Sunday, April 04, 2010
Remembering
I was going some of my stuff yesterday and I found this reflection that I wrote just two weeks after the start of Sari Bari in 2006. Pretty cool after celebrating Easter on friday with more than 50 ladies who now have freedom!
The new life of three women has begun with the advent of Sari Bari. Three women now have freedom to begin a new life that was never before possible. Now it is more than possible…it is a reality. We celebrated the beginning of the new lives of these three women with birthday cake on Saturday. This is something that started with celebrating the life of one girl in Sonagacchi who left the trade and now will become the beautifully regular celebration of every new women employed by Sari Bari.
It was exciting and beautiful to be with them as we sang happy birthday for them and with them as they celebrated not only their own freedom but the start of freedom of the other 2 women working alongside them. It was a sweet celebration of new life on the floor of what is now Sari Bari in Kalighat.
These first two weeks have been full of new and good experiences. The ladies are amazing and they are working so hard…it was hard to get them to stop for the informal education we hope to have built into all our training sessions. We want to make sure that they have basic literary, nutrition education, budgeting and team building games to round out their training but they just want to keep working on their blankets. Most of the time it just feels normal and maybe like I might be in a little over my head but so good.
I also started learning how to make a Sari Blanket and if you know me at all you will know I wanted my Sari Blanket, even though it is my first one, to be perfect and beautiful. I thought I had picked beautiful and fun sari’s to make the perfect blanket. But as my work progressed I realized that my Sari had all these holes and that I would need to patch them. Hey no problem, the patches add to the coolness I thought, but then there was not left over fabric to match my sari so I had to patch with another color that did not quite match…I was tempted to think that now my Sari blanket was ruined. And then I started to think about it…this sari blanket that I was working on is very much like me and in fact very much like all the ladies I am working alongside. It has the appearance of something good and the potential for great beauty but there are holes and the holes while they make it imperfect they do not make it any less beautiful. The holes which require patching, even patching with a color that does not quite match, make the Sari Blanket even more unique and beautiful. I just realized that I want my life to be perfect but it is not…I imagine the ladies we work with feel the same way…they want beauty and wholeness for themselves and their families but this has not been something available or even attainable. But the fact of the matter is just because there are holes, brokenness and imperfection in our lives does not mean that these things can not be patched, healed and redeemed to make something even more beautiful. That is the kind God we serve, one who patches our holes and calls us beautiful…a God who will heal my brokenness and the brokenness of these ladies and make something new.
This is our vision for Sari Bari that God would take the lives of these women just as they take these old thrown away Sari’s and make something new. We started making Sari Blankets in a business that we call Sari Bari but this week God started making things new in the lives of three women. He started the redemption process and I believe we can trust the end result will be beautiful.
I was able to pay them yesterday for the first two weeks of training and it was so beautiful to see their faces and see their responses as it was again affirmed for them that a new life is started and that there really will be freedom for them. They had their first budgeting class yesterday taught by Kiran and it was a really rough go…it is really the first time that they have been asked to intentionally figure out their money and consider how they can pay their debts and even save some money. It was not easy for them to consider how they could actually make something like a budget work but I believe and hope that they can be successful at managing their money and living on the money they make without taking additional loans. They do not yet know that we will be paying off their loans (they can pay us back at no interest—some of them are paying the equivalent of 120 percent a year) and I am so looking forward to the day when I can tell them their debt will be paid and they will be free from it’s burden in the not too far off future.
Please keep these women in your prayers. They have a long, hard and most certainly amazing road ahead them. Freedom will require a fight that they will not have to fight alone but still it will not be easy. They need you to fight on their behalf in prayer.
So thanks for praying for us and for them. We feel it and we most certainly need it!
The new life of three women has begun with the advent of Sari Bari. Three women now have freedom to begin a new life that was never before possible. Now it is more than possible…it is a reality. We celebrated the beginning of the new lives of these three women with birthday cake on Saturday. This is something that started with celebrating the life of one girl in Sonagacchi who left the trade and now will become the beautifully regular celebration of every new women employed by Sari Bari.
It was exciting and beautiful to be with them as we sang happy birthday for them and with them as they celebrated not only their own freedom but the start of freedom of the other 2 women working alongside them. It was a sweet celebration of new life on the floor of what is now Sari Bari in Kalighat.
These first two weeks have been full of new and good experiences. The ladies are amazing and they are working so hard…it was hard to get them to stop for the informal education we hope to have built into all our training sessions. We want to make sure that they have basic literary, nutrition education, budgeting and team building games to round out their training but they just want to keep working on their blankets. Most of the time it just feels normal and maybe like I might be in a little over my head but so good.
I also started learning how to make a Sari Blanket and if you know me at all you will know I wanted my Sari Blanket, even though it is my first one, to be perfect and beautiful. I thought I had picked beautiful and fun sari’s to make the perfect blanket. But as my work progressed I realized that my Sari had all these holes and that I would need to patch them. Hey no problem, the patches add to the coolness I thought, but then there was not left over fabric to match my sari so I had to patch with another color that did not quite match…I was tempted to think that now my Sari blanket was ruined. And then I started to think about it…this sari blanket that I was working on is very much like me and in fact very much like all the ladies I am working alongside. It has the appearance of something good and the potential for great beauty but there are holes and the holes while they make it imperfect they do not make it any less beautiful. The holes which require patching, even patching with a color that does not quite match, make the Sari Blanket even more unique and beautiful. I just realized that I want my life to be perfect but it is not…I imagine the ladies we work with feel the same way…they want beauty and wholeness for themselves and their families but this has not been something available or even attainable. But the fact of the matter is just because there are holes, brokenness and imperfection in our lives does not mean that these things can not be patched, healed and redeemed to make something even more beautiful. That is the kind God we serve, one who patches our holes and calls us beautiful…a God who will heal my brokenness and the brokenness of these ladies and make something new.
