Doma’s Project Green Light, combating Human Trafficking/Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking to launch tomorrow in Columbus! Read today about Marlene Carson, HT survivor at Relevant Magazine. Marlene is one of Doma’s vital connections in this fight!
Pray for tomorrow- HUGE day for Doma! We expect over 15 churches and community organizations represented to begin their partnership with Green Light!
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/loss-of-innocents/features/20081-the-slave-next-door
From doma’s Medical Coordinator- Amber Kaufman, MSN, ARNP, CPNP–
I just received an update from Israel, our in-country coordinator, regarding the woman (Wiwkinesh) that needs surgery for her prolapsed uterus. She is approximately 38 years old, has three children, and lives in Bora — a very rural mountain community in southern Ethiopia. (We held a 2-day clinic in Bora during our last medical trip, and will be returning in April to do another 2-day clinic.) Israel has informed me that Wiwkinesh has traveled to Addis Ababa (the capital city, where she need to get the surgery) and will be going to the hospital tomorrow. He was not sure if she would have the surgery tomorrow or the next day. Please say a prayer for Wiwkinesh that the surgery goes well, that the surgeon has skilled hands, and that she heals quickly. Also please pray for her family as she is away from her children during this time.
Wiwkinesh had suffered several years with the condition and had no means of having it fixed. Doma thanks you for your overwhelming generosity for making this happen.
A key mission of doma is to prevent orphaned children through care for mothers in vulnerable and challenging situations. Thank you for bringing more of ‘home’ to this vulnerable mama and kids! Stay posted for news about the surgery!
It has been awful to watch what is going on in Haiti this week and last. Many feel they can’t make a difference in a place so torn apart by poverty and disaster, but you can! It’s time to turn off your TV’s, computers, and iPhones– and get up and MOVE for Haiti. Every day for the next 3 months, you can make a difference in the lives of orphaned children in Port-au-Prince.
How? Team Up 4 Orphans around the world and in Haiti:
Train to walk OR run the Columbus Capital City 5K or half marathon from whatever city you live in! Join a team of passionate advocates who care about the long term effects of this quake- and the early intervention of orphaned and vulnerable children all over the globe. Half of everything you raise will go toward long term orphan care in Port au Prince, with the other half going toward doma orphan care programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Ukraine, and Russia.
If you don’t think you can run, then join the team as a CHEERLEADER this year! You can still get your fundraising site and have access to all team privileges.
It’s easy! By February 1st,
1) shoot our event coordinator an email (Jennifer@teamup4orphans.org) with your commitment to the team.
2) within 1 day, you will receive your personal fundraising site, the paperwork to register for the race, and immediate access to a world class athlete and experienced coach to help make this a successful event for you.
3) If you’re really anxious to begin, download the forms from domaconnection.org home page and sign/scan/send to Jennifer@teamup4orphans.org.
Either way, it’s time to move.
Welcome to the Team!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
To check out the fundraising site, visit:
For more info about the team, the commitment, and the coach, read below and visit Teamup4orphans.org.
While we will only hold you responsible for the anticipated $500 expenses to have you on the team, we encourage you to raise as much as you can!!
Here are some examples of what $2000 can do around the world through doma initiatives:
*Provide one year of support for a Ukrainian mom to be reunited with an infant that she abandoned to an infant home out of desperation.
*Provide medicine and vitamins for a traveling clinic that would serve thousands of orphaned and vulnerable children and moms in Ethiopia or Uganda.
*Provide one year of support for a Russian orphan who has become pregnant, yet courageously chosen to keep her baby, and is striving to have a healthy family.
*Provide food for 100 orphaned and vulnerable children for 6 months in Ethiopia or Uganda.
kids and kids and more kids!
