John Francis and his wife, Caye Poe, live in Dayton, Oregon, a small town about 30 km. west of Portland. They are active in civic affairs. Caye is an avid racewalker and has completed numerous half marathons and two marathons in the past few years. They enjoy hiking and the outdoors.
(Click here for more biographical details.)
VIDEO PRODUCTION. John was a video producer before retiring. He and Caye have made several videos recently, and John taught video production in India for six months a few years ago.
MEDIATOR. Caye has been active in Mediation and Conflict Resolution for fifteen years after studying it at university. Both she and John were court mediators for several years and now are mediation coaches at a local school. Caye taught mediation in India (see details) while John was teaching video.
John Francis and Caye Poe (503) 864-3933
Here is an article written about them in 2017 by a member of the Evergreen Travel Cub of Texas for the club’s newsletter.
Sew On and Sew On
Five years ago there was a school in Madagascar started by a lady from Canada. There was no electricity, the children needed clothes and the school needed money. Wanting to help, John and Caye took it upon themselves to go there, purchase five manual sewing machines and deliver them to the school. They stayed for 2 months helping the women sew clothes for the children and items to sell in local marketplaces.
Since then they’ve upgraded to taking eight electric sewing machines and had to adapt to paying bribes to get them into the country.
On Lake Victoria in Kenya, Caye went to the local tourist shops and marketplaces to determine what was most needed. The women now make five different types of bags including large ones, passport bags and small hip bags. They recently moved to a larger facility so they could put signs up to advertise, making fancy dresses for special occasions.
One day Caye noticed that the patterns she supplied were all laid out against the wall unopened. The women simply look at the picture on the front of the pattern envelope and make the dress. One woman looked at a photo of Caye’s great-granddaughter and made a dress that fit her perfectly when she got it home.
In Tanzania they have incorporated beading as well as sewing.
What’s it like to live there? Usually it’s renting a one room place with a shower, toilet and two burner propane stove for cooking. Life is refreshingly simple.
When they’re not traveling they both do racewalking and Caye enjoys cooking and quilting. They provide mediation for small claims, Victim Offender Mediation Program, seniors and teach it in the juvenile detention center and the elementary school. John is putting a lot of time into getting local bus routes and schedules arranged so that the blind don’t have to walk far to the senior center or other necessary offices. They also do a yearly travel expo in Dayton at the community center with four speakers every hour and, travel tips and what kids expect when they travel.