In the several months since painting live at a Falling Whistles event here in Denver, I’ve made several connections across the country with fantastic individuals working to end the more than 20-year war going on in the Congo, and the devastating effects it’s had on its people. I met Beth Haley through Facebook, who contacted me to ask the meaning behind my “There is Freedom in Story” piece, and had the honor of sitting down to coffee with her a few months ago when she passed through town.

Beth’s passions are evident. The instant connection and inspiration I felt in our conversation are sure to be the experience of all others who have the same privilege. Started over a year ago, Beth helped found an organization called eXile International, which “exists to instill hope, healing, and love to the trauma victims of Africa by providing trauma counseling, art therapy programs and by teaching peace, reconciliation and conflict resolutions skills.”

Creatively, Beth’s passions lie in writing, photography, and in the work she does with her clients in her counseling practice in Nashville and with eXile. The following is a statement about Beth and the inspiration behind eXile and what drives her to use her art (and many other talents) for a much greater cause:

“Feeding a child is a vital and basic necessity, but when you feed a child, that which fills their stomach will disappear. Hunger returns. It always does. But if you teach a child to Hope, it will be their greatest companion on a hungry night.

eXile international was founded by Beth and friend Peggy Cox. Out of her first trip to Congo for trauma counseling, Beth had to redefine her understanding of what hope meant. After she and the team visited five displacement camps in one day, she realized the people were not only living in true EXILE, but in emotional EXILE as well – lacking security and stability of the heart. Beth was shown a new level of hopelessness…

• Child soldiers asking her to be their mother
• Women trying to give her their children
• Children being abducted by rebels and forced to kill their parents or to watch their parents be murdered in brutal ways.
• Stories of women being repeatedly raped and having their children being stolen from their arms by the rebels
• Children who had been so traumatized they rarely spoke or showed emotion.

Her primary thought prevailed, ‘This is so much bigger than we are. How can we make a difference?’ On the plane ride back, she sat next to an autistic Kenyan boy. Looking out the window at the clouds and the heavens, he started to repeat in his catatonic way, ‘It is bigger than we are. It is bigger than we are. It is so much bigger than we are.’

In amazement, it was then that she realized it IS so much bigger than we are….as individuals – but not as a collaborative team and not with a big God.

Out of her experiences (and being a social worker and psychologist) the dream began of creating a trauma counseling program for the war-torn youth of Congo and Eastern Africa that would involved art/expressive therapy and peace & reconciliation training.”

They invite you to join with them by fighting this fight and making this dream a reality.

Beth, in remarking on what’s brought her to this place, told me, “As a child and a preacher’s kid, I was on the front row when the missionaries came to church. My friends would skip that night, but I was there foaming at the mouth to get over to Africa. My family would turn off the Save The Children infomercials because I would be so into it. (I even desperately wanted a live monkey for Christmas when I was little.) Over the years, I have been to many countries doing mission work throughout the world, but was praying for God to bring my skills as a therapist and my love for Africa together.

I was in Dallas doing my own personal work for trauma recovery/emotional wounds and was without a car, so I walked to the nearest church on a Sunday. A man was speaking by the name of Célestin Musekura who survived the Rwandan genocide. Out of his own story, he founded an organization called ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries). Their mission is teach peace, reconciliation, trauma counseling, and discipleship training in Eastern Africa. He and I talked the day after I met him and began talking about creating a trauma counseling program for the youth in Africa. I went with ALARM to Congo in 2008. Congo was like no other country I had been to. I think for some people, its darkness envelops you in a way that bonds you to it. You leave knowing you have a play some part it bringing light to her people.”

eXile international exists to instill hope, healing, and love to the traumatized children of war in Congo and Eastern Africa by providing art/expressive therapy and peace building through a program called the HOPE Initiative.

Their mission: Through partnering with existing African organizations, orphanages, churches, and schools on the ground, the vision is for the art therapy and peace program to be implemented throughout Congo and Eastern Africa.

Their greatest vision is for this program to provide a means for the children to heal from their heartaches and to learn forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation at a deeper level. With a problem so massive, they believe they must begin with the smallest child and teach them a different way: To live in hope, peace, and healing.

Their motto is this: We Must Stop the Bleeding and Mend the Wound To Change the Course…..

Stopping the Bleeding is international political activism to support peace in Congo and throughout Eastern Africa.

Mending the Wound is giving the children an opportunity to heal from their heartaches through art, dance, drama, and music therapy and teaching them what peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness looks like.

If both of those things happen over time and through the hearts of enough children, we can see a change in the course of war. Their dream is for the next generation of Africa’s children to be soldiers of peace rather than soldiers of war.

Finally, Beth remarked, “My heart cry is for the people of Congo and Eastern Africa, but in general, it is for anyone who others have given up on. I think believing in someone and valuing them for who they were created to be, in the place they currently are, is one of the greatest honors you can give them. That can be the underdog who is my next door neighbor, on the team on the basketball court who is loosing, or in a developing country. God is the ultimate one who believes in us when no one else does. Although I fail daily, my wish is to be His heart here on earth. Apart from that, its kids kids and kids. I love my nieces and nephew like crazy.

