First Forest hike of 2019
I walk the roads of Greater Grand Rapids, rain or shine, hot or cold, sunny or rain, chalking up ten plus miles a week. This was my first hike in the woods in 2019.
A 2019 Challenge!
“Our response to the plight of refugees in the coming year will be the measure of our humanity.” Angelina Jolie
Water Filters: Clean and Safe Water… Now… And into the future!
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]
After our Saturday morning monthly Business Connect Executive team meeting, I said something to the team I have never said before. I hope and pray it is true.
We operate on very slim margins because we want to provide our products to the beneficiaries at the lowest possible price. We want to give the largest possible margin to our national reps on the ground creating a sustainable business model. We want to see thousands of families drink clean and safe water.
Every time we have a good sales month, we always have ten places demanding further investment. That has not changed. What has changed is our capacity to meet future demand. I believe we have the right people in the right places of responsibility, bringing the right gifts, having the right attitude, building the right brand, partnering with the right organizations, with the right strategy. Instead of having a kernel of doubt deep in my sub-conscious about whether we should continue, I said to the team, “I believe we have a bright future. I cannot wait until 2019!“
With that is mind I need to say to each of you who take the time to read this, that we are very grateful to you for your friendship, encouragement, being a champion for our work, buying the product, making a donation, believing in us, praying for us, just plain being in our lives. Your presence is invaluable. You are and have been a Christ gift to us. Thank you.
Yours truly ready to explain all things safe water at a recent conference
May the holiday season not wear you out but warm your hearts.
Merry Christmas.
Lou and the Business Connect/Connect for Water team (Lou, Jereme, Mickey, Jeff, Darin, Michelle, Mike, Paul)
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
Being Thankful for Generosity
Our water filter enterprise is always in need of additional finances. The need is great and never-ending. The generosity of people and the long days and hard work of our on-the-ground partners continue to inspire us. What is not so common is to be inspired by strangers here in North America.
Last week, my son Jeff and I attended the annual meeting of the International Conference on Missions in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is usually attended by several thousand and this year was no exception. There were upwards of 150 exhibitors. As I walked about introducing myself and our products, I came to a booth that was working with orphan kids in East Africa. I asked the lady, “What are you doing about ensuring everyone has clean and safe water?” This started a significant conversation. Overhearing the conversation was an elderly lady who turned out to be the mother of the lady managing the booth.
She wanted to know more about a new product package we have put together. World Missions based out of Comstock Park here in Grand Rapids has a MP3 solar operated player which we can now include in our Bucket to Bucket VF100 Water Filter Package. On the player, we can put the scripture of any one of the hundreds of languages that are written. We have written a script introducing the need for each of us to protect ourselves with a filter for our soul and a filter for the water we drink for our bodies.
Individually, the filter kit and MP3 Player would be a $99.00 price tag. We were selling them for a special conference price of $48.00. She asked, “Can I purchase one and you send it to someone who needs this?” It is being sent to a young single desperate Ugandan mother who has just taken a job in Jordan.
The next day a young lady pushing an occupied stroller stopped with her seven-year-old son. He was fascinated and asked question after question about how and why we were filtering dirty water from bucket to bucket and next to it we had a 5000 gallon a day system. Jeff showed him how we back flushed both systems, maintained them, and stored the water. After a ten-minute dialog, he wanted Jeff to tell him what he could pray for. Jeff said, “Pray for the millions of people who have to drink bad water and open ways for how we can help.” He then prayed for us and our booth in the middle of the crowd.
As they left, Jeff turned and told me what happened. I said, “Whoa, I need to go find that lady and get a name, a story.” They were gone just that fast. We never saw them again.
We feel blessed and thankful….and so privileged to be surrounded by people like you. Thank you for blessing us so we can, in turn, bless others. Enjoy Thanksgiving in a special way this year.
Lou and the Business Connect/Connect for Water Team.
Connections and Saying Goodbye
I could tell so many stories of saying permanent goodbyes and truly expecting to never see that person again, yet here are a few that we did end up seeing again.
