This was recently posted on Twitter and I thought it was a great guideline on when and if to reply to a blog post.
Sunset in Musoma, Tanzania
Every day is a gift.
Not enjoyment, not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each tomorrow, Find us farther than today. – Henry LongfellowWhat an amazing year! It was filled with enjoyment, opportunities, challenges and sorrow. But today is better than yesterday and that very message soon became the theme for this year’s journey across spiritual, nautical and highway miles.
Every day is a gift. You can smirk, it’s cliche I know, but as I watched Dad struggle for each breath during his final hours I learned that not only is each day a gift but each healthy breath and heartbeat are also a treasure.
This year, I was privileged to travel internationally to Uganda, Tanzania, England and Panama. I was able to meet and interact with so many different people. I was impacted by who I met and the stories told to me. For example, I had never known anyone living with HIV or AIDS and in one day I met and listened to over 50 people talk about their experiences living with this dreaded disease. We chronicled these events using new media and I updated my friends using social media applications. My intent wasn’t to boast but to invite you to participate with me along the way.
A grass airstrip in rural Uganda
After many months of researching and planning my travels to Africa and Europe (with the help of many others) I was ready and in need of a break. So, I packed up my 4Runner and began the “friendship tour” which took me through twelve states where I was able to reconnect with friends along the way. I was able to visit Brady and Laurel Wilson, Reid and Kaylyn Bruehl, James Heady, Corey and Amy Lingo, Sky Johnson, Charlie Pride, Larry Wiese, Brent Fellows, Dina Dudley, P.J. and Kaaren Jurack, Brad Green, and others. And then I reluctantly attended my twentieth high school reunion but had a blast spending an evening with so many genuine people.
A Panamanian man guiding his canoe enroute to sell supplies at the market
Then it was time for another campaign with Moody Radio that began with a trip to Panama followed by trips to Boynton Beach, Fla., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Chicago. We also traveled to New York City just in time to see Christmas in New York. Amazing. And you bet we ate at Frank Sinatra’s favorite Italian Restaurant Patsy’s where the staff graciously provided a table for two famished southerners without reservations.
Our fifteen minutes in Times Square
I was on the cutting edge this year, experimenting with countless social media (and of course) iPhone applications. I was fortunate to be able to test out some of the latest gadgets which will soon be outdated. Of course, many of these purchases were made before I began entertaining a smart and beautiful young lady from Arkansas. And yes, we met on my journey down the information highway and I have treasured every day since.
Who knows what this new year may bring any of us. Who knows what tomorrow may bring. Henry Ward Beecher reminds us that, “We steal if we touch tomorrow. It is God’s.”
Who knows what tomorrow may bring? It is God's.
The rest of the story.
The video may not make much sense to you because you may not know the people portrayed or the context. For two days, my girlfriend’s mother (a breast cancer survivor) and two of her sisters participated in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Charlotte, N.C.
Sterling surprised her Mom (who I had not met before this past weekend) by greeting her just before the finish line. I was able to share the moment because none of her family knew who I was or that I was capturing this on my Canon Vixia HF10.
As you may have noticed, I am an amateur. I have worked with pros like Jon Shuler and stole some of their techniques. In fact, I did not know I was going to make this video until we arrived at the finish line a few minutes early and had some time to kill…why not push record and see what happens?
Sterling’s Mom, like my own, is a survivor of breast cancer. This is a small tribute to those that get up and walk so that others may also become breast cancer survivors through prevention and early detection. For more information on getting involved with this important campaign; please visit avonwalk.org.
Our creative director, Sean Stark really captured our trip to Panama. Check out his flickr photos.
During October 3-9, I will be traveling with a team from work to Panama to visit the Kuna people. We will be collecting stories and elaborating further than this video produced by the Travel Channel into how the Kuna language is being translated. We will have access for interviews (streambox, Skype, phone) while we are on the trip. If you’d like to speak with us live during our travels you may contact wycliffe@pinkstongroup.com to schedule an interview.
Kuna People Facts
(source: Wycliffe USA fact sheet)
The Kuna are an indigenous people group of Panama and Colombia that numbers approximately 100,000. There are two distinct dialects of Kuna. The Border Kuna live in villages on either side of the Colombia-Panama border. The traditional home of the San Blas Kuna is on Kuna Yala — coral atolls which hug Panama’s Caribbean coast. In addition, several hundred Kuna live in villages scattered throughout the mountain areas of eastern Panama and in Panama City. The Border Kuna New Testament was published in 1993. The San Blas Kuna New Testament was published in 1995.
Kuna women are famous in art circles around the world for their colorful, intricately handsewn, reverse appliquéd blouses called molas. The ensemble is further enhanced by colorful leg and arm beads, brightly colored red head scarves, and gold nose rings. The men wear typical western attire.
In traditional villages, houses are built of materials harvested from the jungle: cane for the walls and thatched roofs. Most Kuna work in agriculture, fishing and trading and have a diet of fish, plantains, rice and coconut. In island communities, houses are built on the coral atolls, but the fields are on the mainland. Dugout canoes provide a main means of transportation to and from the mainland where crops are tended and hunting for wild game is carried on.
