3 Cooking Classes, 3 Countries

Our Women's International Cooking Collective has continued this fall (even with my lax blogging about it). And in 3 months, we've "visited" 3 unique countries, thanks to some wonderful guest chefs!

ITALY
Guest Chef Adele, who I thought was a nurse-- but turns out she is a nurse while going to school at a culinary academy-- represented her country well. Adele, who originally comes from Florence, took on the challenge of teaching us to make an exquisite Mushroom Risotto and homemade Tiramisu. She gave me many great tips on how to improve my kitchen tools for optimal cooking ease (thank you!). Adele hopes to one day open her own Italian restaurant & wine import store here in the US. I'll be there opening night!!

(Fabs eager to start our sampling of risotto)

(Adele shows us how to sprinkle cocoa on top of our tiramisu.)

(Adele puts the finishing touch on the mushroom risotto.)

(Adele with Anita, co-workers, now co-cookers.)

UGANDA Guest Chef Rehema was our first Olympic chef... that's right, in passing conversation we somehow got out of her that she was in the Olympics ("just once"), representing her country as a runner! She is here in the US studying for a Masters in Public Health Education in hopes of returning home one day to help combat the AIDS crisis affecting her country (and claimed the life of her twin brother). We learned to cook Cassava, Sim-Sim Balls, Posho, Peanut Butter Black Beans, and 3 main dishes (a chicken, a fish, & a veg) that I still never learned the name for. Needless to say, Rehema was ambitious to teach us all she could.

(Our "nameless" fish dish.)

(Nicole listens to see if the sesame seeds are crackling- the indicator they are cooked.)

(After a first bite, the sim sim balls grew long strings of sugar "hair".)

(A few of us pose with Rehema at the end of class.)

AFGHANISTAN
Guest Chef Pari taught us how to utilize about a dozen different spices... and turn any dish into a flavor wonderland! Pari, who comes from my hometown, Fort Worth, is the first person in her family born in the US. Her family fled Afghanistan during the Soviet take-over, lived as refugees in Pakistan for a while, and eventually ended their flight in Texas. She serves on the board of a local mosque (even at her youthful university sophomore age) and was eager to tell us much about her religion as she cooked. She taught us to make Aloo Chole (Aloo means garbanzo bean, Chole means potato- so guess what the dish was?), Samosas, and a milky-sweet dessert called Seviya. Mmmm.

(Fabs tries her hand as stuffing the samosa pouch with filling.)

(Pari pours the finished seviya, steaming hot, into a serving dish.)

(A beautiful spread of Aloo Chole & Samosas.)

(New friends, me & Pari take one final pic.)

Starting this Women's International Cooking Collective has been such an adventure. I've learned so much from the women who have agreed to teach us. Not just about food, but about culture, and about "being a woman" in today's world. I love spending time with both the students and chefs. And I am so thankful that God has given me this unique way to use my house to create friendships and be a place of welcome & love!

Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival

I follow a great blog called "Muslimah Media Watch" which tracks and comments on current events/news/issues related to Muslim women worldwide. Today, I saw this short post on their blog...
Women's Voices Now is a non-profit organization that was founded in January 2010 and is based in New York City. Their mission is to “empower women and give voice to the struggle for civil, economic and political rights.”

Currently, they’re accepting submissions for a film festival, "Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival." They are taking submissions up until Nov 1, 2010, but they are already posting some films on their website. Go and watch them... great storytelling!

I Rolled My Own Dolmas

This past weekend was our monthly Women's International Cooking Collective. Anita & Cara invited a refugee friend they met last summer (Leen) to serve as this month's guest chef. Anita actually met Leen & her family the very first day after they arrived in the U.S.-- straight in from Bahgdad. Leen's husband was a translator for the U.S. army and she said his job was very dangerous. So, when the army offered to relocate him & his family to the U.S. to better protect them from harm, they agreed. Leen has been in Austin for just over a year and her husband found a job again as a translator... this time for a refugee resettlement agency where he works with the Arabic speaking resettled refugees.
(below, Leen with Cara & Anita)
On the agenda for our cooking class was learning to make Iraqi food. Technically though, I think we just learned to make Arabic food--but I do think each dish likely had some local twists to it. For instance, we learned to make Tabbouleh, but in a way I'd never eaten before... the parsley was not finely diced, but more salad like, and we added olives. Plus Leen was aghast that we would eat it with pita... it was for eating with a spoon.
(below, tabbouleh salad)

We learned to make homemade hummus. Leen schooled us on why homemade hummus was so much yummier than store-bought... because usually store bought hummus doesn't include tahini in their recipe. Plus she taught us how to "plate" our hummus to have a great presentation, on top of tasting delish!

