Is there a better way to travel?

Every morning I come into the office and start my day with some important rituals. I come into the office and turn on my computer (which is terribly slow and takes 3-4 minutes to fully boot up). During my wait I walk into the kitchen and make myself a cup of Ecco. For those of you not familiar with Ecco it is a delight from Bolivia which my friend Luis brought to me. It's like Perro or Postum but better and the perfect treat for a girl who is doing her darndest to say goodbye to caffine. I then come back to the computer and scan the news looking for stories that relate to the countries where we work or to the kinds of things that we do. I'm come to rely on the news in general and the BBC in particular to keep me connected to the world. And in between stories of Michael Jackson and his funeral (I'll have you know that I saw him in real life once waving from a hotel window in Germany but that's a story for another day) and this little gem about ingenuity in India, I've also been following the stories of Mark Sanford, his extra marital affair with a woman from Argentina and his spending of tax money on trips to visit her.

Now, every day after I check the news I also check Ascend's social media programs (you should follow us on twitter (@ascend_alliance) and be our friend on facebook.). A wife myself (and one who has a jealous streak--sad but true) Mark Sanford's story was rolling through my brain as I checked our facebook page last week. This is what greeted me.

These are the Fosters. I've met them a couple of times and we are facebook friends. Last week they returned from an Ascend trip to Ethiopia and Kenya. While they were traveling for two weeks at their own expense they met some good friends...

...helped people in a remote village in Ethiopia learn about health and hygiene, taught classes and helped local doctors and nurses, shared their talents....

...helped local orphans learn about animal production so they can use the proceeds of animal sales to pay for school...

...Seriously considered stealing this little boy...

...and shared some good ol' fashioned culture (the Ethiopians danced and sang; the Americans brought bubbles which the locals had never seen before).

I was struck with the difference between Mark Sanford and this amazing family. If I have to pick between traveling like Mark Sanford (which involves selfishness, deceit and teary press conferences) and traveling like the Fosters (which involves hard work, dirty little faces and helping others); I pick to travel like the Fosters.