Although some families or communities have boat motors, it is very common to see a man set off at dawn for a fishing trip using a hand-hewn paddle, and, if there is a breeze, aided on his journey by hand-made sail.
In addition to augmenting their income by selling coconuts to passing traders, Kuna women sell their molas to visitors and to Kuna cooperatives in Panama
City. The Kuna have used tourism as a way to provide extra income for their families. The Kuna refer to themselves as Dule. Although many of the younger people and the Kuna who live in the city have learned to communicate in Spanish, many Kuna, especially those living in Kuna Yala, are monolingual.
A main chief and his assistant chiefs preside over all of the islands, but each island also has its own chief who guides the affairs of the village and ensures that village laws are obeyed. The chiefs hold regular meetings, many of which are obligatory and often nightly, in the congreso (meeting house). It is at the congreso where the chiefs teach the people the traditions which have been passed down from generation to generation. It is also in the congreso where disciplinary action is taken against an offending villager and where village problems are discussed and resolved.
The Kuna people are allowed to vote in Panamanian elections and can also hold office. There is an extremely high rate of albinism among the Kuna due to a genetic anomaly.
SOURCES: Encarta, Ethnologue, Panama Information Guide, Maps of the World, Panama mola.
________________
Scott E. Toncray
Integrated Marketing Communications
T: (407) 375-2770
E: sToncray@gmail.com
Artist Mark Selter and dog, Onyx, load cane poles into his boat in rural Marion County, Ky.
Have you ever loved something enough that you would give up money and electricity to have it? Twelve miles from Lebanon, Ky down winding roads that cut through tobacco fields and cow pastures, is the property of Mark and Angela Selter.
And they did just that.
Selter, 46, gave up his military pay and three square meals a day to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. He met his wife, Angela, 43, after selling one of his paintings to her in Louisville. At the time, he was living in a tobacco barn and painting by the light of a lantern.
She said she fell in love with his work, then later with him, and gave up her home and career in Oldham County to support his work.
“When someone tries to work a full-time job and do art, the job usually wins out over the artwork,” Angela explained.
After a year searching and a $10 down payment, Mark and Angela purchased 105 acres in rural Marion County. The were married there a year later in a ceremony consisting of Tao and Native American rituals.
Artist Mark Selter shows his wife, Angela, a possible picture to be used as a subject for a future painting during an early morning walk around their secluded property.
The Selters built a home where, if they couldn’t pay their utility bills from the sales of Mark’s artwork, theuy could survive off the natural resources surrounding their home.
They collect rainwater from their roof into a cistern and use wood-burning stoves to cook and heat their home.
“In the summer, we chop wood and haul water,” Angela said. “In the winter, we chop water and haul wood. We don’t live like this to prove a point, we live like this because this is who we are.”
Note: The story above was included in the “The Mountain Workshops” book in 2004. Photos by Scott Toncray, editing by Amber Douthit
Goshen Pass
I have never stayed in a bed and breakfast. It was something I assumed my parents would enjoy. But I wanted a break…a retreat away from anything close to hotels I stay in when traveling for work (domestically at least). I have my preferences and a routine that I go through when I get checked into my room. It’s strange really, but has come with 15 years of being on and off the road, mostly on.
Hammock overlooking Mills Creek at the Hummingbird Inn, Goshen, VA.
I stayed at a new establishment set in an 18th century house now called The Hummingbird Inn. Eleanore Roosevelt once stayed in the house and my room was named after her husband, Franklin.
This trip I traveled like I did in my first job out of college and traveled to the place I first worked to vacation. That may seem a little odd until you see the area. If a retreat is what you are looking for then Goshen Pass near Lexington, Virginia is a good place to get away without being completely disconnected. I could not receive any cell phone service but the Inn had wifi in the house. The phone did not ring and I did not miss it. The host was wonderful. She was very friendly but could sense I wanted some down time to reflect over some major events I’ve gone through during the last few months. The room was comfortable with a private bath. And yes, there are hummingbirds and plenty of feeders that surround the property attracting the tiny birds to feed.
The Inn has a tin roof which made the rain bounce off of it playing a relaxing melody with a calming beat. The first morning I did something I don’t normally do. I woke up, reached for my computer, put it back down and rolled over and went back to bed. Usually I can not go back to sleep once I am awake but I had no trouble falling back into a short slumber on this particular morning.
There are two levels of wraparound porches with plenty of spots to sit, read, sip on iced sun tea, or gaze at the stars which are magnificent because there aren’t any city lights to interfere with their glow. You can build a fire on the new deck overlooking Mills Creek and listen to the calming waters flow over the rocks as it makes it way to the Maury River.
One of my favorite things to do here is jump the rocks that sit steady in the shallow water of the Maury. I used to fish these waters after work catching small trout, panfish and bass. I did not bring my fishing rod this time so I just walked through the stream and climbed on the rocks after purchasing a pair of river sandals at the Wakabout Outfitter store in Lexington. Others had spread their colorful beach towels on the rocks and were soaking in the Virginia sun or swimming in one of the holes between the boulderd. I picked a large rock, climbed on top of it and listened to the water wash over the rocks washing my cares away.
