Since March, more than 25 children from Matthews Elementary and Habitat for Humanity community have participated in the free photography classes SI has hosted. The project will culminate with participant-created galleries hung during Matthews Alive this fall in the Matthews Library and Community Center. The gallery will feature photos from each community and showcase their talents and unique viewpoints.

So far, the classes have been huge successes, and the children have come away with a sense of excitement and pride in the photos they create through the class. We look forward to the June classes we will hold with Plantation Estates and several small businesses in Matthews!

“Out of my distress, I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free.” – Psalm 118:5

Charlotte, NC

During her childhood in Charlotte, Neet dreamed of owning a bakery. But those dreams faded when she was sexually exploited at 16 and later trafficked into prostitution for three years. For years the hopelessness she felt and the pressure to earn money to assist her family was used by the men who exploited her in the illegal commercial sex trade of North Carolina, currently ranked 8th in the nation for human trafficking. But years later, her life was changed again when a friend introduced her to a loving and grace-giving God, and Neet became a Christian. She gained the confidence to escape her trafficked life and took up baking again; after a four-year recovery, her prayers are becoming realities. Now Neet owns her own baking service, employing other survivors of trafficking while reaching out to exploited women in Charlotte to help them find the hope and healing to be free to pursue their dreams.

For more information on trafficking in North Carolina, visit www.neetssweets.com or www.seedsscholars.org/humantrafficking.

In April, David was able to secretly enter Burma (also known as Myanmar) to serve the Kachin people, a minority people group who are refugees within their own country. Since 1961, the Kachin State has been in conflict with the Burmese government after the Kachin Independence Army emerged to gain autonomy for its people group. After a long ceasefire, fighting broke out again June 2011 by Burma Army soldiers, and the attacks have continued into 2012. Many of the Burmese attacks have targeted Kachin civilian villages, forcing thousands of the Kachin people to abandon their homes and live as internally displaced people within their own state. Currently, more than 50,000 internally displaced Kachin live in camps near the border of Burma and China, with thousands more hiding in the jungles.

The Muntigunung Community Social Enterprise is a sustainable development project unfolding in the dry, arid Northeastern part of Bali. The project, developed under the umbrella organization Yayasan Dian Desa/Future for Children, was conceived by Daniel Elber, a Swiss German ex-banker who met a beggar on the street in Ubud in 2003. He wanted to know her story and the chain of events that had led her to begging.

She was from a small village in north Bali, in Muntigunung, near Lake Batur. Typically, Bali gets plenty of rainfall year-round, but in Muntigunung, the rainy season is short, followed by a long dry season. There has been a shortage of water in this area for centuries—one of the only places in Bali that is so dry during parts of the year that they cannot drill wells. So every day, the women used to hike 3 km (about 1.8 miles) up a mountain, then down an incredibly steep vertical grade to Lake Batur to fill up containers. Then they hiked back to the villages with 10-12 (about 3 gallons) liters of water on their heads (all of which consumed about 5 hours of the day). There was no work to sustain them, so the husbands also used to send their wives to the cities and towns for begging.

Daniel had an idea—what if there was a way to capture rainwater for the village? He financed an assessment, where researchers went up and stayed in the villages for six months. They studied maps, rainfall patterns, and got to know the people and the area. They gave a recommendation to Daniel for the pilot project—a series of water catchment buildings, to be implemented as slowly as possible, and across all the villages (35 total). He went back to Switzerland, found donors, and the project was underway. His goals were threefold: 1. Address the water problem 2. Improve sanitation and health 3. Enable kids to have access to education.

Read Aran’s full blog post about the effects of the water catchment system on the villages at http://aranbaker.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/muntigunung-community-social-enterprise/.

For more information about NGO Muntigunung Community Social Enterprise, please visit their website at http://www.muntigunung.com/.

Benjamin thrives with the aid of Beyond the Orphanage.

Chris Davidson is a filmmaker and photographer from Hershey, Penn., and a graduate of the Art Institute.

In March, Chris spent a month traveling in Sierra Leone, Africa, to document and focus on post civil war issuesincluding amputees, the human condition and the hope it takes to rebuild a country. These are the stories he brought back with him of people affected by the country’s former state of conflict.

Eliza Camp was founded January 2, 1999, just outside of Kenema, Sierra Leone, by a woman from Norway named Eliza. She funded the project out of her own pocket with the goal of housing and caring for amputees of war. Currently, Eliza Camp is made up of 20 houses and is funded by the Finnish Refugee Council. The project’s mission is “empowering communities for livelihood through adult literacy,” and the implementing agency is Help-SL. Eliza Camp receives no aid from the government of Sierra Leone, so the people of the camp must rely on outside aid to get food, water, a new water pump and a little bit of money. Residents often cannot afford to make the trip into Kenema where they purchase their daily food and basic necessities. They are fearful when night falls because the camp has no protective wall or privacy barrier. The people of Eliza Camp struggle to make ends meet, and they hope in the future they will receive money to be able to send their children to school and create a future for themselves.

Princess- Princess was living in the Kailalun Barcha chiefdom during the rebel war when she was shot in the right arm. She now lives in Eliza Camp, where she finds it difficult to get food and water daily. Princess has no way to earn money and is receiving no help in dealing with her condition.

“At Eliza Camp we are far from the city and cannot get food or clean water; our pump is broken and we cannot fix it. We have no barrier around this camp and are fearful when night falls, we need help. We cannot even afford to send our children to school.”

