Kate Saurman

I feel incredibly privileged to walk among people with vastly different life experiences, from many different cultures and subcultures. Our culture tells us what is normal and sets our expectations. It both enlightens and limits our understanding. I have spent many nights on the Avenue in the red light district talking with women in prostitution; watching buyers crawl by in cars as if shopping for a doll. Individuals in prostitution hate this “game” as it is called, but their survival depends on pretending to be happy there; their culture is one that normalizes the objectification of women.

By contrast I also sit with the teens in our rescue house, overcoming abuse and learning daily how to trust again. We’re all on a similar journey; all part of this huge dysfunctional family. We all deal with the destruction that comes from broken relationship and the restoration that comes through right relationship. Two of my dear friends got married this month. They are both on staff at Shores of Grace and their wedding was the culmination of several years together.

We were all present at the ceremony – family, staff, women who had left the red light district, their children, all 17 girls from the safe house. The wedding illuminated in all forms the model and intention of healthy relationship, as well as Christ’s undying love for humanity; greater than our brokenness and able to surpass our abuses. Several women wept with the revelation of this profound care during the ceremony. At the end of the reception the bride, gifted her bouquet to the girls in safe house, reminding them that they are worthy of being cherished, that they are already cherished by God, and to believe in a love that heals and protects; the very opposite of exploitation. These moments celebrating life are so sweet. Its not a project, or a ministry, or a non-profit (though obviously those things are important), which ultimately changes destinies. It’s sharing victories and struggles; living in transparency as family. Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding, turning water to wine, and I believe many miracles took place at this wedding too.

About ten years ago when I was still living in America and working in the social service system, part of my job included sitting on the restraint reduction committee. In the United States, the use of physical holds to stop a person from hurting themselves or others, are used only as a last resort and I learned a lot about minimizing their frequency. Skip ahead to now. You are reading this update because, I am a missionary, but I often feel that term is synonymous with volunteer cross-cultural social worker, learning to apply everything she once knew in a completely new context. Do you think it’s possible to help children who have endured brutal violence without that violence finding it’s way into the home, or safe house, or hospital? No. It’s not. The range of difficulties faced in the restoration process is extensive. Back in 2017, another missionary and I began planning crisis response for our homes. The best way to minimize crisis is through prevention. However, another aspect of life in the developing world is that culturally, there is little focus on pro-activity. This has a lot to do with the general desperation of day-to-day demands, a mentality that is often true, “If I don’t eat today, I won’t be alive to eat tomorrow”. There are so many things I took for granted growing up in America. I visited a psychiatric hospital here in Recife recently and was broken to find the conditions similar to that of stateside psychiatric hospitals back in the 1950s. Walking into the facility felt like stepping back in time. I will not go into details on the hospitals procedures which are brutal, but I will share one special feature. The patients live with stray cats, who freely climb in and out of the barred windows. As I’m sure you can imagine, many of the girls who come through the transition home at age 18, need to be placed there for stabilization at one point or another. Unfortunately I’m not sure if the hospital does more harm or good. I wanted to write on this topic because I wish that I been told in high school, when I was deciding how to spend my time and my life, the degree of need there was in the developing world. Our state in northeast Brazil, has a huge lack of mental healthcare, and facilities equipped to treat mental illness. My prayer in this time, after years feeling trapped by the lack of treatment options for our girls outside the safe house (and the poor conditions of those options available), is that God would raise and send professionals to the furthest edges of the earth to walk beside those who are doing their best with the tools they have. I believe Jesus works in miracles, I also believe He works in kindness and mercy, building systems that treat people well. All this to say, the past few years at Shores, we have done a lot of education around crisis reduction, standards of care, and trauma. I am often encouraged by the truth that real change, change that lasts, is slow. It looks different for each person, system or people group. It comes from the inside not the outside, and cultural transformation, is generational transformation. Over the past several years, a friend with her doctorate in Violence Against Women has been developing a training specifically for Shores. She recently spent a week with our team sharing her strategies, rooted from years of experience working in both Brazil and America. It was a great time of growth and challenge. Wrestling with these issues is what makes room for change. Again, thank you for your support and your prayers. I am beyond grateful! I hope all is well with each of you. For anyone who is interested in learning more about the state of mental health care here in Brazil, I would recommend the above film. It is about the introduction of art therapy (a personal passion of mine) to psychiatric hospital in Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s. Here in northern Brazil, the rough conditions shown continue to be our standard of care. The movie is raw and unsettling, but also a testament to progress.