And finally, the big sha-bang was that we all learned to make dolmas! Dolmas are those stuffed grape leaves that you find in a lot of middle eastern restaurants. Usually stuffed with rice and spices, sometimes also with some ground beef in the mix too.

My history with dolmas was a love-hate relationship. I always hated them (even though I'd never tried them-- I was too scared), until I was in the home of Turkish Muslim mother in Izmir who had slaved all day making them for me and insisted I try them. I was backed into a corner. I had to oblige. My first nervous bite was a milestone. I fell in love with dolmas. Now, anytime I can get them I will.
(pictured left, Skipper taking her dolma rolling seriously, and me being an excited goof)

As a group, we learned to make the stuffing for the dolmas, even hand mixing it-- literally with our hands! And then we prepared the vegetables to stuff. I learned that you can make dolmas out of most any vegetable-- because essentially it just means to stuff something. So we stuffed onions, we stuffed zucchini, we stuffed tomatoes, we stuffed bell peppers... and then, we started stuffing the grape leaves. It was so fun, all of us learned to lay our grape leaves just so on the counter, placing the stuffing just so on the open leaf, and then folding up the sides and rolling the leaf closed, like a burrito (because we're from Texas this was our natural go-to parallel when trying to help each other roll a dolma: "you know, roll it like you would a burrito").
(below, Nicole showing off our pot full of dolmas)

We finally rolled every last bit of our stuffing and piled all the dolmas into a giant pot to stew for an hour. It was a feast! After cooking the dolmas on the stove, we flipped the pot onto a giant platter and began to dig in. Girls who had never particularly cared for dolmas before were loving them. And all of us who tried the vegetable versions for the first time were in love.


We ate, and ate, and ate... and then each filled up giant ziploc baggies with leftovers to take home. Leen was such a great teacher and chef!

(pictured below, our platter of completed dolmas)

Throughout our cooking time, we also learned a lot about her family, and Iraq. She misses her home country a lot. When we asked her what she missed most about home, she said "everything!" It was such a poignant reminder that refugees don't necessarily want to move to America. They love their homelands. They just don't feel safe there. So, to protect their kids, their wives, their families, the flee. But they love their land, their people... and they always hold out hope that things will get better, and one day they could return to what they know.

Women's International Cooking Collective

This past weekend, I hosted my first ever "Women's International Cooking Collective" at our house. When Andy & I moved in January to our new place, the kitchen-- which is huge & gourmet-esque-- begged for me to combine it with some of my passions... namely, hanging out with international women & learning about foreign cultures. Through much brainstorming with Andy & friends, I decided to start this group.
The idea: Once a month, I invite a different international friend in Austin to come and teach me (and a crowd of other internationally-interested Austinites) how to cook their local foods and tell me about their home-country. Not only do I get to learn how to cook awesome global cuisine & hear about foreign countries from natives, but I also get to make or enhance friendships with internationals right here in my city! Win, win!

Our inaugural month was June. Destination: INDIA! My friend Skipper invited her neighbor, Sharda, to serve as our "guest chef". About 12 other Austin gals who I'm friends with joined in the fun. We spent 3 hours watching Sharda cook Spinach Paneer (but we made it with tofu), Indian Fried Rice, and Indian Chai Tea. We all wore aprons and wrote down the recipes on matching index cards. During lulls in the cooking process, we had a short list of questions to ask Sharda about India, Indian culture (both at home & here in Austin), her family, her life, her religion, and even down to her favorite Bollywood movie!

Then came the taste-test. Mmmmmmmm! We all fixed test plates with a generous spoonful of each dish and our own cup of tea. To be honest, my experience IN India was not that great with the local foods, so I was somewhat nervous that our first month's dishes wouldn't be my fav. But, I admit, they were soooo yummy! Sharda was an excellent chef! I even got 2nd & 3rd helpings of the Spinach Paneer. Plus, she left me with the remaining Chai Tea packets so I can make my own cardamon tea any time I want!

