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A transformation story about Jennifer a young girl living in Nyamonge, Kenya and what the clean water well has done for her and the lives of people in her community.

+ Learn more about Blood:Water Mission

“I never thought I would be able to leave the mill and then, suddenly, my family and I were free. … All at once I could hope.”

IJM client Chellamma* shares her story in her own words:

I am Chellamma. My father’s name is Nayan*. My mother is Neela. My native place is Red Hills. I was born in a rice mill.

My father took [a small loan] from a rice mill owner before I was born. Because of that our whole family had to live and work in the mill.

When I was eight years old I started working in the rice mill where we lived. With my father I would work … spreading out rice grain for drying. My brother and sister are younger than I, so it was my work also to care for them.

[When Chellamma was 10 years old, the family was moved to a different rice mill.]

The children were not allowed to go to school, but I took care of my family and worked with my father. When I was thirteen I had to start adult work. With my father and the other laborers I boiled paddy and raked the rice and put the grain into bags.

Every day was for work. We were not allowed to rest during the day. Only after the work was done could we sit and eat. Even though I worked so much, the owner never gave me wages. […] Knowing that my mother was dead and that my father’s health was also not good, the owner used to come to me and tell me my future. He told me my father would die. The owner said that when my father was gone, I would take my father’s advance and stay working at the mill until I paid the full amount. The owner said he would not let me leave until all the money was repaid. I thought I would never leave the mill. It was not possible for me to pay back the advance, even if I worked my whole life. […]

NOTE: * Chellamma and Nayan are pseudonyms used for the protection of these IJM clients. Real names and casework documentation are on file with IJM.

Courtesy: IJM/IJM.org

+ Read the rest of Chellamma’s story at IJM First Person

by Dan Haseltine

Dan Haseltine is the lead vocalist for Jars of Clay and co-founder of Blood:Water Mission

I received a wonderful email from a friend recently. It was timely. My life has gotten quite overwhelming: I’m wondering about environmental issues far more than ever before. I’m wrestling to know what it looks like to stay engaged with the political activities going on in the U.S., and on top of this still keeping my hands dirty in the relationships I am trying to grow in Africa. And in certain moments, I have wondered why I shouldn’t simply, intentionally, forget a few of those things, lighten the list… and choose not to care.
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Good question. we’re so glad you asked!

April 16-18, 2010 we have the privilege of bringing Art/Music/Justice here to The Falls Church for a special weekend event. Over the course of those three days, through special concerts and seminars, we will have the opportunity to talk in new ways about stewarding our lives well.
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by Connally Gilliam
Workshop Speaker

“In the beginning, God created…” God’s first revelation of himself in the Scriptures is as One who creates. He hovers over the formless darkness, bringing order out of chaos, and the culmination of his Genesis creation is humankind, fashioned after his image: “So God created man in his own image,/ in the image of God he created him;/ male and female he created them.” Therefore we, as people created in the image of God, are likewise designed to be creators, patterned after our heavenly Father. Creativity—the capacity “to cause to come into being that which would not naturally evolve”—is woven into our very DNA. We were from the beginning, designed as creative beings (see Genesis 1 & 2).
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