Hey world. Again, my apologies for these huge gaps in communication that have been my trend this past year. Sometimes finding words at the end of the day seems nearly impossible; the majority of stories I can’t tell publicly, and the ones I can tell don’t scratch the surface of what we face on a daily basis. But I do have an update I have waiting to share, about the city of Rio de Janeiro. Rio has been on my heart for a while now. In 2017, a former student of our missions school, opened a prayer house and film crew in the Rio metropolis region. Over the last year, I have gone various times with several others on our Recife team to support their work. Their project was officially inaugurated as a new Shores base this October.

This plant is very different from our Recife base because it supports several ongoing social efforts in the broader Rio area. They minister not only to those in material poverty, but also to the influential as resources are channeled to other non-profits. I remember the first time I visited their prayer house, worshipping on the floor with members of the fashion industry on one side of me, and a family who has chosen to live with a community in the landfill (for over 10 years) on my other side. Brazil has one of biggest wealth gaps in the world. Babies grow up in the trash, playing with pig carcasses dropped off in trucks from the butcher; while the shoreline of Copacabana houses politicians and billionaires. I have met the most joyful people in the most desperate living situations, and some of the most miserable with 4 car garages. Many suffer physical poverty, and many suffer poverty of spirit. While it’s so hard with my natural mind to bridge these extremes, in the presence of God, we are all, nothing more than children; with very connected paths to walk. Both wealth and lack can corrupt; but the Rio base is working to unify people that society and culture has long kept separated.

This year, through various business campaigns, Shores Rio built several homes for families living in the biggest landfill in South America, Jardim Gramacho. Now closed, the dump houses a community of around 400 residents. Many of these people work as trash pickers re-selling recyclables and separating the masses of waste into categories. There was a documentary made about Gramacho several years ago called Wasteland that shows a much fuller picture than what I can describe here (see trailer above). The film is about an artist who works with the residents to construct portraits out of the trash in hopes that the funds raised could build them a life outside Gramacho.

Unfortunately, community transformation is not that simple, and I have met one woman from the documentary who still lives there. Over the years although money was exchanged, without oversight of the finances, education, and long term engagement, it does little good. Shores Rio partner organization in Gramacho (Iris Ministries), has been physically on the ground for over 10 years, daily spending hours visiting homes, educating, and mentoring the children. They also have a community center, which doubles as a church. I will write more about various projects in Rio over the upcoming months as we continue to connect there. My visits, though short, have reminded me that the arts are so valuable in communicating both need and beauty. They are a gift and tool for re-distributing resources, building community, and restoring a sense of worth; not a frivolous pastime in the face of poverty.  Teaching photography and walking with our girls here in Recife, I have been so blessed to watch creativity in it’s various forms, build opportunities for employment and personal growth.

Dear friends and family:

Things here are going well and expanding quickly, which I think I say every time I write. We are launching a café in the red light district this December among other new projects that I will share later. For the past 18 months now I have focused primarily on opening a transitional home for girls between 18 and 22 who are leaving the safe house.  I can hardly believe it, but we are celebrating the completion of our first year in just a few weeks. For me, this has been one of the most challenging and most rewarding seasons of my life. It has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager to take in this age group, although I never imagined it would unfold quite the way it has here. Housing for girls aging out of the system does not exist widely in Brazil and many leave shelters with no where to go but back to the streets. My work this year has included finding and training staff, developing a mentorship program, creating the home structure, crisis response, treatment planning, laughing, laughing until I cry, crying until I can finally laugh, and spending most of my days and nights with the girls who came through our doors.

