I pin things here.
I write short things here.
My author page is here.
My photos are here.
I talk about books here.
Wednesday
Sep162009
Drawn From Water
September 16, 2009
I believe that it was sometime in late February when I chose to spend part of a morning out talking on Skype with a dear friend of mine. I was in a dark little internet shop with the fans going, and no one else was in there, which was nice for a Skype call. She told me that her husband was in Ethiopia, and that they would possibly move there, but don't tell anyone, because it's just an idea at this point.
And then on May 12th, they flew into their new life. It was so fast.
It's only now that I understand the courage that it takes to do such a thing, and I understand it as being fathoms deeper than my own relocation. For one thing, I'm living in traveler India, where there are little amenities for people from foreign countries. Amenities like Nutella and German bakery goods and even olives if you're really going to splurge. But my friends Levi and Jessie moved with their three children to Jinka, a tiny town with no internet, and I'm sure, very few amenities.
(Plus, besides a brief stopover in Sacramento, we moved to India from the Land, where we already knew all about power outs and water problems. I always feel like living at the Land was the best training for being here that I could have had.)
The reason for such a bold move was a tribe which holds many old beliefs. One of the more drastic beliefs is that there are certain markings that make a child bad luck, and for the good of the tribe, that child must be killed. By sheer grace and persistance, some families of the tribe who obviously were torn apart by these beliefs, chose to give their children up, rather than kill them. There were ten of these children, and no one to organize their home. So Levi and Jessie went.
Now they are trying to work out the future. But resources are low, and even though their costs are relatively low, they are responsible for ten children and seven staff. It always seems like there are so many good works in the world that have one main problem: lack of funds. I want to find ways to address this more fully and sustainably, but for now, I'll let you watch the video.
Drawn from Water from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.
Here is the link for their website, and here is the link to donate.
(Thanks to Carrien for suggesting this post.)
And then on May 12th, they flew into their new life. It was so fast.
It's only now that I understand the courage that it takes to do such a thing, and I understand it as being fathoms deeper than my own relocation. For one thing, I'm living in traveler India, where there are little amenities for people from foreign countries. Amenities like Nutella and German bakery goods and even olives if you're really going to splurge. But my friends Levi and Jessie moved with their three children to Jinka, a tiny town with no internet, and I'm sure, very few amenities.
(Plus, besides a brief stopover in Sacramento, we moved to India from the Land, where we already knew all about power outs and water problems. I always feel like living at the Land was the best training for being here that I could have had.)
The reason for such a bold move was a tribe which holds many old beliefs. One of the more drastic beliefs is that there are certain markings that make a child bad luck, and for the good of the tribe, that child must be killed. By sheer grace and persistance, some families of the tribe who obviously were torn apart by these beliefs, chose to give their children up, rather than kill them. There were ten of these children, and no one to organize their home. So Levi and Jessie went.
Now they are trying to work out the future. But resources are low, and even though their costs are relatively low, they are responsible for ten children and seven staff. It always seems like there are so many good works in the world that have one main problem: lack of funds. I want to find ways to address this more fully and sustainably, but for now, I'll let you watch the video.
Drawn from Water from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.
Here is the link for their website, and here is the link to donate.
(Thanks to Carrien for suggesting this post.)
Reader Comments (5)
I have nothing but admiration for people like your friends who give up everything to help others. I admit I could never ever think of living in such a place so the admiration grows while I feel completely useless and a coward, safely tucked in my little European seaside town. But maybe I can help from here.
This rocked me to the very core of my soul. God bless them.
I am putting this on my site today. I have seen.
Thank you for posting this. I've joined their FB cause. I can maybe soon offer a yoga workshop and all funds raised donated to them. Such great work they are doing. Wow.
[...] had the honor of watching a very moving video on Journey Mama’s [...]
Oh my heart.