On October 29th, the doma medical team left for Ethiopia. The team consisted of 7 people – 1 nurse practitioner, 5 nurses, and a youth pastor. After a minor hang-up in the Orlando International Airport involving the police and unmarked vitamins, we were off! We arrived in Addis Ababa on October 30th around 7pm. We were greeted by Alli, our in-country host. We then quickly discovered that out of the 14 bags we checked, we were missing 6 of them – 4 of which contained the medications. Ugh. We also quickly learned that we would not be able to take any of the medications with us that night – we would need all bags to be there and then to be cleared by customs. Double ugh.
Once the medication situation was fixed and we had all our bags, we proceeded with the purpose of the trip – setting up primary care clinics in various locations. During our trip, we were able to see 530 people in these clinics in 4 different locations – in Addis Ababa (the capital city) and in southern Ethiopia. We were able to provide education to moms about infant/child development, feeding and caring for an infant/child, and ways to encourage growth and development. The moms loved the education and even asked us questions! It was wonderful! We were also able to provide education for the adults of the community about basic hygiene, proper lifting, and stretching (a lot of aches and pains!).
When we headed to southern Ethiopia, we learned just how beautiful Ethiopia is – breathtakingly beautiful. Once we were out of Addis and into the countryside, we were able to see green mountains, small huts, and children running and playing. Amazing.
Yes, the 'hotel'...
Our final clinic location (Bora) was the most adventurous…we had to hike over 3 mountains for 3 hours at 10,000 feet elevation. Cars could not reach this village due to the lack of roads. Our luggage was strapped to mules and carried up the mountains. We set up our clinic on the top of one of the mountains – it was an incredible view! We did a half day of clinic and then we slept in one of the huts. For dinner, Israel (our guide) and I cooked spaghetti in the village “cooking hut”. We slept on banana leaves – snuggled together for warmth – as it was only 40˚F! It was an incredible experience – sleeping in a hut on top of a mountain in Ethiopia!
During this clinic, we saw a woman that desperately needs further help. After giving birth to 3 children, she has a prolapsed uterus – I will leave the details of this out but if you google it and find pictures, beware, not for weak stomachs. Surgery is the only way she can have this corrected – surgery in Addis, which is a 3 hour walk and an 11 hour drive away. She told us that she has no way of paying for the surgery or of getting to Addis. Doma has decided to help her. We need to raise $1,000 for her surgery, hospital stay, and travel to Addis. Will you help? You can make a donation right on doma’s website or mail a check in (made payable to doma, P.O. Box 21987, Columbus, OH 43221). Thank you in advance!
Ethiopia is a beautiful country and the people are so warm and friendly! Interested in joining us for another amazing experience? The next medical trip to Ethiopia will be April 14 – 26, 2010, and we are looking for team members!! We need nurses, non-medical people, and doctors/nurse practitioners/physician assistants. If you would like more information, please contact me: amber@domaconnection.org
Let me see those beautiful eyes!
2009 has been a big year for Doma. Our organization is only 16 months old and exciting things have happened. We took our first trip to Uganda in March, and launched our first sponsorship of a school there in July. We took our first trip to Ukraine in October, and have exciting opportunities to build innovative programs that help young mothers and keep at-risk families together by re-purposing available facilities at baby houses. We’re also assisting teenage moms in Russia who themselves grew up in orphanages. We took our first trip to Ethiopia in November and are excited to begin establishing Prenatal and Early Childhood Care Centers in East Africa in 2010. And next month we’re launching an anti-trafficking initiative for homeless youth right here in Columbus, Ohio called Project Green Light. Another thing I’m excited about (and thinking a lot about as New Year’s Resolutions take hold tomorrow) is our charity 1/2 marathon team, Team Up, which will be running the Capital City 1/2 Marathon in Columbus on May 1st. (Join us?!?)
Please consider giving a year-end, tax-deductible gift that will continue to enable us to embrace and empower vulnerable children and families around the world through prevention, intervention, and long term care. You can do it online here. Thanks for being part of a great year. We’re looking forward to more opportunities to embrace children and empower families in 2010!!!
