Connecting People and Expanding the Community

Meet my friend Jimmy. You can usually tell immediately upon meeting someone new if you share a natural connection. I ran into this young Haitian boy the other day and asked him his name. He replied enthusiastically by extending a friendly handshake and saying “I’m James, pleased to meet you. And what is your name?” It was the kind of polite thing all parents want to see in their children.

Jimmy asked me if I had children. Since I had my laptop and a net connection handy, I fired up a Skype videoconference and introduced Jimmy to my daughter Ellen, who was at home in Tampa.

I wanted Jimmy to meet Ellen because she is largely responsible for my interest in Haiti. Last year her church kids group, run by Andy and Eileen Hafer, selected Haiti as an area they would learn more about. And this week I’ve had the wonderful fortune of extending my personal quest to first-hand mission work here.

I love it when technology bridges people.

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