The girls

I think about how humble these girls are and how hard it must have been for them to leave the street.  In doing so they acknowledge their inability to change by themselves.  They acknowledge their need for help.  They walk out in the face of the their peers who also had the same opportunity to leave but chose against it.  Admitting in the midst of all of their community that they are helpless against the evil that so easily besets them.  Humility.  That’s what they displayed.  Yet some would call it weakness.

As they entered the house they again faced their weakness.  Their inability to write or read.  Their lack of any education which sets them up for dependency at it’s fullest. 

But God “gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.”

When you call on me, you will find me when  you seek me with your whole heart.

For the last week I have seen them change.  Just in ten days.  From shying away and struggling against the desire to go BACK to now being content with where they are and excited about staying; about making this their home and about the future that awaits them back outside the walls around them.

And I remember how I am no different than them.  I too have sold myself short.  Not for money but for acceptance, for love, for companionship.

“Working with these girls will reflect things back to you about yourself so you have to be prepared for that”.  Wise words from Women at Risk counsellor, Wondesson.  That, without a doubt, is true.  Even from the first encounter I had with them in Nazaret, this truth reigned in my heart.  I really am no better than them.  I felt their shame, I know their regret.

We were given questions to talk through this first couple of weeks, questions to really get to know each 

other.  I learn how to say that- Iney kowukachuwegn… If you really knew me, you would know that my favourite colour is…etc.  But as the week progressed, the questions got deeper. 

My biggest dream is, my closest person is, my relationship with my family is, my most funniest moment was…

My greatest regret is..

Eek. 

I don’t even want to share mine yet they are being challenged to share theirs. 

I ask.  This one is hard isn’t it?

Right now I am planning a trip to the States with the Women at Risk staff for the ICAP (International Christian alliance on Prostitution)  Conference.  Preceding this, Dan Allaman, author of The Wounded Heart and member of ICAP is holding a workshop called “Your story becomes my story”.  It will help us who work with these women who have experienced great trauma to first deal with our own.

This past week we were sent our story writing assignment to do before we enter the preconference.  I cringe at the thought of bringing up the past.  A past that as I grew older I became to realize that it wasn’t all that bad.  But as my mum reminded me, in the eyes of a child, it was bad. 

I am sure, as are the facilitators, that this exercise will allow some past shames to resurface, some deeply hidden wounds will sting again and my fear of sharing them openly will be challenged. 

Yet these girls have stepped up to this challenge that soon I will face.  They will find healing in the midst of their trauma as they do so because they have found humility.  And they have hit rock bottom so they can only look up.

We on the other hand want to look like we have it all together, that we are completely restored yet our inner child needs tending to, our emotional outbursts reflect our wounded soul and our pride has orchestrated this facade that covers all our pain to all those who see only on the outside.

“But God looks on the heart.”

And He cares about the heart because out of IT flow the issues of life. 

Matthew 11:29

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. -Jesus

I love how when we humble ourselves, WE are the winners!! WE get grace.  WE get rest for our souls.  WE are finally able to overcome the stumbling blocks that pride puts up to stunt our growth, stunt our freedom.  Humility results in Rest for your souls.  

I am thankful for all the girls are teaching me and the humbling journey we are on together.

The House that Hope Built...

For six years it lay there empty, just waiting in HOPE for the right tenants to come along.  Meanwhile the Hibiscus blossomed heavenward and the flax trees grew; arching over the entrance like a bridal party were about to walk through or a Messiah was about to proceed through on a donkey.  The garden lay empty and the rooms lay bare all creating an atmosphere to be filled an enjoyed, loved and ploughed. 

“It’s PERFECT for your project” says the echoing chorus.  It is.  It is now working out the potential it held for so long.  With seeds that have been planted in the garden, children running around the space that surrounds the house that is now filled with furniture and laughter and love. It's been almost four weeks now. 

My brother in law once shared with me an example of two different styles of leadership.  It’s an example I have shared a few times here in Ethiopia because it’s one that’s relative (aka culturally contextual) to the agricultural society that exists here.  It compares leadership to shepherding a flock of sheep.  It can take on two strategies…

The first strategy is to keep the sheep locked in.  Build a large fence around, identifying boundaries and establishing “No-Go zones.”  Here the shepherd has safe guardianship over the flock and knows they will not be able to break away!  It’s likened to a leadership style based on lording, rules and control which lacks relationship and love.