Well, the baggage drama didn’t end in the US, unfortunately. However, the medicines were finally released recently, and the team is back on track!
News from our in-country partners:
“Things are going really well for them. Even without getting the meds from the airport until today, they were able to do two clinics this weekend. They did one at an organization called Hope For Children, which works with streetkids and orphaned and vulnerable children, and one yesterday at Strong Hearts, a new organization set up in a leprosy community where absolute poverty and despair are the norm. Both of those organizations are EXTREMELY grateful and would love to keep in touch with you guys. Just a few weeks ago, the local staff of Strong Hearts had been praying for a medical team to come out to help their kids, and the next day they received the email about Doma. God knew what was up, clearly.
They are a day “behind,” but have the meds and are doing really well being flexible and rolling with some plan changes. They’ll drive south to Arba Minch tomorrow, which is about 10 hours, but is functional, and then do three days of clinics in some villages. They’re all ready to go with their fleece and long johns, which they’ll appreciate on the mountains.
They’ll give you the stories, but I did really want to emphasize how grateful everyone is that they’re here. It was a rush to organize things, but it’s so clear that God’s been working things out for quite awhile to make this happen. Glad I could partner with you guys on this one!”
Thanks to the team’s friends, family, and doma supporters for making this trip happen! Can’t wait to hear of the specific stories of the people they are interacting with! I get chills just thinking about it!
After a brief encounter with airport police paging Amber over the loudspeaker, the team was off to Ethiopia! (Some of the medicine was in ’suspicious’ packaging’– which warranted a ’show me your papers’ incident… haha).
I’ll be sure to keep you posted whenever I hear from Amber. As part of their itinerary, they would be walking several (cold) miles up a mountain (with heavy medical equipment and medicine) to reach a small village… So I’m not sure how much access they’ll have to internet or texting. Want to be involved, but don’t necessarily want to walk up a mountain while jet-lagging? Read on…
Doma is officially beginning registration for our “Team Up 4 Orphans” walking/running team fundraiser. Going into the holidays is a great time to sign up for Doma’s official running team. It helps to keep the focus off of the over-indulgences that permeate our November and December– and gives us a reason to think about orphaned children as we train every day! Team Up’s team coach, Lisa Rainsberger (Weidenbach), is the champion of marathons worldwide (including the Boston marathon– and even one in Japan!)– and can be your personal running/walking coach starting today! Visit teamup4orphans.org to read about the event and our coach– and to register! All money raised will go toward programs (food, clothing, bible studies, maternal care, etc.) for the children that Doma serves. Some proceeds can even go toward YOUR future international trip with Doma. Contact our Team Up Director to find out more: Jennifer@teamup4orphans.org.
I hope to see you all at the Capital City half marathon in May!
Pray for our Ethiopia team today! The last medical trip served hundreds and hundreds of orphaned children, and laid the foundation for critical long term relationships with them. Peace to You!
Well, we’ve been home for 1.5 weeks, and I’m still getting up before dawn every morning. This is the FIRST night that Sadie actually slept like she did pre-departure. Part of it could be jet lag, part of it could be getting used to our new home. (Yes, we spent the first week home packing up our apartment and moving boxes). For those of you not in the loop– we moved from Colorado without selling our CO or Virginia homes- and voluntarily put most of our ’stuff’ in basement storage. Now we are finally getting settled into our permanent home here in Columbus. We left for Ukraine unsure whether closing was going to happen- and came home to find that 1) We did indeed have a new house as of Oct. 11th and 2) the apartment we were renting was re-rented out to someone else starting Nov. 1. Oh- and did I mention the impeccable timing of our lease:purchase offer on our Colorado home starting Oct. 9th? (Our Virginia home sold in June..)
I’ve spent this last week reflecting on the God-appointments that happened while we were there- and am ridiculously amazed by what was accomplished in the 9 short days we were there! We visited 12 infant homes, baby hospitals, HIV and school-age orphanages. 12!
