Bridging Cultures Podcast

Season 7, Episode 5 Show Notes

This season we’re discussing the four building blocks for bridging cultures:

• Be Humble
• Learn
• Listen
• Seek *You Are Here

This episode brings a story of Rosaline who is a G.O.A.T. in her own right.  Rosaline and her children were left with nothing after her husband was forced to flee Haiti.  Through a small microfinance loan, she was able to buy a male and female goat, and over the years has turned that purchase into a thriving business with more than 200 goats!  Now she has a sustainable income to care for her family and help her community.    Truly life-changing.

Mutual Solidarity (MUSO)

Mutual Solidarity (MUSO) is a microfinance initiative.  Resurrection partners with our friend Josue and Heart to Heart International Haiti (HHI-H) to bring MUSO to local Haitian communities.  Resurrection funds the training and supplies to start the program, HHI-H coordinates the logistics, leads the training, continues mentorship for several years, and does group follow-up. 

But the amazing thing is that no outside money is provided to the group.  Every dollar comes from the Haitian members in the group, who fund and manage the program themselves.

Josue Andre – Heart-to-Heart International Mission Director in Haiti

Interested in hearing more about Josue and life in Haiti?  Check out these previous episodes:

• Season 1, Episode 13– Get to Know So and So: Josue Andres
• Season 2, Episode 3 – Rebuilding Hope in Haiti
• Season 4, Episode 3 – Ganglands of Haiti
• Season 5, Episode 3 – “Shaken But Not”…how does that go?

Heart-to-Heart International – Haiti

To learn more about Heart-to-Heart in Haiti, click this link:  Home – Heart to Heart Haiti. (please confirm this is the correct link)

In Case You Were Wondering

Imagine our surprise when we learned goateries ARE a thing!  Who knew??  Well apparently, Sheree did…sort of.

The Goatery at Kiawah River, a dairy farm located in Johns Island, South Carolina

Season 7, Episode 4 Show Notes

This season we’re discussing the four building blocks for bridging cultures:

• Be Humble
• Learn
• Listen* You Are Here
• Seek

Our Guest: Sami DiPasquale, Executive Director of Abara

Sami is a global citizen with vast experience in refugee and immigrant communities. He spent the majority of his childhood and young adult years in the Middle East. He’s lived in Jordan, Cyprus, Egypt and then India – before completing college in the United States.

Sheree has a fascinating conversation with Sami about the realities of immigration, the importance of listening, and how Abara is changing the narrative at the border.

Abara Borderland Connections

Abara is a nonprofit based at the border of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico.  Abara seeks to foster deeper understanding about life on the border.  

Migrant Shelter Network

Abara is linked with 32+ migrant shelters on both sides of the Rio Grande, and partner with local leaders to facilitate connections through hospitality, advocacy, and friendship. They collaborate with faith networks, NGOs, and residents who accompany asylum seekers. Team Abara is resourcing shelter leaders, welcoming new arrivals, and assisting migrant entrepreneurs.

Border Encounters

Abara Border Encounters (a.k.a. “listening trips”) are 3-day educational immersion experiences to re-humanize relationships outside the news cycle. These encounters are an invitation to listen, learn, and reflect on what the border can teach us, who we are meant to become, and how we can engage closer to home.

To learn more about Abara, go to www.abara.org

In Case You Were Wondering:

You can sign up for a Border Encounter through Resurrection in 2025!  Click this link to learn more and apply:

Global Missions – Resurrection Church  Serve Trips  2025 Border Encounter

Season 7, Episode 3 Shownotes

This season we’re discussing the four building blocks for bridging cultures:

• Be Humble
• Learn* You Are Here
• Listen
• Seek

Our Guest: Wil Bailey, Director of Acts One Eight Missions in Costa Rica

Wil, pictured here with his wife Yolanda and daughter Isabella.

James and Wil have an engaging conversation about the importance of building relationships before any real mission work can begin.  Wil shares what he’s learned in 20 years, and admits he isn’t done learning yet.