The second strategy is to place all the sheep on a piece of land with no fence.  Instead, in the middle of the field, place a large trough of water, maybe even some food- where the sheep are drawn to quench their thirst and satisfy their hunger.  This in no way guarantees the shepherd dominion of their sheep but rather entices the sheep back to the fold through the needs that are being met there.  This is likened to leadership styles that are based on relationship and grace, trust and mutual understanding.  It’s hope and love that draws them there. 

I thought of this example yesterday as two of the girls went on their first visit back to their bar.  It was in the middle of a Sunday afternoon and we happened to be walking past to go to church.  On our way we were stopped by the two young ladies.  Now looking so much different to their once-were-peers.  They, smiling from ear to ear, grab me to come and meet their old boss.  She is also joining in their happiness and says to me that she is happy.  Happy for the three girls she let go out of her bar even at the expense of her income.  I wish her God’s blessings as she released girls into our care who are now such a special part of our lives.

Even though there are self-established boundaries for the girls, there is also freedom.  Though there are no chains on the gates or security bars on their doors, they still choose to stay.  They choose to come back.  THIS is the house that Hope built.

In faith we started and in line with what He has promised, God has met us at our faith.  He has provided furniture and food and resources and house rent, a big bag of meat that unexpectedly turned up at the house, seeds for the garden and instructors to teach us how to sow it…  Even in the last month, God has provided for my daughters and I to go to the States in May.  And I am overwhelmed by this GoD we serve and His Love for US And I return again to His feet.

My daughters sang this song recently at our English service:

I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hands, lay back against you and breathe, feel your heartbeat.  This love is so deep, its more than I can stand, I melt in your peace, it’s overwhelming…*Kari Jobe

Today one of the girls, now twenty five, went to visit with her ten year old daughter in Addis Ababa.  Her daughter called her because she was wanting help.  This particular lady lived in a rural area and after her father died was married off by her mother when she was eleven years old.  Never went to school.  Fell pregnant at fourteen at which point her husband left her to remarry.  Unable to support her baby, at four years old, she eventually gave her daughter back to her ex-husband and she went to work as a maid.  She started to work in a factory, but while she was working there her friend came to work in Addis and told her its better salary in Debre Zeit at 600 birr a month.  She came to work here in DZ and then found out that the work she was told about was in a bar. (Familiar story).  After two weeks of working, she found no hope so she started working in the back with the men.  .

Robbed of the potential she so obviously holds, she now hungers to read for this very simple reason…so she can read the Word of God.  His Love letter to her. And she gets to do it all in the house that HOPE built. 

So we continue to journey together.  We continue to write our story... 

I used to hate Valentines Day, but now I love it and this is why...

Habakkuk 1:15

Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

I am sitting there, in my early twenties with a baby at home who challenged me every day to be a better person and a husband at work who worked hard to make ends meet for our family and yet I had a dream in my heart that had been silenced by the circumstances around me and the doubt that took residence right on top of my dream.  Yet this widowed lady from America who had come to visit our church passed me a piece of paper with this verse on it FOR me. As if it were a love letter from God.  A message sent from El Roi…the God who sees me.

That dream was to do something significant in Ethiopia- to feed hundreds of starving people, to care for orphaned children, to help in some way to end the extreme poverty that existed in that land.  This piece of paper in my hand made me wonder if that dream would, COULD possibly…ONE DAY come true.

Fast forward 15 or so years.  Here I am, sitting in this house we have just secured a two year rental agreement for.  We (our two friends from Women at Risk and our two potential staff from Zion Church) are strategizing how we can shift six specific women who had made it through the months of trials we had put them through and STILL decided they truly wanted to start a new life.  How we could allow them to move off the street and out of their work as prostitutes and into this home within a five day span.  This beautiful peaceful home is sitting there empty yet full of so much potential- like the women we will work with.  It’s surrounded by rooms that will house the six women who are desperately desiring to get OUT! 

We draw up a list of things we need.  We have applied for funding from three groups for set up costs and running costs yet none are certain and we don’t know if or when any money will come.  So Cherry (co-founder and Director of Women at Risk) halts the meeting and starts to pray.  We ask God to give us a strategy so these women don’t have to wait any longer.  We start to tally up what we ourselves can contribute; looked at our current available resources and we decide that it’s going to happen whether the funding comes in or not.