This is our vision for Sari Bari that God would take the lives of these women just as they take these old thrown away Sari’s and make something new. We started making Sari Blankets in a business that we call Sari Bari but this week God started making things new in the lives of three women. He started the redemption process and I believe we can trust the end result will be beautiful.
I was able to pay them yesterday for the first two weeks of training and it was so beautiful to see their faces and see their responses as it was again affirmed for them that a new life is started and that there really will be freedom for them. They had their first budgeting class yesterday taught by Kiran and it was a really rough go…it is really the first time that they have been asked to intentionally figure out their money and consider how they can pay their debts and even save some money. It was not easy for them to consider how they could actually make something like a budget work but I believe and hope that they can be successful at managing their money and living on the money they make without taking additional loans. They do not yet know that we will be paying off their loans (they can pay us back at no interest—some of them are paying the equivalent of 120 percent a year) and I am so looking forward to the day when I can tell them their debt will be paid and they will be free from it’s burden in the not too far off future.
Please keep these women in your prayers. They have a long, hard and most certainly amazing road ahead them. Freedom will require a fight that they will not have to fight alone but still it will not be easy. They need you to fight on their behalf in prayer.
So thanks for praying for us and for them. We feel it and we most certainly need it!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
STONE SOUP
Do you know the story of stone soup? The one where the guy starts with stone and invites everyone to contribute thus making something that was nothing into a delightful meal, a community event and celebration over the miracle of soup made from a stone.
Yesterday, at Sari Bari Kalighat we had Jhal Muri (puffed rice, lots of veggies, chilies etc. mixed in) for a snack…it was stone soup Indian style. The women started with nothing but the idea of a good snack and an invitation to participate. Everyone brought something, a few rupees each, a little cost to create an abundant meal, shared, enjoyed and very tasty!
Sari Bari has been a stone soup of sorts. We started with nothing…only an idea and a little hope. Everyone involved from the beginning until now has brought something to the pot. Kristin Keen gave her dream for freedom and a lot of laughter, I offered my system building skills, creative energy and passion for the dream and the women who could find freedom within the dream, Upendra and Gita offered their sewing talents and their labor of love, each and every woman has offered her hopes, dreams and a good deal of hard work, Melinda Snader got us started in the states by advocating, marketing and dreaming with us, Kat McRitchie keeps us going by doing the same, Beth Waterman offered her support and partnership from our beginnings, Kyle Schroeder offered his sweet design skills, tons of interns and team members offered encouragement and partnership, thousands of people in the US and UK bought our beautiful handmade products, the folks at Freeset who cheered us on and offered wisdom, The One Million Can Campaign gave us the funds to offer freedom to so many more women, Chris Heuertz advocated for our success, Word Made Flesh gave us a foundation, Kyle Scott offered his sweet admin skills and heart for freedom and four years later, 2 production units and working on a third prevention unit, we have the benefit of sharing in a very unique and special soup. This soup from began with just a stone and an invitation to join us for a meal at the table. Now more 60 friends, staff, partners and freedom fighters are sharing in the nourishing and abundant meal in Kolkata, India.
This is the miracle of stone soup! Starting with nothing but a stone and an invitation, in the end we are all beneficiaries of the meal. The women who began with us in the first years are becoming our leaders and partners in the work of freedom, they are our trainers, our assistant managers, our missionaries and the founders of the new projects that have started and will start in the years to come. We who began by offering that the stone could in fact create a delicious meal are in awe of the goodness of the blessing we have received by those who have accepted the invitation. We overwhelmed at the friends, family and freedom that come out of a simple offering, a starting point.
The invitation to join us is still open. We want to receive from the new women who will come through our doors and find a new life, from the interns, staff and friends who keep freedom possible through their purchasing power! The soup is already pretty darn good but hope remains for more, for a more extravagant meal to be shared by all!
Thankful today to be at this table with these beautiful women, partners and friends! Wish you all could have had some Jhal Muri yesterday it was amazing!
Taste and see that God is GOOD!
Yesterday, at Sari Bari Kalighat we had Jhal Muri (puffed rice, lots of veggies, chilies etc. mixed in) for a snack…it was stone soup Indian style. The women started with nothing but the idea of a good snack and an invitation to participate. Everyone brought something, a few rupees each, a little cost to create an abundant meal, shared, enjoyed and very tasty!
Sari Bari has been a stone soup of sorts. We started with nothing…only an idea and a little hope. Everyone involved from the beginning until now has brought something to the pot. Kristin Keen gave her dream for freedom and a lot of laughter, I offered my system building skills, creative energy and passion for the dream and the women who could find freedom within the dream, Upendra and Gita offered their sewing talents and their labor of love, each and every woman has offered her hopes, dreams and a good deal of hard work, Melinda Snader got us started in the states by advocating, marketing and dreaming with us, Kat McRitchie keeps us going by doing the same, Beth Waterman offered her support and partnership from our beginnings, Kyle Schroeder offered his sweet design skills, tons of interns and team members offered encouragement and partnership, thousands of people in the US and UK bought our beautiful handmade products, the folks at Freeset who cheered us on and offered wisdom, The One Million Can Campaign gave us the funds to offer freedom to so many more women, Chris Heuertz advocated for our success, Word Made Flesh gave us a foundation, Kyle Scott offered his sweet admin skills and heart for freedom and four years later, 2 production units and working on a third prevention unit, we have the benefit of sharing in a very unique and special soup. This soup from began with just a stone and an invitation to join us for a meal at the table. Now more 60 friends, staff, partners and freedom fighters are sharing in the nourishing and abundant meal in Kolkata, India.