We have decided with the close of our first year, to call the apartment, Casa Hadassa. In the Biblical account of Esther, Queen Esther holds the birth name Hadassa. Hadassa was born to a Hebrew family and orphaned as a child. Through a long complicated string of events she was eventually chosen by the King to replace his former Queen. However, because of ethnic tension, Hadassa was forced to conceal her identity. When the time comes for Queen Esther to reveal who she is, it is the truth of her lineage that saves the entire Jewish nation from genocide. We are choosing to align with the courage and boldness of Hadassa, who did not run from her past, but through embracing her identity, forever changes the destiny of Israel. Our girls have come through so much disappointment and trauma. Some days it feels unbearable, even for me, to know what they have suffered and what they are feeling. But we believe in who they are and the purpose over each of their lives. They are fearless, they are fighters, and I do not have words to express what a privilege it is to walk with them daily. They have already changed my life and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for them.

Helping to shelter for the homeless has been an intersting journey. Living as a missionary, housing and residency are ongoing battles for our staff as well. Homelessness doesn’t necessarily mean you are living in the streets. It means you don’t have a place to call your own. I have had an apartment here in Brazil, for about a year and a half now. However before this, it was necessary to move 12 times since 2010. In retrospect, I am thankful for that season of uprooting, because I can understand now, in a small way, what it is like to lack the security of a steady home. Providing that for others today is all the sweeter. God has been very faithful to cover my personal rent, but I am currently in another transition regarding my living situation and facing some unexpected dental work. With Giving Tuesday and the year end ahead, if you would like to sew into my ministry or these needs, please know that all donations are tax deductible through the “partner” link below.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I am beyond grateful and hope you are surrounded with the peace of God this holiday season.

In 2012 we drove 6 days across the interior of Brazil and, accidentally, moved into a slum here in Recife.  Your primary area of influence is generally the places where you spend most of your time. The truth about caring for the poor in another country, is that it is not so different from caring for your next door neighbor back home; even when it is inconvenient, messy, and at times dangerous (like all relationships can be). Often I think that’s the illusion of missions, the distance makes familiar experiences feel exotic. But this has been our simple journey in Brazil from the start – love your neighbor. As the years passed we gradually moved our base further from the slum, but much of our time, relationships and work still revolved around that community.  The couple who began and later led the ministry in the fevelas were two American’s named Luke and Alisan. They themselves, had 3 children under 12 and would take walks into the fevela everyday together. Gradually the kids began introducing these gringos to their parents and relationships with various families evolved into weekly home visits. Every Monday night Luke would drive down the dirt roads and load the kombi with 30 plus kids who were waiting to come back to our base for church. They constantly had people in and out of their family’s home, spending the night when they needed a safe place, eating dinner when they had no food. Luke and Alisan modeled what it is to give yourself for your community. It is now five years later and to say that things have changed would be an understatement.  This January we bought a house and opened a drop in center less than a quarter mile from where we first lived in 2012. It is in the heart of the fevela. Every Thursday morning and Friday night we have worship there, followed by a game day on Saturday. Children growing up in the slums are primary targets for pimps recruiting into the sex trade, or runners for drug traffic. Many boys join gangs for protection growing up in the violence of these areas, and most families are single mother homes without basic resources. Our desire is to fill the drop in center with education and activities to counteract these other influences. We are dreaming over each room – dance studios, health classes, mentoring offices.  This is the next level of prevention and cultural change in our neighborhood.

Six years later, Luke and Alisan have turned leadership of the fevela ministry here in Brazil over to a Brazilian couple and moved to Pennsylvania where they are currently planting a new Shores base. In the same way they did here in Recife, they are currently opening their home to the children and families of Philladelphia. For me personally, to see the beginnings of this project are especially sweet, as I have worked for several social services agencies in that area over the past 10 years. We are overwhelmed by the joy of being invested in neighborhoods where wealth is measured not by money, but by the relationships we guard. Poverty is much more a state of mind than a state of being, and day by day we are clinging to the reality that people are worth far more than anything else in life – no matter what continent you call home.