I had sooooo much fun! And I am pretty sure all the other girls did too-- including Sharda! I already have countries lined up for the rest of the year... what a FUN way to spend time with ladies I love getting to know!

(**Something I learned from Sharda was that Southern Indians have a traditional spice can-- hers is pictured below-- and they keep their top 5-8 favorite spices in it... always ready to go. Her mother gave her this one before she moved to America so she could always have the flavors at home right at her fingertip!)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali & "Nomad"

I am usually nervous to post when I am reading a book by Hirsi Ali (I just finished her latest memoir, Nomad). Yet I can see the great irony of my fear to speak out when that is one of the things I admire most about her. Truth be told, she has profoundly influenced my love for Muslim women. When I read her first memoir, Infidel, in 2007, it broke my heart with a heavy compassion for women world-wide, as- to me- she was a snapshot, a single portrait of a reality lived out by millions of women. (Let me clarify, though, that I fully recognize her story is one story and I do not pretend to apply it to every Muslim woman in the world.)

Hirsi Ali is fiercely vilified by many, and she certainly causes much controversy over her stated opinions. But her message is so important to voice, at the very least, because it is not the majority point of view. We live in a land where diverse thought can be debated. Freedom of speech is a treasured gem. Yet that means we have to endure people we fundamentally disagree with just the same as we have the right to passionately agree with others. I am grateful for Hirsi Ali because of some of the things she says. But I am also plain grateful for her because she says them.

My nervousness to post about her usually reflects the greater desire I have within me to demonstrate LOVE for Muslims living in this country. I believe, as a follower of Jesus, that Christ cares for all people. Jesus loved poor people & rich people. He loved women & men. He loved children. He cared about sick people, people in prison, people who were oppressed or outcast. Jesus had a heart for people who were "strangers in a foreign land" or were a persecuted minority. And because I want to imitate Jesus, I want to love all those people too. Within me, Jesus compels me to care about what & who He cares about. And so, I love Muslims living in this country. In the deepest parts of my heart, I literally ache with an affection for them that only Christ could instill within me.

Which I hope explains why I hesitate to tell my readers things like: I read Hirsi Ali's book. But the truth is I did. And it makes me love Muslims even more. She does not make me afraid of them. She does not convince me that all Muslim's have evil motives (in fact, I don't think even she believes that). She does, however, move me. She causes me to think, she spurs me to question, she entices me to evaluate. She paints a vivid picture of real people she has met, real situations they've experienced. Often those stories are painful or feel extreme... but they are real to those involved. And I share in their pain as I read about them.

I haven't been convinced (as she is) to reject God and embrace atheism (which was at one point in my past my "religious" allegiance too). But I have been convinced (and not solely through her arguments) to fight women's oppression both here in the U.S. and abroad. I don't want to live in a world where some of the modern travesties against girls exist. I want to speak up and say "enough!" Even Hirsi Ali doesn't try to argue that the Muslim World has a monopoly on the perpetration of these crimes against women. So I stand in solidarity with her in my opinion that women the world over are neglected, abused, or under-valued.

I am drawn to read Hirsi Ali's books because of her experience as a woman, her experience as a refugee, her experience as a thinker, and her experience as a participant in both Eastern & Western worldviews. She has a unique insight into a large portion of the issues facing modern society. To listen to her reason & grapple with reality is fascinating. I stand by that. To read Hirsi Ali's book is to engage in thought-provoking discussion over today's powerful social dichotomies.

To Ayaan, thank you for your bravery, my literary friend. You inspire me, challenge me, and encourage me to engage even further in loving those who are forgotten, overlooked, abused, oppressed, discounted, and unloved...

Look How Far Seed Effect Has Come!

Seed Effect posted a new report on their blog today about the latest stats & stories. They are 1/4 of the way to their goal to reach 400 families this year. Go read the update!

