South Africa '09
here is a really practical way to get involved. in May/June of this year (2008- year of the rat) we are going to be heading to South Africa for a month to work on a sustainability project that will involve farming, feeding, TOMS shoes, playing with kids, well digging, community building and really bad sunburns. we are doing a big collaborative project with Planting Peace (PlantingPeace.org), Book of Hope (BookofHope.net) and possibly the shoe-cobblering-phenom TOMS Shoes (TOMSshoes.com).
The GOAL is simple: get a group of about 20 twenty-somethings on a plane to South Africa to spread sustainable techniques for agriculture, love on hungry and hurting people and spread the love of God around a bit more. While we are there we will be doing things like creating and educating people on practicle ways to produce food, providing sources of clean drinking water, putting clothes on the naked, putting shoes on the feet of children, doing a massive Book of Hope distribution and getting involved on the community level in areas of education, church circles and things of the like. this is an open invitation- consider this a person invite! :)
BUT FIRST: If you are in the Florida/Georgia area we are going to be attending the H.E.A.R.T. Institute (Hunger Education and Resources Training) in Lake Wales, Florida. This a three week college level course that that will prepare us to effectively go out into the Third World and bring about change. Tony Campolo says that this “is only place I know where evangelical commitment is coupled with ‘hands-on’ experiences to mold a Third-World worker…’” The dates for the class are January 5-23, 2009. The cost before scholarships is $800, and falls to $421 after all scholarships are said and done. The cost includes classes, housing, books, food, lab fees and all! We will be taking a group of 10- 15 people that will be the leaders of our South Africa trip. If this is something you want to do, please let me know as soon as possible via email, or phone.
More info to come…
every shirt is individualy screen printed on an American Apparel shirt. we don’t have many colors yet, but if you see one that you like, please send me an email to ryanstephena@gmail.com, and I can send one out to you (sizes: girls S,M,L and mens S,M,L,XL). every shirt is packaged and has a message about hunger and the role that we play in stopping it.
if these were anymore handmade, they would be sand castles.
the heart behind having this page is so that an internal dialogue can beging inside of us. i know that the website is crappy- it’s a blog for crying out loud. i know that the shirts are made in my parents living room. i know that hunger seems like an impossible thing for us to overcome. i was at In-N-Out burger the other night and the guy working behind the register looked at my shirt, then my face, then my shirt, then my face and said “dude, that’s a depressing shirt”.
i replied, “thank you”.
i then asked him if he wanted one to which he replied “uhh, no”.
but he saw it. and it did something inside of him. it bothered him enough to read it a time or two and then question it. the letters were big enough that he had to read it. below you will find a few things that WE can do to make people look at, read into and think about.
design no. 1: this is the first (and by “first”, i mean “only”) design that we have. these shirts are making their opeing appearances on my bands upcoming tour. maybe, that’s where you got yours. if so, thanks for coming to the show and for looking us up. these shirts are by donation only. that means that if all you have is bowling pins, juggle them, wish us well and you can have a shirt. if you have a ton of money, you are probably too cheap to buy one becuase no one gets rich by giving money away, so you wouldn’t be able to have one. you can check out more about who we are and what we believe by checking this page every week or so. we will have practical ideas on how to make a difference right where you are. peace.
CONTACT
if you would like to place an order, donate to the cause, or if you have any questions or feedback, please shoot an email over to ryanstephena@gmail.com or call 954.931.0724.
we are always looking to imrove things around here, so if something isn’t working properly, please let me know. also- if you figure out how to run a car on misprinted t-shirts please let me know… i would like to start a business with you.
-ryan alexander