Excitement fills the once empty house and my friend Abrehet does her happy dance in joyous elation on the empty lounge room floor.  I had met her in 2009 in Nazaret at the Women at Risk site where she was the Co-ordinator of this one of three Women at Risk sites.  She was young and passionate about the work she was doing and she totally won me over.  We had kept in contact over the years and never would have thought that we would be working together to bring about this new project site. The arrival of the women and the beginning of this new adventure felt so close we could almost touch it.

We hear from one potential funder and we sit in the Canadian Ambassador’s Residence in front of a myriad of represented nations.  Cherry tells the story of Women at Risk and everyone in the room is captivated.   The plight of these women echo through the stories and the strategies that this organization now has in place all lined up with the issues that surface because of their histories. 

Serawit (Cherry) Friedmeyer and I in the Canadian Ambassadors Residence

So we await for funding and in faith we plan for the women to come and join us in the house the day we call Valentines.  The day of Love.  How appropriate I think.  I remember the week before we left New Zealand, I stood on the edge of Lake Rotorua.  I was talking to the One who sent us here.  He reminded me of the love story that took one man (Tutanekai) many years before across the lake and cultural boundaries to meet his beloved (Hinemoa) on the island that sat within.  He did this for love.  A voice whispered in the depths of my soul that THIS is what our journey across this great ocean was about.  That He was calling us out over THIS ocean as messengers of His Love. 

His GREAT love that changed my life. 

That rescued me. 

That continues to do so.

And I hear the whispers of the haters.  The enemies.  THE enemy...The one they call the accuser of the brethren.

“Why is that Michelle and Asaua trying to go all the way over there for? I know what THEY’RE like.  They can’t be useful.  They need to help themselves first.  Their own family first. Their own community first.  Their OWN.”

Well somehow we go and we believe and then it comes to Valentines Day 2014 and five ladies drive through the gate of their new home into the shade of the Hibiscus trees.  They are all dressed up with their hair done.  One runs late because she is in the hair salon.  They look like they are going on a date.  “A Valentine’s Date with Jesus.” I say to another.  They look beautiful.  Like they just found Freedom. 

And it’s honeymoon stages and there’s definitely some scepticism and doubts going on.  But within a couple of hours of eating together and coming to an agreement of boundaries about this new space, facilitated by the amazing team from Women at Risk, the hope starts to form.  Repeatedly we hear, “I had no hope.” 

Ellilita Women at Risk is their full name.  Ellilita is the name given to the noise that the women make when they cry out in praise.  Their Vision statement is simply, “Renewing Hope”.  I paint it on the wall so they know. 

We have a vision at the church too.  It includes meeting the needs of the community.  So we collide as, what we call, a Love Triangle.  I am one edge of that triangle to join the two together.  So we begin this new journey, a partnership between E-WAR and Zion (Tsion) Church that will run for the next 18 months.  One man says “a drop in the ocean” BUT drops make ripples and who knows where those ripples will end.  Hopefully this splash will ripple for years to come.

Yes, me.  And yet it’s not me.  People SHOULD look at this and say…that CAN’T be Michelle...or that CAN’T be Asaua.  It MUST be God.  And yes IT IS.  And I remember the verse that starts this blog and I think…If someone would have told me, I would not have believed that I could have been a part of this.  But I am so happy that we can get to be a part of what God was already doing here and help bring together the people from both corners to serve these women and their children. 

Me and my beautiful friend Abrehet at Ellilta Products

Selam, one of the girls in the group.  A girl who’s been through the wars and out again..who has a vision to reunite with her family she was snatched away from.  She grabs my hand and takes me to her new room to show me her new bed and how she has made it all pretty.   A bed that demands nothing from her but rest.  A bed that has no history but is waiting for hers to be written.  A story of Love.  This is what Love is all about.  So now Valentines Love has taken on a whole new meaning. I love it.

Ready or not, here we come!!

“Am I ready to go back to cold water and melamine plates?”  I think as I soak my hands in hot soapy water.  Something that, five weeks ago seemed strange yet now is becoming all too familiar again.  Familiar and comfortable.  Like hot showers and driving cars on organized streets.  Family time and swims in beaches.  Shopping malls and soy chai lattes.  All the things I have missed and have capitalized on during our five week time away. 

But that time has come to an end.  And I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go back.  Reports come in from my wonderful husband who has kept the fort for us in Ethiopia with our two daughters.  Reports of water shortages leaving them chasing water from neighbouring communities.  Four day power cuts that leave meat unfrozen and cause fires to ignite to cook it. 