And before this good news, I had been all ready to inform my blog-followers that Seed Effect just arranged a new deal with Capital One credit cards to get a "return on your investment" with your purchases. Check out this blog post too... Andy & I are gonna apply and I think you should ALLLL get one! :)

Book Review: Princess Trilogy

I finally finished the trilogy I'd been reading through over the last several months. Author Jean Sasson, who lived inside Saudi Arabia many years ago, provides the megaphone for the secret stories of one of the royal family's own (whom Sasson befriended during her years living in KSA). She writes on behalf of Princess Sultana-- a strong woman and a powerful advocate against misogyny & women's oppression and for the rights & freedom of women within her country.

The trilogy is conceived as a three part look into the Princess' life & her surroundings. First, her own journey growing up as a girl inside Saudi in Princess. Next, the journey of her 2 daughters, who now help her see the gravity of the women's issues in her land, in Princess Sultana's Daughters. And finally, from the broader perspective of the women who've passed through her life and their own diverse experiences of being a woman in Saudi in Princess Sultana's Circle.

I am a fan of biographies in general, but this one was especially moving to me because it covered so many issues close to my heart. She describes with such brutal honesty her own witnessing of things like rape & child rape, forced marriage, the slave & sex slave trade, beatings, female genital mutilation, sequestering of women for punishment... the list goes on & on. She describes some of the darkest sides of humanity. And it is at times painful to read. Especially when you think too long on the fact that this is all a reality that I can do nothing to change. Apart from pray for God's intervention.

I admit to feeling helpless to intervene. A few year's ago, while at a conference in the Middle East, I asked some local men how I could get involved in helping to impact these women's issues in this part of the world. And although these men were great leaders, and even followers of Christ, they replied to me: "You can do nothing. There is too much money & too much power involved on the part of the perpetrators for you to make a difference." Period. That was all they said. I was stunned at their answer. So frank and so tragic. I wished there was an IJM for the Middle East.

Reading these books repeatedly broke my heart, made me sick, made me cry, and made me feel the weight of a hurting life for so many women in the world today. And yet, I'd still strongly recommend this series for anyone to read. It gave me hope that people like Princess Sultana could make a far greater impact that I could. I thank God for her life and for her passion. And I can recognize that, although slow, progress in being made through simple acts like her speaking up.

A Veil Should Not Make You a Target

I am so disappointed. Today, while at Jamba Juice with a friend, I watched a sweet-looking veiled woman stand outside the window to get out of the rain while she waited on the bus. She was cradling her infant child in her arms & passing the time, minding her own business. While she stood there, a scraggly looking man approached her and started to try & talk to her. I couldn't tell if he was drunk or just weird. But she was immediately uncomfortable. Visibly uncomfortable. And this guy just kept harassing her. She starts pacing and trying to shoo him away. And believe it or not, this guy tries to ask to hold her baby! Are you kidding? He's making big motions with his arms and reaching in towards her chest to take the child.

The poor woman started running back towards the bus stop to get away from this inappropriate man. The guy started yelling after her "I just want to talk." He wasn't being mean... just ridiculously ignorant of personal space and boundaries. Thankfully, just then, the bus pulled up and she got on. I almost ran outside to interrupt, but the whole thing was over pretty quickly.

This scenario made me so angry. But what made me even more angry is that it's not the first time I have seen something similar to this take place. On a number of occasions I have seen veiled women in our town be approached by men in inappropriate ways. Its not even necessarily sexually inappropriate-- just a strange, power-trippy kind of inappropriate. It's hard to describe unless you've seen what I'm talking about. The behavior I've witnessed doesn't feel like the same kind of behavior I see in ordinary male-female inappropriate interactions.

It's like some guys think veiled women are free game. They can say what they want or act as inappropriate as they want. They feel some sick power trip over them. Maybe they think they can scare them. Maybe they think its okay to treat them worse. I can't say what they are thinking. But it makes me sick. Mad. Fiercely protective.

I know many women take on the veil in order to be modest and less noticeable in public life (this is a broad generalization, and I recognize there is a lot more to it than that). But I'm sad to say that in some cases, it has the opposite affect. And that breaks my heart. I LOVE these women and cannot stand their mistreatment.

I don't have a solution. Just wanted to post my observations and vent.

Child Brides (a book review)

I finished this book today. It is the story of a 10 year old Yemeni girl who was married off and then raped & beaten repeatedly by her husband. This brave young girl found a way (through near impossible circumstances) to escape. She made her way to the public courts, walked right up to a judge and demanded "I want a divorce!"