Back in the day…It was 1979. Jan and I had been in Nigeria for ten years. We were moving to Liberia to start a new work. Six years later I said goodbye once again to my friend and colleague, Bulas Ali, who had taken over our work in Nigeria. After sixteen years in Africa, we were headed back to the States to take up a new career. Each time I thought it might well be the last time I would ever meet him this side of heaven. Less than five years later he was on a six-month sabbatical in the United States. I had a chance to introduce him to the art of rabbit hunting. In 2010 I was on a trip to Nigeria totally unrelated to our previous work and found myself eating food in his compound.
I could tell so many stories of saying permanent goodbyes and truly expecting to never see that person again. In 2016 our house steward and his wife, Filibus and Tabitha Usman, from Nigeria, speaking literally no English, came and stayed with us for two weeks. I had promised that we would pay for his trip if he was able to obtain a passport and visitor’s visa, both of which I was sure he could never accomplish. We had said goodbye in 1979. After multiple rejections, he obtained a ten-year multiple entry visa. Thirty-seven years later they were our guests in Michigan.
I graduated from Michigan State University in 1968. One of my best friends and roommate was John Dunham. My wife and I left for Africa. Two years later we returned on leave and attended his wedding and met his wife Ruth for the first time. That was the last time we spoke and saw each other…until August 22 of this year, 47 years later. There is something very remarkable about sharing a life event(s) and then coming back together to relive, recount, and remember what had long been forgotten. Every person I have had a relationship has built something into my life.
My intention is to have many deep and life-long relationships. This means making an investment of time, energy, and even money. Jan and I have had the unique opportunity to meet dozens, if not hundreds of people around the globe, most of whom I probably will never see again in this life except when it happens.
My plea is that our short connection, whatever it might have been, was the start of what can, could, and may well be, the best thing that ever happened to both of us. If a donor, you are never a donor but a partner, if you are a part of our team, you are not just a colleague but in a blossoming friendship, if you are a recipient of what we do here in North America or in Africa, Asia, or Central America, you are part of our family. It is a good thing that there is an eternity because I need that time to build deeper relationships. Words are inadequate to express what your relationship has and continues to mean to us, however short.
Lou for the Business Connect Team
Living Simple is not Simple!
This post is a reflection from Lou Haveman co-founder of Connect For Water, Lou hiked the Appalachian Trail raising money for life-enhancing products for those who live in the developing world. This is one of Lou’s reflections from the 2,172 mile through hike of the trail.
Living Simple is not Simple!
There was a hiker who had a back pack weighing over 75 pounds. We called him the Can Man because he had most of his food in cans. I started with a 46-pound backpack. Within a month, it was down to 36 pounds. The extra food, clothes, “maybe I will need this stuff” was no longer carried. One pair of underwear I found was sufficient. I do not pick up food just because it is free. I carry only enough to take me to my next resupply location. I have discovered that I need to carry more water. Life on the trail is not what you have but what you do with what you have.
Long distance hiking is filled with essential core tasks that in themselves are simple; seeking water, insuring dry clothes, enough food, planning one’s day. In that simplicity, I was constantly evaluating my needs, changing clothes, carrying various amounts of food, and planning resupply locations. The trail experience is a master class in keeping things simple.
This simplicity is a common desire for those of us who live complicated, busy, and sometimes “out of control” lives. I discovered on the trail, it is not simplicity or the desire to do less that I seek, but rather to consciously choose what I do instead of feeling an endless obligation to please others.
Most of our work in Africa was a response to poverty as represented by disease, lack of adequate food, illiteracy, disasters of violence or drought. We measured our effectiveness with metrics on a better life; health, access to education, a larger home, peace and stability.
In North America we largely measure our success in terms of wealth. My wife was the head of nursing at a nursing home. When they hired new staff, they would take them though an exercise where a list of possessions was given to them; items such as memory, health, a home, vehicle, Jewry, furniture, clothes, family, travel, abilities, privacy, books, and so one. One by one they would ask a new staff person to give up one of these items. The point was that each resident had a multitude of things they had to give up as they now lived as a nursing or retirement home as a patient…until death.
It is neither simplicity or wealth that is my goal.
Simple living is not necessarily about reducing the amount of what we have or what we do. Nor is development that of accumulation of wealth and possessions. Successful living is best experienced by removing distractions, so we can clearly identify our choices and do precisely what we find to be most fulfilling. To do that often means we have to periodically move out of our comfort zones to see what alternatives life has to offer. The difference between the poor and wealthy is often that the poor just do not have choices. This trail experience was out of my comfort zone! Living and working in Africa was way out of my comfort zone. Development is having the freedom and ability of choice. A poor person does not have that freedom.