Acts One Eight Missions

Act One Eight Missions is based on Acts 1:8… “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts One Eight Missions serves Costa Rica Methodist churches by building facilities needed to develop local ministries, as well as operating a low-income daycare, housing for female college students, and counseling. Not to mention hosting many, MANY volunteer teams from all the ends of the earth.  

Follow them on Facebook or visit www.costaricamissionprojects.com to learn more about how you can help.

Want more Wil?

Check out these previous episodes:

Season 1, Episode 11 – Get to Know So & So : Wil from Costa Rica

Season 3, Episode 7 Supporting Vulnerable Families in Costa Rica

This season we’re discussing the four building blocks for bridging cultures:

• Be Humble
• Learn
• Listen
• Seek

This episode’s focus is humility, and we bring back fan-favorite Hugo Ngwira (aka the “Master of Humble” as dubbed by Sheree and James).  Hugo is the man in the photo with the green shirt and beautiful smile.

Hugo shares the story of his journey from abundance and unlimited opportunity, to poverty and loneliness, and finally back to abundance.  Along the way, he shares how a letter from a special six-year old girl in Texas impacted his entire life.

Now Hugo is the CEO of Opulence Malawi, a non-profit that is changing the landscape of food security and economic empowerment in Africa.  Visit https://www.opulencemw.org/ to see the many ways they are making a difference.

If you love Hugo like we do, check out these past episodes:

Season 1, Episode 7 Get to Know So and So – Hugo Ngwira

Season 1, Episode 10 – Sustainable Agriculture = Permaculture

Season2, Episode 2 – Digging Deeper into Permaculture

And in case you were wondering…

Did James buy the shoes?  We may never know, but we may or may not be checking out his feet in the future. 

Season 7, Episode 1

Sheree and James are back for Season 7!  And in this episode they talk with special guest Carol Cartmill (aka “Bin” “Din”? to her grandchildren).  Carol is the Lead Director of Mission Ministries at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.

Bridging Cultures

In this episode, Carol, Sheree and James break down the three steps of bridging cultures:

1. Defining culture as a common set of beliefs, norms, values, perceptions and connections that help define us as individuals. Culture also refers to our shared attributes as a group, as shown in this wheel: 

2. Building bridges through:

Humility

Listening

Learning

Seeking

3. Crossing the bridge with empathy and love

Join us on a Serve Trip!

We learned that “curious” is a favorite word of both Carol and Sheree.  If you are curious too – especially about going on a serve trip, check out the links below to see all the impactful opportunities locally in Kansas City and around the world:

Global Missions – Resurrection Church

Local Missions – Resurrection Church

SHOW NOTES – Season 6, Episode 5

Imagine being orphaned at the age of 16…a child yourself but also responsible for four younger siblings.  With no place to live and unsure of where the next meal is coming from, you have little  hope that things will ever get better.

That’s where we meet Leah when this episode begins. And she’s not alone.  More than 150 million children worldwide are orphaned, or in circumstances where they are leaders of their family.  For these kids, life revolves around survival.  They may resort to begging or stealing.  Worse, they may be exploited or abused.   

BUT…as we have seen all season, empowerment changes everything.  Hear how ZOE Empowers  helped Leah and her family overcome poverty and experience meaningful lives.  

ZOE Empowers

Through a three-year, locally-led program, orphaned youth are organized into groups of 60-100 children and receive micro grants, life skills, and vocational training to become secure, healthy, and connected community members.

To learn more about ZOE and how you can help: https://zoeempowers.org/.

Like and Subscribe

What a powerful way to end Season 6!  Be sure to like and subscribe to the Bridging Cultures Podcast so you won’t miss a single episode of our next season.

As always, thanks for listening.

With love, the Bridging Cultures Podsquad

The best way to help someone is to build their capacity.  If you give assistance with finances, their next question is always “when are we going to receive again.” I want more for my people than to live in such a way.

