I like thinking about that conversation because it is a touchstone for a series of reflections I have been having as we prepare to move to Honduras in July.  What does it mean to be a “development professional”?  This reflection encompasses both the huge, daunting, intimidating question of “How do we end poverty?” and the equally daunting “How do we live as people while working toward that goal?” 

In February at our final interview for the CRS job I sort of leaned over toward my friend Marc and whispered, “I don’t know, these jobs sound kind of hard.”  It got a chuckle, but the weight of that statement hung in the room for me.  These are difficult questions for serious people, there isn’t a “right” answer and we’re not playing with monopoly money anymore.  Realities like the Burma cyclone, the recent rebel attacks on Khartoum, or rising food prices around the world drive home the fact that at the heart of development programs are people who are suffering. 

So my hope is to sort of kick off a series of occassional posts that seeks to reflect on some of these questions.  The posts will likely span the summer and focus on both the personal and professional questions.  I hope to reflect on how I hope to live as an individual (and we as a family) in the developing world.  Is this move the same as the last time we moved to Honduras?  How is it the same?  Different?  Motivations?  Methods?  Vision?  Definitions of success?  Scale?  Lifestyle?  Sustainability?  Work-life balance?  Erika and I have been having some great conversations lately about these very questions and I’m hoping to try and synthesize some of the thinking.  I will also tackle some more technical questions about the business of “ending poverty.”  Reflections on some of the things I’ve learned in grad school and what it means to me to be a “development professional.”

Sunds interesting?  Stay tuned.  Sound boring?  Worry not it’s only an occasional series and I’ll try and intersperse it with more interesting fare!

[To see all of the posts in this series in one place click on the Summer 2008 Reflections category.]