Simply: [I want to] let the Lord use my passions to make a difference, to embed peace in once war torn countries, and help these kids know that God is beside of them in their pain. Much of the program has to do with togetherness. In showing them that they have all suffered greatly, but they have suffered together and they can heal together…that they are not alone. Because there is a strength that lives inside of them that no one can ever take away – they are never alone and peace is possible.”

I am exceedingly honored this week to be posting the story of Julius Mwelu. Julius’ story came to me through Sarah Parker, a mutual friend though a former graduate school classmate of mine, Mackenzie Berg. Sarah follows Mackenzie’s own blog, where Mackenzie had made mention of some happenings here at social he(art), and I’m thankful to Sarah for following up (especially given that her internet connection in Kenya is extremely poor).

Mackenzie and myself have both spent considerable time researching participatory documentary photography projects, like those found through Kids with Cameras (featured in the well-known documentary, Born into Brothels), and The Rwanda Project, which encourage locals (particularly children in these cases) to use photography as a means by which to tell their own stories and show their world from their own, personal perspectives. So, given my own heart for participatory photography, I am absolutely thrilled to have been introduced to Julius Mwelu and his organization, The Mwelu Foundation.

Julius lives in Kenya, where he uses his photography to reach out to and work on several issues, including displaced persons, orphans, street children, poverty, education, and political violence. Below is his amazing story; let it inspire you.

“My name is Julius Mwelu, I was born and grew up in one of the biggest slums in Africa, that’s Mathare slum, a home to almost a million people. Most who live in Mathare are children and women.

Most of my time I like to spend playing soccer, hanging around with the youths from Mathare and taking photographs of day-to-day life in Mathare slum. One thing that I don’t like about life is being idle; therefore, I have always tried my best to follow the footsteps of my role models. The most important role model in my life, and she is everything to me, is my mother, who has been working day by day to make sure that we have food to eat at home and she has been there for me and the rest of the family. We are six of us in our family and I am the second to last born. My father died of malaria in 1994 when I was ten years old and I always feel very sorry for my mother, who always truly loved and respected him. At twenty-four, I am fortunate enough to now help provide for her and my younger brother as she did for me when I was a child.

The place where we live is commonly referred to as the home of gang crime, prostitution and drug abuse. Last year, I celebrated my twenty-fourth birthday, which, due to high child mortality, high crime rate and drug abuse, is not a very common thing to do in Mathare. My friends and I used to joke about the fact that in Mathare, there are essentially more reasons to die than to live. Most of my young friends have been killed, some by mob justice and some by police. Behind the eyes and faces of the inhabitants, behind the walls and doors of their dwellings lie incredible testimonies and cries of despair. However, there is also a formidable energy and will to survive in these people. Herein lies the future of the Mathare slum. This energy, this will to survive, is a constant reminder to me that we need to invest in the future youth of today if we want to create some kind of future for the youths of tomorrow, the youths of Mathare, and for the youths of the world.

At twelve, through a youth initiative program called ShootBack, I took my first picture and since then I have never looked back. Photography became my passion and through the years I worked hard to improve my skill. It has been my goal to share the pains and joys of the people of Mathare with the world. Because of this, I have documented horrific scenes of post election violence, but also the happy scenes of the strong people of Mathare.

Through the years I have come to appreciate the benefits of photography and I wanted to share my passion with the children of Mathare. I started the Mwelu Foundation in 2007 to train kids in photography and videography, to empower young boys and girls to express themselves with the camera. I want them to show those who have never been in a slum how the slum looks, and to show that Mathare slum is not made up of just criminals or bad people. I hope to empower the kids to show how they perceive the world. I am optimistic that our life, our dreams and our hopes will not be lost as I am take pictures of my country and so do the forty-five youths enrolled in the Mwelu Foundation, documenting day to day life in Mathare slum. It is my hope to guide them to a better future one filled with more hope and more opportunities.”

The Freedom In Creation Tour is a unique concert and art exhibition experience to benefit the work of Freedom In Creation in Northern Uganda. Visiting six cities from June 12 to June 18, our goal is to raise $10,000 for Freedom In Creation’s weekly art sessions and fresh water well projects in the Koro Abili IDP camp community. Each night we will showcase the work of child artists and hear live music from singer-songwriter and Freedom In Creation partner, Alex Mejias. Also appearing will be the up and coming pop-rock band, Tim Be Told. Freedom In Creation Founder and President Andrew Briggs will also be presenting a short film and speaking on Freedom In Creation’s work in Koro Abili. For more info visit www.fictour.org.