Eighteen is the magic number we have somehow managed to assign to adulthood. It is a number which seems to be international, and yet no indication of maturity.  Even in differing cultures with differing family structures, child services has decided that when the biological clock hits one – eight, a teen is no longer their responsibility.  In America at 18 it is normal for kids to move out, either to college or into the work force where they pay to support themselves and peruse their dreams. Westerners value goal orientation and self-sufficiency, cultivating independence from a young age. It is the framework of many European societies. Here in Brazil, young adults most often live with their families until marriage. When you turn 18, even if you enter the work force (and jobs are difficult to come by), you stay with your family and use the finances earned to contribute to the household. This household will often consist of a single mother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and several siblings, with their children. In a warm climate culture, community and family is the nucleus of life. You transition only with marriage when a new nucleus is formed. Relationships are both the goal and vehicle of all movement here. This is a huge issue for children who are aging out of orphanages and rescue homes at age 18, with no where to go but back to the streets.

18 to 22 year olds are considered a very high risk age group even in America. These are the years where you sink or swim. Decisions are made, personalities traits solidify, and relationships are forged that follow you for the rest of your life. Transition age youth have one of the highest rates of drug / alcohol addiction, violence and crime. It is a time of self-actualization and change that tests even those who were raised by supportive families in privileged areas. Weather in the states, or Brazil, these years come with challenges, falls, and victories that no one was meant to navigate alone. Yet, there are few public resources available to help.

For several years in the states I worked with teenagers navigating their way through and out of social services as they came into adulthood.  I never imagined then dealing with the lack of care options in America, that I would soon be applying what I learned in another nation. Here in Brazil, there are no transition homes, or housing options offered to children without families when they turn 18. Our safe house (Project Bethany) has been open for almost 2 years now, and several of our girls are aging out the system.  So with the start of 2018, we have a rented an apartment to house girls 18-22. Here they will live with a staff member to help them transition to independence over the next four years. We’ve wrapped this move with support including life skills, strength identification, and resume development. As you probably already know, children who have endured severe traumas, often have gaps in identity formation. Expecting them to live a “normal” life on their own at 18 when many of them are still years behind in high school from surviving the streets, is unrealistic. I feel very lucky to be so closely involved in this step of their journey.  As one of the mentors at Project Bethany said as she blessed the girls on the night we opened their apartment, “I was there the day you moved into the safe house. I remember how scared you were and you all the struggles you passed; to look at you now, I am overwhelmed with how much you have overcome. I am so proud of you. If I was your mother, I would be so proud to call you my daughters.”

We all grow in different directions; But our roots remain the same.

No one can argue with the fact that there are few tragedies as deep as being orphaned. Being unwanted scars the core of the human soul. I grew up in a home with both parents present, and can only image what it is like to search your whole life for someone who would truly knows you. Real care giving cannot be forced – it cannot be done without your whole heart. I watch our staff bring the babies placed in Bethany Home so close, that despite what they have lived through at such a young age, I know that they are cherished beyond human limitations. They have 5 “fathers”. They have 13 “mothers”; who laugh with them and cry with them, who take them to parties and the mall; who lovingly pick out their cloths and cut their hair, who feed them, who fight over spending time with them, who take them to the doctor in the middle of the night, who dance with them and teach them to sing; who pray over them every night as they sleep. Watching our staff cry from a combination of grief and joy as the children are adopted, I have no doubts they are some of the most loved children on earth. And that is how I remember each of them.  The babies get a book when they leave – with pictures and letters from each of their 18 caregivers – so that 10 years from now, they will know what their infancy was like. Their first two years will not be empty time with questions and mysteries. It’s like a cast full of signatures so that you can never forget what you came through, or those who walked beside and wrapped around you. The spirit of adoption is not a soft ideal; it’s an unbreakable covenant, made from the inside out. Strong as bone. We are simply the lucky ones who secure it’s setting. It’s the same covenant Christ made with us, calling us his very own body.

