Up Up and Away!!

This week has already been so amazing! I feel so blessed to have the team that I do. I feel like this team has been so hand-picked and designed by God. Everyone gets along so well and we really feel like a family. Ohana – means family in Hawaiian!!

So…..tonight…… we found out where we are going for our outreach and who will be on our team! It sucks that we can’t all be together for the whole time but I don’t know how the different tribes in Central America would feel about 50 people with Camera’s invading their village, it might not go over very well….haha! 

So for my outreach, we leave around June 25 and together most of us go to Panama and do various work in the major tribes that are allowing us to photograph them as well as working with US Embassy in different areas of injustice or with Orphans in and around the city! I can’t wait to get out there and out all this knowledge into action and  actually do something! 

From Panama, we will split up and my team will go to Cuba, there are about 10 of us in total. I am not sure about what we will do there, but I know it will be great. 

Then…… at the very end we all meet up in South Africa where there is a conference going on that Voice for the Voiceless will be apart of, as well as our debrief and what ever else needs to be done.  

So that covers the next 5 months. 

Here is what else I am thinking of. After we are done, there is also an opportunity to do a “Track” around the world. From this track we travel to Africa for 3 months, then to the Middle East for 3 months, then Europe and Asia for 3 months each. Throughout this we do schooling as well addressing injustices in the world and becoming a voice for the voiceless. For more information on this, please go to http://photogenx.net/creative_track.htm and then just check out the entire site…. especially the Sex + Money part, because that is what the last Track has put into Publication. 

i would love to give you more information on my life, but I am exhausted from a crazy-busy day!! I love it here so much and i feel so blessed. I would love to do this track but financially i am not very capable, so if you feel you would like to be a part of this as well and support me, please email me at  burrtykiss@hotmail.com ! 

 I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!! 

XOXOXOXOX

HIV/AIDS

When I first realized that I would be researching HIV/AIDS this week I did not have much high expectations on the learning scale. I was leaning more to the side that I already knew all there was to know. HIV and AIDS are sweeping across our world and has killed more people in it’s less than 30 year existence than 4 Jewish Holocausts or 22 Rwandan Genocides. It is now considered a Pandemic and has no known cure. 

Statistics from 2007 show startling amounts of people world-wide are infected. I think it is safe to assume that these numbers are much higher now.

 

People living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	33.0 million
Adults living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	30.8 million
Women living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	15.5 million
Children living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	2.0 million
People newly infected with HIV in 2007	2.7 million
Children newly infected with HIV in 2007	0.37 million
AIDS deaths in 2007	2.0 million
Child AIDS deaths in 2007	0.27 million

To me, one of the most heart-breaking things I have learned so far about AIDS is that, in many cultures, it is believed that if an infected man has sex with a virgin, he will be cured of the disease. It is because of this belief that this disease is killing off entire generations in Africa and the middle East. In 2005, a reported 12 million children have been Orphaned due to AIDS.

Personally, I don’t even know what to do with this information. This pandemic is so mind-blowing and huge that any attempt to attack this and do something to change it seems like it would not make a difference. I am having a really hard time even writing this because I just don’t know what to say. All I do know is that something needs to change soon, because I am not okay with innocent lives being ruined before they can even live out the dreams placed in their hearts by the Creator of the world who delights in them just as much as He delights in us. And I am not okay with the church just sitting back and letting it happen because that is not what we are here for. We need to get out there and love those who are afflicted with this and do whatever we can to help them. No more sitting in our chairs watching the world die away. 

So…..I don’t know what to say about it anymore. Just that when you have a minute, pray for this issue… an issue that isn’t even fair to be called an “issue” because it is people. Real people who’s lives are being tossed away because we aren’t doing enough. Pray for leaders to rise up and set up policies of education concerning HIV/AIDS. Pray for a solution to this epidemic- a cure. Pray for the people living with HIV/AIDS everyday. There is so many things that can be done…. we just need to find where we personally fit into this. There is so much that can be done. I am so thankful to be learning about these topics, as they all are greatly affecting out world and the people in it. Just because you can not see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Thank you for reading this! It means so much that I am supported and that you are also taking an interest in what I am doing here. I know this is only the beginning and that there is so much more that needs to be done. Thank you for standing beside me and giving me strength through your prayers!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

WEEK 2

This week was both exhausting and liberating at the same time. It was titled “Freedom in Christ” and we as a class decided we have never cried so much.
But when the tears were done and we were able to look at what really happened and the healing of our hearts that took place, I think I am able to say we have all grown.
It is so freeing to expose your heart to God and have Him tell you what is holding you back from His call. I don’t think I have ever experienced the reality of God that intense. Ever. He is so real. He is so personal. He is so loving.
I am so excited to continue on this journey of growing closer to God and getting to know Him better. I love that right now, my sole purpose is to get to know Him better and then take His love out to the nations of this world. To be a Voice for the Voiceless. I am so excited to continue on this journey and see also , where this will take me. I know this is only the beginning and God is calling me to take a very big step of Faith right away that is going to change my life in every way – but I will tell you more about that at a later date!
Thank you all so much for being a part of this journey. I can’t imagine a better thing to be doing that this. God is so good!
I LOVE YOU ALL

