Human trafficking. Those words didn’t mean much to me until my freshman year of college, when I became friends with a girl whose parents founded the ministry Make Way Partners. MWP is a Birmingham-based organization that fights human trafficking at both a local and international level.

“Our passion is to go where children are at most risk and with the fewest resources. This has led us straight to the heart of war, civil conflict, extreme poverty and lawless lands.”—Kimberly Smith, MWP President.

MWP travelled to the deserts of Sudan to build the only orphanage in the country for children at high-risk of slavery. Instead of having to hide from human traffickers or sleep in trees to escape from wild animals at night, 400 orphans now have a safe place to live. MWP provides long-term care that includes not only food, shelter, and clothing, but also counseling, discipleship, and educational programs so that women and children can break out of the cycles of poverty and slavery that are so rampant in Sudan.

MWP has also reached the sewer people of Romania and partnered with indigenous ministries in Eastern Europe to build a Transitional Living Center for women and children at risk of being trafficked. On a more local level, MWP seeks to educate people about human trafficking, a billion-dollar industry that currently enslaves 30 million people around the world.

Find out more from Make Way Partner’s website, visit Kimberly Smith’s blog or click here to see a video on the orphange built by MWP.

Each week Bedouins International posts a story. Maybe it’s one we’ve helped to tell, or a story we hope to tell, or it maybe it’s just a story we think deserves to be told. In any case, we hope you find them inspiring and motivating. Read more stories here.

As we were brainstorming ideas to raise the last of the funds needed for KISI, my new friend Leah had a most excellent idea – a book drive.

We asked, you gave. (Thank you, dear book-givers.) Now however, what we really need are some book-buyers. Check out our storefront at Amazon and buy one of these delightful little stories/cookbooks/textbooks/poems.

Remember, for every story you buy, you help us to tell the story of the Kiini Sustainable Initiative. We can’t do it alone!

Thanks again to our community for all of your support!

(And for anyone who still has books to give, send them our way!)

Love,
Jessi

This week’s story is about an organization founded by musician and worship leader Daniel Bashta. So what kind of a ministry does a musician start? If you’re Daniel Bashta, and your passion is music, media, and missions; then you’d start GoMotion [Worldwide].

So what is GoMotion? It is a ministry passionately on a mission to see a new generation of people worshipping in the Kingdom of God. To reach this generation the group uses the power of music and new media to reach across cultural divides to communicate the love of Christ and stir hearts to worship Him.

To find out the rest of the story, or join in visit their website. Also checkout the GoMotion blog or connect with them on Facebook or Vimeo.

Each week Bedouins International posts a story. Maybe it’s one we’ve helped to tell, or a story we hope to tell, or it maybe it’s just a story we think deserves to be told. In any case, we hope you find them inspiring and motivating. Read more stories here.

Hey! This is Bedouins International’s new intern, Melynda Sides. I’m a mass communications major at the University of Montevallo and I’m excited about the chance to help out around the office this fall! I’ll be working with Jessi on some of Bedouins’ social networking sites, the monthly newsletter, and fundraisers so that you can stay up-to-date with what’s going on around here.

I first heard about Bedouins International when Stephen spoke at a church near my university. His story of how he and a few friends combined their skills and interests with global missions intrigued me, and I knew I wanted to be a part of this movement.

As a missionary kid who has grown up in a couple parts of Asia (Macau and Taiwan), I have seen first-hand how important it is to connect missionaries and their organizations to the network of people who support them. Bedouins International is filling a desperate need for more professional, easy-to-use media for people who don’t have the time or resources to produce high-quality websites, documentaries, or photographs. I love that there are people willing to donate their skills and time to do this, and I love that I get to hang out with those people and work alongside of them this semester!

Some thoughts on the media…

There’s no question that media is constantly shaping, editing, representing, and re-shaping our world. Just think about all of the ways it has changed our culture in the past decade! Media exists because people have something to say, and need a way to express it. From cavemen drawings to the latest Facebook photo album, humans have used media to share a story with each other.

Media has the ability to span social, geographical, and cultural divides. Because of media, friends on opposite sides of the planet can laugh at the same Youtube video. People can have an entire conversation consisting only of movie quotes. Artists, musicians, and writers can connect with their fans. Businesses begin, families stay in touch, and an entire entertainment industry exists because of media.

The growing power of the media comes from both the individual message (a photograph, blog, news story) and the amount of people who receive it. In the words of Uncle Ben to Peter Parker in Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Bedouins International is doing its part to be responsible with the powerful tools of media. I’m excited about catching their vision, and I hope it spreads to you!

Have you noticed that it used to take a lot of money and expertise to get the word out about what you were doing? TV commercials, Radio Spots, Magazine advertisements…all cost money. So some people (who had it to spend) spent lots of money and created buzz. Others simply were quiet.

Now the “media megaphone” is bigger than ever, and the best part is that it’s free!
Anyone can create a website, a facebook, a twitter, (the list goes on), and generate buzz. The deciding factor now isn’t money, just time and the know-how to put your efforts in the right places. Surely you realize that twitter is a powerful tool…but might not make sense for everyone. Just as Facebook and blogs and websites all have their purposes.

So why don’t those of us who know how to use and work the “media megaphone” put our efforts towards helping those who don’t but could really benefit from the use of it? I’m sure that Joe-missionary over in Africa spending his life saving kids from AIDS would love your advice on how to get the word out…you’ve got the know-how…he’s got the story…what a beautiful opportunity.