Of those places, it is very obvious where doma will be able to support visions the director already has for the orphanage. Other placed, the relationship will be a lot slower. And some places, I am struggling to see if a long-term relationship should even be considered. Here are some of the highlights and obvious God-appointments:
1) Vera, the director of Vortzel babyhouse has been trying to keep families of children with special needs together. This last year, she held a conference for parents of children with Down Syndrome who had abandoned their children to her orphanage. She was able to give them some very practical training on how to care for their child… and many of the children were reunited with their parents!
Her plea to doma: “Please send me a team of Special Educators, SLP’s, PT’s, and OT’s to train my teachers who spend all day with the children. Our therapists visit each class only a few hours each week, but it is the teachers who are working morning, noon, and night with them. They have no education at all, and are severely underpaid for the work they do”.
For those of you who may not know this, when I lived in Columbus in 2002, I was the coordinator of a preschool for children with special needs. We had over 100 children, ages 2-5, who were enrolled in our school. Dozens more, aged 0-5 received services from our therapists. It was there that I realized the importance of EARLY INTERVENTION in the lives of children. (Sound familiar? It’s doma’s mission statement!) This type of trip to an orphanage full of special needs preschoolers would bring everything full circle! Reuniting families, helping to train teachers, truly giving orphaned children the early intervention they need for a better quality of life! Who’s on board? What a great partnership with this babyhouse! We are currently assembling a team for Summer 2010.
2) Natalya, the director of a babyhouse with over 120 infants and toddlers, expressed her concern for the mothers of these children. She mentioned that so many of them just need a little boost- but that she was powerless by the government to help anyone except the babies. After much discussion, I found out that her plan was to house the moms at the orphanage, so that the babies would not be separated from their moms. And while she is able to work with the babies, she needed an outside support organization to care for the moms! (Does that sound familiar to you? That’s what doma does!) The Ukraine government has had an idea for years to support moms, but there are no programs in place. Currently, she has the space for 4 moms– and she has 4 moms who would enroll in the program right away and be reunited with their child who is at the orphanage. The mom and baby would live together. Mom could receive job training, education, etc. while the orphanage caregivers watch the baby. But mom would be responsible for taking care of herself and baby (cooking, cleaning, etc.)- and would also be the primary caregiver. To launch this program, the space is available and renovated for four moms, but we would need to outfit it with basic apartment-style furniture and kitchen supplies. This is approximately $1300 per mom. Then, of course, there is the ongoing support necessary for mom, which would be approximately $180 per month. (Similar to our Russia Young Mothers program, except the moms would not be living independently). The orphanage director also encouraged visits and letters from their American friends. 4 moms have already requested assistance! We just need the doma providers to step forward to help reunite these families. If this works well, she has the space for 24 moms or families in a separate building, which would need to be renovated. What a dream!
3) We visited a hospital for HIV positive infants and toddlers. The chief medical officer, Natalya, was very proud of the ‘Western’ trainings she does with the moms. Her greatest need is extra staff to work specifically with these patients and their families. A nurse at this hospital makes approximately 90 USD, which is way below the standard of living in and around Donestk. (It costs more than that to rent a shared apartment space). If doma could provide for housing for these nurses, she knows she could find the willing nursing graduates who would love to work with the families of children who are HIV positive- and the ‘abandoned infants’ room’ (it was devastating to go in and see these precious babies, younger than Sadie– knowing that their future is in the hands of the orphanage system). Doma is looking into renting some space at Donestk Christian University for four nurses.
(Another crazy story- two of us showed up at Donestk Christian University’s Administrative Director’s home for tea, and he came in and said he would be unable to join us for another 20 minutes, but would we like to meet with the Director of the school?! Of course– he is one of the most respected Christian leaders in Ukraine right now– and we had a blast with him!)