• Moffat – Malwaian Chief

In ths episode, we hear from two men in Malawi – Nelson and Mofu – who came to be chiefs in different ways, but whose leadership is empowering and improving their communities in significant ways.  You’ll hear about a vision to build a secondary school, allowing children to continue their education without having to travel such a great distance.  And how solar lighting has improved the safety and quality of life for families.  Their love for their commuities is genuine.  In addition to their full-time jobs, they make sure they are available 24/7 to help those in need, give advice and resolve conflicts.

Sheree even shares an inspiring story about a beloved pink cowboy hat-wearing chief. 

Opulence, Malawi

We’ve heard about Opulence Malawi in previous seasons, and again in this episode.  They just do so many good things, it’s hard not to share.  Follow them on their Facebook page: Opulence, Malawi. Or visit https://www.opulencemw.org

As always, thanks for listening.

With love, the Bridging Cultures Podsquad

SHOW NOTES – Season 6, Episode 3

During this season, we’ve focused on empowerment (to give someone the authority or power to do something).  In this epsiode, James and Sheree discuss the crippling effects of disempowerment (to deprive someone of power, authority or influence., or make weak, ineffectual or unimportant).  Disempowerment can take on many forms  but today we meet Silopeter, a Ugandan man who struggled with alcoholism but found empowerment and transformation after simply being invited to attend a bible study in his community. 

Photo or video of Silopeter

Uganda Counseling and Support Services

In Episode 2, we heard about the education and training UGSS provides to communities.  They also bring hope to communitiers through bible studies, church services, youth and women’s ministry and church planting.

In Case You Were Wondering

James and Sheree, we love Silopeter’s unique gift to you, but we’re dying to know…how did you get the chicken through Customs? And was she a good traveling companion back to Kansas City?  

As always, thanks for listening.

With love, the Bridging Cultures Podsquad

SHOW NOTES – Season 6, Episode 2

In this episode, you’ll meet two young women,  Teawa and Kesacha who grew up in Uganda with few opportunities and little hope for the future…until they were empowered by an organization that offered training and educaton to help them achieve their dreams.

Providing Hope in Uganda

Uganda Counseling and Support Services (UCSS) began in the region of Bulike where its 48,000 residents had nothing – no clean water, medical care, schools, electricity or sewage system. As they provided education for the children, clean water for the community and training to produce crops, the community became more and more self-sufficient and relied less on outside resources. The vision is to replicate this model one community at a time until all of Uganda is transformed.

Meet UCSS Founder, Ronald Kaluya,

As a teenager, Dr. Ronald went for burial in Bulike and came face to face with true suffering. The people there had nothing: no fresh water to drink, no medication to treat their diseases, no opportunity to send their children to school, and they did not have anything to do economically.  When they wanted water to drink, they walked miles to fetch dirty water from a pond shared with the animals. If their child was sick, they could not get medication to treat their child, even when treatment would cost less than ten dollars. Most impactful of all is they had no exposure to the love of God.

This experience would never leave his heart, and he carried it with him everywhere he went. In 2011, Dr. Ronald finished studies in America and founded a nonprofit called Uganda Counseling and Support Services whose mission is to improve lives and spread God’s love to people in remote communities by meeting spiritual, emotional, and basic physical needs.

In Case You Were Wondering

Who won the arm-wrestling match?  Did James win as Sheree predicted, or did her Italian genes take him down?  The people want to know!

As always, thanks for listening.

Love, the Bridging Cultures Podsquad

SHOW NOTES – Season 6, Episode 1

Season 6 is all about empowerment, and who better to kick things off than Hugo Ngwira, who lives and breathes empowerment in his community.  You may remember Hugo from a previous season….a remarkable man who has helped communities reach sustainable solutions for food security and clean water.  He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Opulence Malawi (check it out here:  (www.opulencemw.org).