Ansumana- Ansumana was in the village of Bumbaru, Sierra Leone, in 1991 when the rebels attacked. He was shot in both legs while trying to flee from the attacks. Now, Ansumana lives in Eliza Camp. His prosthetic legs were made by Handicap International but are now becoming old and falling apart.

“I give many thanks to God that he has given me life and a place to stay. We all find it hard to get food and clean drinking water; we are struggling and need help.”

South Africa

Richard is one of thousands of children who are walking around our planet without shoes today. Some don’t have shoes because their parents don’t have a job; others because their parents live with wars that have destroyed everything. And many, like Richard, don’t have shoes because they do not have parents – Richard’s mom and dad died of AIDS when he was a baby. He is one of the 18 million children orphaned due to AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Next time you lace up your shoes, consider praying for those who would love to have the peace, wealth, and blessings of parents and a country that have allowed us the privilege to tie our shoes today.

Chris Davidson is a native of Hershey, Penn., where he took up film at 16. He is a graduate of the Art Institute and pursued his passion for film there. It was at AI Fort Lauderdale where Davidson became most passionate about the human condition and social issues, such as homelessness and poverty. Having wrapped up his degree in digital filmmaking, he plans to pursue his passion in a wide range of creative fields including documentary filmmaking, humanitarian photography and war photography. He holds a strong interest in telling the often untold stories from the world’s most poverty stricken areas and conflict zones.

In March, Chris spent a month traveling in Sierra Leone, Africa, to document and focus on post civil war issues including amputees, the human condition and the hope it takes to rebuild a country. These are the stories he brought back with him of people affected by the country’s former state of conflict.

Sherriff – A man named Sherriff was in the village of Gissiwunlo, Sierra Leone, when the rebels attacked in 1994. They burned down houses and abducted children. Sherriff ran from his house to escape and was hit by crossfire trying to reach the bush. He was taken to Kenema Hospital where the doctors amputated his right foot. Now, Sherriff lives in a crowded two room house with no job and no government support. “I pray to God I and other amputees can get help … anything to live a normal life.”

Alim- Alim was in a village outside of Zimmi, Sierra Leone, when the rebels attacked in 1993. He tried to run but was hit by a stray bullet and fell to the ground. Alim was taken to a hospital inside Liberia where they amputated his left leg. He was unable to pay for his medical expenses so he relied on help from family and friends. “I need better crutches because they break all the time; I would love a wheelchair so I can get around more easily. No one has interviewed me before, and it’s really nice that someone cares.”

Persecution Project is a nonprofit Silent Images has partnered with and served in Sudan.

www.persecutionproject.org

The last several days in Sudan have been troubling but revealing.

On Monday, a series of border clashes took place in Unity State, South Sudan, between the northern SAF forces and the southern SPLA. The media reported that each side blamed the other for the attacks, but I want you to be aware of what is really happening.

Sudan dictator, Omar al Bashir, is an indicted war criminal. He is chiefly responsible for the deaths of more than 3 million of his own people. Moreover, Bashir is a stereotypical leader of a classic African kleptocratic “thugocracy” where the people and resources are recklessly exploited to benefit the leader and his cronies.

But recent times have not been good for Bashir and his gang. Last July, Bashir’s party officially lost control of 80-85 percent of the nation’s oil reserves when South Sudan formally seceded, becoming the newest nation on earth. To secure what was left of the oil in northern Sudan, Bashir launched a vicious war of genocide and ethnic cleansing in May 2011 in the oil-rich region of Abyei and then the Nuba Mountains in June 2011.

A few months later, Bashir launched an attack on another dissident region in the north: the Blue Nile State.

While Bashir was busy satisfying his bloodlust, his nation’s economy began to collapse. Loss of oil revenues resulted in the national currency taking a nosedive, and people took to the streets to protest rising prices and shortages of basic necessities. The national debt then reached $36 billion, an unfathomable sum. Bashir’s party, the NCP, now has trouble keeping some of its leading members in line. Just this week, a major opposition newspaper was shut down by Bashir’s thugs.

And to make matters worse for Bashir, his army is taking a beating in the field. After launching air and ground attacks in South Sudan over the last week, Bashir’s SAF army has been routed. South Sudan’s military now occupies key border areas of the north, and the rebels in the Nuba Mountains continue to win victory after victory in Southern Kordofan.

Before the latest round of attacks on Monday, Bashir was invited to South Sudan’s Capitol of Juba to participate in talks on the disputes involving oil revenues. But with so many things working against him, Bashir knew he’d be negotiating from a position of weakness. A few days later, Bashir ordered airstrikes in South Sudan and the talks were indefinitely postponed. Convenient.

Although there is rhetoric from both sides vowing to avoid all-out war, the reality is that the war has already started. I believe Bashir needs a war with South Sudan to provide the artificial unity to keep his fragile government together. South Sudan is exercising enormous restraint. Besides, with oil wells currently shut down, the government in Juba can scarcely afford to get involved in an expensive and protracted confrontation with Khartoum.

The silver lining of these war clouds is that it illustrates to me the desperate situation for the dictator Bashir. This is a regime that is living on borrowed time. But a wounded predator is still very dangerous, and tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance in north and south Sudan.

Please pray that peace will be restored and that an area which has known almost nothing but war since 1956 will be given an opportunity to grow and develop in an environment of peace.

And please pray that God will continue to use PPF to bring physical help and spiritual hope to the victims of persecution.

I will keep you posted.