

Amidst all the turmoil in the Middle East, our staff in Africa have been holding their breath to see how it affects the countries where they live and work. Our staff in Djibouti, up to this point, have not been impacted by the protests in other countries, but just this past Friday, the REI home team received a new update on protests in Djibouti.

Studying Abroad: REI’s Fellows Program

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Image: Studying Abroad: REI’s Fellows Program

A Supreme Court Justice from Laos Studies U.S. Constitutional Law Through REI’s Fellows Program

On one trip to Laos, a friend from one of the hospitals where REI serves told Roderick Beidler, “I want you to meet someone. He may be an important contact someday.” They sat down to lunch with Mr. Phomsouvanh Philachanh (that’s “Pom-suh-vaun Fill-uh-chaun”)—a Supreme Court Justice in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. They enjoyed their meal and conversation and struck up a friendship because of their common background in political science and international relations.

Now Justice Phomsouvanh is coming to the U.S. to study constitutional law through REI’s Fellows program.

REI’s Staff in Egypt Safe in USA

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Image: REI’s Staff in Egypt Safe in USA

Amidst Egypt’s recent unrest, REI’s staff member is safe in the USA.

In the past two weeks, it would have been hard to avoid hearing of the unrest that is currently occurring in Egypt. The protests calling for President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation began on January 25. Cairo’s poverty was one of the main instigators for the protests, along with complaints about rising food prices, social exclusion, anger over corruption within the President’s National Democratic Party, and difficulty in finding jobs for many young people.

REI-Vietnam Video: What it Takes

Media, Vietnam, Volunteer Story l

Image: REI-Vietnam Video: What it Takes

Watch a second REI-Vietnam video and learn “what it takes” to develop people in Vietnam.

Our REI-Vietnam team has put forth a real effort this year to capture the REI story in video. Take a few minutes to watch their video “What it Takes” and learn one practical way in which REI develops people in Vietnam: through training national healthcare professionals. REI-Vietnam’s volunteer doctors and surgeons talk about how and why they train Vietnamese doctors. They are building Vietnamese people to build Vietnam.

Click this link to watch the video!

Poverty Series: Excessive Amounts of Underwear

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Image: Poverty Series: Excessive Amounts of Underwear

An REI Staff Member’s Comical Reflection on Excess and Poverty

Tammy, one of REI’s staff members in Kazakhstan, shares her thoughts on excess and poverty in a very practical way: she compares the number of pairs of underwear people in impoverished nations have compared with people in the U.S.A. And the result is shocking! We hope you enjoy her comical reflection.

REI-Vietnam Video: Why We Build

Media, Vietnam l

Image: REI-Vietnam Video: Why We Build

Watch an REI-Vietnam video and learn about their passion for developing Vietnamese people.

Our REI-Vietnam team has put forth a real effort this year to capture the REI story in video. Take a few minutes to watch their video about “Why They Build” to learn the philosophy that guides their development practices. This video is the first in a series of three videos that we will be featuring one at a time on the REI blog. REI-Vietnam is building Vietnamese people to build Vietnam.

Click this link to watch the video!

Djibouti: Poor in Water

Djibouti, National Stories l

Image: Djibouti: Poor in Water

Read a BBC correspondent’s description of Djibouti as land of “constant thirst.”

REI has more than five staff (and their families) who live and work in the Horn of Africa in one of the hottest places on earth: Djibouti. What is Djibouti like? Read this BBC Correspondent’s article below called “A Life of Constant Thirst Beside Djibouti’s Lake Assal” for a taste.

Rebuilding REI

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REI’s Strategic Thinker’s Forum Helps REI Move Toward a More Focused Corporate Identity, With More Work Yet to Come!

Question: When you put a lot of gifted and experienced people in the same room for nearly three days straight, what comes out at the end?

Answer: A lot of great ideas!

That is what happened on December 1-3, 2010, at REI’s Strategic Thinker’s Forum. REI’s President and CEO, Roderick Beidler, called together twenty “strategic” REI and non-REI staff to discuss and think through the identity of Resource Exchange International.