This is the miracle of stone soup! Starting with nothing but a stone and an invitation, in the end we are all beneficiaries of the meal. The women who began with us in the first years are becoming our leaders and partners in the work of freedom, they are our trainers, our assistant managers, our missionaries and the founders of the new projects that have started and will start in the years to come. We who began by offering that the stone could in fact create a delicious meal are in awe of the goodness of the blessing we have received by those who have accepted the invitation. We overwhelmed at the friends, family and freedom that come out of a simple offering, a starting point.
The invitation to join us is still open. We want to receive from the new women who will come through our doors and find a new life, from the interns, staff and friends who keep freedom possible through their purchasing power! The soup is already pretty darn good but hope remains for more, for a more extravagant meal to be shared by all!
Thankful today to be at this table with these beautiful women, partners and friends! Wish you all could have had some Jhal Muri yesterday it was amazing!
Taste and see that God is GOOD!
Friday, February 05, 2010
a few of my favorite things...
~receiving answers to prayers the same day
~seeing freedom happen for a dear friend after walking with her through hell for three years
~beth's heart for the women in Sona...gacchi.
~Kyle's tender heart, humility and quiet strength
~Anna Snader's Art
~clean hair
~dancing alone when my heart is sad
~being able to cry, being able to hold back my tears when strength is needed.
~reconcillation
~chances to make wrongs right
~self revelations that make me better and less of a jerk
~my neices...Emma, Grace and Addison
~The Freeset Signature T-shirt (www.freesetglobal.com)
~seeing people blossom like flowers
~being forgiven
~my hot water kettle
~coffee, dark and bold
~peacemakers
~matching Sari Blankets
~being a walking Sari Bari advertisement
~incense from that place in nepal that Chris showed me
~water
~cooking fresh food, how couscous and thyme makes everything seem a little better.
~running
~letting my imagination run wild!
~seeing freedom happen for a dear friend after walking with her through hell for three years
~beth's heart for the women in Sona...gacchi.
~Kyle's tender heart, humility and quiet strength
~Anna Snader's Art
~clean hair
~dancing alone when my heart is sad
~being able to cry, being able to hold back my tears when strength is needed.
~reconcillation
~chances to make wrongs right
~self revelations that make me better and less of a jerk
~my neices...Emma, Grace and Addison
~The Freeset Signature T-shirt (www.freesetglobal.com)
~seeing people blossom like flowers
~being forgiven
~my hot water kettle
~coffee, dark and bold
~peacemakers
~matching Sari Blankets
~being a walking Sari Bari advertisement
~incense from that place in nepal that Chris showed me
~water
~cooking fresh food, how couscous and thyme makes everything seem a little better.
~running
~letting my imagination run wild!
My garden
If I describe my community to you, I will describe a garden wild, treacherous and beautiful. My community if full of life but in it you will also find that there are seasons, times to plant and times to reap, times die. Because of the loneliness, because of the struggles, I have been examining what is it that makes my life here in Kolkata sustainable and what I have determined is the very thing I felt so deeply when I first returned to Kolkata more than four years ago, that I was called to be in the garden, to create a garden in Kolkata. Over the years I have considered the garden to the place of rest, restoration, where God created for our renewal and refreshment, I created it in my home, and on some days I may tell you it’s in my heart as well.
As I reflect on community, I mean many things when I say it. My community is made up of many people and places but mostly, it is the women of Sona.....gacchi and Kali....ghat, the women at Sari Bari, who remain at the center. These women are the garden that I have longed to find, longed to create for myself but could not have in my wildest dreams fathomed this garden. God has created this garden for me, for the women, for our North American and Indian partners. The women themselves are most beautiful flowers that you will find in the garden. I have found that these women are my garden, in all its stages of growth, the place where I can be sure to find rest, be sure to find beauty, be sure to find welcome and restoration. They are the place where Jesus dwells, where inspiration comes, where things die to be reborn. North Americans will come and go, I myself may go one day, but they are constant, and have the master hand of the master gardener at work in their lives. I want Sunday through Saturday to be at their beckon call, to call them my friends and sisters, as I so often do. I want my Sunday afternoons to celebrate in their homes over rice and prayer and fart jokes. And I want others to join us, to celebrate life with us, to make this their home.
Today was time spent in that treasured garden. Celebrating a special day, a celebration of six months of hard work for 15 women who are now working full time at sari bari after their season of training. grace is poured out all over us and we feel its refreshment in the presence of these beautiful women, wild gorgeous flowers, who made it through, still daily fighting battles for their freedom and a new life for themselves and their families. It was a simple meal and some encouraging words from upendra, a few photo ops for our wall of beauty (this is like our selection of family photos that we put up on the walls of the sari bari unit), and a few simple gifts to mark the occasion. Looking around the room, i saw hope and beauty. I also felt the pain for the tragedy of the few who did not choose to remain with us but went back into the trade. Also encouraging to look around the room and see our new trainees and the hope and expectation for when this day will come for them. In the middle of Sona....gacchi, overlooking the lanes where darkness has made its home, we had a few moments in the garden together, the space God created for us, to be whole and refreshed, intimate with the one who made us, even if just for a few hours.
As I reflect on community, I mean many things when I say it. My community is made up of many people and places but mostly, it is the women of Sona.....gacchi and Kali....ghat, the women at Sari Bari, who remain at the center. These women are the garden that I have longed to find, longed to create for myself but could not have in my wildest dreams fathomed this garden. God has created this garden for me, for the women, for our North American and Indian partners. The women themselves are most beautiful flowers that you will find in the garden. I have found that these women are my garden, in all its stages of growth, the place where I can be sure to find rest, be sure to find beauty, be sure to find welcome and restoration. They are the place where Jesus dwells, where inspiration comes, where things die to be reborn. North Americans will come and go, I myself may go one day, but they are constant, and have the master hand of the master gardener at work in their lives. I want Sunday through Saturday to be at their beckon call, to call them my friends and sisters, as I so often do. I want my Sunday afternoons to celebrate in their homes over rice and prayer and fart jokes. And I want others to join us, to celebrate life with us, to make this their home.
