Voice Box

grief & gratitude in Ethiopia

It is with great sadness that I write you today with news of Workinesh’s death.  We first encountered her in November when Doma’s first medical team in Ethiopia visited her remote mountain village.  It was immediately determined that she needed surgery to correct a prolapsed uterus.  She had neither the money to pay for this surgery nor access to a health care facility that could provide this procedure.  Her family is poor; and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is a 3 hour walk and 11 hour drive away.  But we raised the money – and quickly – because of the courage and generosity and compassion of people like you.  Workinesh made the journey to Addis.  During her stay there, she stayed at Israel’s parents’ house.  (Israel hosts Doma’s teams and worked with us to coordinate Workinesh’s medical care.)  Workinesh’s family spoke a different dialect than Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia.  Israel and his family speak her dialect so they were able to communicate with her and translate for her.  The surgery to repair the prolapsed uterus was successful.  However, during testing it was discovered that Workinesh had cancer of the vulva in an advanced stage.  Israel and the hospital staff were hoping and fighting to find a cure.  Israel’s brother even donated blood three times.  In the end, however, her disease was too severe, and she died late last week.  In her final days, Workinesh expressed her gratitude for the work of Doma.  And at her funeral, her husband expressed how thankful he was that her life was prolonged even these few months.

Amber is leaving for Ethiopia in two weeks.  She will spend time with Workinesh’s husband and children, caring for them and expressing our grief for their loss.  We will also assess their needs and do what we can to provide for them in this difficult time.  Amber is also focused on identifying the location for Doma’s first Prenatal and Early Childhood Care Clinic in Ethiopia.  Before the situation with Workinesh fully materialized, doma had identified her village as a key location, a remote and poor mountain village.  The primary school in this village is only offered through the 3^rd grade, and they have only had this school for a couple years.  But in this beautiful nation where so many mothers and young children suffer, much can be done to intervene in the lives of women like Workinesh, and prevent further, unnecessary loss of life.  Early intervention in Ethiopia keeps mothers and infants alive, which means fewer children orphaned and stronger, healthier families raising children who thrive.

Please join us in this life-saving venture.  Please pray for the husband and children Workinesh left behind.  Please pray for others like her, mothers and children barely hanging on to life.  Please pray for our medical team when they are in Ethiopia in April that they would be strong and serve well.  And please consider giving so that a clinic can be established as soon as possible, and women like Workinesh can be cared for.

Thank you,
Julie, Dan, and Amber

Julie Clark, Co-Founder, Executive Director
Dan Clark, Co-Founder, Marketing & Development Director
Amber Kaufman, Medical Coordinator

the King is coming! (sermon from Palm Sunday)

You can hear my sermon from Sunday here:

The King is Coming!

Lord, Have Mercy! Gospodi Pomilui!

Two suicide bombers took the lives of nearly 40 people this morning in Moscow's busy metro.  Lord, have mercy!  Gospodi Pomilui!

a supermom in training supports orphan care

Take some time today to check out Julia's blog about balancing life as a working wife and mother.  Along the way, she's figuring out creative ways to be generous with those in need.  Help support Doma by following her blog.  She is donating $1 to her brother Jerry's Team Up account for every new follower between now and April 25th!

friday listening party: Robbie Seay Band's Lament and John Mark McMillan's Resurrection

Lament and Resurrection... two expressions that we often either avoid, ignore, or simply miss... two expressions vital to the missional life, as we share hope and help with those in need around the world.  Without lament, we are selfishly silent in the face of the realities of disease and despair, poverty and oppression.  Without resurrection, all the hope and help in the world is just an anesthetic that wears off to reveal deeply infected wounds.  Lament and resurrection are on my mind this week as Julie and I continue the Doma (ad)venture, and as I've been listening to some new music released on Tuesday.

Check out Robbie Seay Band's Lament...

Check out John Mark McMillan's Resurrection...

my wife is hanging out today with recovering prostitutes

Last week, Julie attended for the first time, CATCH, a local program led by a local judge for recovering prostitutes.  She's going again today.  Read about last week's experience here.

the feast of the annunciation

Today is March 25th, nine months until Christmas.  If you know me, you know I love Christmas - and I celebrate it from the beginning of Advent until the end of Epiphany.  Today is the Feast of the Annunciation.  It is that day every year for centuries when Christians around the world celebrate the visit of Gabriel to Mary to tell her that she would give birth to the Son of God. 

Heaven and Earth meet in Mary's news.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, grew up in a devout Jewish home.  She had been to the temple in Jerusalem - many Jews traveled there regularly for feasts and festivals.  She had worshiped there in the Court of Women.  She had been to that place where heaven and earth meet, the holiest ground in the universe.

