This is the Day...

Today marks a big event in the life of Peace House Foundation--the signing of the formal agreement of partnership between us and the Lutheran diocese. When I first came here almost 4 years ago, we began the process of writing the agreement. Since then the agreement has undergone countless permutations as we've learned more, but the conversations have always been limited to visits here by board members but the distance and lack of technology had made the process difficult.

For the past 3 months, Mark has spent a huge amount of his time streamlining the agreement, working with an attorney here, and manymanymany phone conversations with PHF about how best to represent our interests. The culminating document (shrunk, I think, from our first draft 4 years ago of 20+ pages is now only 3-4) was signed yesterday.

It was a difficult process for several reasons--first, the church here (not just the Lutheran but also the Catholic and Anglican) is very powerful wields a tremendous amount of influence. They are used to complete and unquestioned control and management of their programs. PHF, of course, wants to maintain overriding control of the financial and operational aspects of the school, while at the same time giving the church the role of participating in the decision-making processes. There were also cultural differences as the church officials had to understand the procedures for hiring and establishing procedures in seveal areas that were decidedly Western in nature and not familiar to them. The cultural norm of not questioning or challenging superiors or elders was put to the test during these discussions. We also had to learn about how business, formally and informally, is conducted here and how to meld the two points of view.

The outcome, however, is very positive. The agreement provides a framework for Mark's work here and defines the roles of each organization, which was badly needed. Of course, there will be ongoing discussions that challenge and clarify the agreement as both sides continue to learn how to work together, but it is a tremendous relief to have this accomplished!