Her story reflects the horrors that little girls face in too many parts of the world. To be sure, the issue of child brides is not solely a religious issue. Often it is cultural in its roots or even just motivated by poverty or tribal traditions. Regardless of the cause, it is a tough issue to think about, read about, or fight.

The book, which just hit bookstores last week, was a quick and easy read. A ghost writer wrote Nujood's account (as at the time of her marriage/divorce, she could not read and could only write her first name). Its not a complex tale and not even written in an adult voice. In fact, much of her story consists of her admitting "I don't really understand what people are talking about" or "I didn't understand what was going on." Her experience is well beyond her years and her own processing will likely not unfold completely for years to come.

Her new life goal: first-- to never ever marry again, and next-- to become a lawyer in her home country to help fight for the rights of women in her land.

From Tragedy To Rape

I have read in books and seen reports in documentaries about the incidence of rape that takes place in temporary shelters. When communities are uprooted and disorganization rules the day, the evil that is our flesh finds new ways to manifest itself-- to take advantage of the chaos, and brutalize women.

It is sad to me that women living in refugee camps the world-over fear for their safety. They have already escaped such horrific circumstances to arrive in this "safe place of refuge"-- they've run from war, from persecution, from the clutches of death or poverty or disease. And they arrive to a new life where the possibility of rape is likely. That is simply devastating to think of.

"1 in 3 women globally are beaten, raped or abused in their lifetime." That statistic is cause for mourning.

Today I read an email update from CARE that reports the horrible suffering that is surfacing more & more in Haiti.

"Two months ago today, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, killing almost 225,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless. For them, especially the women and girls, panic sets in every night as the sun retreats.

The women here talk of mauvais esprits (bad spirits) stalking the survivors of the devastating earthquake.

"Young men come with weapons and rape the women. They haven't reported it, because the hospitals, the police — everything was destroyed in the earthquake," reports Hannah, a nurse who sleeps in a makeshift tent in a volatile camp outside of Port-au-Prince.

Incidence of rape in Haiti was high before the earthquake and, now, women and girls are even more vulnerable: streets still are dark due to lack of electricity, and crowded camps and unprotected bathing and toilet areas leave women and girls vulnerable to harassment and sexual brutality."

Why the Media Doesn't Cover Global Women's Oppression

What is challenging about how the media can work to fight or even raise awareness of global women's issues is that it's not news. What the media is good at is covering what happened yesterday. But we're really bad at reporting what happens everyday. And most all the issues that negatively affect women in the world today happen everyday... so they're not really news, they're just life. This frustration, which I feel as a journalist myself, is why Sheryl and I decided to write Half the Sky.

(paraphrased quote from my memory) ... from Kristof during the panel discussion at CARE's International Women's Day event when asked about the role of media in speaking to women's issues in this modern era.

For more info on the movement, click here.

Another Perspective on Islam & Women

I was reading my blog-roll today and found an interesting post from my friend Constance, who lives in Thailand. As if the global cause she works & fights for isn't enough to occupy her full attention... she finds time on the side to read about the plight of women in Islam the world over. Her post today catalogs a few books I hadn't heard of before (that I will now read) and points out one very important thing--
"what i don't think we consider enough is that perhaps people in places like iran and yemen fear their own governments. women and children in countries like this are not exactly on board with the fanatical clerical rulings and terrorism."

Go read her post. Its short & thoughtful!

New Micro-Loans from Seed Effect

Today, Seed Effect SUDAN handed out another round of loans to help empower those in need to break the cycle of poverty! Check out the video of the group huddled together signing loan documents & receiving their monies. Pray for these 20 souls to grow their incomes so they can provide for their children & families-- food, education, and healthcare. Pray that through the process, they will learn about Jesus' love for them!

Seed Effect - Togoleta B First Loan from thomas bell on Vimeo.

The third Seed Effect Cell Group, Togoleta B, receiving their first loans. These 20 group members are mothers, wives and business women who are taking loans ranging from $50 to $150 to grow their small businesses in Kajo Keji, Sudan.

