This Saturday night I'm hoping to be involved in Atlanta's Global Night Commute. What is that you ask? Thousands of men, women and children across the United States are lying down and closing their eyes to join the invisible children in Norther Uganda. By doing so, they will demand that our government put an end to the longest running war in Africa and one of the worst crises in the world today.
All this I stole from the Invisible Children website linked to the title. So often we want to do more and make a difference. Well, on Saturday night, April 29 you can. Find out where the Global Night Commute is happening in your city and take part. We have an opportunity to make the children of Uganda's plight known and heard by our government.
Here's to a sleepless night.
Joy
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Yesterday afternoon Gabriela, Jason, Lucy and I went to the Hamptons at Lennox to spend time with some kids. We go every week. Usually we just play games with them, give them a snack, pray with them and then send them home. Yesterday Jason brought pictures back to them of his trip to China.
Before Jason left we told the kids that he was going because there were people in China selling children and that he needed to find out more so that he could help. (If you want to read the specifics about his trip, try three posts back.) Anyway, we told the kids at the apartment complex the children and women in China were being sold. We thought that answer was valid. The kids seemed to be okay with that.
Yesterday Jason begins to show his pictures. He gets through about 30 of them and gets to one about a boy who is 16 whose mother was sold a few years earlier. That wasn't enough for the children in the room. The questions began. Why are they sold? Do the people kill them? Are they used for work?
How do you tell children who are between the ages of seven and thirteen that there are women and children in the world who are being sold for sex? You don't I suppose. There will come a time when they know more than they need to about sex and can help combat the problem. What's sufficient for now though? How do you express to children the reason why Jason had to go to China? How do you impress upon them the severity of the issue?
I see the children that we spend time with every week and I see their naivety when it comes to such things and I realize that children just like them - their age, their size - are being used for sex. It makes the problem of sexual trafficking that much more real to me. Then I wonder if there is a chance that any of these children, sitting in this room, could be trafficked. My heart breaks because I know it could happen. Traffickers don't just live overseas anymore. They live in my city and they probably live on this street.
I've been wondering how much good we're doing spending time with a dozen children each week. We don't teach them Bible lessons or sing Sunday School choruses. We just pray with them and ask them to keep coming. We may not be able to save them from something so evil. I do know that spending two hours with them each week keeps them away from predators for that short amount of time. Meanwhile they are learning that talking to God isn't hard and that they can trust us. Two things that don't seem to come so easily.
I'm now just wondering what more we can do.
Lord, please give us that kind of wisdom to see justice prevail here.
Before Jason left we told the kids that he was going because there were people in China selling children and that he needed to find out more so that he could help. (If you want to read the specifics about his trip, try three posts back.) Anyway, we told the kids at the apartment complex the children and women in China were being sold. We thought that answer was valid. The kids seemed to be okay with that.
Yesterday Jason begins to show his pictures. He gets through about 30 of them and gets to one about a boy who is 16 whose mother was sold a few years earlier. That wasn't enough for the children in the room. The questions began. Why are they sold? Do the people kill them? Are they used for work?
How do you tell children who are between the ages of seven and thirteen that there are women and children in the world who are being sold for sex? You don't I suppose. There will come a time when they know more than they need to about sex and can help combat the problem. What's sufficient for now though? How do you express to children the reason why Jason had to go to China? How do you impress upon them the severity of the issue?
I see the children that we spend time with every week and I see their naivety when it comes to such things and I realize that children just like them - their age, their size - are being used for sex. It makes the problem of sexual trafficking that much more real to me. Then I wonder if there is a chance that any of these children, sitting in this room, could be trafficked. My heart breaks because I know it could happen. Traffickers don't just live overseas anymore. They live in my city and they probably live on this street.
I've been wondering how much good we're doing spending time with a dozen children each week. We don't teach them Bible lessons or sing Sunday School choruses. We just pray with them and ask them to keep coming. We may not be able to save them from something so evil. I do know that spending two hours with them each week keeps them away from predators for that short amount of time. Meanwhile they are learning that talking to God isn't hard and that they can trust us. Two things that don't seem to come so easily.
I'm now just wondering what more we can do.
Lord, please give us that kind of wisdom to see justice prevail here.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Girl's Weekend Away
this past weekend i got to spend time in Savannah with my best friend - Lorelie! we had such an incredible time - eating at the Pink House, staying in the Marshall House, walking around the town until it felt like our feet might fall off, learning about Pulaski and Oglethorpe and how they shaped the town. we ate milky way cake for breakfast!
the souvenirs from the weekend come in the form of art. we bought sketch books on saturday and decided to walk around the town and draw what we saw. here's some of the beautiful works of Joy and Lorelie that i'm sure you will appreciate. beside them are the pictures of the actual scenery.
to chatham artillary!
The Fountain in Johnson Square
The Huge Fountain that Caused Some Drawing Difficulties
And this one is Lorelie with her brand new sketch book. Thanks for a great weekend! You're the best.
the souvenirs from the weekend come in the form of art. we bought sketch books on saturday and decided to walk around the town and draw what we saw. here's some of the beautiful works of Joy and Lorelie that i'm sure you will appreciate. beside them are the pictures of the actual scenery.
to chatham artillary!
The Fountain in Johnson Square
The Huge Fountain that Caused Some Drawing Difficulties
And this one is Lorelie with her brand new sketch book. Thanks for a great weekend! You're the best.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)