The angel Gabriel came to Mary and said to her, 'Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you!'  She was, understandably, confused.  Then Gabriel said to her, seeing that she was afraid, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.'  The angel goes on to tell her that, though she was still a virgin, she would give birth to Jesus, and Jesus will be a king whose kingdom never ends.  And then Mary remained, understandably, confused.  How?!?  Then she learned that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and the power of God will make this child holy.  Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that in her heaven and earth will meet.  In her is holy ground.  This is big news!  This is troubling, confusing, and fearful news!  And this is the mystery of the incarnation.  And this is what we celebrate with the Feast of the Incarnation - that the everlasting God takes up residence in our temporary lives.

'Annunciation' by Pablo de Matteis, 1712.

how to raise $100

If you are raising money for Doma International, Team Up 4 Orphans, or any other the worthy causes, here are some simple ideas you might consider from A to Z:

Ask your friends, family, co-workers, others in your church to donate. Just 10 people giving $10 makes $100!

Books. Sell your textbooks and other books you don’t need and donate the money. Works for CD’s and DVDs as well!

Coffee Take the money you would spend on one coffee or other beverage a day and set it aside. Also, realize that coffee is often grown under slave conditions.

Donate a day’s wage yourself from your job. You can even do this after taxes if you want!

Email your address book. Write a paragraph about why you are raising money and invite people to donate.

Facebook fund raise. Use Pages and Causes, status updates and Notes to invite your friends to donate.

Garage sale. You know you need to get rid of all that stuff anyway! Do it with friends to make it bigger.

Host an info night for your small group, your church or even your apartment or residence hall and pass the hat!

Ice cream social. Host one and ask people to donate to partake!

Jail and Bail. Arrange to have yourself ‘arrested’ (don’t break any laws, however!) and have friends bail you out—you don’t go free until they pony up $100!

Kitsch for cash. Have a party where you bring all your tacky stuff and buy from each other.

Lunch. Skip a lunch a week and donate the money. Enlist others.

Money Jars. Great for your work place.

Networks. Use Twitter, Facebook, and your cell phone book to contact and call people to help.

Offer yourself to do odd jobs for people explaining that you are raising money and why.

Pizza. Sell it, fast from it, or buy ready made or store bought pizzas in place of pizza shop pizza (usually about half the cost) and donate the proceeds.

Questions for a buck. Say you’ll try to answer any question for a buck.

Roll your change and donate it. It has been sitting in that jar so long that you’ll never miss it!

Shave your head (or dye your hair) to raise awareness. Agree to do this if your friends donate $100.

Tax refunds are a great resource. Again, you’ve lived a year without that money.

Unsubscribe and unplug. Give up that video subscription. How many tunes do you have on that iPod? Do you need a hundred more?

Video night. Invite your friends over, provide the popcorn and give them a chance to donate. Show a film or documentary that highlights the cause you are raising money for.

Water bottle instead of soft drinks or bottled water. Donate the difference for a month.

Xylophone or other musical instrument concert – anything from a recital to playing on the street (buskering!) to raise money.

Yard sale. Just like a garage sale without the garage. You really know you want you to get rid of that stuff!

Ziti dinner. Kind of cross between spaghetti and macaroni and cheese. Make up a batch and host a dinner fund-raiser.

the Father (Lent 4, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

You can hear my sermon from Sunday here:

The Father

This is the final sermon in a 3-part series on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Voice Box

Why the new theme and direction for my blog?

For a couple years now, I have operated this blog under the title, 'Bigger Eyes, Wider Embrace, Longer Stride.'  This is definitely still a posture I hope to live with.  You can read more about what I mean by this here: bigger eyes, wider embrace, longer stride.  I have blogged about a lot of things: travel, poverty, my kids, food, movies, music, current events, sports, sermons, theology, orphan care... the list goes on and on...

I'm refocusing, however, on what Julie and I see as the gut-burning and life-changing catalyst that gets us up in the morning and keeps us running together all day long.  And that is to give voice to the voiceless.  This is my Voice Box.  My hope is that through what I blog about - and what we experience together! - that those who are vulnerable and voiceless would be heard and helped.  And that viral hope and contagious compassion would sweep neighborhoods and continents.

Julie has been focused on orphan care and poverty for 16 years, and I have for 8 years.  But somehow I feel that it is just beginning - we've had great opportunities and seen great things happen, but more is yet to come.

So keep reading, come back often, Twitter, Facebook, link, and invite friends.