4) A young woman who grew up in a private, Christian orphanage, was living a beautiful life with her husband and 3 small children, when her husband died unexpectedly. The orphanage that raised her is asking for doma assistance to help her as she transitions into single motherhood. It is very, very uncommon in Ukraine for widows with children to remarry– and she isn’t even 30 years old yet! In the next few weeks, I will learn more about how doma can support her family during this difficult time. The local church has stepped in to do some creative emergency care- but nothing that is sustainable (especially her housing situation). I’ll keep you posted! Please let me know if you are interested in hearing more about this as I get more info.
Also, with all of these ConnectionPoints, if you aren’t able to financially give or visit personally, please pick a project to pray for consistently. I’d be happy to get you a fact sheet about the program and the participants. Or perhaps you’d just like to write to one of our young moms to encourage her. Another creative option would be to run or walk the May, 2010 Capital City half marathon in our official charity team, (teamup4orphans.org). Perhaps you know 50 people who would give $50 to these amazing moms and children, and you could commit to joining our team, whether or not you’ve ever run before! Our coach is Lisa Rainsberger, winner of the Boston Marathon! More on that to come later this week.
Ok- my kids are asking for toast this morning… time to start the mom portion of my day. Please continue to stay posted. I have a ton of prayer requests for our Ethiopia team that leaves on Wednesday. And please email me if you are interested in hearing more about any of these programs for moms and babies as I am beginning to write up some new project proposals. Thanks for your prayers and support for this trip! It was very, very fruitful. Now, if only we can shake our jet lag so that I can unpack more boxes…
Tonight I sit in my warm duvet covered featherbed in a new hotel in Kremenchuk. Last night, as you may have heard, we arrived at the camp (10 miles from Chernobyl!) to find out that the village of Ivankiv was without electricity ‘temporarily’. Since we arrived right around sunset, we had to decide whether or not we would stay– or find a plan ‘b’. Google (which worked on Dan’s iphone)- while the electricity (and heat!) did not– told us that the night would bring almost a full moon, along with 44 chilling fahrenheit degrees. We were given sleeping blankets and matches– and had a cozy night of cards and home-cooked pelmeni (ravioli) by the light of candles and flashlights taped to the wall. (Thank you, Dasha, our 16 year old translator– so brilliant!) Amazingly enough- we had plenty of heat to keep our feet warm and toasty all through the night.
Our 6:00am departure had us scurrying through suitcases (in the dark) and on the road to Kremenchuk for a babyhouse visit. After a formal tour (which included dozens of new ‘renovations’ and ‘murals), we sat with the director to talk about young mother programs. She assured us this was in the plans– and asked us for a donation to ‘renovate’. The tour revealed room after room of equipment and renovations– and 77 children with a low LOW quality of life. Babies lying in cribs… paralyzed children without wheelchairs, toddlers rocking themselves to sleep during naptime. Small playpens appeared unused, while a 6 month old with a head the size of a basketball- with open sores- laid in agony. Just pure agony. And our requests (and eyes) begged to play with and pick up the babies while she waved us off. We cast vision for young mothers, while she smiled and said yes, but then abruptly left the room when I told her we would have to get official stamps of approval prior to donating. She escorted us straight to the bus while our team stood by with puppets and balloons and joy and love to share with the children… and she continued to talk about renovations. I excitedly shared the vision to send PT, OT, and SLP trainers for her teachers– since that was a HUGE need addressed by a previous babyhouse…while she curtly said, ‘interesting’– and then swiftly led me to the bathroom that needed new tile. And as I saw a blind little boy lying in the crib smile up in glee when Dan started speaking to him– I KNEW that we were there with a purpose. Even if for just a few moments, a small tour, to remind us and them and the caregivers that they are created in the image of God- with a plan and a purpose and an intimate and personal love that maybe they have never tangibly felt before.