Poverty Series: A Glass of Water

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Image: Poverty Series: A Glass of Water

Liz Grant, REI’s Communications Assistant, discusses the gift of water.

A World Water Crisis

The United Nations Development Report from 2006 sets out this disturbing truth: “Throughout human history, [economic, social and political] progress has depended on access to clean water and on the ability of societies to harness the potential of water as a productive resource. Water for life in the household and water for livelihoods through production are two of the foundations for human development. Yet for a large section of humanity these foundations are not in place.”

The report goes on to explain that not only is access to water “a basic human need and a fundamental human right,” but also that “more than 1 billion people are denied the right to clean water and 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation.”

In fact, the report states that “unclean water is the world’s second biggest killer of children.”

Serving Vietnam

Vietnam, Volunteer Story l

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REI-VN’s visiting professionals return from another successful volunteer trip to Vietnam.

REI sends two types of people overseas: resident professionals, who live and work in an emerging nation long-term, and visiting professionals, who spend a few weeks in a country volunteering their skills and knowledge in their various fields to local professionals.

We would like to honor some of these volunteers, who just recently took a trip to Vietnam, facilitated by REI-Vietnam staff member Cliff. In October, Cliff took a team of six doctors specializing in gastroenterology (the digestive system), cardiology (the heart), pulmonology (the lungs and other respiratory functions) to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for a two-week volunteer trip.

Poverty Series: Disaster and Poverty Relief in Indonesia

Breaking News, Indonesia, National Stories, Staff Story l

Image: Poverty Series: Disaster and Poverty Relief in Indonesia

REI’s staff in Indonesia grieve about the recent volcano eruption and continue their work of fighting poverty.

On Thursday, October 28, 2010, Mount Merapi erupted, spewing hot gas and debris that killed 35 people. The eruptions continued into Friday, forcing 50,000 people to stay in temporary camps outside the radius of the blast. Those in the camps couldn’t even use the water to clean the food because it was so full of dust.

Breaking News: Part 1 of Roderick’s Around-the-World Adventure!

Breaking News, Djibouti, Egypt, Home Office, Staff Story l

Image: Breaking News: Part 1 of Roderick’s Around-the-World Adventure!

REI’s CEO reports on his recent round-the-world trip visiting REI staff in Africa and the Middle East.

REI’s President and CEO, Roderick Beidler, just returned last week from a round-the-world trip to visit REI staff in East Africa and the Middle East. He was joined by REI’s Regional President for East Africa and the Middle East, Rick Heupel, and together they visited REI’s staff in Djibouti and Jordan—and boy, were they excited about what they saw.In Roderick’s words, “Nothing substitutes for being there!”

Poverty Series: Giving Gifts of Purpose

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Image: Poverty Series: Giving Gifts of Purpose

The beginnings of a discussion of poverty and the release of REI’s 2011 calendar

Christmas can be a time of great greed. It’s easy for even the most pious among us to get pulled into the trap of consumerism, filling up our houses with things we just don’t use or even need.

Yet, lately, there has been a trend to give Christmas gifts with purpose– gifts that point the giver and receiver to a broader picture and help take the focus off of “me.”

We applaud that trend at REI, and we have now jumped on the band wagon. If you are looking to give Christmas gifts with a purpose this year, then consider giving REI’s 2011 calendar to friends and family: REI’s latest 2011 calendar. As an organization that works in countries that are often mired in extreme poverty, we are humbled and challenged as we think about the gifts under our own Christmas trees. We are by no means poor ourselves. In fact, the World Bank ranked the USA as the fifth richest nation in the world in 2009 with a GDP per capita of $46,436, above Canada, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

Revolution in Kyrgyzstan

Krygyzstan, National Stories, Staff Story l

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One REI staff family’s experience of a local revolution.