Week 1 – Human Trafficking

Being a part of the PhotogenX DTS here in Kona has really opened up my eyes to all of the injustice in our world. I always knew that there were horrible things happening to women and children world-wide, but to be completely open and honest with you, I was so involved in my own selfish and cushy life that it was so much easier to ignore the injustice and carry on with my day. And it is easier to not care. To not act out and make a change. But I realize now that we are as much of the problem by not doing anything. We are supporting these injustices by sitting in our air conditioned and heated homes with our satellites and laptops flipping through the channels to find the next “reality” t.v. show to occupy our minds.

But the real reality is that Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery is the fastest growing criminal industry in the World. And Thanks to Wikipedia we can see that The term is used in a more narrow sense by advocacy groups to mean the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, forced labor (including bonded labor or debt bondage), and servitude. So this means that if a family can not afford to pay their living expenses, they may sell one of their children off to the sex trade, a factory or into the army. Once someone has been trafficked, they lose all rights to life. They are barely even considered a human- they become an object. Many of these people come from the poorest of minorities and are often lured into the industry with a promise of being taken care of, or a better life. They soon come to realize that “new business opportunities” really means an appointment with some high class business man from the West or even their own country at his hotel room where he owns them for the hour or the night. Many of these victims are women, and as an ever growing concern, many are children. They are bought and sold as objects and treated as though they are worthless and don’t deserve any better. They are lied to, abused, and tossed into the streets to die once they have served their purpose and are no longer needed. Human Trafficking does end at Sexual Exploitation, it also includes child beggars, Camel Jockeys, Child Soldiers, and also recruitment for Religious Groups. 

This is an ever-growing concern and I finally feel an urgency to stand up and do something about this. The leaders of my DTS, Paul and Susi are an amazing couple who are so incredibly passionate about exposing the injustice in this world, I feel so blessed to be working along with them in the next 6 months. I know the things I am going to be learning about will break my heart, as they already have. I have cried so many tears already and I think I actually get it now. This needs to stop. We need to do something about it. Anything. 

THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

IT’S NOT THE WAY GOD INTENDED LIFE TO BE

These people have just as many rights as I do. To God, these children are just as much His Children and are just as valuable . He has a plan for their life and He wants to restore their hearts and show them what love really feels like.  

I am just beginning my time on this journey and I look forward to having my eyes opened more so that I can know what is going on. There needs to be change and I feel so enabled to do this. There are so many ways to help and get involved. God has a purpose for every life and He longs to see that purpose fulfilled. Please keep this issue close to your heart and pray for the women and children that are locked into this life that they can know freedom. 

Every week I will continue to share what I am learning and if there is any questions you have feel free to email me at burttykiss@hotmail.com I look forward to sharing this journey with you!! 

LOVE YOU!

Heads Up!

 

these flowers are all over the campus.

I just wanted to let you guys know that as part of my “journaling assignment” i will be righting in the blog about the topics we cover each week in class. they are all based on gender specific injustices faced by women and children all over the world. It will be heavy topics but sadly, this is reality for so many all over the world. I am just happy to be a part of this and to have my own eyes opened to this so that I can do my part in stopping injustice and raising awareness. i feel so priveledged to be a part of this journey and can’t wait to share it with you. Thank you again for you prayers and support. I wouldn’t be here without you and I look forward to passing along this information so that you can also take part in it.
I love you all and will talk to you later!!!

ALOHA!

Hey Everyone! 

I am here. I am loving it. I am so happy.

It still feels a little surreal to be here, on the island and actually living out the dream  that I have been having for so long. But I am so happy to be here and I am looking so forward to getting to know everyone on the team. There are about 53 students in the DTS and there are in total, here at the YWAM base, 54 Countries represented. It is amazing to meet people from all over the world and hear all the different languages. Tonight we had a welcoming ceremony where we had all the flags flown. I got to do Canada so it was fun for me to carry it, and then all the other Canadians that are here came behind me. So it was really fun to see all the countries represented here and to know we are all drawn together and bonded by one common denominator. God. 

We are all here to pursue a deeper relationship with God and to live out a life of love. I am so excited to get to know everyone and hear their stories and how they got here. We start class on monday so we have a few days ahead to relax and get adjusted to this new island pace. The days look pretty busy so i am sure these next few months are going to fly by. 

Tomorrow we as a team are going to all head to the beach for the day so it will be nice to hang out with everyone and hang out at the beach. I am really excited to go to the beach and relax and swim in the ocean! They are saying that it is whale season right now so you can see the whales jumping out the water… i hope i see that tomorrow. I will get some pictures up here as soon as I can. Hope all is well with you!! Thank you for your prayers and support.

 

LOVE YOU!!