Two letters from the above mentioned book:  “Marcus – Since the day I met you, it was easy to love you! Seeing everything that you have conquered and knowing that for a moment we were able to be part of your story is an honor! You are such a happy kid, smart, kind and really funny. You like to wear hats, play soccer and just love it when uncle Ned beat boxes! You also love when I dance with you. You play guitar and sing songs for everyone. You have such an amazing heart and I’m very happy for you have a new family. I know that God has a incredible life for you. Love you forever. Love, Aunt Larissa

Dear Little Marcus, Thank you for loving us in such a simple and pure way, and for letting us love you and have funny moments with you. Thank you for everything that you taught to us (for training us to be future parents) and for all the amazing moments that we have spent together. We will miss you, but we are very excited for your new family. Forever you will be one of my best friends!      – Uncle Ned“

Another of our girl’s adoptions inspired an article that was published on Father’s day in the city newspaper. To summarize, this couple waited four years and ten months in line for adoption at the Court of Pernambuco. When they had almost lost hope, the news came that the process was approved. They adopted their daughter at 1 year of age, which means they began preparing for her 3 years before she was even born.  Her adoptive parents attest to the immensity and infinity of the love of a father, which transcends blood ties. “When we saw her photo, it was love at first sight. It was nothing different than the way we felt for our two biological children. Everything about her is beautiful and it looks like she was ours from gestation.”

I guess everything is held in the continuum between death and new life. Maybe it’s just coincidence that when a baby is born we note his arrival by the breaking of water. The Israelites passed through the Red Sea and the Jordan river on their way to the promise land. And Christians still mark their passing into a new kingdom through a ceremony of water. The earth is 80% water, though those depths are rarely explored, and I would argue that life is at least 80% spiritual. Baptism is the symbolic entrance into Christ’s burial and resurrection from the dead; to be born again; to come through the waters – just like a child leaving the womb. During pregnancy the body is changing and regenerating so quickly that it is medically one of the few times that healing of chronic illnesses in the body of the mother can readily take place. It’s a second chance for her. These were my meditations while taking maternity photos for Gabriela, 15 years old, pregnant with her first child in a rescue home. Separated from her natural family; cut away from all things familiar, yet receiving in that place of brokenness, a second chance for herself and a safe place to raise her son. Leaving slavery is as difficult for us today as it was for the Israelites hundreds of years ago. We pass through impossibility after impossibility, the terror and pain of labor, but weather our enemies are drown in the waters parted before us, or monuments of rock are left as a testimony for those to come, we emerge new. Like a new born baby. Welcome Ishmael 6.16.17. Your name means God hears.

About 40 students from our missions school earlier this year decided to be baptized in the ocean near base. Read more about their experience here.

In Recife we have two seasons – 9 months of summer, and 3 months of rain.  Monsoon season is a little cooler than the rest of the year in Northeast Brazil, however the slight drop in temperature does not come without cost.  Nothing will be dry again until September and this year has been exceptionally destructive. In the last 3 days alone, our city of Recife has received 14 inches of rain, the heaviest in 3 years.  Due to poor drainage, run off fills the roads waist deep in some parts of the city, leading to many flooded engines, abandoned cars and accidents. Children play in the water and steal licenses plates from frustrated drivers. The plates are loosened by the force of the vehicles pressing their way through the water, and are sold back to their owners for a small profit. Despite the challenges faced all over the city, rain presents severe dangers for those in the slums where flooding is the worst.

At times the slums are so flooded you have to scale the walls of the houses to get through the dirt streets, which look like rivers. The sewage water here is full of parasites that will literally (not metaphorically) craw under your skin. Septic run off mixes with the flooding, yet children run barefoot through the knee deep water into and out of their homes – dirt floors, tin walls, bare wires, and water pouring through the roof. Snakes often seek refuge from these floods inside the people’s homes. Some families don’t even have the money to buy shoes for their children, and without shoes they cannot go to school. In one circumstance a single pair of shoes was being rotated between the four children so each could attend class one day a week.

In our state of Pernambuco many homes have been destroyed and officials are saying that 15,000 have been displaced. We’ve expanded our food and clothing bank this month to try and compensate for some of this loss and have been so encouraged by the local communities’ response in donating food, clothes, and other necessities. To feed one family (depending on size) for between 2 and 7 days, it costs approximately R27.82, which is less than $10 USD. With this money you can create what is known as a cesta basica, which includes rice, beans, oil, and other provisions. With the help of funds raised and food donations given to our base, our team was able to distribute 65 cesta basicas to the families we work with over the month of May.