Today was time spent in that treasured garden. Celebrating a special day, a celebration of six months of hard work for 15 women who are now working full time at sari bari after their season of training. grace is poured out all over us and we feel its refreshment in the presence of these beautiful women, wild gorgeous flowers, who made it through, still daily fighting battles for their freedom and a new life for themselves and their families. It was a simple meal and some encouraging words from upendra, a few photo ops for our wall of beauty (this is like our selection of family photos that we put up on the walls of the sari bari unit), and a few simple gifts to mark the occasion. Looking around the room, i saw hope and beauty. I also felt the pain for the tragedy of the few who did not choose to remain with us but went back into the trade. Also encouraging to look around the room and see our new trainees and the hope and expectation for when this day will come for them. In the middle of Sona....gacchi, overlooking the lanes where darkness has made its home, we had a few moments in the garden together, the space God created for us, to be whole and refreshed, intimate with the one who made us, even if just for a few hours.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
One liners for this week and last...
The amount of stories i have stored up for all the blogs I never wrote is ridiculous! So today, I am going to tell you today's highlights...
There is Minu ma reminding me today again that when i go to America I better bring back a brother in law...she means a husband as i am her sister.
Our sweet Nazir, the master taylor, open heartedly and open mindedly, asking what responsibilities God has given us because he wants to live them out.
And the business student who interviewed me and asked great questions with sincerity and intergrity.
Watching a bengali film in with my new tutor in an attempt to practice my listening and thereby improve my speaking so i speak like a bengali...the problem with this film is that the sound quality made it impossible in parts for me to understand either way.
On monday, we celebrated the 2 and 3 year anniversaries of many of our ladies at Sari Bari! Love it!
last weeks stories include...
One of our ladies volunteering to go help our staff in thailand start a business like sari bari so other women can have freedom.
Lunch on sunday with one of ladies and her kids...so sweet.
I got to name a little girl...i named her Mukta which means pearl in bengali...this was accompanied by the obligation to eat 8 bengali sweets and lots of rice!
There is Minu ma reminding me today again that when i go to America I better bring back a brother in law...she means a husband as i am her sister.
Our sweet Nazir, the master taylor, open heartedly and open mindedly, asking what responsibilities God has given us because he wants to live them out.
And the business student who interviewed me and asked great questions with sincerity and intergrity.
Watching a bengali film in with my new tutor in an attempt to practice my listening and thereby improve my speaking so i speak like a bengali...the problem with this film is that the sound quality made it impossible in parts for me to understand either way.
On monday, we celebrated the 2 and 3 year anniversaries of many of our ladies at Sari Bari! Love it!
last weeks stories include...
One of our ladies volunteering to go help our staff in thailand start a business like sari bari so other women can have freedom.
Lunch on sunday with one of ladies and her kids...so sweet.
I got to name a little girl...i named her Mukta which means pearl in bengali...this was accompanied by the obligation to eat 8 bengali sweets and lots of rice!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Still more SB Retreat fun
We just returned from Digha and celebrating the last year of life at Sari bari with the Kali....ghat ladies and their families! A few highlights were Kate and Kausik Das speaking at the retreat on the parable of the talents and the parable of the 10 virgins! Beth Waterman, led us in a hilarious time of games doing the balloon stomp! And we spent out last night together thanking God for all He has done in our lives over the last year....almost all the women shared about how God has worked within them, bringing healing physically and emotionally. It was great to celebrate life together and 4 years of Sari Bari!
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
making christmas bright...
bright lights on christmas day so far...presents with the watermans, new prayer books from mom and dad, phone call from one of the newest sari bari women (made me cry), cinnamon rolls that turned out flat but still taste like christmas morning, and bing crosby wafting down my alley in kolkata mixing with Chris Tomlin's Christmas album. off to celebrate with the SB ladies in some more christmas cheer!
Monday, December 21, 2009
the one that was lost
As I have looked toward Christmas this year, i have been anticipating the ways that Jesus could come in new ways in my own life and new ways in which he can come in the lives of so many of my friends in the red light areas. I have looked toward rest and creating spaces of peace and spaces of celebration for our community. And i have enjoyed the process and buying about 50 sari's to give as gifts to the Sari Bari women at our christmas celebrations on the 23rd and the 25th. ( We will have about 60 people at each event including the husbands and children of our women).
I was thinking mostly of the joy of christmas. celebrating the people I love and reflecting on the HOPE of emmanuel. Last night, as i walked down the road a few women stepped in my path and told me about our long time friend who has HIV. Her condition is serious and she has refused to get help or let herself be helped. she pulled her kids out of a great school situation and they have become her caregivers. We have not seen or heard from this woman in many, many months. And after hearing the sad state of her current situation, i agreed to visit her on christmas eve and hopeful be able to connect her with the help both she and children need
Suffering entered my picture of Christmas for this year, not suffering i am afraid but suffering that was unexpected. The broken body of my friend, the isolation and lack of support for her children, the loneliness of all it.
i was not able to sleep last night, wrestling with my sadness at the whole thing. And all i could think of today was the story of the lost sheep. 99 doing well and the one that was lost. Sitting with the Sari Bari women in the sona....gacchi, i was overwhelmed as i looked at their faces, they too were lost at one point and are being found. I saw in their eyes hope and renewal that was not there three months ago. they have been found. The are secure in the embrace of the master....loved and growing in security in that love. and yet, are many of their sisters just outside on the lanes are still very lost. and all i could think of was the one who is still lost...my friend,the friend of our community, a woman whose picture i keep in my bible. I welcomed her into my heart long ago, and now it deeply hurts to know of her suffering, it deeply hurts to know that our many pursuits have not brought her yet into safety, it hurts to know that she is still lost, and that her children suffer with her.
