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.

Ethiopia: The Beautiful Land and People

Team ASCEND

Being an intern at ASCEND has been quite the adventure. Sometimes there is a crazy amount of work to do and other times, not as much. Today is my last day interning at ASCEND until this August and looking back I have learned a lot during my time here. I have meet new people, researched information, and some how taught myself how to use Microsoft Publisher. Although the days seem long sometimes, I am so glad that I have been able to be a part of ASCEND for a small amount of time and am looking forward to returning in August. Go Team ASCEND!

Written by Abbi Aird
ASCEND Alliance Intern

Gary Alton Mathews

My father-in-law passed away two weeks ago. He had been ill for several years and passed away from complications of colon cancer. Being relatively newly married (11 months and counting) and not living in the same states, I did not know him well. His original illness (before the cancer)started 3 years ago, three days after Christmas. A young family who attended the same religious congregation had lost their father. They were packing up to move closer to family. At 61 Gary was one of the first to volunteer to help them move. He fell down the stair and was in a coma. Whether the fall caused the stroke or the stroke caused the fall will never be known but Gary was never the same. He was left with the cognitive abilities of a first grader. I never met him before he got sick.
The few times that I did meet Gary he told me long stories that didn't necessarily end. While my husband and I were still dating he told me several times about the day my husband scheduled 3 dates in the same day with 3 different girls (much to my husband's dismay). Once when Gary was telling me a thrilling story about getting pulled over by a highway patrolman while speeding (whom he convinced to not give him a ticket by telling him about Jesus) my husband tried to steer the conversation and correct the story. In a skill that the last 11 months have honed I gave my husband what I call, "the stink eye." He whispered, "but that's not true. It didn't happen!" I whispered back, "I don't care. It doesn't matter."

I went to church with Gary once in the congregation that he led for a time and that he attended for nearly 30 years. During class he raised his hand and gave comments that didn't always relate to the topic, were lengthy and frequent but the others smiled and said, "thank you Gary" every time he finished. No one seemed to mind. Coming home from church I was talking to my mother-in-law about the experience (she had been in another room). She got embarrassed and said, "I usually try to moderate his comments a little."

What my husband and mother-in-law didn't realize is that Gary's lifetime of serving other people, of helping every family move and staying to clean up after events had heard him a little leeway from the rest of us. We loved Gary whether or not his stories always made sense. Now, you may be thinking, "but you said that you never met Gary before he was sick." That is true. But I have met my husband. On our first date my husband had to drop me off early because he was volunteering with the Special Olympics the next day. He is really disappointed that he can't volunteer here (it's 12 hours long I'd like to point out) this weekend because we have house guests. I have a good husband who tries to serve other people. He learned that from his dad.
At Gary's funeral and burial thought, over and over again, of the words to a famous Beatles song; "in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." I've come to another conclusion; you don't take the love with you. It stays here and blesses those you serve, your children, your friends and everyone else with whom they come in contact.

So serve on. And on. And on.

Affiliate Marketing Network

Hi Y’all! The name is Dane Leary and I am a bran spankin new intern here at the headquarters of Ascend Alliance by way of the Hinckley Institute of Politics. I’m here to get a better understanding of how a non-profit organization works. It’s really great to see a system that is productive. Also, the staff and other interns are great to work with. It is very professional and works gets done; but what’s really refreshing is how fun and casual the environment is to work in.

This is my 3rd week here and boy have they put me to work! Aside from cranking out binders for the folks going on expeditions, my work has been mostly on finding an Affiliate Marketing Network for Ascend.

First I had to learn what in the world an Affiliate Network was. The gist of it is; In Affiliate Marketing there are 4 players, Web User, Publisher, Affiliate and the Network.

The web user visits the publisher site, which then directs the user to an affiliate where a purchase or donation is made. A percentage or a flat commission from the purchase or donation is then transferred from the affiliate to publisher. This transaction is facilitated by the network, which tracks the user from site to site amongst its member sites.

So all those ads you see on MySpace, Facebook and other sites are actually part of an affiliated network. It is a multi-million dollar industry now! Some of the adds are Pay-Per-Click, where the affiliate pays the publisher every time someone clicks the add. But that’s not what we are looking for here at Ascend.

The thing is that very few of these Affiliate Networks have worked with a non-profit before, it almost seems like NONE have worked with non-profits! So it’s a new innovative field that Ascend Alliance is trying to open up. Just as everything cutting edge, it isn’t easy, nor is it at all clear, what will happen. What is clear is that if successful, Ascend stands to really increase its donation pool and range. Ascend could even increase the funds it has to work with by advertising for other companies products that are humanitarian, socially and environmentally friendly. In effect promoting a wide range of items that create a better world.

Well, till next time have a good one.

Written by: Dane Leary
ASCEND Alliance Intern