The Red Light District

She was not even 8 years old when they came for her. Mom left and dad was always out drowning his cares with drinks. She was helpless. They abused her and left. Then they came again, so she ran away. Out on the street she was held at knife point. They said, "sleep with me or I'll kill you." After one man had used her he told her she should end her life. He gave her a knife and sent her off. She almost killed herself, but someone saw and stopped her. One girl said, "you are already doing this for free, so let me show you how to make some money at it." With no place to stay, she tried to sell herself out on the street. Still, she was so young that many took advantage of her.

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The stench of urine and waste filled my nostrils and I knew we were getting close. My heart beat with anticipation. With tears and intensity we had prayed for a spirit of freedom for this night. Now all of our prayers had come to fruition and we were in the Red Light District. "Oh God, love through me tonight! Love through me tonight!" was my soul's desperate plea. At last the small white van pulled to the side of the road.

It was time. 

It is well known that this place is dangerous. To many our presence is not a welcome thing. The people know why we are there and that our goal is freedom for the girls. A fight even broke out at one point, but I felt no fear. My focus was on the girls. They were not what I expected...they seemed...normal. They were far from what you would think. We smiled and shook their hands. Some were friendly and smiled back. Others adverted their eyes when we looked at them. Some even followed us around and asked questions. Earlier the girls in the safe homes had passed out fliers for a party a few days later. There they'd have the opportunity to hear about Christ and about freedom. I prayed they would come. I wanted to tell them how much Jesus loved them! The language barrier weighed heavy on me, but I prayed that the love of Christ might know no bounds in us. I pray that our weakness was His strength in that dark place.

I was struck by the vastness of the Red Light District. We walked several streets, but only saw only a small portion. So many girls can stay in business because of the amount of traffic that comes through. It costs next to nothing to get a girl for a while, so lots of men do. I noticed men walking by with a smirks of satisfaction on their faces as they pulled their girl for the night close. The girls wore shame around them like a cloak. It broke my heart. Children roamed the streets, even so late at night. They have no choice. It's either the streets or getting shoved under the bed of the tiny little room they call home. Loud, pounding music blared from the rooms of some. Most of them had posters up of other women, as if the girls are merely the object and the attention is elsewhere. 

Tears filled my eyes as we pulled away. I saw it. I walked through it. I cannot forget it now. These girls will forever have a piece of my heart. I have seen those who are under oppression. I touched them and they touched me. I wish I could take you with me to see it. I wish I could adequately describe their faces, their eyes. You would cry. You would hurt for them. You wouldn't be able to pretend they don't exist anymore. You would have to do something to help.

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She was 11 years old when they rescued her. Trauma and abuse was all she had know for 4 years...4 years of her childhood. She had been through so much that she didn't speak to anyone for almost 2 years. To cope her mind completely shut off parts of her memory. Finally, she started interacting with the house mother and the other girls at the safe home. Then she started to remember. Coping was hard, but she finally started to develop and bloom. Now she stood telling us her story with tears. Betty, the translator had to take over mid-way through because she couldn't finnish. Still, the message was clear...

There is freedom.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.

Ethiopia 2011 | part one

Well friends, here are a few photos about my trip. I think I am finally ready to share more about what I saw. There is so much to share that I'm going to split it up in several posts. I experienced everything from an earthquake to walking through The Red Light District...

It never hits me that I'm going overseas until I'm actually on the plane. I love to journal while we are flying through the clouds. Things seem so peaceful and worries feel irrelevant. It was a long journey, but we finally reached Addis Abeba. 

After a good night's sleep and a shower, we started our trek to Angacha...

Of course there was a little silliness on the way. :)

The land was not what I expected. The land may look beautiful, but the soil is dry from lack of rain. I can't see how anything grows there when all the ground looks like rock. The people are not unlike the soil. Telltale signs of years of hardship were as evident as the dry land in the eyes of some. 

We had hardly been in in Ethiopia 2 days when we were all awoken in the middle of the night. I woke up to my roommate screaming my name and the room trembling. It seemed like a dream to me. An earthquake? In Ethiopia? In the panic we didn't even think to grab anything but shoes. For several hours we shivered in the cold, waiting for the aftershock. It never came, so we went back to our rooms. As you can imagine, sleep was not possible after that.

When light came we decided to explore a bit. Needless to say we drew a lot of attention. The children steal my heart every time. It makes me want to adopt one day.

Such contrast - a shack next to a hotel...well, by third world country standards that is.

With the earthquake behind us, we headed out to the medical clinic to help with their feeding program.

