Phil Moody, the designer behind the new Bedouins look, will be posting on here soon with a teaser of our new look and some insight into what changes we’re making to our brand and why…so stay tuned!

So all of that said, I’m really really excited about everything. From the re-brand to the look in the mirror; from the slimmed down staff to the unknown that lies ahead for Bedouins: everything about it has me buzzing. I can’t tell you how great I feel knowing that we’re going to be doing something awesome…whatever it may be. We’ve had some amazing opportunities these last few years to tell stories from all over the world. Some of them we knocked out of the park and some of them we struck out bad, but we’ve learned quite a few things and the one thing that’s stuck with me and has me grinning ear to ear as I type this blog is this: There is a never-ending supply of AMAZING stories out there that are going untold and there is a MASSIVE audience waiting to hear them.

Anyways…enough of my blog-rambling, here’s a more important update: Not only will be we launching the new site in the not-too-distant future, We’ll be launching it filled with the KIINI project as the new content! I’m so excited and overly anxious to share the project with you as well as the beautiful new site, so make sure you stay tuned, keep an eye on our twitter feed (bedouins_intl) and spread the word…we’re back with stories to tell and we would love for you to be a part of the audience.

Thanks for sticking around through our blog-drought…here’s to a new season and some really amazing new stories!

One of my first travel assignments for TSC was to go to Reynosa, Mexico and to document and create a ‘trip report’ of the work that’s being done there. It was the perfect transition piece into my new job at TSC because I’ve worked in Reynosa countless times over the past few years. In fact, I’ve worked at the exact canal with the same people. Here is the final multimedia piece produced as a trip-report for TSC on the Mexico project:

Mexico 2010 Trip Report from TSC Missions on Vimeo.

This year we have big plans, big goals and a re-ignigted passion for storytelling. The blog will be rolling again, starting now, with fresh photos, videos and stories from our time in NYC with Times Square Church. We’ll be showing you what we learned, and what we produced while we were there.

We’ll also be continuing to tweet and blog updates on the KIINI project as it goes through the many stages of production. Currently we’ve finished editing all of the photos, transcribing the audio interviews and have started sorting and cataloguing the video clips for editing. If you want to keep up please check us out on twitter: HERE or follow us at @bedouins_intl

Thanks for your support, thanks for lending us your ears and thanks for sticking around. It’s great to be back!

-S

some woman show off their shop in Kenya that they own thanks to the mirco-loans and support from KIINI

We took a small tour of their land where we saw little plots set aside for farming. The church family has started farming and selling various vegetables to sell to help support the building of the church. They want to be able to build a new roof, pour new concrete floors and build an altar. We prayed with them as they blessed the first fruit of their crop.

During this time the beautiful ladies of the church brought us tea and bread. They told us that the Bible says “Visitors do not visit without the church wiping the dust from their feet.”

This was another of the many churches that met in what they called a “temporary building” made of mud, rocks and sticks and baked in the Kenyan sun. They had already drawn up plans though to build a stronger and bigger church, one that would hold more people and stand through the tests of weather and time.

These wonderful people are still raising funds to be able to build a more permanent structure. If you would like to donate towards this cause, please send a check payable to Bedouins Inernational (to our temporary New York address: Attn: Jessi Lambert, 408 W 129th St Apt 9, New York, NY 10027). Please write “Bishop Matolo” in the memo and we will make sure it gets put in the right hands.

You can take a look a the book here and purchase a copy here. All proceeds go towards helping the survivors of the 2009 earthquake.

Meet Bishop Matolo. When Jessi and I finished our project with KIINI in Kenya we had a few days left at the tail end of our trip and used them to tag up with one of the CEC’s (Charismatic Episcopal Church) local bishops to photograph his diocese. I did a similar project during my last trip to Kenya in the western part of the country, so it was very interesting to see the similarities and differences in this, a more central and eastern area of Kenya.

We spent the day traveling all over Biship Matolo’s diocese and visiting several of his churches and local projects. The community there is so incredible. They work hard, and they work together.

The following are some of my favorite photos from the first place we visited with him. Each little church and congregation had its own little story. This first church was still in its “temporary” state; they are hoping to build a full size church with enough seating for the whole community.