It will be my honor to pursue her once again with other members of our community on Christmas eve and hopefully be able to bring her home to safety. Please pray for the miraculous return of this dear lost friend that she may know the healing and restorative embrace of our Emmanuel.
This christmas I will certainly be celebrating the joy of salvation in the form of a child savior and i will be marking the suffering of the those who are still lost who do not know that they can be found. We in kolkata will continue seek those who lost so they can know that they are sought after and deeply loved.
I was thinking mostly of the joy of christmas. celebrating the people I love and reflecting on the HOPE of emmanuel. Last night, as i walked down the road a few women stepped in my path and told me about our long time friend who has HIV. Her condition is serious and she has refused to get help or let herself be helped. she pulled her kids out of a great school situation and they have become her caregivers. We have not seen or heard from this woman in many, many months. And after hearing the sad state of her current situation, i agreed to visit her on christmas eve and hopeful be able to connect her with the help both she and children need
Suffering entered my picture of Christmas for this year, not suffering i am afraid but suffering that was unexpected. The broken body of my friend, the isolation and lack of support for her children, the loneliness of all it.
i was not able to sleep last night, wrestling with my sadness at the whole thing. And all i could think of today was the story of the lost sheep. 99 doing well and the one that was lost. Sitting with the Sari Bari women in the sona....gacchi, i was overwhelmed as i looked at their faces, they too were lost at one point and are being found. I saw in their eyes hope and renewal that was not there three months ago. they have been found. The are secure in the embrace of the master....loved and growing in security in that love. and yet, are many of their sisters just outside on the lanes are still very lost. and all i could think of was the one who is still lost...my friend,the friend of our community, a woman whose picture i keep in my bible. I welcomed her into my heart long ago, and now it deeply hurts to know of her suffering, it deeply hurts to know that our many pursuits have not brought her yet into safety, it hurts to know that she is still lost, and that her children suffer with her.
It will be my honor to pursue her once again with other members of our community on Christmas eve and hopefully be able to bring her home to safety. Please pray for the miraculous return of this dear lost friend that she may know the healing and restorative embrace of our Emmanuel.
This christmas I will certainly be celebrating the joy of salvation in the form of a child savior and i will be marking the suffering of the those who are still lost who do not know that they can be found. We in kolkata will continue seek those who lost so they can know that they are sought after and deeply loved.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Broken Body
These pages are to tell you,
my dear brother, my sister,
not to run away from people who are in pain
or who are broken,
but to walk towards them,
to touch them,
Then you will find rising up within you the well of love,
springing from ressurection.
In waling along this way
I have had to meet my own darkness and brokeness
in the deeper knowledge that i am loved,
and so , though i have had to let go
of many dreams for our world
and many illusions about myself,
still i am growing in hope and trust
in the light that shines in each person:
believer or nonbeliever.
Yes, in that broken child,
a light is shining;
in that man in prision,
a heart is beating;
in that women, victim of prositution,
there is yearning for life;
in the rich and greedy person, seeking power,
there is a child of purity;
in that young man dying of AIDS,
there is the light of God;
in every person, no matter how broken, sinful,
hardened dominating and cruel,
there is a spring of water waiting to flow forth.
If you walk with Jesus along this path,
he will lead you
to the poor, the weak, the lonley and oppressed,
not with fear and despair,
not with feelings of guilt and helplessness,
not with anger or revolt,
not with theories or preconceived solutions,
but with a new and deeper
peace and love and hope.
Jean Vanier, The Broken Body
my dear brother, my sister,
not to run away from people who are in pain
or who are broken,
but to walk towards them,
to touch them,
Then you will find rising up within you the well of love,
springing from ressurection.
In waling along this way
I have had to meet my own darkness and brokeness
in the deeper knowledge that i am loved,
and so , though i have had to let go
of many dreams for our world
and many illusions about myself,
still i am growing in hope and trust
in the light that shines in each person:
believer or nonbeliever.
Yes, in that broken child,
a light is shining;
in that man in prision,
a heart is beating;
in that women, victim of prositution,
there is yearning for life;
in the rich and greedy person, seeking power,
there is a child of purity;
in that young man dying of AIDS,
there is the light of God;
in every person, no matter how broken, sinful,
hardened dominating and cruel,
there is a spring of water waiting to flow forth.
If you walk with Jesus along this path,
he will lead you
to the poor, the weak, the lonley and oppressed,
not with fear and despair,
not with feelings of guilt and helplessness,
not with anger or revolt,
not with theories or preconceived solutions,
but with a new and deeper
peace and love and hope.
Jean Vanier, The Broken Body
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
December Prayer Letter 2009
The sunlight is streaming in washing us with light. The Paki Tara (bird star in Bengali aka. WMF Logo) flys above us and all of Sona—gacchi. Kyle is playing the guitar as we worship with the women in our Gach unit, our mostly female voices lifting high the name of Jesus, and I imagine the streams of light and hope that are carried out into the lanes of the red light district with our voices. It is a moment of beauty and perfection as I reflect on all that has lead us to this point. We are almost 4 months in at the new unit in Kolkata’s largest red light area, the women are full time now, finding their place and we are finding which product suits them best depending on speed and skill. We are discovering their hearts, learning their burdens and sorrows and enjoying these new friendships and cherishing even more those that began many years ago when the seeds where first planted.