March is the one-year anniversary of the reopening of our safe house for children who have been rescued from trafficking and abuse. Bethany is currently home to 16 girls and 4 babies. This year we have had 7 of our children adopted into families – and not just the newborns, but teenagers as well.  These numbers are overwhelmingly rare and a testimony to the tears sewn over our girls.

This month was a land marker on many accounts, as several of our babies also celebrated their first birthday in March. Our team has raised each of these infants from a few months of age and the stories of transformation in these kids are miraculous. Ten months ago we received an infant named Migel whose mother had used cocaine during gestation. Because of the extreme effects of the drugs, this little boy was, as doctors told us, blind, deaf and had significant mental challenges. Despite the doctor’s diagnosis we believed for healing over every cell in his body. Migel is one of the birthdays we celebrated in March. He now sees, hears and has even started repeating things we say to him! He is not only walking but dancing.

Ever since we made the six-day drive to Recife in 2012, I have dreamed about one specific building in our city. It is a twenty-story building in the middle of the red light district. Slums are often built on invasion lands, and this building, called Holiday, is just that, a hotel which was occupied and taken over when it went bankrupt years ago. Without going into detail out of respect for the population that now lives here, this building is home to many of our friends who work in the drug trade and prostitution. In short, it is not a place you can enter without permission. Earlier this year our team was invited to sing in the lobby of Holiday, which has since turned into a weekly time of worship.

Every Sunday we now make home visits to the various floors of the Holdiay building and have developed strong relationships with the residents. I cannot express how moved I am by the trust these people have gifted to us. Enough so that earlier this year, we were allowed to paint a mural in the entrance way. It was a full day project with the help of around 10 children who live upstairs. Art really does change the environment. One of the inhabitants told me later that every time she sees the painting she is reminded that all people should be free, no matter what their circumstance in life, “even us here”, she said, “maybe we all deserve a chance at happiness”.

(out-take from interview with Rodolfo Abrantes on his experience at street church) “When I arrived there, the first thing I received was a hug from a little girl called Julia…A little blonde girl without front teeth with a pacifier in her mouth jumped in my arms and embraced me. Guys, I said to myself, “I thought I came here to minister to them and I received ministry through the embrace of that small child.” …You know when I was playing with the kids, I was reminded of my nephew who is around 4 or 5 years old and I remembered my son is now 24 years old. We are used to seeing kids on the streets all the time; Some times they ask for money. Some times they ask for food. You give and think, “Wow, I feel good. I did something good for this kid.” But what was interesting, was no one asked for anything last night. They only asked, “Tio, make an airplane for me. Tio, let’s race, let’s run to the post.” And guys, I got blisters on my feet because I was running in rubber shoes a bunch of times with kids on my back…That was one of the most powerful things God has done in my life, to show his love like that…The hardest thing is when it’s time to leave. Going back to the comfort of the hotel where they put me and to know that there were babies there, one year old and younger who were there on the sidewalk playing with the pay phones….I pray to take advantage of the opportunities I see before my eyes everyday…it’s ridiculous, sometimes we have to wait for a group to get mobilized so that we can do something that is within our reach to do at anytime. So, I pray that I will change. I think that something started.“

For most of my adult life I have served either as a photographer or social worker. As an artist I see beauty in the broken, estranged and transitional aspects of life. Art is found to be great partially due to how raw and honest it is. A photo conveys a story; and stories are marked by both trauma and hope. The tension that lies between the two is what holds the image together. It connects the beginning to the end, while maintaining a sense of mystery and grandeur in it’s unsettled state. Tragedy is what makes victory so sweet, and scars remind us to live in grace.

As a social worker, I find myself seeing through a second, idealistic lens. So often man uses his own free will to destroy himself and others. Honesty takes courage. Justice takes sacrifice. These are real choices we are all confronted with daily.