Five weeks ago we entered into a Christmas season that didn’t exist in our small city in Ethiopia.  No Christmas carols as you walk through the malls.   No commercials advertising Christmas sales on TV.  Not a whisper of Santa Claus or his reindeer.  Just the beginning of the Advent fast which is observed by the majority Orthodox population in Ethiopia.

Just as we entered into that season, we re-entered into many cultural norms that are “Kiwi”, many we had forgotten about.  Questions flooded the lips of my sons as they tried to make sense of it and reconnect with their homeland.  Some which took me by surprise as it all was so familiar to me after living here for 33 years before we left.  They only six and eight years, had many experiences they needed to recollect conscientiously. 

I guess the most frustrating thing about carrying a vision into a country where aloofness causes apathy, is the misunderstanding that inevitably results.  I still fly the flag that “You don’t know, until you go.”  Yet I sat with people who had been to Russia, to Thailand and to Ghana and heard stories that sounded all too familiar.  But to live long term, breathe and become accustomed to breathing the stench that surrounds the poverty that invades areas of Ethiopia, demands another experience.  And it for us, demands a lot of energy and expectations.

So in thinking about the demands I had to go back to.  The cold water showers and the inability to jump in a car and drive to my desired destinations (as I had been over the last five weeks) I had to ask myself “Am I ready?”

Though I love Ethiopia and the people who abide therein.

Though I love the food, the culture, the experiences that we have shared as a family.

I lacked faith in MY ability to have the strength and capacity to do it again and sustain the call long term like we had always planned we would.

I watched my boys having fun with their cousins numerous times in the pool, in the beach and even in the lake which I used to swim while they were in utero. 

I walked beautiful forests and sat in beautiful homes where all the luxuries of life were available to me.

I got to be a part of three milestones in our families, the announcements of two pregnancies in our family and the long awaited wedding of my baby sister who I love so dearly. 

I worshipped freely to the God whom I adore in the language I knew most and shared my heart with the people I had worshipped with for so many years before.

There is an ease about the life we lived, the life that we forsook to go beyond the shores of the Pacific Ocean to embark on the landlocked country that stole our hearts. 

As we spent New Years Day at the local swimming pools, watching the kids swim and eat in the company of their cousins and Nana, this doubt filled my mind.  Scrolling through my Facebook feed to dull out the sounds of doubt and I come across this video.  It’s our friends we have met through the Homeschool program who we joining forces with to bring solutions to the women in our program.  Their hearts beat in time with ours it seems.

I watch and tears start welling up in my eyes and my heart melts again. 

THIS is what keeps us there and draws us back. 

It’s a CALL that touches part of our soul like nothing else can.  It’s a heart cry of a people that God has called us to respond to ON HIS BEHALF because He uses PEOPLE. 

Even Broken People like me

Even Doubters and the hesitant.

He uses our messes for His ministry.

He uses our willingness and obedience.

He calls us back to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. 

So I sit on this big Emirates A380 double decker, carrying the memories we have created of late, the reconnections with supporters and the promises of more, I open up my Bible and read this from John 6:27-29

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.  For on Him God has placed his seal of approval. 

Then he asked him, “What must we do to do the work God requires?”

Jesus answered “The work of God is this: to believe in the One whom He has sent.”

It’s a timely reminder of the life we have committed to in this season.  It’s not one of building wealth but it’s a life of faith.  If that’s okay with the God we serve, that’s okay with us.

And so we re-enter back in! 

Thanks again in advance for your prayers and support xo

Trafficked

I remember watching the movie Taken for the first time and feeling absolutely HORRIFIED that these events not only HAPPEN but they are a common occurrence in our world TODAY!  Women all around the world are being tricked and trapped in situations where they at the mercy of EVIL on epidemic scales. 

:There are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history, with an estimated 27 million in bondage across the globe. Men, women, and children are being exploited for manual and sexual labor against their will.

In response I googled, searched, listened, SPENT hours into the early morning researching what was happening around the world and what people were doing about it.  From the sex tourism industry that is so rife in my grandparents home country of Greece, to South East Asia, Eastern Europe…monstrosities were occurring to innocent women ALL OVER THE WORLD!!

What were people doing about it?

