Not Fashionable - South Africa '09

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…

Sep 18 2008

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About Us

the UN estimates that between 26,500 and 30,000 children die of hunger everyday. hunger. not war, not disease, not natural disaster. hunger. totally treatable, clearly curable and absolutely preventable. when the UN says that up to 30,000 children die of hunger everyday, they are only talking about kids five and younger. but we let it happen. they don’t get a mention in the obituaries or make headline news. they die silent, painful, lonely deaths. they die off camera and in the poorest places on earth.

we can change this. you can bring change. we don’t have to let this sort of thing happen. the point is not to guilt people into pinching a couple pennies so that we can let ourselves off the hook. the point is to restore humanity to these children. to let them die like this, night after night, is saying something about the way we view life and people. we aren’t talking about making everyone rich or inventing a new concept. we are talking about equality and compassion. we wouldn’t let our own brothers and sisters starve to death if it was within our power to save them. know that it is.

and they say that apathy never killed anyone.

so think. think about how blessed you are. don’t forget that justice and mercy are at the very center of why you are the way you are. remember that anytime someone asks you what these shirts mean that you are actively making someone aware of something that they cannot ignore. always remember that you are fighting for the people who aren’t going to make you famous or rich, but people whose hope you are restoring. God is on the move.

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