It’s hard to believe that it’s already mid-April.  Where has the year gone?!  It still seems like it was yesterday that we loaded up the moving truck with Paul in Birmingham and hit the road for the Big City.  But in reality that was over 3 months ago.  Some how the pace of living has not only sped up, but filled up.  Something I didn’t think possible after the intense pace we were going at back in Alabama.

To say that we’ve been busy is a gross understatement.  What a journey…we’ve really fallen into place here at Times Square Church and are helping to produce some killer media.  It’s been quite an adventure, starting with a few weeks of wondering what we were doing here, and if this was where we were supposed to be, quickly followed by a steady stream of meaningful work that we could see huge potential in.

The last few weeks, for me, have mostly consisted of traveling with Times Square Church on various missions projects as a journalist of sorts.  My role has evolved from simply photographer to capturing video, creating daily blogs (often video blogs, but mixed with photo blogs), creating long term projects out of the trips (known here as ‘trip reports’), capturing audio and even getting my hands dirty doing some construction and ministry work as well.  It’s been amazing, refreshing and a huge blur all together.  Now, back in NYC for the first substantial time period in what seems like months, it’s been great to sit back and catch my breath…to feel grounded again for a little while.

Although I can’t post any of the project images up here yet (because they haven’t been released on the TSC site yet), here’s a shot of me in the mirror in Mexico a few weeks ago that I’m sure they won’t use for anything or care if I share with you.  The rest of the stuff is looking incredible so far, video and photo, and I can’t wait to show you what we’ve become a part of up here.  You can check out some of the work that I’m doing in the field as I go at some of the TSC missions blogs for BrickThink and OnCall.  I’ll try to do a better job of updating this blog from the field as well, and also linking to the places that I will be blogging on during my trips.

One cool thing that I’ve learned about missions at TSC while I’ve been here is that they’re very similar to Bedouins in heart.  They team up with missionaries and non-profits around the world to aid them in their work for many of their projects.  It’s great, because not only do we get to serve Times Square Church with our media while we’re here, but also dozens of other organizations in the process.

All in all it’s been a huge blessing to have this time here and we’re excited to see where it all goes in the end.  For now, we have an item of Bedouins specific news for you, that we’ve touched on before.  Jessi and I leave in 2 WEEKS for Kenya to complete the KIINI project finally!  We are so excited, and, thanks to TSC and a project in Zambia we were able to afford my ticket over to Africa at a much discounted rate, which was a huge blessing.  We’ll be landing in Nairobi on April 26th and spending about a week in Nyeri with the folks from KIINI traveling to their communities and sites to help paint a picture of what they’re doing there and why we should help them.  I can’t wait to get there and to be back in Africa.  Honestly, I’ve missed going by Stephen Kamau

Thanks for sticking with us through our slow period (as far as blogging is concerned at least!) and know that we’re still working hard, still believe in the power of media and still plan to use it to change the world!

-S

With the end of the year (and the decade!) only hours away, I thought that I would take some time and update the Bedouins Blog. I’ve been out on vacation for the past few weeks and have neglected the blog, so, for one last time in 2009, welcome to the Bedouins Blog World.

I’ve been thinking a lot about next year lately; how could I not with the big move coming up. There are a lot of changes in sight for Bedouins this next year…most of which weren’t even on our radar a few weeks ago. Obviously Jessi and I moving to New York means some big changes…most of which I blogged about a few weeks back. But beyond that there are more big things coming.

One of the big changes, which I’ll go into more detail about soon, will be the shift from just providing media back to telling stories. We started by telling stories and using those stories to change the world. It was a simple, but very clear vision. This year we’re going to think a lot about that as we reflect and regroup during our time with Times Square Church.

Some things to expect: You’ll see a new site coming up, a new emphasis on the blog and on story telling and, hopefully, a much more refined vision as we explore, grow and venture into new things in 2010.

I hope you’ll continue to be a part of our story as we disover what adventures lie ahead. You are the people who make our story possible…the ones following it…reading it…investing in it.

Happy New Years from the Bedouins Staff!

As promised, here are some photos from Stephen of his first day with Bishop Chunge in Kenya!

The Banquäla has come and gone. It’s weird, when you’ve been thinking about something for so long, planning, tweaking, preparing and obsessing over it…then suddenly it’s gone. I’ve found myself feeling slightly empty, a little dazed and a lot overwhelmed with the lack of a monumental task looming over me. I’m sure I’ll settle in and find myself buried in a mountain of projects before I know know it, but for now I’m sort of enjoying the subtle shock of this moment that I’m in.

In the midst of all of that there’s still a single word that continues to resonate with me. It seems to permeate my days, my work, my conversations. Even “non-Bedouins” conversations…it’s always there in some way, shape or form.

That word, as you may have guessed, is MEDIA.

I’m going to begin unloading my thoughts on media over the next few weeks on this blog. I’m going to talk about why I think media is, is becoming and will continue to be an amazingly powerful tool. I’ll talk about why I think media can change the world and how I think that can happen. I’ll talk about how media has impacted specific organizations and people and give you examples to prove it. I’ll talk about the responsibility that those who are making media (that’s you, even if you don’t think it is…I promise) have and how to respect and respond to that responsibility. But most importantly I’ll talk about how YOU can get involved.

I am not media. Bedouins is not media. In fact, we’re a very teeny tiny small sliver of what’s happening with media. But here’s the cool thing. So are YOU. No matter who you are or what you do, you are a producer of media.

We’ll pick up there soon…I do have something slightly more specific and “Bedouins” related to mention before I sign off and let you get back to your lives…

If you scroll down a few posts you can read about a truly amazing organization called Kiini. Kiini contacted us and expressed a need for media, a lack of funds and skills to make the type of media that they need and a desperate desire for our (Bedouins’) help in tackling that obstacle; an obstacle that is seemingly holding back their organization from making the progress that they would like to be making.

We said YES.

So as mentioned before, we’ll be traveling to the heart of Kenya to spend a week with the fine people at Kiini touring their sites, interviewing the people they’re working with and documenting the progress and the need that they’re a part of there.

Want to help us out? I have a really cool way that you can make the Kiini Project possible.

Buy a book.

Here’s the deal – we put a lot of time into producing a really beautiful book for the Banquäla. The book has the stories of the amazing organizations that we were able to partner with over the last year and a half. It also has images from all over the world showing some amazing people doing some amazing work. It’s 160 pages hard bound.

So here’s my proposition. Buy a book. You get a really beautiful book that not only shares with you the stories of some amazing work happening around the globe and demonstrates the power of media to aid in that work, but you get a book that allows you to continue to spread the word about these organizations on your own.

The books cost $75 and we raise approximately $20/per book towards the Kiini Project from each one sold.

You’d really help us out if you did, and we really want to put these books in as many hands as possible.

**If you want to buy a book e-mail us at connect@bedouinsinternational.org

Thanks for reading, thanks for thinking, thanks for participating in our quest to refocus the heart of media – a quest that we’ve been thinking about that for several years now…glad you’re joining us!

-Stephen