Crab dip, with a side of activism

Tonight I attended a young professionals potluck gathering. Delicious dishes included enchiladas, deviled eggs, and salad with chunks of a mild cheese (fresh mozzarella?) and bread cubes mixed in. I brought crab dip, and will post the recipe below. It was great to get a chance to chat with some of the other young people at church (a topic to which I will devote a much more extensive posting later), and the idea of potluck dinners appeals to me a lot in general. The young professionals group meets monthly, and there is typically a guest speaker, often a member of the church, who has something interesting to share. After dinner, everyone gathers in a circle of comfy armchairs and listens.

This week's guest was a woman named Beth, who works now at the Brookings Institution, but has spent much of her career living abroad, doing humanitarian work with a number of organizations, including the UN. A large part of her focus has been on refugee women. Beth spoke at length about her experiences, using several specific stories to help us understand her line of work.

In one, she told of a woman whom she met in Geneva, who had escaped Somalia by walking through the desert, carrying her 2 year old son. Arriving at Djibouti, she was raped repeatedly by the border guards before being allowed to enter. When she met Beth, she was going back to Somalia to try to find the infant she had been forced to leave behind because she "could only carry one." A second story centered on the deep satisfaction Beth received from buying a displaced schoolteacher a new pair of glasses, leading her to spin in circles in the street, crying "I can see!" in Portuguese. Still another focused on aid workers, resolutely continuing to provide help despite terrifying threats by local warlords.

One of the things that struck me most about Beth was the tone of the conclusions that she's drawn from these experiences. She told us that people frequently ask her how she copes with such a depressing line of work. Indeed, wherever there are humanitarians in the world, there is likely some sort of heartbreakingly incomprehensible disaster present as well. But Beth asserts that it's a wonderful job, that seeing firsthand the good she's been able to do is exceptionally gratifying. There's something impersonal about donating money to charity. You know you're doing a good thing, but you never get to see the tangible result. Not the case with humanitarian work.

Following her stories, Beth answered questions. The discussion roamed from Iraq (she's sad that sectarian violence has driven out nearly all of the country's intellectuals, but encouraged by Obama's rhetoric on increasing civilian aid) to how she got involved with this line of work (she was a college professor who visited Switzerland with some surplus grant money) to what her office looked like in Geneva (it had a view of sparkling snow-capped mountains and a little coffee pot in the corner). I really enjoyed listening to her chat - it felt very grown up, yet almost collegial at the same time. I'm looking forward to more experiences like this with this young professionals group.

And now, the crab dip:

1. Mix well, in a microwave-safe bowl: one 8 oz block cream cheese, 1/2 c. mayonnaise, 8 oz. crab meat (imitation flake crab works fine and is much cheaper), chopped scallions, chopped parsley, slivered almonds, 2 tbsp white wine (or cooking wine), 1 tbsp horseradish, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
2. Cover and microwave 4-6 mins, or until hot.
3. Stir again.
4. Serve with slices of a baguette or crackers or both.