So as the director got cold feet to work with us as soon as she knew it would require accountability– And as we got cold feet standing in the freezing cold crib room for kids with special needs– And as doma allowed her to escort us to the bus quickly, reacting in horror and wondering if we should even go through with our final visits and meetings– we knew that we were there just for a moment to touch the head and the hands and the feet of those who were cold- and sick- and laying in urine??… Even if the one entrusted to care for these children was only concerned about the next wall mural she could paint with donated money.
What a day. What a challenge… to address deep rooted thoughts and fears and judgments of a culture foreign to your own. Thank God for those who have huge hearts and a deep love for the children in their homes. 4 out of 5 positive visits isn’t so bad. Number 5 is just going to take some time and patience– but I’m sure we will get there.
Next stop, Donetsk– The shipment is to meet us tomorrow night so that we can distribute to 4 babyhouses and one HIV positive baby hospital. I’ll keep you posted if I can! Pray for safe travels for CBN, who is donating the truck and driver so generously. It took 5 nonprofits to make this happen– let’s pray the impact is long-term!
Peace-
Julie (and the doma team)
This is Dan writing you this morning… Julie and I, along with our 3 month old beauty, Sadie, are heading to Ukraine on Thursday for Doma’s first trip to Eastern Europe since we began our ministry last year. Of course, Julie and I have been to that part of the world more than a dozen times in the past with other organizations.
Please subscribe to this blog, Dan’s blog, follow Dan on twitter, and keep your eyes and ears out for updates from the field. Pass this along to friends and family who would enjoy joining the journey as well. There’s bound to be an adventure awaiting us (think Russian prisons, caviar, bathhouses, soccer, and the chance to see the light of God’s love fill a room!)
Friends, or should I say comrades, of Doma are joining us. The team is…
Jennifer Cameron is a vital part of the Doma team. She started and operates a ministry called Into the Field, which provides marketing, logistics, and event planning services to ministries and non-profits. She and Julie connected shortly after we moved to Columbus and they’ve been teaming up ever since (follow the link to check out Doma’s charity running team? Wanna run?)
Tiffany Crawford is a young and strong attorney who is known to get fashion compliments from judges. She and Julie attended Regent Law together, she and her husband were in our young couples small group, Embrace, for a time. She has two men in her life: one really tall, and one kinda short (he is only 2 yrs. old after all – give him time).
Matt Croskey is a new friend of ours. We met him and his family, Georgeann, Grace and Jack before he knew that I was the new minister at his church. Luckily after finding that out, they still agreed to be our friends. He’s a Captain in the Air Force, a Buckeyes fan, and inferior to me in the game of cornhole.
Jerry Kaufman is Doma’s board VP, and a high school friend of mine (we met when he was a jock and I was a hippie). He met his wife at my wedding. Jerry is a scholar and a gentleman… well… his better half is clearly…
Amber Kaufman is Doma’s medical director, and a high school friend of mine who met her husband at my wedding. Amber is a Nurse Practitioner and has served medical needs in India and Uganda, as well as in Orlando where she and Jerry live and regularly visit Mickey Mouse and his cronies.
Megan Lindsey is Doma’s board secretary and also a Regent Law grad with Julie and Tiffany. We have traveled the world with Megan – France in the summer of 2005, Russia in the spring of 2007, Uganda in the spring of 2009, and now Ukraine. How does she find time to be an attorney and mediator in Michigan with all of this globe-trotting?
Tracy Miller is a Texan exiled in Chicago… or a Chicagoan who happens to be from Texas. She lives in that great city with her very talented husband, an artist who is on exhibit now at the Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art in Chicago. Coincidence? I think not.
Kevin Palys and I met when we played on the same rec soccer team as undergrads at Valpo, Los Matadores. He’s married to an MD who happens to be Jerry’s sister. You can see that Doma is a family affair. He is a broadcast engineer with CBS and owner and manager of PettingZoo Pictures, an independent film company based in LA.
Julie and I round out this rag-tag bunch. We’re looking forward to a great 10 days coming face to face with a beautiful culture and the children who inhabit it.