There were so many families in the program. I was so wonderful to see how successful this ministry is in the community. The parents are so proud that their children are doing well. If it wasn't for ICA hundreds of these children would have died. A few of them looked a little pudgy (not much though), which is very, very rare. I didn't see one over weight Ethiopian there. Everyone was extremely thin. 

Beautiful people.

These are the families waiting to get into the program. There over 30 families that came to the clinic just because the foreigners were visiting and were accepted into the program. Their babies were incredibly malnourished and would have died otherwise.

These babies may look like newborns, but they are not. Some of them were up to 6 months old or older.

After finishing up at the clinic we visited the new hospital grounds - they were breathtaking. They made sure to plant flowers at the clinic and the hospital grounds. It's such a simple thing, but to the community it represents hope. Many families have started planting flowers of their own as well. Because of ICA this place has been transformed. The people have future. The flowers are just a symbol of the hope they have that things will get better. That is indeed a beautiful thing. 

This is the crop of potatoes they harvested from the land. God has really blessed these grounds. I thought it was amazing that the money for these things came from a local church in Ethiopia, not from America.

I was able to use a Nikon for the day! It's strange how foreign my point-and-shoot feels after so short a time. I made a good choice in not bringing it though. My mind was much more focused on what I came there to do, instead of photos.

There is so much work yet to be done. ICA has made a huge difference in this community and we got to be a very small part of that. Still, I can hardly describe what it is like to walk among them and feel their need. The burden still weighs heavy on my heart.

More coming soon...

Back from Africa

Hello all! I just got back from Ethiopia last night! Man, it was quite a trip. I have been overseas many times, but I have never experienced anything like this past week. I have seen so much. I knew it would be hard to process all of what I saw, so I put together a few video blogs from the trip along with a few photos. I just brought my little point-and-shoot, but I was able to use several other nicer cameras as well. I hope to be posting more soon!

Until then, I hope you watch this video. I hope it gives you a small glimpse into what it was like. Oh, and sorry for the shaky camera...apparently I didn't know I was doing it!

Untitled from Jennifer Blair on Vimeo.

The Difference Project: Months 4-7

It's been a while since I've written about The Difference Project. (Click on The Difference Project tab if you don't know what I'm talking about. Basically, I'm not buying clothes, shoes or any thing like that for 9 months, in order to give more away.) It's crazy to think that once I get back from Ethiopia I'll only have 2 months left. This project has become a part of my mindset. What began as a challenge has now been transformed into a full-fleged war against materialism.

Through this project I have seen my heart's desire for more. Materialism is a tricky beast. Once you obtain something, it feeds a desire for more. Luxury is leech that sucks up compassion. Surly, God does give us material blessings. Indeed we are blessed here in America, but our money is dangerous. It comes between us and God so easily.

Now you might think that you are ok. You are a good person and you really don't have a lot. I thought the same thing. But then I chose to do without just one luxury for 9 months. It revealed to me that I placed more importance on money, on having things than I thought. I asked God to reveal my heart and He did. I give so very little. He gave so very much. I saw that God offered to do more through me, if I'd just be willing to let go of things.

"Do you think a materialistic world can be won by a materialistic church (or person)?" - David Platt

I want to reach this world, this culture. How can I do that if how I live my life is no different from theirs? If I truly look at my lifestyle, what makes me different than my neighbor? If everyone saw my bank records would you see how much I spend on myself, or how much I gave? The Word says that wherever your money is, your heart is there as well. That's scary.

I think 2 Timothy 6:6-8 sums things up well: "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

Am I really willing to be content with only the necessities?

The Difference Project is nearing the close, but I cannot go back to my selfish living before. I can honestly say that I never felt closer to the Lord after buying a new dress. Instead, a little pride would creep in. I'd feel good for a moment, but my souls became deadened for while. As I put more unnecessary items on the check out counter, another child dies of starvation, another woman sells her body to put food on the table and another man walks home from a day of hard labor for an unfair wage.

Thus, my fight against materialism continues. I don't know what "being content with necessities will look like for me. However, I do know I want my life to look more like this:

Faith spotlight: Bethany

Hey guys, I have the immense pleasure of introducing you to my friend Bethany. She and her husband are such a sweet couple! Aren't they adorable? I know there are lots of people out there who can relate with her story as well. I have this daily struggle between living in faith and living in selfishness that she talks about. You won't want to miss this today!

Hey guys! My name is Bethany. I feel so honored to be writing for Jennifer's "Faith Spotlight"!

I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to write when Jennifer first asked me to guest post, but then I got to thinking about what the Lord has been teaching me over and over again in this season of my life.