The Big Idea(s)

Hugo reminds us that empowerment is never a quick fix. It requires relationship – a willingness to listen and understand an individual or community’s strengths and weaknesses, and then  build upon that. It also requires looking inward.  One needs to be happy before they can transfer happiness. They need to be a loving person before they can love others.  We must look at ourselves before we can bring change to others.

This and more.  So many words of wisdom in this episode. 

The Last Word

Believe it or not, Sheree and James actually gave Hugo the Last word! 😊 And a powerful last word it was.  “Without God we cannot change the world. We rely on the power of Christ for us to bring change to the world and empower people.” 

Truth.

As always, thanks for listening.

Love, the Bridging Cultures Podsquad

We’re happy to see you here for Season 5, as we share incredible stories of angels — both  supernatural and everyday people like us.  Pastor Scott Chrostek joins us in this first episode, and although he swears it is above his pay grade, we still really appreciated hearing his thoughts on angels.  Thanks for stopping by Scott!

 

Our Guest:

Pastor Scott Chrostek

Scott is the Executive Pastor of Ministries and Programs at Resurrection Church, a United Methodist Church with multiple locations in Kansas City and a growing online community.  Before his current role, Scott helped launch Resurrection’s downtown location in December of 2009.  Scott is also the author of three books: Pursuit, The Misfit Mission and The Kaleidoscope Effect. 

Want to learn more about angels? 

Visit cor.org to watch Resurrection’s 2023 Advent sermon series,  Angels: God’s Messengers of Comfort and Joy. 

• A symbol of hope, as it flutters over resilient Ukrainian cities and towns.
• A symbol of support, as blue and yellow fill squares and news feeds around the globe.
• A symbol of resistance, as people continue to make and protect Ukrainian flags even under the temporary occupation.
• A symbol of sacrifice, as it covers the coffins of heroes who were killed defending the country.

Have an angel story? 

Share with us on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rezglobalimpact/

or

https://www.facebook.com/BridgingCulturesPodcast

We are honored this season to share the immigration stories of brave individuals from __ countries who had to leave their homes under extreme circumstances in search of a more hopeful future.cordion Content

 

In Case You Were Wondering

In honor of Belen and her foodie dreams, we’re including a recipe here for one of her favorite meals, spicy seafood soup. Looks delish, right?

 

 

We are honored this season to share the immigration stories of brave individuals from many countries who had to leave their homes under extreme circumstances in search for a more hopeful future.   

In this episode we hear the story of Marwa, who was forced to leave her home country of Afghanistan when the Taliban invaded the capital city of Kabul in 2021 and took control of the country. She was working for NATO at the time and knew that anyone in that position — particularly a woman — would be in serious danger.  Marwa endured five long days on a bus, surrounded by chaos and gunfire, waiting to escape the city. 

Thankfully, Marwa is now living safely in the United States, working for Helping Children Worldwide {HCW), an organization that supports children in need and empowers families through education, health care, mentoring and case management. In her role, she sends mission teams, participates on the HCW podcast and is creating a documentary on vulnerable children.

To learn more about Helping Children Worldwide visit: https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org.

• Lisa and Melissa, good friends with differing political views….we love to see it! 
• Lisa – Wife, mother, masters student and director of software development.  Describes herself politically as “left of center.”
• Melissa – wife, mother, grandmother (soon to be again) and leans “right of center” in her political views. 

EPISODE TERMINOLOGY

• Immigrant – a person who chooses to leave their country.
• Asylum Seeker – a person whose life is at risk due to political unrest, natural disaster, etc. and are waiting to be granted access to live in another country.
• Refugee – a person who has been granted access to live in another country but are limited on what they can do or where they can go.  They often live under poor refugee camp conditions for lengthy periods of time. 

IMMIGRATION STATISTICS

• There were an estimated 2 million immigration encounters at the U.S.-Mexican border in 2022…a 37% increase from 2021.
• More than 3.5 million migrants left Afghanistan in 2022. 
• There were 281 million international migrants in 2022. Europe and Asia accepted 87 and 86 million migrants, which means 108 million are spread across other continents.
• The U.S holds 12% of 2022 migratory people. 