Simple living is not necessarily about reducing the amount of what we have or what we do.
Living Simple is not Simple!
This post is a reflection from Lou Haveman co-founder of Connect For Water, Lou hiked the Appalachian Trail raising money for life-enhancing products for those who live in the developing world. This is one of Lou’s reflections from the 2,172 mile through hike of the trail.
Living Simple is not Simple!
There was a hiker who had a back pack weighing over 75 pounds. We called him the Can Man because he had most of his food in cans. I started with a 46-pound backpack. Within a month, it was down to 36 pounds. The extra food, clothes, “maybe I will need this stuff” was no longer carried. One pair of underwear I found was sufficient. I do not pick up food just because it is free. I carry only enough to take me to my next resupply location. I have discovered that I need to carry more water. Life on the trail is not what you have but what you do with what you have.
Long distance hiking is filled with essential core tasks that in themselves are simple; seeking water, insuring dry clothes, enough food, planning one’s day. In that simplicity, I was constantly evaluating my needs, changing clothes, carrying various amounts of food, and planning resupply locations. The trail experience is a master class in keeping things simple.
This simplicity is a common desire for those of us who live complicated, busy, and sometimes “out of control” lives. I discovered on the trail, it is not simplicity or the desire to do less that I seek, but rather to consciously choose what I do instead of feeling an endless obligation to please others.
Most of our work in Africa was a response to poverty as represented by disease, lack of adequate food, illiteracy, disasters of violence or drought. We measured our effectiveness with metrics on a better life; health, access to education, a larger home, peace and stability.
In North America we largely measure our success in terms of wealth. My wife was the head of nursing at a nursing home. When they hired new staff, they would take them though an exercise where a list of possessions was given to them; items such as memory, health, a home, vehicle, Jewry, furniture, clothes, family, travel, abilities, privacy, books, and so one. One by one they would ask a new staff person to give up one of these items. The point was that each resident had a multitude of things they had to give up as they now lived as a nursing or retirement home as a patient…until death.
It is neither simplicity or wealth that is my goal.
Simple living is not necessarily about reducing the amount of what we have or what we do. Nor is development that of accumulation of wealth and possessions. Successful living is best experienced by removing distractions, so we can clearly identify our choices and do precisely what we find to be most fulfilling. To do that often means we have to periodically move out of our comfort zones to see what alternatives life has to offer. The difference between the poor and wealthy is often that the poor just do not have choices. This trail experience was out of my comfort zone! Living and working in Africa was way out of my comfort zone. Development is having the freedom and ability of choice. A poor person does not have that freedom.
Simple living is not necessarily about reducing the amount of what we have or what we do.
Priority of my life – hiking
One priority of my life is hiking. I have completed several long distance hikes including The Appalachian Trail-2,0127, The Camino-502, and now the North Country Trail-4,600 miles. In 2007 I had spinal stenosis which caused severe pain and aching in the calves and thigh muscles of my legs. I hiked a total of six miles in all of 2017. In November I had back surgery which immediately brought relief.
I have been asking myself what will define my life in 2018. I have come up with several things. One of them will be the completion of a draft manuscript of my original Appalachian hike. Toward that end I hope to share short sections of this draft in the Founders Corner of our Business Connect Web site at www.Businessconnectworld.com. Here is the first one.
The search for my Soul: Hiking in the wilderness day after day seduces one into a new world reality; A new awareness of how the world exists soon becomes self-evident. It exists alongside of but also is part of our experiences, independent of our realities, and yet real.
Recently I purchased some hives and have become a bee keeper. The more I study and learn the more there is to learn. It is a world where so many unanswered questions exist. It is a reality that is magic, real, almost beyond my comprehension yet I benefit from this world. There are so many things yet to discoverer and understand. The awareness of my ignorance has become increasingly evident in my mind…in so many areas of my life.
One of these areas is that of my soul. There is the intersection of the spirit, physical, and emotions but I do not believe the combination of those three attributes are in fact my soul. They are my conscious outward expression of my soul. Lou, do you know Lou? For the most part, I do not even know my soul because I believe it can only be identified in solitude, in stillness. I would like my soul to lead my flesh, not have my flesh leads my soul.
