JAMM in Kyiv

(Please note this is a past blog update by fellow leader Sue, written a couple weeks back).

We made it to Kiev last Friday, July 7 and got settled into our apartments. Sorry for the lack of update. Internet cafes aren't cheap.

Though our hearts are still broken for the kids in Albania, we're pressing through and channeling that energy into our work in Ukraine. While we're here we'll be doing everything in our power to make an impact on the counter-trafficking movement in Ukraine. We're gathering all the information we can, interviewing people every chance we get, and brainstorming like crazy hoping to pull it all together in some sort of documentary and installation art piece.

Here is our vision:

We have no idea what this portion of the outreach will be like
For Sure it will be different from the first half
But in many ways also the same
In Pogradec we learned.
We learned way more than most of us wanted to know
We learned way more than most of us know what to do with.

We are a Justice Arts Media and Music DTS
All of us have expressed, in some way, the desire to tell a story through our gifts
And we all have gifts.
This may be the most gifted team that has come through I.Net

We have packed into our minds the tragic, yet somehow hopeful stories of 30 some kids that we all have fallen in love with
Stories that, I believe, have determined in some way, the destiny of each of our lives

Let’s begin to tell their stories using our God given inspiration.

I fell strongly that Ukraine will be the time that we step into our JAMM title more fully

In Pogradec, we had Judy to bring us into the story of the kids and give us incredible insight into their unjust realities
Her we will mostly have ourselves
This will call for an extra measure of iniative and boldness to step into the dark places
To ask the hard questions in order to gain insight into the story of trafficking in Ukraine

This is why we came
It’s our Go given responsibility to tell the story
I am thinking Victor Malarek style

We have Emma, Bekki who edit video
Steph and Audrey who are gifted in multimedia and graphic design
Kate, Janet and Kyle who take emotion capturing photos that tell a story of their own
We have Ben who is a gifted writer
The Dutchies who have a unique boldness about them that make it easier to meet the right people
I am learning the art of asking the right questions to find out the necessary info to tell a story
Lizzy tells stories through her songwriting
Pearl just needs a canvas to portray beauty through the brokenness of a victim
Joan can articulate in great detail with her sketches of people and places
Christina will bring a prophetic edge to whatever message we have
And all of us have proven that we have nothing for hope for the oppressed

Perhaps this month can be about focusing on how to best tell the stories
The stories of Gino and Demir and Dezi
And the stories we will seek out here

The stories of real names
Real faces
Real people whose lives are the injustices we read in books

Let’s live up to our JAMM name and tell the story of God’s justice as we’ve found it in Eastern Europe
We never know far it might travel and what ears might hear it

We will knock on the doors of NGO’s, orphanages, police stations, night clubs, brothels in order to find out what we need to know

It’s our chance to be part of their hope

So let’s disrupt the rhythym of evil here in Kyiv so that imagination can breathe!

(written by Sue V.).

"I have many people in this city."