I found a couple of organizations- one being the A21 Campaign and heard an interview with it’s founder- Australian Greek, Hillsong Church minister, Christine Caine.  She shared her journey of discovering what was happening while on a visit to Greece and how SHE decided to respond to it.  I heard her share of a story where she rescued a woman and told her she had come because she cared about her- this complete stranger!! And the woman replied with “if you cared so much, what took you so long?!”

 This information falls on my ears while my hands were in a sink of warm bubbly water, 

washing my designer dishes 

in my beautiful home

 in New Zealand.  

Tears started running down my face as the urgency of the calling hit me and I remembered the stories I had just recently heard while I was in Ethiopia at Women at Risk.

But the stories I had heard didn’t seem so brutal.  The stories I heard were covered in cultural nuances and traditionally accepted practices.  

"Bride snatching...it's common here in some parts of Ethiopia with twelve year old girls especially."

Yet their lives seemed just as trapped.  Maybe God would use me again to find and help women like this one day I thought- MAYBE there is a woman just WAITING for someone to rescue her.  One who might even say to me “What took YOU so long?”

I sat next to a trafficker once.  He made my skin crawl as he arrogantly admitted he was an “employment agent” here to help women attain jobs in Saudi Arabia- his home country.  These were the women who lined the streets outside the immigration office that we sat in and filled it with their young, rural, innocent lives.  4000 a day, they were in number.  Believing for a better life.  Believing that THEY would be the ones to help their families from afar.  Yet this man who was helping them to get there, was dreaming of coming to New Zealand to study English.  He had a translator with him from Somalia who filled the gaps for me during our short conversation in the immigration line.  Somewhere in that conversation he had the balls to ask me if I wanted a job too! His motives were purely selfish and his heart deathly cold.  I guess that's the way it needs to be when you are sacrificing human lives.

Recently I came across a study of human trafficking in Ethiopia.  While I knew that we wanted to help these women out of prostitution, I had read an article someone had posted once about the difference between prostitution and trafficking.  Prostitution was definitely where the heart of our ministry was.  The author talked about how everyone is trying to jump on the Trafficking "band wagon" to get more sympathy, more attention, perhaps even more FUNDING! 

Trafficking is not a band wagon I ever wanted to jump on.  Why would I want the situations of these women to be any worse than they already were.  But after learning more about Trafficking, what it means and how it is disguised, I realized that this IS indeed the work we are getting ourselves into. 

This, not because these women are being locked up and raped as we have seen in movies such as Taken.  But because the definition of Trafficking is:

Human trafficking is the movement of someone by deception or coercion by another person for the purposes of exploitation such as forced prostitution, forced labour or other forms of slavery. It is an organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited.

Domestic trafficking in Ethiopia, in my opinion, is endemic.  

"A large number of women and children suffer from different types of inhuman abuses and exploitation as a result of trafficking within Ethiopia. Existing studies indicate that trafficking in women and children from rural areas to urban areas is a prevalent and steadily increasing practice in the country." Reads this study on domestic trafficking."

Trafficking here extends far into the fabric of society.  It rips up the potential of the women and children it targets and throws them into the deep pit of hopelessness.  There is a heart cry from the corners of eternity that call US to do something about it. It's found in Isaiah 58:6-7 and goes like this...

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to SET THE OPPRESSED FREE

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

It's talking about fasting...and maybe that fast is from food...or maybe it's from the comfortable life you live, the safety of your own country...to extend into the dark corners of the world to bring rescue.

Someone has to....

The Gift Which Keeps On Giving

.

They’re the BEST kind.  

The gifts that go beyond the expiry date. 

The kind that cyclically provide. 

The ones that you remember far beyond the initial receipt.  

Those that, in some way, continue to show up just when you need them.

We have spent two Christmas seasons here in Ethiopia now and have come to terms with the fact that here the “season” as we know it, doesn’t exist.  On December 25, life goes on here.  We have to TELL OR REMIND people that it’s our Christmas time and are often mocked for that fact that our Christmas season lasts a couple of months, where here it lasts a couple of days. 

While part of me misses the Christmas season and festivities, I am already readying myself for what I am about to be smashed in the face with when I return to the Western world- Fanatical consumerism!  Like extreme terrorist attacks, insurgences take place on our bank accounts where everything explodes and one day later, the mess has to be cleaned up.  Then for months, the debts have to be paid.

