Seriously, I don’t know how I’m going to describe it to you. I can’t imagine this happening anywhere else.

One of the local cable companies has decided that there need to be more lines running into our neighborhood. So they’re jackhammering up the side-walk. And in order to prevent traffic snarls, they’re starting at 9:00pm and going through the night. Every night.

At first we thought it was funny. Sure, it’s loud, but we’re sound sleepers and we’re used to city noise. But they’re working their way slowly up the street towards our house. Tonight…warzones are quieter. The house is literally vibrating. Right now we’re laughing, but check back in with us in…say…4 hours.

General, Life in Israel | 3 Comments »

OK, so I promised more about the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus Women’s Summit.

We started out with a tour of the land, where we visited a shelter for Sudanese refugees, a training facility in Haifa for women from developing nations, a children’s psychiatric hospital, where we heard about the afects of domestic violence on children, and many other experts nationwide on women’s issues. We followed up with a two day conference where the experts came to us. We talked about honor killings, female genital mutilation, the trafficking of women, women as suicide bombers, domestic violence, and a host of other issues.

There is a problem worldwide with the treatment of women. 70% of those in abject poverty are women. 2/3 of the world’s illeterates are women. 6000 women every day have their genitals mutilated. 1 in 4 women is a victim of domestic violence.

Like many others of my generation, I had a general idea of what women are facing worldwide. But, quite frankly, it wasn’t a part of my experience, so I just didn’t give it too much thought. Through my involvement with this summit, I have come to the conclusion that ignorance of these issues just isn’t an option.

You would expect a conference like ours to be overwhelmingly depressing, but each speaker made an effort to present his or her topic in a way that emphasized what we could do make a difference. One speaker encouraged us to pick one topic that really made us mad, and focus on that one. It seems that in many cases, education is the answer, and just having such a conference is a good start.

I helped one of my ICEJ co-workers to prepare her presentation on domestic violence. She was a survivor, and one who had suffered much both before and after finally leaving her abusive husband. I was floored by her story, and by the statistics she gave about domestic violence (in the UK, it’s the #1 killer of unborn babies (not abortion, domestic violence). In most US cities, it is the #1 cause of homelessness. In the US, it is the #1 cause of emergency room visits for women - topping traffic accidents, rapes and muggings combined).

Anyway, aside from a few letters that I’m going to write to my representatives in the US government, I’m sure I’ll find other ways to get involved.

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We just got back from a mini School of Worship reunion at Roy and Mary’s house. It was wonderful to sit and laugh with all our friends about the good times we had. We spent a good deal of time trying to figure out who was at SOW during which year - those of us who remained in Jerusalem have become so close that we can’t even remember which of us spent an entire 9 months living in close community together. For those of you who have taken a ride on the SOW rollercoaster, let me just say: “I didn’t expect to see you here.” “I could say the same about you.”

I think that for Franklin and I, the next year is going to include quite a bit of social activity. Community is important here in Jerusalem, and for one reason or another, we’ve lost track of a lot of people over the past year or so. But I find that our semi-isolation (it’s hard to call it isolation when you’re surrounded by people all the time, but in a way our circle seems to have shrunk a bit) is coming to an end.

To drive home the point, we had dinner the other night with Roger and Davina and much of the old young adult crew. Roger and Davina were the Young Adult pastors before Franklin and I, and we haven’t spent much time with the old crew in a while. It was good to reconnect and find that none of us has changed very much in the past year. We look forward to many more good times with old friends.

Right now I’m in the midst of a tour leading up to the Israeli Knesset Christian Allies Caucus Women’s Council conference on empowering women through judeo-christian values (hahah - I know, it’s a mouthful. Go back and read it again and I promise it will all be clear). Basically, the conference is about hardships facing women worldwide and how to find solutions. In some ways, the past week has been life-changing for me - more about that later.

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Ah America! Land of the neverending glasses of sweet tea, miracle products, southern politeness and family!

We just got back from a 5 week trip to the states to visit family and friends. It had been 2 and a half years since our last visit, and I must say that not much changed. It was especially wonderful to spend time with family members - some of whom we’d not seen before, and some we may not get a chance to see again.

It has taken us almost a full week to recover from jet lag - it’s never been so bad before. We just kept popping fully awake in the middle of the night. But it seems that the worst is over now.

I did a completely lousy job of taking pictures while in the states, but what pitiful little there is can be seen in our gallery. I’ll post more soon. No really, I will.

General | 4 Comments »