“11:45PM: Wake from a light sleep. Dogs are barking. Check the street. A car is stopped 200 meters up the road. Watch as it drives away. The two pedestrians who were there half an hour ago are gone. No glow of flames from the fields across the street or the village across the fields. No sound of crowds. Back to bed. 1:30AM: Wake up and check the roads again. 3:00AM: Wake again. It would be a beautiful spring night if not for the adrenaline.

“About a month before, I’d written a letter to send to friends and family at home to tell them about our work in Kyrgyzstan. The new English curriculum and books were on schedule to be completed and printed for the local language school that we run, and we were six months ahead of schedule on our other business goals.

Then the revolution came and changed everything…”

There’s No Place Like Home

Staff Story l

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Some REI Staff Share Their Experiences of Homesickness

Cardboard boxes piled around the living room, the sound of duct tape coming off the roll, leaving a kitchen that you’ve loved to cook in: our REI staff are familiar with the actions of moving.

But the actions are not the difficult part. It’s the emotions that bite. When you move, you miss whatever you are leaving behind.

Sometimes our staff get homesick….

Life in Djibouti: An Expatriate’s Diary

Djibouti, Staff Story l

Image: Life in Djibouti: An Expatriate’s Diary

Learn about Djibouti from an REI worker’s perspective.

Rachel and Tom Jones, along with their kids, have lived in Djibouti doing REI work since 2004. Read her story below as she reflects on what she’s learned as an American living in Djibouti over the past six years. To read more of her reflections on Djibouti, check out her blog.

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Being an expatriate in Djibouti is an opportunity to learn to live all over again.

I stepped off the plane in 2004 and thought I knew something about living in east Africa. I had already finished a teaching stint of eight months in Somalia where I had learned how to tell goat meat from camel meat, how to ignore machine gun fire and how to explain English idioms to non-native English speakers. But Djibouti is an entirely different place and I soon realized that I’ve only begun to learn.

Breaking News: Vietnamese Patient Receives the Help He Needs Through REI!

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Image: Breaking News: Vietnamese Patient Receives the Help He Needs Through REI!

Brian Teel, REI- Vietnam’s Director, just shared this incredible story of how REI was able to help this young patient receive the treatment he needed. Below is the email he sent to REI’s home team:

“Dr. Craig Johnson, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA and his daughter traveled to Vietnam last November with REI’s Pediatric Team as volunteers. In a most remarkable ‘coincidence,’ on this trip Dr. Johnson met Dr. Nhat, the head of Orthopedics at Hue Central Hospital.

“Dr. Nhat remembered Dr. Johnson from a special training program in the USA they both had received a couple of decades ago, and a budding friendship emerged. Soon Dr. Johnson became aware of a special case confronting Dr. Nhat – a young boy born without a left femur. This young boy made such an impression on Dr. Johnson and his teenage daughter that they returned to the USA determined to do something about the situation.

In the News: REI’s “Thought-Provoking Theater”

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Image: In the News: REI’s “Thought-Provoking Theater”

REI’s Kazakhstan English Language Theater attracts positive local media attention!

Have you ever picked up a magazine while waiting in the doctor’s office, just to pass the time? What about the magazines in the pocket on the seat in front of you on the airplane?

Generally, when you flip through, you find advertisements for the latest gadgets on sale now for $199.99 or maybe you’ll find an article written about a current celebrity’s love life or newest hairstyle, but not in Air Astana’s in-flight magazine.

This week on our blog, read one of Tengri’s feature articles, which happens to highlight Resource Exchange International’s Kazakhstan English Language Theater group for their artistry and significance to the people of Almaty, Kazakhstan!

ENT Training in Vietnam

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Image: ENT Training in Vietnam

A photojournalist captures REI’s recent medical work in Vietnam.

Welcome to the new and improved Resource Exchange International website and to the first EVER REI blog!

Learn more about REI and join the REI community by reading and discussing the stories we share on our blog. This week we’re featuring the photojournalism of Courtney Potter, a photographer who recently went to Vietnam to record the training our world-class ENT surgeon volunteers gave to local Vietnamese surgeons.

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