Today is August 20th, 2016. One week from today, I will be waking up in a 15 passenger van with 5 other people and one van driver in the middle of the woods Oregon. I will not have slept very well (if at all), I will probably not have eaten very well (unless you count goldfish and granola bars as a well balanced meal), and I will be prepping for a 5 mile run after having already run 14 miles in the last 24 hours. Sounds like a perfect vacation, right? I'm excited! But this is what I do to provide clean water for children and their families in South Sudan.
South Sudan is one of the youngest countries in the world, only officially becoming it's own country in 2011. Since then, South Sudan continues to be a country ravaged by civil wars, poverty, and disease. Many refugees that have been in the news recently are from South Sudan, in an attempt to start a life over somewhere without war, child soldiers, and lack of resources. If you google South Sudan and read current news updates, it's easy to see that this is a struggling country in need with topics like regime changes, political unrest, child soldiers, and other heartbreaking headlines.
While these headlines can be overwhelming, there is one way that I know I can help. I can commit to a goal of raising $10,000 to help improve the lives of a people in need. I can ask others to support this cause. And I can run.
World Vision is an organization that has committed to helping South Sudan (and other nations with similar needs) find sustainable clean water. While this may not seem like an immediate solution to the above mentioned problems, clean water does so much for impoverished communities! Decreases disease. Provides work. Allows children to attend school instead of spending their day walking miles to find water...any kind of water. Improves agriculture. Decreases starvation with better crops. Improves health and strength. Builds community. And the list goes on.
I have never been a person who has felt called by God to be a missionary who lives in another country. But God has created in me a heart that breaks for others in need. It's why I feel God called me to the mission of being a child and family therapist. I have care and concern for the people God places in my path. When I hear about how a simple resource like water, a resource I have continual access to, can help a community halfway across the world, my heart cries out to do something. And God says, "Run!" And there is nothing better for me than to know that I have stepped out in faith on God's calling on my heart.
I have had times of doubt during this adventure, both this year and last year. A wise friend said to me during one of those times, "All you have to do is be faithful. God will do the rest." So I am being faithful. I am running. I am getting the word out. I am asking co-workers to join this cause. I am stretching my introverted personality to speak to people about donating money. God is using me where I didn't think it was possible. And God is doing the rest.
At the time I am writing this, I have only $992 left to fundraise before the race ends next Saturday, August 27th. Whether I meet this goal by next week or not, I know that God has been faithful in providing $9,000 to help the people of South Sudan have lifelong and sustainable clean water. That is improving the lives of 180 people! And that is amazing!
Thank you for all the ways you have supported me in this adventure for the second year in a row. I can't wait to share this with my Hood to Coast teammates, my co-worker Becca who I was able to convince to join me on this adventure, and with you!
To help with a donation, click here!
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Taking a side
If I'm being truly honest, I don't want to take sides.
I've always been this way. I want to see everyone have a fair chance. It's more important to me that two people in an argument feel heard rather than one "win" the argument. I feel badly for the team that lost against my team (unless they're playing the Cubs...the Cubs deserve a good season).
I like seeing others get along and I believe that God created this world to be diverse and beautiful in it's diversity. I was created to be optimistic, idealistic, and to see the good in others. It breaks my heart to see evil and I hate division. I would have thrived in the 60s/70s and would have worn that flower headdress proudly...but no drugs please.
The division people are taking on social media is heartbreaking. I am tearing up now as I write. The fact that race is still a systemic issue in our country angers me. I am getting hotheaded as I write. The fact that police men and women who have sworn to protect lives are both taking lives and having their lives be taken is devastating. I feel defeated as I write.
I don't want to take sides.
But to sit in my own world and not say something and to not stand up for something feels wrong to me too. Just the fact that I have that option speaks loudly to the systemic issue of race and my own white privilege. I am so grateful to the loving and patient friends I have from other race and ethnic backgrounds and for how they have shown me and highlighted what it means to have white privilege. I want to use this privilege for good. I want to help. I want to be there and say, "I grieve for you too. This hurts." I hate the thought that I'm privileged just because I was born as a white female. Or that I'm privileged because I'm straight. I am so grateful for my friends of other sexual orientations and gender experiences who have answered my questions to help me understand. I won't ever fully understand what it feels like to be in any of those positions, but I want you to know that I want to help. I want to support. I want to be the flower-child that I am and also to stand up for what is right. I want to walk the middle path.
I don't want to take sides.
I am literally crying as I write this post. I feel so overwhelmed by the amount of division and arguments I have seen on social media. I support the Black Lives Matter movement and I am glad that issues of diversity have not stopped moving in my heart since I left Chicago. I don't want to be apathetic. I want to help make change. I want to be in support of making systemic racial change in our society. I want to inform those in my community what white privilege is and how their statements of "all lives matter" is insulting and insensitive. But this does not mean that I'm against cops or that I think they are all misinformed and lack good judgement. So why does it feel this way?