How does our all-seeing God navigate this dichotomy? We know he hates evil, yet allows it. We know he will one day restore all things to perfection yet he gives us the gift of purity even while we live on earth; with our scars, and our pain.

Walking this line of documenting as an outsider and being invited deep as an aid worker provides constant opportunity to wrestle through these seemingly contradictory realities. As a missionary in Brazil working with victims of human trafficking, I see the best and the worst of humanity. I get to photograph banquets to lavish God’s love upon women trapped in the red light district, birthday parties for girls in Betânia (our safe house for children rescued from prostitution and abuse), baby showers for single mothers in the slums, and so on. Photography has become one of my favorite ways not only to raise awareness, but also to bestow value upon those who do not have the resources for frivolity. Many of the individuals we work with have never had photos of themselves before.

I recently released a 40 page photography book about human trafficking in Brazil called Sons and Daughters. It combines research, interviews, stories, and images to illustrate the backdrop of a beautiful country who currently ranks second worst in the world for their numbers in the sex trade. The photos in this book span a one-year portion of Shores journey in Brazil, highlighting the cities of Recife, Goiânia Curitiba, and Sao Paulo. They are a small representation of hundreds of late night and early morning hours on the street spent building relationships with women in prostitution and families in the slums to learn what life is truly like for them. Click here for details.

Several years ago I was invited to photograph in Haiti over Christmas. Haiti is the poorest county in the western hemisphere with 80% of their population living under the poverty line. Many of the people we served had pulled friends and family out of the earthquake just a few years earlier, leaving thousands orphaned. Refugee camps are now mostly dissolved but many Haitians have been displaced. People left the camps in search of better living conditions, but there is still virtually no clean water available to many. Crowds of people pressed in for the simple drink we came to offer. As our team distributed bags of water, the children literally fought over it. Even in the midst of such need, one girl, around 7 years old took a ring off her finger and put it on mine to say thank you.

To be in Haiti for Christmas was inexplicably sweet as I was overwhelmed with a fresh revelation of the incarnated Christ – whose decision to live among us His people, broke every social chain and made a place for the lonely in family. Orphan to son, slave to free, prostitute to bride. The character of Jesus is so profoundly demonstrated already at His birth. God Himself chose to be born out of wedlock, into poverty, and a refugee. During the holidays those who suffer feel it more deeply and those who celebrate do so more loudly. God’s committment is always to stay close to the broken hearted. On the first Christmas, He did so in the form of a baby; the transformative presence of innocence and hope within our chaos. It was Christ’s joy to embrace our brokenness at His birth and I felt His joy over the nation of Haiti that year, with all their glory and all their struggles.

Haiti was established through the only successful slave rebellion in the world. It was the first free nation in the Caribbean, and the only nation at that time committed to anti-slavery. The Haitian people, brought to the Island from all over West Africa, overthrew the French colonists and took control of the land in 1804. The success of this slave revolt, which so defines Haiti’s identity, was a reminder to me that there is currently an entire nation (an estimated 29 million – 50% of which are children) trapped and scattered throughout the earth in modern day slavery. Just to put that number in perspective, it’s greater than the entire population of Australia. Sitting with the Haitian people on Christmas morning reminded me that slavery does not end simply because the oppressors leave. Experiencing restitution is an equally important aspect of walking out freedom. We so often expect the enslaved (by any meaning of the word) to just start over. It is fatal to overlook the roles of patience, long suffering, family, education, and friendship, in the process of healing. Freedom is more than a state of being; it’s an ongoing realization. No longer slaves, but Sons – we are all somewhere along that path in own spiritual journey. This journey is far more important than the final destination. God is with us now, just as He will be for eternity. As we weep with those who grieve and bring celebration to those who are downtrodden, we have the temporary privilege of finding our Savior in the eyes of the broken. Really looking changes us. It re-arranges our hearts and creates room for response.

More Haiti photos here.