Am I wrong? I don’t know.  Maybe things have changed in the last two years.  I remember consumer spending around Christmas had slowed during the financial crisis.  Maybe it’s remained the same. *sigh

Anyway what this whole experience has taught us is that there are things and days and gifts in life that matter and some that, well, don’t matter so much.  There used to be an advertising campaign by the Warehouse in New Zealand (a big red warehouse that is equivalent to maybe Kmart or Target for all those non-Kiwi’s reading my blog.)  It would always say, “The greatest thing you can give your children is TIME!”  This is SO true. 

Time is one love language that almost encapsulates all others. It takes time to deliver LOVE.

Last Christmas we were given a gift that helped us to give this gift of time to our children.  Actually, the gift was financial and it was at our discretion about how we would spend it.  It was right around the amount we needed to get an annuu membership at a local resort.  One of the nicest in Ethiopia and it resides in our town.  It included a free nights accommodation for our whole family in the Presidential suite, free access to the resort which you normally have to pay a lot for, then free access to the swimming pool, kayaks, WiFi, gym, Pool table and discounts on the Spa Treatments. 

Asaua and Matthias at Kuriftu for Matthias' birthday breakfast

All year round we have had the enjoyment of this resort.  It was our get away when we needed our space.  It was our good internet access portal that we could use.  It is our family retreat where TIME with the kids is inevitable.  It was our place to hang out and have cheap buffet breakfasts. And of late, our destination for Saturday morning walks where we could get our weekly hot shower. This is our gift that keeps on giving.  I am thankful every time I walk into that place for my Aunty and Uncle who gave us money last Christmas for this pleasure.  We have used it beyond the price that was paid.

Again this Christmas, some other people are wanting to give us a gift.  It is a gift they are willing to pay a price for- THEY want to give us $5000 but they are rallying around their friends and family to help them put together this money.  Their names are Aysha and Emilou and the gift they give is one of a kind.  Maybe in the future more appeals like this will happen but this is the first of it’s kind on such a large scale.  And the price that they are willing to pay goes far beyond what we could have ever imagined.  Both of these beautiful girls are willing to sacrifice their HAIR!! 

Long, beautiful, wavy, shiny hair.  The kind that won’t happen over night, but WILL happen. 

And as they give their hair, people are giving their money.

And as people give their money, we can give children scholarships and women rehabilitation from commercial street work.

And as more women are rehabilitated from prostitution, more mothers become available to look after orphaned children.

And as more orphaned children are cared for in Ethiopia and raised as leaders, the stronger society becomes for the next generation.

The stronger society becomes if the 3 million orphans are looked after and raised in healthy environments (not that we aim to target them all…but let’s just SAY!), the less dependency will exist, the crime rates will go down, there will be less slavery that will damage peoples’ potential, less corruption will exist in government, the more the country will thrive!!  Huh, and the gift just keeps on giving!!

But before you jump to conclusions and assume that I am crazy for even BEING so AMBITIOUS!  I have a little piece of information I want to share.

The thing is that if all of this were a result of giving, then actually the greatest recipients are not the communities or societies out there, but the communities of givers themselves.  And if You respond, then this is the proof of the benefits that belong to YOU.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Jesus Christ

I read this the other day in a NZ NEXT magazine published last year. 

"Giving and receiving is the flow of life.  The brain registers the act of giving as a primary human function and you will thrive when you give!! [Emphasis added]

A medical research centre in the US set up support groups for people suffering from MS (Multiple Sclerosis).  The group leaders were people who had suffered MS for many years.  While there was marked improvement in those attending the group to be supported, the most remarkable improvement was in that of the person helping the group.  As a result of these findings, further studies were conducted to measure brain activity while engaging in giving and philanthropic acts.  The results again were two-fold.  Well-known feel-good chemicals were released in the brains as a result of giving.  Furthermore the brain area activated was that which satisfies our basic needs; food, ses and emotional security.  So it would be fair to say the act of giving is as fundamental as our need for food, water and procreation."

SO

It is fair to say, that you NEED to GIVE.  And Yes, I know that everyone has someone to give to and there are always people in need needing your money- a few million in the Phillipines right now.  But you can never give to much. 

So what I suggest you do is donate now. 

