During a 2-hour site seeing break from meetings in DC a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon the FDR Memorial by happenstance as I journeyed between the Jefferson and MLK Jr. Memorials. While there, I was struck by several FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt quotes, but one in particular inspired me and rings true all these years later. In 1932, in the midst of many national challenges, FDR said, “In these days of

In the next month Hagar will celebrate our 24th birthday, a remarkable feat in the world of international development. I am proud to have celebrated the past 4 of those with Hagar, both in Cambodia and in the USA. You may be asking “What has sustained the organization through the years?” I believe there are a number of factors that I’d like to highlight for you below. Hagar has: – a clear

Two weeks ago I was startled awake from a nightmare in which I had been in a room where adults were buying dozens of children like they were every day commodities. Many races, nationalities and ethnicities were represented among the traffickers and those being trafficked. I remember feeling a sense of great danger in the environment and I was deeply troubled by what I saw happening to the children. Sadly, I had

After working as a social worker in the fields of mental health and child welfare for 20 years, and most recently with Hagar Cambodia, I recognize that a staggering number of individuals in the USA and globally suffer violence at the hands of their intimate partners. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence there are an average of 20 victims of physical abuse in the USA every minute and hotlines receive

When I think of the word “Hope” I am reminded of the season in my life many years ago in which I felt hopeless, full of wandering, and struggling to find what I needed. It was during that time in the desert that I discovered faith and embarked on a new path toward hope, trusting in something bigger than me for the first time. By definition, hope is “a feeling of expectation