In case you have not heard, I have finally received a volunteer visa to Brazil, which means as of JAN 2017, I will no longer need to spend 6 months of each year in the USA. This is a huge victory since visas of this sort are difficult to get. I am very excited to make Recife my home instead of living between countries as I have been since 2011. Every year I think the transition back and forth will get easier, and it does in a way. Navigating the dichotomy between North and South America is starting to feel more natural and less like whiplash. It is comforting to know that our brother, Christ, underwent a similar transition. Jesus said had nowhere to rest his head, even while surrounded by family. His home culture was also in another kingdom – heaven – and he was born to bring that culture to earth. I love culture. It is the collective mindset of a people group, outwardly manifest through their customs, behaviors, beliefs, art etc. Culture has fascinated me from a very young age and living overseas has greatly opened my eyes to a reality far outside a national perspective. Every society personifies aspects of God’s personality that others do not. We are a body made of many parts. You see a unique expression of God in Asia, and an equally important face of God in Ireland, in Africa, in Philadelphia. Just like individuals have strengths and weaknesses, so do cultures. We need each other and in our differences we also refine each other. In the clash of mindsets and brilliance of new ideas the church is molded into a people that embody the kingdom of heaven more fully. That is why we send missionaries overseas and receive them on our shores. That is why even Old Testament law taught people to care for the aliens and foreigners among them. I have given care to the marginalized stateside and it still undoes me to be received as family into Brazil. Parts of my cultural identity fall away daily, and other parts are strengthened as I discern what is truly important. I no longer fit into either nation and wouldn’t want to! We are all aliens on this earth and have the honor of representing a kingdom that knows no boundaries.

As the plaque at the base of the statue of liberty reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Brazil is in a very crucial time as they are currently impeaching their president and preparing to host the 2016 Olympic games in Rio. Events like this greatly increase the number of women and children trafficked in to meet the demands of tourists. Many people have been displaced from their homes in the fevelas and heavily taxed to pay for stadiums, when they do not have access to healthcare or education. Because of this, there is heightened violence. Things are so bad in Rio that the city has just declared a state of public calamity. Due to all the money being spent preparing for the games, the police have not been paid in months. The world cup was surrounded by similar crisis on a much smaller scale in cities all over Brazil just two years ago.

As I was browsing youtube videos about the the militaries attempts to pacify the fevelas in Rio before the games begin, I came across a news clip shot in our city of Recife (a world cup host city in 2014), and was quickly surprised to find that I knew the individuals being interviewed. For legal purposes, the news station blurred the faces of the children, yet I recognize many of them non-the-less. I have wrestled with this report since finding it. The distance provided through television makes it so easy to separate yourself from their struggle. You can put a filter on an image, but you can’t disguise a friend. We sit with this same homeless community every week and they are very near to my heart. Glue huffing as seen in this clip, also serves as an appetite suppressor. These are the individuals who are affected most by events like the Olympics. As we gear up for the games this August, please remember the lasting impact they will have on the poor and on Brazil’s economy.

I am needing a significant increase in monthly support in order to cover this new season in Brazil.  Because our staff members each bear their own costs, Shores is able to focus on covering the expenses of our girls who are leaving prostitution and starting life over. Therefore, all staff have the responsibility of developing their own partnerships to sustain their work with the ministry. This gives individuals stateside the opportunity to co-labor with the vision of a specific team member.  Since as Americans, we cannot legally work for pay in Brazil, I am fully funded by partnerships. This support covers my housing, food, travel, ministry and medical expenses.

Knowing that my basic needs are being covered enables me to focus fully on the women and children I am in Brazil to serve. The peace of mind your support provides is the greatest gift to me. None of this would be possible without your giving, and I hope you know that you also then harvest with us in Recife. All donations are tax deductible through Modern Day.

Until now, I have held jobs while stateside in conjunction with fundraising to cover my time overseas. My US employment has been incredible preparation for Brazil (and vice versa). I have been blessed to hold a patient advocacy position in social services, and work as a floor staff in a Philadelphia area safe house. These jobs were a large part of proving my qualification for long-term entrance into Brazil. However as I was just issued a new visa, I will no longer be spending 6 months a year in the states and will need to be sustained fully through sponsorships. This visa is a huge victory.  After 3 years of perseverance and working with the consulate, I can finally return to Brazil for up to 5 years.

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