I know not many people get to see their dreams come true and their hopes finding feet but it is a profound gift to live in the reality of a place where dreams really do come true. And it is not a Disneyland reality, of fireworks, color and candy but a fleshed out reality of life being made new and heroes being formed out of real people, real women whose only super power is love and their story!
This week as I was reflecting with the women on stories of Faith, I caught my breath a little bit. There is always something about relating new scriptures to the women that reveals new things as I think about what it means for them, in their context and the realities that they face every day. Both are stories of deep faith. One of the faith of a man for his daughter’s healing and one of a woman, caught in deep suffering and frustration over a long term illness. The woman’s faith revealed her strength of will and committed desire for healing. She believed so hard that only a touch of Jesus robe was enough for complete healing. Her faith is the way faith works sometimes, straightforward, committed, and certainly profound. It is however, Jarius faith that made me catch my breath a little. He was not seeking healing for himself but healing for his daughter. His daughter, her body too weak and broken, to come before Jesus herself; she may not have even had consciousness, awareness, such that we could see or name the presence of personal faith for healing. But Jarius had faith, faith for one he loved. He had faith even when others called upon him to give up hope. Jarius made me think of several of our ladies who are becoming our heroes. They in fact are very much like Jarius, having faith for the freedom and healing of those who remain in bondage in the red light areas, coming to Jesus on behalf of ones they love. Sitting in front of the women, it was beautiful to be reminded together of the one thing we all need to hear sometimes. We are not alone. And in Sona----gacchi when you cannot have faith for yourself, here beside you at Sari Bari are all these other women who will have faith for you. Here at your side, are the Heroes who have gone before, who have faith for your freedom, because the God of Hope, has begun His healing and redeeming work in them. They can tell their stories of faith and restoration. Our Heroes can tell the stories of those who loved them deeply and believed for them when they could not believe for themselves. And I must tell you my friends; you too are a part of this story of Faith. Your prayers for the women still trapped in bondage and those coming into the arms of love, have and are making a profound impact. You have believed for the Sari Bari women when they could not believe for themselves and Jesus has turned them into markers of Hope, reflections of Himself, and those who will point the way as the Kingdom continues to come in Kolkata.
Celebrating this season of Hope with Joy, Merry Christmas to you! Love, Sarah
I know not many people get to see their dreams come true and their hopes finding feet but it is a profound gift to live in the reality of a place where dreams really do come true. And it is not a Disneyland reality, of fireworks, color and candy but a fleshed out reality of life being made new and heroes being formed out of real people, real women whose only super power is love and their story!
This week as I was reflecting with the women on stories of Faith, I caught my breath a little bit. There is always something about relating new scriptures to the women that reveals new things as I think about what it means for them, in their context and the realities that they face every day. Both are stories of deep faith. One of the faith of a man for his daughter’s healing and one of a woman, caught in deep suffering and frustration over a long term illness. The woman’s faith revealed her strength of will and committed desire for healing. She believed so hard that only a touch of Jesus robe was enough for complete healing. Her faith is the way faith works sometimes, straightforward, committed, and certainly profound. It is however, Jarius faith that made me catch my breath a little. He was not seeking healing for himself but healing for his daughter. His daughter, her body too weak and broken, to come before Jesus herself; she may not have even had consciousness, awareness, such that we could see or name the presence of personal faith for healing. But Jarius had faith, faith for one he loved. He had faith even when others called upon him to give up hope. Jarius made me think of several of our ladies who are becoming our heroes. They in fact are very much like Jarius, having faith for the freedom and healing of those who remain in bondage in the red light areas, coming to Jesus on behalf of ones they love. Sitting in front of the women, it was beautiful to be reminded together of the one thing we all need to hear sometimes. We are not alone. And in Sona----gacchi when you cannot have faith for yourself, here beside you at Sari Bari are all these other women who will have faith for you. Here at your side, are the Heroes who have gone before, who have faith for your freedom, because the God of Hope, has begun His healing and redeeming work in them. They can tell their stories of faith and restoration. Our Heroes can tell the stories of those who loved them deeply and believed for them when they could not believe for themselves. And I must tell you my friends; you too are a part of this story of Faith. Your prayers for the women still trapped in bondage and those coming into the arms of love, have and are making a profound impact. You have believed for the Sari Bari women when they could not believe for themselves and Jesus has turned them into markers of Hope, reflections of Himself, and those who will point the way as the Kingdom continues to come in Kolkata.
Celebrating this season of Hope with Joy, Merry Christmas to you! Love, Sarah
A few of my favorite things
1. The enneagram personality test: scarily accurate and really "rips my face off" as Kristin Keen would say. The WMF kolkata community had a great retreat last week in Gangtok and as we "looked into our cup" so to speak, we were able to celebrate and encourage each other in all the ways that we are different.
2. Closing time at Sari Bari: We pray together, sometimes holding hands, sometimes noi. At SB Sona...gacchi, about 7 or 8 ladies wait around and we all walk out together, talking, laughing and I like to think offering a little bit of Jesus presence to the girls we pass who have not yet been able to take those steps toward freedom.
3. Beth Waterman becoming the Kolkata Field Director: Beth and I just spent 2 intense days doing the symbolic hand over of responsibilities. And I am really so excited to see Beth lead us and shepard the community in the coming years.
4. Talking to my mom and dad: I get all filled up to the top when i get skype time.
5. Making beauty: I am on a crochet kick right now, it must be the freezing 60 degree weather! also designing a few new products for sari bari...and working on some sketches for a friend.
6. Upendra Prasad Saha: Never met a man with a bigger smile, a bigger heart and a more profound gifting for what he does at Sari Bari as the Operations Manager.
7. Christmas in kolkata: I have decorated my little tree and i am looking forward to celebrations with our women at Sari Bari. I feel I really get the "when you leave houses or family for my sake...you will receive a hundred fold", i receive a hundred fold everyday.