Since those tour dates are too small to read, they are as follows:
06.12 | Awesome Inc. [Lexington, KY] $10
06.13 | The Water Heater [Roanoke, VA] $10
06.14 | Hazel River Armory [Culpeper, VA] FREE
06.16 | Gallery5 [Richmond, VA] $10
06.17 | Contemporary Art Center [VA Beach, VA] $10
06.18 | Try and Make [Cville, VA] $10

Here is the text from the event press release:

FREEDOM IN CREATION TOUR FEATURING REGIONAL MUSICIANS AND WORK OF CHILD ARTISTS FROM UGANDA SETS OUT IN JUNE 2009.

Charlottesville, VA , May 28, 2009 – The Freedom In Creation Tour is a one-week series of events across Virginia and Kentucky to benefit the work of Freedom In Creation in Northern Uganda, with stops in Lexington (KY), Roanoke, Culpeper, Richmond, Virginia Beach and Charlottesville. Each event includes both a concert from regional artists Alex Mejias and Tim Be Told and an art exhibit entitled “The Story of Freedom,” which features artwork by children participating in Freedom In Creation’s weekly art program. Freedom In Creation founder and president Andrew Briggs will also be presenting a short video and talk introducing Freedom In Creation to attendees. All proceeds from the tour will go to Freedom In Creation and tax deductible donations will also be collected at each event.

The idea for a tour was born out of the success of a benefit concert and exhibit that took place in Washington, D.C. this past February. Mejias and Briggs organized the event together after getting to know each other at an International Justice Mission conference. Of that event Mejias notes that, “the combination of a live concert and art exhibit provides a powerful setting to introduce the work and ethos of Freedom In Creation. Our goal for that night was to celebrate these children’s art as a meaningful contribution to the humanitarian efforts taking place in their community. But it also became a poignant way for us as artists to join them in that work. We hope that this tour will be an inspiration to artists interested in humanitarianism and social justice, that they too can be involved in this work, as artists.”

Freedom in Creation is a community-led, arts-based psychosocial, education and water-development program aimed at empowering war affected children in Northern Uganda while educating about the “global village” and celebrating the role of the arts within humanitarianism. FIC addresses the socialization and reintegration of children (non- and ex-combatants) into their communities and access to clean and safe drinking water. Following a simple process, the children, through their creative power, are able to bring access to fresh drinking water to their communities and consequently feel both empowered and valued as stakeholders in the process. (For more information about Freedom In Creation visit www.freedomincreation.org.)

The Freedom In Creation Benefit Concert and Exhibit will begin on June 12 in Lexington, KY and end on June 18 in Charlottesville, VA. There will be a $10 cover at the door for each event except Culpeper. For more information visit www.FICTOUR.org.

A few years ago, when the beauty of social networking really began to take hold, I stumbled onto Virb. As I spent hours pouring through the countless numbers of photographers, artists, writers, and other brilliant minds on the site (when I most likely should have been working), I ran across someone by the name “Pope Saint Victor.” Around that same time, I’d seen an overwhelming amount creativity spilling out of (what I refer to as) “the incomparable” Nashville, Tennessee, and Victor Huckabee happened to be one of them. In the last few years, I’ve somewhat silently kept watch of his unique work, imaginative illustrative style, and warm photography, and really took notice when I found out he landed a job at Blood:Water Mission. That being said, he was one of the artists at the forefront of my mind when I started this site, not only for his social justice background and experience, but because he seemed to be pushing creativity forward in what used to be a blandly-designed non-profit world. Not to mention, he actually knows his stuff when it comes to “branding,” a fancy little design term I’m so fond of.

With that, I give you Victor’s story from his own perspective:

“I wanted to be a part of history from a young age. I grew up in a small town on the coast of Georgia in the USA and the whole time I knew that my life was going to be very different. I was very blessed to have very supportive friends and family around me that knew I was different and saw talent in me. When I was around fourteen years old my mother brought home our first copy of Photoshop, and from that point on I was hooked. I had always been very fond of all types of art from a young age. In school I was the kid that was always getting in trouble for drawing when I should have been listening or studying. I never felt at home where I grew up. I knew there was a large world out there and I wanted to see it. That’s when I joined Youth With a Mission and moved to Europe. While in Europe, I was privileged to study graphic design in Switzerland and travel doing mission work all over the world. My travels took me to many countries and I started to see that there was a world out there that was beautiful but there was pain and injustice. Finally, it all came together to where I knew that the reason God gave me the talents I have were to be a catalyst for change in my world and generation.

“That brings me to where I am today. Through all the twists and turns in life I have found myself working for an incredible organization called Blood:Water Mission. Blood:Water Mission is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS & water crises in Africa. Started by Jars of Clay, Blood:Water Mission has changed the lives of thousands upon thousands of peoples lives since 2004 and is still growing. I was hired in the summer of 2008 as the Brand Design Architect. Since then I have been working on branding the organization.”

You can catch more from Victor on Twitter, here: twitter.com/popestvictor, or by checking out his Virb page here. You can also keep track of his work on his Flickr site, which he updates often. And, as always, keep an eye on what he and the rest of the crew are doing at Blood:Water Mission, which you can also follow on Twitter.