It is easy to be inundated with advertising, people’s opinions, even influenced by my own voice until you become still enough to know otherwise. Stillness speaks. It is an awareness of your own presence. It is also an awareness of a spiritual presence…or lack thereof, and hence a need to be filled. It is this aloneness that I most value when I am hiking, the removal of the distractions, to commune with myself.
In my daily life I find satisfaction in accomplishment, in staying busy, going from task to task. I have found it almost impossible to budget quiet meditation time into my life because my lifestyle prevents me from doing so. I must be struck by illness or an accident unless I intentionally make time to hike…alone. When I lose touch with myself I embrace the world, creating dissatisfaction, that I am not enough, that I must have more, do more, look better, accomplish more, make more money, be bigger, better, smarter, stronger, younger!
There is an element of living in the present but that is not what I am talking about. It is not just hearing the song bird, the fragrance of a blooming flower, the laugher of an infant. Rather it is an awareness of the mystery or holiness of my presence itself. That is a world of infinite discovery.
The question I ask is “Who am I?” Is my conscious self, different than myself? What difference does it make when the Bible says I am created in the image of God? How does becoming aware of a God presence make a difference in my life journey? I seek to be renewed and I think hiking is the way God answers that for me: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36: 26-27.
“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” Raymond Inmom (Internet: The Quote Garden)
Priority of my life – hiking
One priority of my life is hiking. I have completed several long distance hikes including The Appalachian Trail-2,0127, The Camino-502, and now the North Country Trail-4,600 miles. In 2007 I had spinal stenosis which caused severe pain and aching in the calves and thigh muscles of my legs. I hiked a total of six miles in all of 2017. In November I had back surgery which immediately brought relief.
I have been asking myself what will define my life in 2018. I have come up with several things. One of them will be the completion of a draft manuscript of my original Appalachian hike. Toward that end I hope to share short sections of this draft in the Founders Corner of our Business Connect Web site at www.Businessconnectworld.com. Here is the first one.
The search for my Soul: Hiking in the wilderness day after day seduces one into a new world reality; A new awareness of how the world exists soon becomes self-evident. It exists alongside of but also is part of our experiences, independent of our realities, and yet real.
Recently I purchased some hives and have become a bee keeper. The more I study and learn the more there is to learn. It is a world where so many unanswered questions exist. It is a reality that is magic, real, almost beyond my comprehension yet I benefit from this world. There are so many things yet to discoverer and understand. The awareness of my ignorance has become increasingly evident in my mind…in so many areas of my life.
One of these areas is that of my soul. There is the intersection of the spirit, physical, and emotions but I do not believe the combination of those three attributes are in fact my soul. They are my conscious outward expression of my soul. Lou, do you know Lou? For the most part, I do not even know my soul because I believe it can only be identified in solitude, in stillness. I would like my soul to lead my flesh, not have my flesh leads my soul.
It is easy to be inundated with advertising, people’s opinions, even influenced by my own voice until you become still enough to know otherwise. Stillness speaks. It is an awareness of your own presence. It is also an awareness of a spiritual presence…or lack thereof, and hence a need to be filled. It is this aloneness that I most value when I am hiking, the removal of the distractions, to commune with myself.
In my daily life I find satisfaction in accomplishment, in staying busy, going from task to task. I have found it almost impossible to budget quiet meditation time into my life because my lifestyle prevents me from doing so. I must be struck by illness or an accident unless I intentionally make time to hike…alone. When I lose touch with myself I embrace the world, creating dissatisfaction, that I am not enough, that I must have more, do more, look better, accomplish more, make more money, be bigger, better, smarter, stronger, younger!
There is an element of living in the present but that is not what I am talking about. It is not just hearing the song bird, the fragrance of a blooming flower, the laugher of an infant. Rather it is an awareness of the mystery or holiness of my presence itself. That is a world of infinite discovery.
The question I ask is “Who am I?” Is my conscious self, different than myself? What difference does it make when the Bible says I am created in the image of God? How does becoming aware of a God presence make a difference in my life journey? I seek to be renewed and I think hiking is the way God answers that for me: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36: 26-27.
“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” Raymond Inmom (Internet: The Quote Garden)