8. My new sari bari king size bedspread: I almost never buy any Sari Bari Products because i want to get them out there for the world to see but I finally bought myself a sweet, gorgeous blanket of many colors. I am sitting on it right now...love it!
9. Spiritual direction: Someone who constantly points you back to Jesus. Who asks the right questions but does not give the answers, who listens with you and for you.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Coming Soon...
I have been under it, so to speak! After travels in the states and then my parents coming to visit, and trying to play catch up at Sari Bari, there has been time for little else. But I will be back, hopefully with a real blog post this week some time!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, September 07, 2009
Update and Visit in Oct.
Dear Friends- I hope you are all well and have enjoyed your summer! We have had a super busy summer here in Kolkata and Sari Bari has grown as we opened the doors to a second Sari Bari Unit in a second red light area. We are super grateful for your support and for the support of the One Million Can Campaign which made it possible for us to open this second unit and remodel a run down building in the red light district.
I believe in miracles in everyday life and it is unlikely that anyone could convince me women having freedom from the sex trade is not a miracle and does not require the direction hand of God in action, breaking chains and setting women free. Even as I write today, 22 women got their first paycheck at our new Sari Bari Unit in Sonagacchi. One of them called, practically shouting with joy to tell me how happy she was and how all the girls were laughing in celebration their first paycheck. They celebrate the gift of promises kept, hard work paying off, freedom tasted and they will come back for more.
The Kolkata community continues to live in the space of dreams for our friends here being realized not in just small ways but in large, “can’t believe this is real”, ways. Thanks to the gifts of the One Million Can Campaign, Sari Bari has seen our dream of opening the unit in Sonagacchi become a reality. We opened the unit on one of the darkest lanes in the district and while it did take us 9 months to get the contract, during the construction process we received so much favor. We have been welcomed into the area and girls continue to come every day asking for jobs (We currently have a waiting list.). Most of our new women in training came through the doors out of relationship with each other not because of previous connection to our community. However, two women who have joined us have impossible stories and we see the miraculous in their presence among us. We know Sushmita because she was the owner of one of our friends and when she came through outdoors we were surprised, and yet a month later she is still here and learning what freedom means to both have and give to others. She is not allowed to keep girls as a condition of her work and it will be exciting to see how God uses this woman of influence in the area to bring about His purposes. Our friend, Jamie, stopped me on the street more than three years ago for tea, and brought me into a room filled with very young girls, among who she was one. Over the years, we have become friends with many of the girls in that room, we have taught literacy, and been invited to eat with them. We talked about other work with Jamie many times and there was one instance, when she was at my house in the last 6 months, where a taste of what was possible became real for both of us. Freedom was possible. So it was especially exciting when Jamie joined us at Sari Bari and brought along several of her friends. She is finding freedom not only for herself but making freedom possible for the women around her. These two women now among the 22 that work in the new unit are a marker for our community of what God has done and what He can do through our presence in Sonagacchi.
God has done great things, making lives new, and bringing light into the darkest places. As a community we were profoundly moved as we prayed scripture over the SB Sonagacchi unit. Each person brought a word or scripture full of promise, full of hope, full of the truth of who God was, who God is and who God will be for us as a community among our friends here in Kolkata. We all often have the feeling of, “is this real”, “can this be happening” and I hope that feeling does not go away. Because that feeling, leads us to Jesus, and our own powerlessness to make any of it happen without God’s divine direction and leading. We are all thankful to be here now, awaiting God’s continued direction as we walk forward, alongside our friends on the Exodus road to freedom and the Promised Land.
Personally, my first year as Regional Coordinator has been super full, comprising of itself of the loss of a Field Director and multiple staff members in Nepal, bi- weekly calls with Field Directors, 2 visits to Thailand, 2 visits to Nepal and one visit to Chennai and lots and lots of time reflecting on policy conversations as the larger WMF community grows and reforms itself in new and I believe healthy ways. I feel like I have finally found my footing and am regaining balance as I try to manage Sari Bari, being the Field Director and also a Regional Coordinator. I think all that was needed was time and growing and deepening personal connections with the staff throughout Asia.
I am more at home in my life here in Kolkata than I thought could be possible. There are certainly ebbs and flows of weariness, energy, joy and sorrow but mostly there is deep sense of purpose and calm in my life here in the last 6 months. I am so grateful for my time away from Kolkata because it has allowed me to refocus and at the very least pick out some important practices and rhythms that make life fuller and most sustainable.
I began meeting with a spiritual director 6 months ago and it has really been a gift to have someone listening with me to what God is speaking. I also began attending an Anglican church just before Easter this year and it has been a super centering and important part of my weekly practices. As we sit in the cathedral, the beauty of the place, the sometimes volumous silence marked against the Eucharist prayers sung by the congregation, the presence of the Holy Spirit, a still small voice so to speak, though the word and song my soul feels restored.
I feel like my listening and actually doing what I hear, has been a gift in relationship as I struggle to lead an evolving community and a struggling region. There has been many times when my intent has been to bring the hammer down and all I hear is wait, listen, and pray for them. My nature being one that both hates conflict and yet needs resolution often leads me into some hard situations but I think I can safely say that when I have been obedient to the ‘still small voice’ things seem to go better than planned and I guess I am seeing the fruits of the gentleness and patience that I have prayed for many times in recent years.
I will be back in the states briefly this fall to attend two conferences, one in Ohio and one in California. While I am in California, I am hoping that I can borrow a car from Oct 3rd to Oct 12th from someone living the LA, Pasadena area. I am also looking to borrow some camping stuff, a tent, a stove, a couple of sleep bags for a little camping in between conferences. If you are willing to help me out with either of these things please let me know.