So, here's my heart:

All of my life I feel like I have always passed my responsibilities as a Christian onto the next stage of my life. Does that make sense? I would always think, oh after I graduate I'll help those in need, or no after I have my own house, or after I'm married, or when I'm older. My fear and selfish pride have gotten in the way of me loving people and evangelizing to them. Pretty ridiculous isn't it?

Sometimes I think to myself, when what the last time I actually talked to someone about Christ? Or when was the last time I helped someone who was in need? My heart breaks when I realize that I can't even think of the last time I did either of those things. I'm a Christian...but sometimes (more often than not) my life doesn't show it. I'm sick of making excuses for myself. How many times have I driven my someone that clearly needs help and I pass them by because I don't want to get 'hurt' or be embarrassed?

So many people are hurting. And I feel like all I ever do is sit and watch. Feeling bad isn't enough anymore. God calls us to reach out to the hurting and to love them unconditionally and passionately. His call is not to be taken lightly.

He has shown me that I need to stop waiting. I need to stop putting off what needs to be done. I need to stop telling God to hold on. I need to get  rid of fear. I need to be bold and live my life unashamed for Christ. I need to be real. I need to get uncomfortable and dirty. I don't need to wait to go to another country, there are people hurting HERE. In my town. Right now. I don't need to put off God's calling anymore. Gone are all of my excuses.

This life is not my own. That is so easy to say, but to really give your life to be used by Christ fully is such a daunting task. BUT it is the most beautifully rewarding thing you can possibly do with your life.

So I encourage all of you, as much as I encourage myself. Lets get out of our comfort zones and change this world through the love of Christ - not just with our words but truly with our actions!


~ Bethany


Thanks so much girl! One way you guys can get involved is to head over to Compassion's Cry 

Investigate

Immerse

Ignite!

Compassion's Cry

Compassion's Cry

This has been a long time coming. It is my great pleasure to reveal Compassion's Cry. It all started back in March and it has been a long journey. Let me share a bit of the story with you...

On my way to lunch one day I was suddenly struck with a thought. I had been thinking about how I could get more involved with helping people. I knew there are tons of needs in the world, but I really didn't know where to start. So the thought came to me: What if there was a place that  had lots of information about different ways to get involved and stories of what others are doing to make a difference? That night I started bouncing ideas off of my husband, but it was very clear that I couldn't tackle such a big project by myself. Nevertheless, I told God that I would obey (despite my inadequacies) if He called me to do it. Not a week later I get an email from a girl who has the same vision. Soon there are 3 of us working on this project.

Now it has come to life. So please take a minute to go check out Compassion's Cry and see what it's all about! Tell us what you think about the first post over there! Is this kind of thing needed? How might you get involved?

WIRED Week 2011

Well, this past week was simply amazing. I've been holding off on writing about it so that I could process all that happened. I still can't adequately explain everything, but here it goes! Basically WIRED week is about bringing the local church together to serve and worship in unity. We had 40 something youth groups and over 1000 kids. Everyone stayed at host churches in the area (one of them is our church) at night, and during the day we came together for worship, Bible study and serving the community through various mission projects. Believe me, it's awesome.

Our worship band for the week was DecembeRadio. Let me tell you, they are one talented group of people! Cody Deese was the speaker and man, he brought it! He certainly wasn't afraid to say what needed to be said!

The theme was "Under Siege" and it was all about spiritual warfare. It's kind of funny because one night the power went out completely. It was hot and dark but we still had worship!

My sweet sister also came into town for the week to help with a VBS track group, and also to keep me company while my husband did all his assistant camp director things. He basically lived at the church for 3 weeks...no joke.

I was also able to help at this booth! We sold these bracelets to raise money to build safe houses for victims of sex trafficking. This is the group I will be going to Ethiopia with this fall!

Speaking of Ethiopia, you should check out my vintage-inspired headbands that I'm selling to raise money for the trip!

Everyday, I helped deliver lunches to sites. For the first 2 years of WIRED I served as a track leader...it kind of made me miss it.

It was so good have my sister here all week! She is the sweetest girl ever and I'm so glad to call her my family! She was good to wear my headbands a lot to help me promote them...and of course, I wore them too!

By the end of the week there were over 150 people who committed their lived to Christ. And that was just from the WIRED participants! There were lots more at our sites! It is so neat to be a part of a generation who is rising up to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We aren't content with doing things simply because they've always been done that way. We are questioning. We are trying to make our lives line up with scripture, not tradition. I can't wait to see what the church will look like in the future. I have great hope!

WIRED Week, I will see you next year!