Here are the bank details for the Bald and Beautiful campaign.  They have nine days left.  Nine is my favourite number.  Will you just give even $9, or $99 or even $999 :)

38 9003 0792278 01
Kiwibank

Help us, help them to Dare to Dream

Most of us in the western world take even our dreams for granted. Our ability to have big visions and dreams for our future often stem from the opportunities that surround us and the people who have inspired us to take advantage of them.  We see people realize their dreams and in forgetting their initial struggle in attaining their dreams, we think that if they can do it, well so can I.

We have a dream. Its a dream I am going to share when I get to New Zealand and pray that people will catch it and support it. Its a dream I believe was Divinely inspired.

I have so many dreams that I find myself having to control them. I have to filter which ones are worth chasing and which just need to be swept into the dust pan in my mind.

But today I sat with a room full of women who struggle to dream.  I have   lived in a country where people struggle to dream for the last two years. They struggle because of lack of opportunity, lack of inspiration, lack of resources and presence of political and economical obstacles. Yet some still dare to DREAM.

Yet these women face a greater struggle. Their struggle is against their own worth. Their own value. Their own shame. The greatest enemy of their dreams are themselves.  Yet we live in societies where the greatest enemies of our dreams are the ones closest to us! We struggle against the Tall Poppy syndrome where we are so insecure about ourselves that we need to chop the heads off of those around us who dare to rise above their circumstances and chase their dreams!

But these brave women openly shared their minute dreams. They were limited by their desire for survival and their visions were blurred by their desperation. Desperation for the immediate can alter our patience for the eternal.

We want immediate change when God wants eternal. "For our light affliction which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and ETERNAL weight of Glory. While we look not at the things which are SEEN, but at the things which are NOT SEEN: for the things that are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor 4:17-18

"How can I dream when I am like this?" One girl asks as she points to her 39 week pregnant belly. And the others dreams weren't far off her mark. Dreams of change. Dreams of deliverance. Dreams of a home with no pressure of a landlord who expects you to pay your rent with your body. Dreams of a home where the focus is on their children. Even if that means eating less, earning less, exposing less.

They see what more they can gain: their dignity, relationships with their families, their FREEDOM!

So today I want to ask you, yes you, big dreamer, to dream FOR these women.  This week I was in a development training with our church and we learnt about going into the community and establishing relationships with community leaders BUT we also learnt the importance of going in with a vision. People want to know that you have a vision. And when

I told these ladies that I had a vision for them today, I saw the reality of that lesson in action. As they right now find it hard to dream for themselves, we need to dream for them.

They have dreams. They are locked away along with their potential. But what we want to do is give them the keys to help them unlock this treasure chest that has been hidden to keep them safe.  And its going to be a process that will take a few months - maybe a year.  And we have a plan. We have  put our dream on paper and we need others to run with it, to advocate for it, to financially get behind and support it. For the sake of these women and the next generation.

So right now, we need sponsors.  We need you to give, to share, to ask, to sacrifice, to reach down into your treasure chest and give us a hand up. We want these women to be able to help themselves but first we need you to help us help them.  There is a ship load of treasure just waiting to be found.  Here is how you can help:

Sponsor one lady to get off the street for one year for  $50 a month. This will enable her to be rehabilitated and self sufficient after the first year. We will give you a name, her story, her photo and help you follow her journey.

Sponsor a Social worker to work with these ladies through the program @ $100 a month.

Buy a loom for $150. This will help these women train in scarf making and hopefully earn themselves a good living off the street.

Buy a spinning wheel for $100 for the same reason!

Plant a seed. As start up costs are often high, we need people to help plant a seed.  We currently have these set up costs needing some assistance:

Rent of some land: $5000 for the first six months.  This land has buildings for accommodation for the women, warehouse space for cotton weaving, classroom space for addiction rehabilitation and life skills training, office space, child care space and agricultural potential.  For more info, contact me.

We also need to buy beds, mattresses, desks, chairs, tables, ovens, kitchen utensils, cupboards, couches, linen, mats. All of these can be made locally and aren't too expensive. 

Your seed of anywhere between $10-$1000 can help us purchase one item. Depending on how much you give, we will let you know what the fruit of your seed is!

This is us dreaming again but also having a bit of faith in what God is able to do.  Please, give generously.

You can give to Redeeming Love World Missions Fund in America or through PayPal to Michelle.tiatia@gmail.com and we will make sure 100% of your money will go towards what it was gifted for with full reports.

Merry Christmas everyone. Now go buy something that will last for eternity!

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and rust can corrupt and where thieves can break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matt 6:19-21