My itinerary is as follows:
30th Sept: Depart Kolkata
Oct 1: Arrive Toledo, Ohio for Prostitution and Trafficking Conference
Oct 3: Depart Toledo, Arrive in Los Angeles
Oct 5: Travel to Carlsbad California
Oct 7,8,9: Not For Sale Conference in Carlsbad, CA
Oct 10-12: Time in Los Angeles with friends and family
Depart for Kolkata
I hope to see a some of you during my brief visit to Los Angeles.
Much love,
Sarah
I believe in miracles in everyday life and it is unlikely that anyone could convince me women having freedom from the sex trade is not a miracle and does not require the direction hand of God in action, breaking chains and setting women free. Even as I write today, 22 women got their first paycheck at our new Sari Bari Unit in Sonagacchi. One of them called, practically shouting with joy to tell me how happy she was and how all the girls were laughing in celebration their first paycheck. They celebrate the gift of promises kept, hard work paying off, freedom tasted and they will come back for more.
The Kolkata community continues to live in the space of dreams for our friends here being realized not in just small ways but in large, “can’t believe this is real”, ways. Thanks to the gifts of the One Million Can Campaign, Sari Bari has seen our dream of opening the unit in Sonagacchi become a reality. We opened the unit on one of the darkest lanes in the district and while it did take us 9 months to get the contract, during the construction process we received so much favor. We have been welcomed into the area and girls continue to come every day asking for jobs (We currently have a waiting list.). Most of our new women in training came through the doors out of relationship with each other not because of previous connection to our community. However, two women who have joined us have impossible stories and we see the miraculous in their presence among us. We know Sushmita because she was the owner of one of our friends and when she came through outdoors we were surprised, and yet a month later she is still here and learning what freedom means to both have and give to others. She is not allowed to keep girls as a condition of her work and it will be exciting to see how God uses this woman of influence in the area to bring about His purposes. Our friend, Jamie, stopped me on the street more than three years ago for tea, and brought me into a room filled with very young girls, among who she was one. Over the years, we have become friends with many of the girls in that room, we have taught literacy, and been invited to eat with them. We talked about other work with Jamie many times and there was one instance, when she was at my house in the last 6 months, where a taste of what was possible became real for both of us. Freedom was possible. So it was especially exciting when Jamie joined us at Sari Bari and brought along several of her friends. She is finding freedom not only for herself but making freedom possible for the women around her. These two women now among the 22 that work in the new unit are a marker for our community of what God has done and what He can do through our presence in Sonagacchi.
God has done great things, making lives new, and bringing light into the darkest places. As a community we were profoundly moved as we prayed scripture over the SB Sonagacchi unit. Each person brought a word or scripture full of promise, full of hope, full of the truth of who God was, who God is and who God will be for us as a community among our friends here in Kolkata. We all often have the feeling of, “is this real”, “can this be happening” and I hope that feeling does not go away. Because that feeling, leads us to Jesus, and our own powerlessness to make any of it happen without God’s divine direction and leading. We are all thankful to be here now, awaiting God’s continued direction as we walk forward, alongside our friends on the Exodus road to freedom and the Promised Land.
Personally, my first year as Regional Coordinator has been super full, comprising of itself of the loss of a Field Director and multiple staff members in Nepal, bi- weekly calls with Field Directors, 2 visits to Thailand, 2 visits to Nepal and one visit to Chennai and lots and lots of time reflecting on policy conversations as the larger WMF community grows and reforms itself in new and I believe healthy ways. I feel like I have finally found my footing and am regaining balance as I try to manage Sari Bari, being the Field Director and also a Regional Coordinator. I think all that was needed was time and growing and deepening personal connections with the staff throughout Asia.
I am more at home in my life here in Kolkata than I thought could be possible. There are certainly ebbs and flows of weariness, energy, joy and sorrow but mostly there is deep sense of purpose and calm in my life here in the last 6 months. I am so grateful for my time away from Kolkata because it has allowed me to refocus and at the very least pick out some important practices and rhythms that make life fuller and most sustainable.
I began meeting with a spiritual director 6 months ago and it has really been a gift to have someone listening with me to what God is speaking. I also began attending an Anglican church just before Easter this year and it has been a super centering and important part of my weekly practices. As we sit in the cathedral, the beauty of the place, the sometimes volumous silence marked against the Eucharist prayers sung by the congregation, the presence of the Holy Spirit, a still small voice so to speak, though the word and song my soul feels restored.
I feel like my listening and actually doing what I hear, has been a gift in relationship as I struggle to lead an evolving community and a struggling region. There has been many times when my intent has been to bring the hammer down and all I hear is wait, listen, and pray for them. My nature being one that both hates conflict and yet needs resolution often leads me into some hard situations but I think I can safely say that when I have been obedient to the ‘still small voice’ things seem to go better than planned and I guess I am seeing the fruits of the gentleness and patience that I have prayed for many times in recent years.
I will be back in the states briefly this fall to attend two conferences, one in Ohio and one in California. While I am in California, I am hoping that I can borrow a car from Oct 3rd to Oct 12th from someone living the LA, Pasadena area. I am also looking to borrow some camping stuff, a tent, a stove, a couple of sleep bags for a little camping in between conferences. If you are willing to help me out with either of these things please let me know.
My itinerary is as follows:
30th Sept: Depart Kolkata
Oct 1: Arrive Toledo, Ohio for Prostitution and Trafficking Conference
Oct 3: Depart Toledo, Arrive in Los Angeles
Oct 5: Travel to Carlsbad California
Oct 7,8,9: Not For Sale Conference in Carlsbad, CA
Oct 10-12: Time in Los Angeles with friends and family
Depart for Kolkata
I hope to see a some of you during my brief visit to Los Angeles.
Much love,
Sarah
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