Half the Sky

On March 4th, a one-night event is coming through Austin (and plenty of other nationwide cities). Click here to read more & find tickets in YOUR TOWN. From what I gather, its essentially a celebration of International Women's Day... so they are having a discussion from the authors of the best-selling book Half the Sky. I think they are having video updates from some of the stories shared in the book of the women, the world over, who are impacting their community and breaking the cycles of poverty & oppression. Also being screened is a new short-film on the subject, directed by Marissa Tomei. I'm going! Are you? Grab and friend, buy tickets online, and go out to dinner after and discuss how yall can get involved!

"It Started With A Sewing Machine"

This summer I stopped in Southern Sudan for a few days to visit my childhood best friend. Her & her husband had started a non-profit called Seed Effect to help fight poverty in this devastated country. They wanted me to come and see the work that had begun... it was truly powerful! God is at work to provide for the poor. Just a few weeks ago, a team visited and shot video footage to portray the story, not just in words, but with visuals. Below is the end result.

It is powerful.

It is a God-inspired endeavor... and God is completing the work.

It is a simple, tangible way to combat poverty in this world.



I beg you, be a part of The Seed Effect and change not just one life, but an entire community!

Seed Effect Gives Their First Loans

Today 19 lives were changed in Sudan. Through SeedEffect.org, micro-loans are being given out to help Sudanese entrepreneurs start or expand businesses to help provide for their families. Today is a GOOD DAY!



Between the near 20 women who went through the Seed Effect training, they have 40 children whose care they are responsible for. Today, these 20 loans will help feed (both spiritually & physically) 80 mouths. God is GOOD!

Book Reviews: Summer Reading

I realize its Oct 12th... but I read so much this summer that I wanted to share/recommend but never got around to posting. So, this was my summer reading list (thru Sept actually, but I think fall just officially got under way)... in short review form:

• Crossing Cultures by Patti Lane... I pick this book up our our church's summer Leadership Conference after attending the breakout session Patti taught. She shares from years of insight about how to relate cross-culturally with respect, with humility, with a learner's attitude, and in a way that glorifies Christ. Thumbs up, recommend it!
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire... I "read" this via audio-book this summer during lots of road trips. I decided on it after seeing it on the High School Required Reading List and remembering that I'd always meant to read it. I am not really good at picking up on spiritual metaphors, but I LOVED this book and all the hidden meanings and indirect commentary about the spiritual nature of humanity. In fact, loved it so much that I walked out of the play at intercession because I was so disappointed in how they had left out everything I'd love from the book so far. (don't stone me all you Wicked play lovers!) Thumbs up, recommend it (the BOOK that is)!
  
• What is the What by Dave Eggars... I grabbed this book to prepare for my summer trip to Sudan with Seed Effect. I was educated through reading not only about Sudan, the harsh civil war there, and the aftermath, but I also got to read the story of a refugee's journey in the U.S. Refugees are something new(er) on my radar and I've been trying to learn as much as I can about their lives. So, bonus-- learned about Sudan & refugees. Thumbs up, recommend it!
  
• Dreams of My Father by Barak Obama... I figured since he's our president, I probably should hear his story. I read his other book back in the spring which was a lot more about his goals and aspirations for our country's potential. This book was a portrait of his childhood, his make-up, his history (up until going to Law School). He was asked to write it after becoming the first black man to become the head of Harvard's Law Review. Its tone is pre-political and I enjoyed it! Sure, read it.
  
• Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker (see my previous full post review here.)... glowing reviews from me. Super-thumbs-up, everyone should read it!
  
• Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali... this was a re-read for me. I had first read Infidel in 2007 and was moved by the descriptions she told about the lives of women in the Muslim World. This time, I re-read the book looking at her story as the memoir of a refugee. She lived as a refugee almost her entire life, from one country to the next. Both in African countries, and the West. Her stories about refugee life alone (regardless of religion) are POWERFUL. I was glad I took the time to change lenses and receive a new kind of heartbreak from this book. Thumbs up, recommend it!
  
• Outcasts United by Warren St. John... I picked this book to help my refugee education too. Its the story of a women in a small town outside of Atlanta who started a soccer team for refugee youth. They are discriminated against, persecuted, mistrusted, and mistreated. Its a sad story, but has some hope as they overcome those obstacles. Apparently its being turned into a movie. Sub-par writing, if you ask me, but the story itself makes for your motivation to keep reading. Sure, read it.
  