I don't want to take sides.
A while ago, I read an article by a black basketball player who struggled with anxiety. He wrote an article on how the perpetual trauma that both race communities and authority communities experience and how this triggers unnecessary violence. This helped me take a side. Our system is broken. As a mental health professional, I understand trauma. I understand how when you've been trained from a systemic perspective to mistrust a people group based on history of events, it is easy to have a quick trigger. If both groups are traumatized and have been trained in systemic trauma, it would be impossible to react calmly and with a clear mind. I see this in my trauma clients all the time. The reaction is one out of defense. But the reaction results in violence and incites hate and anger and mistrust, thus continuing the problem and widening the gap of understanding between communities.
I am on a side.
I am on the side of working to fix this problem. I am on the side of speaking up in my small community about white privilege and how to use it for good. I am on the side of Black Lives Matter and becoming more educated about the movement by listening to my black brothers and sisters. I am on the side of getting the right mental health support for our communities. I am on the side of working to fix the stigma of getting mental health support in the police community. I am on the side of decreasing fear and reducing trauma reactions.
I understand the fact that I have the privilege to choose to ignore race division in our society is white privilege. I choose not to ignore it.
This is my side.
I've always been this way. I want to see everyone have a fair chance. It's more important to me that two people in an argument feel heard rather than one "win" the argument. I feel badly for the team that lost against my team (unless they're playing the Cubs...the Cubs deserve a good season).
I like seeing others get along and I believe that God created this world to be diverse and beautiful in it's diversity. I was created to be optimistic, idealistic, and to see the good in others. It breaks my heart to see evil and I hate division. I would have thrived in the 60s/70s and would have worn that flower headdress proudly...but no drugs please.
The division people are taking on social media is heartbreaking. I am tearing up now as I write. The fact that race is still a systemic issue in our country angers me. I am getting hotheaded as I write. The fact that police men and women who have sworn to protect lives are both taking lives and having their lives be taken is devastating. I feel defeated as I write.
I don't want to take sides.
But to sit in my own world and not say something and to not stand up for something feels wrong to me too. Just the fact that I have that option speaks loudly to the systemic issue of race and my own white privilege. I am so grateful to the loving and patient friends I have from other race and ethnic backgrounds and for how they have shown me and highlighted what it means to have white privilege. I want to use this privilege for good. I want to help. I want to be there and say, "I grieve for you too. This hurts." I hate the thought that I'm privileged just because I was born as a white female. Or that I'm privileged because I'm straight. I am so grateful for my friends of other sexual orientations and gender experiences who have answered my questions to help me understand. I won't ever fully understand what it feels like to be in any of those positions, but I want you to know that I want to help. I want to support. I want to be the flower-child that I am and also to stand up for what is right. I want to walk the middle path.
I don't want to take sides.
I am literally crying as I write this post. I feel so overwhelmed by the amount of division and arguments I have seen on social media. I support the Black Lives Matter movement and I am glad that issues of diversity have not stopped moving in my heart since I left Chicago. I don't want to be apathetic. I want to help make change. I want to be in support of making systemic racial change in our society. I want to inform those in my community what white privilege is and how their statements of "all lives matter" is insulting and insensitive. But this does not mean that I'm against cops or that I think they are all misinformed and lack good judgement. So why does it feel this way?
I don't want to take sides.
A while ago, I read an article by a black basketball player who struggled with anxiety. He wrote an article on how the perpetual trauma that both race communities and authority communities experience and how this triggers unnecessary violence. This helped me take a side. Our system is broken. As a mental health professional, I understand trauma. I understand how when you've been trained from a systemic perspective to mistrust a people group based on history of events, it is easy to have a quick trigger. If both groups are traumatized and have been trained in systemic trauma, it would be impossible to react calmly and with a clear mind. I see this in my trauma clients all the time. The reaction is one out of defense. But the reaction results in violence and incites hate and anger and mistrust, thus continuing the problem and widening the gap of understanding between communities.
I am on a side.
I am on the side of working to fix this problem. I am on the side of speaking up in my small community about white privilege and how to use it for good. I am on the side of Black Lives Matter and becoming more educated about the movement by listening to my black brothers and sisters. I am on the side of getting the right mental health support for our communities. I am on the side of working to fix the stigma of getting mental health support in the police community. I am on the side of decreasing fear and reducing trauma reactions.
I understand the fact that I have the privilege to choose to ignore race division in our society is white privilege. I choose not to ignore it.
This is my side.
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