Thank you for joining us for this introduction to Bridging Cultures Season 4. We are excited to be back! 

Each season we all collaborate to brainstorm and strategize the topic, and then plan out the episodes, schedule and guests.  In this episode we thought it would be fun to get to know us a little better. Here’s what we’ve been up to since the episode was recorded.

SHEREE REECE

Podcast roles:  interviewer, talking head, final listener and gap-filler

Since the recording of this episode: Sheree visited her 50^th state, Alaska, with her husband. “It’s a beautiful state filled with friendly people and incredible views and wildlife.  Why is this glacier blue you ask???? Wellll… fun fact:  It’s because the ice is so densely packed that the longer wave-length colors are absorbed while blue, the shortest wavelength color, bounces back so that is what our eyes see.  How cool is that?!?”  #sciencenerd #todaysfunfact

JOYCE APPEL 

Podcast roles: Interviewer, and doer of other duties as assigned.

Since the recording of this episode: Joyce has at the very last minute found someone to alter her wedding dress, finally ordered a cake, and booked her hotly debated honeymoon destination. Viva la Mexico! This is all in the last week or so… for her wedding on August 5^th… We like to procrastinate.  Joyce happens to be getting married to the most amazing Assistant Director of Latin American Ministries – Alex McCarty (he actually just volunteers for everything). That’s what’s new.  Feel free to send me all your Mexico travel tips. 😊

JAMES ABBOTT

Podcast roles: Producer & Co-host

Since the recording of this episode: While he hasn’t had the opportunity to camp recently, he’s been spending his free time at baseball tournaments and his favorite:   spending time outdoors with his boys. His new puppy, Ember, has added excitement to their lives. She’s a Labrador Retriever and also LOVES the outdoors. 

COURTNEY HOLMES

Podcast roles: Co-host & social media

Since the recording of this episode:  Courtney completed her first triathlon!  Friends & family cheered her on to the glorious finish.  When asked if she will she do another one, her response is “it’s too soon”.

GREG HOEVEN 

Podcast roles:  Tech Guru, Sound Mixer, & Final Audio Editor

Missing from the episode but we promise he’s real! 

KATHY NAUGLE

Podcast roles:  Editor, show notes creator and part-time cat herder

Since the recording of this episode:  Kathy and her husband, Gary moved into a tiny apartment while in between homes.  Now their dog Lizzie has even less space to let her crazy out!  😳 Happy to report that everyone is adjusting fine…with lots of walks.

Season 7, Episode 6 Show Notes

This season we’re discussing the four building blocks for bridging cultures:

• Be Humble
• Learn
• Listen
• Seek

In this final episode, we revisit the story of Dr. Ronald and hear how his holistic approach to community transformation includes all these building blocks.

Dr. Ronald Kaluya, Founder of Uganda Counseling and Support Services

As a teenager, Dr. Ronald came face to face with true suffering during a visit to Bulike, Uganda. The people there had nothing: no fresh water to drink, no medication to treat their diseases, no opportunity to send their children to school, and they did not have anything to do economically.  When they wanted water to drink, they walked miles to fetch dirty water from a pond shared with the animals. If their child was sick, they could not get medication to treat their child, even when treatment would cost less than ten dollars. Most impactful of all is they had no exposure to the love of God.

This experience would never leave his heart, and he carried it with him everywhere he went. In 2011, Dr. Ronald finished studies in America and founded a nonprofit called Uganda Counseling and Support Services whose mission is to improve lives and spread God’s love to people in remote communities by meeting spiritual, emotional, and basic physical needs.

In Season 6, Episode 2 you can hear from two women who were empowered by Dr. Ronald’s organization when they were offered training and education to help them achieve their dreams.

And Finally…

We leave you with Sheree’s marching orders: Today, go find someone you can listen to. Find someone you can help and come alongside.  Find someone that needs a smile.  “Lord open our eyes to who you want us to see.”

Blessings until we see you next season!