• Tortured in the Name of Islam by Setaareh Shahbazz... Oh my word, this was a tough book to read. Super short, a complete personal essay about a woman who became a follower of Christ in Iran and who was ultimately imprisoned for it. It is her spoken testimony written on paper. Its rough, detailed, sad, and yet inspiring at the same time. To see how she was able to persevere and to witness Christ to her captors was amazing. Warning, she's not a writer, but her story is powerful. Thumbs up, recommend it!
  
• Christians Evangelistic Pocket Guide to Islam by Malcolm Steer... Andy's band and I read this before our trip to Turkey this September as part of our training. It's about 50 pages. Super basic. But super helpful. Boils the top issues down to a simple explanation and a simple response. Sure, read it.
  
• Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay... This was a great follow up book for me after having read Hatmaker's Interrupted in July. It picked up where she left off with what God was doing in my heart about getting more outside my comfort zone and into community and service (outside the 4 walls of the church). Our church is going through the "Tangible Kingdom Primer" as a whole church this fall, so I wanted to read the "prequel" so to speak. Thumbs up, recommend it!
  
• Muslims Next Door by Shirin Taber... I read this short practical book about how Muslims are just about everywhere in the U.S. and we should treat them with love and respect. Taber gives practical steps to help us be educated about this culture, this religion, and how we can be kind and not offensive. Sure, read it.

Nothing I would say "don't waste your time reading". Which means I guess I chose well this summer.

Ethiopia in Pictures

A photo-blog post of my travels in Ethiopia...

Melissa, Shara, and Camilla evaluate (apprehensively) our first night's dinner before digging in: traditional Ethiopian food of Injera & Wot.
The kids at Kids Club showing off their Jesus & Zacchaeus drawings.
These two boys from Kids Club were my little boyfriends.
I spent most of my time at Kids Club with the teens who couldn't decide whether to like me or think I was weird.
Melissa enticing a little girl into her arms for some T.L.C.
During lunch at Kids Club, when I sat too close to these girls they would scoot over (I think they thought I would try to share their food).
Making plates of peanut butter & honey sandwiches, bananas, and fruit punch for Kids Club lunch.
Women from the mountain side who came to the parenting class.
This is an 11 yr old X-prostitute we met at the transitional home for women trying to escape prostitution. (that is not her baby)
At the home for X-prostitutes, some of the women shared their very hard stories with us. Although my effort did not compare, I shared my photo album from home so we could have a sense of knowing each other.
This photo hangs on the wall of the prostitute transitional housing. There are about 15 girls living in the house as they get job skill training to be nurses, hair stylists, computer techs, etc.
The group of women from the prostitution transitional home we visited. They glowed with praise for Jesus for rescuing them from their pasts!
This is Birukti and two of the Street Boys that she sponsors. One night during our trip, we joined her on their weekly dinner date (her and about 20 Street Boys that she cares for go out to dinner once a week-- she treats them to a feast!).
The boys crowd around some of the women on our team for a group picture at the end of dinner. At first they were unsure of us but by the end we were all buddies.
Because many of the Street Boys didn't speak English, we got creative in order to bond with them... above: Shara plays "thumb wars." And below: I played the "sneaky slap" game.

The team leader for the weaving project shows me a bag of the days work, lots of spun cotton.
The ladies here are spinning cotton in order to make fabric. A "small group" from the church we worked with had the idea to create this job opportunity for the women who otherwise would haul 85 pounds of timber down from the mountains on their backs.
One woman tried to teach me how to spin the yarn. I was terrible at it, but she enjoyed laughing at me.
This is a photo of one what the yarn-spinning-women used to do. It would take all day to gather the wood and walk it down the mountainside, for 50 CENTS a day.
When we visited homes on the mountainside, we met some of the children of those with HIV/AIDS.
This is the doorway into a small 10 home "compound" community on the mountainside, which HIV/AIDS families live and grow small crops of food to eat.
Inside the "compound" doorway, there are 3 buildings like this, with several one-room homes in each building. This is 3 different families' front doors.
These are 2 ladies whose homes we visited on the mountainside. On the left is a married woman who's husband is in his final weeks (she too is infected). On the right is a 23 yr old widow who also lost her child (all to the same disease she also has).

This is a sample of traditional Ethiopian food.