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| It's official. I just wanted to let you know that I'm officially moving my blog to karibarrows.wordpress.com. I hope you both can keep up with it. :) ( I'm being generous to assume that two people even read this anymore...) | | |
| This weekend my dear friend, Laura, visited me from Chicago. It was such a wonderful gift. I have never had the chance to share a world of any interest with anyone before, so it was so much fun to take her to see the cherry blossoms at night and the potomac river and all of my favorite places in DC. I promised her one of the freaky Korean massages that you can get near my house, but we ended up relaxing instead. Colleen is coming this weekend, which is so exciting. I'm going to take her to the zoo, per a tip from my friend Jim, and we are going swing dancing on Saturday.
The cherry blossoms are really spectacular here. I am always surprised by how lovely they are. They look like they are edible. So my internship here is winding down, and I am getting ready for the next stage which is VERY blurry and unclear. A couple of months to raise about $17,000 and say goodbye to the people I love before leaving for a year. I'm not sure how to do that well. But it will come. | | |
| The much awaited update. I have been interning at International Justice Mission for a month now. I love what I am doing and especially the people with whom I am working. I am so thankful for my mentor, Kathy, and assignment coordinator, Stephanie. They really try to give me assignments that are of interest to me and of varying degrees of difficulty (i.e. simple formatting vs. research). Currently, I have been working on reformatting an application form, which I have really enjoyed. I actually like doing the more ‘administrative’ work because there is a definite start and finish, whereas I can research for hours and never really feel satisfied that I have done all I could do. With that said, I am also researching the ethical implications of using some of our clients’ stories in media presentations and fundraising events, which has been such an interesting project. A crucial piece of IJM’s work is that it is free to those who need it, which obviously means we need to raise money. One of the best ways to fundraise is through story, but the line begins to fade between rescuing the exploited and exploiting them ourselves when we share certain stories. It is without a question that the heart of IJM is to provide rescue and defense to the most violently oppressed people in the world, yet, as we grow, we have to ask ourselves these questions. Amazingly, I have found very little research in this area, so formulating concrete policies is difficult, but I have welcomed the opportunity to broaden my understanding of such an intensely difficult field of work. Everyday here is a gift that I sometimes need to remind myself to open. I put on my suit and walk to the metro and can find myself on the way home before I even realize what has happened. I am working for IJM. It is an organization that I have respected for years, and everyday at 11:00 I get to join my heroes and role models in prayer. The work that IJM does is so basic that I am surprised there are so few people in it. Gary Haugen just recently returned from a week at the World Economic Forum, where he was able to share about IJM’s work and the premise of establishing a functioning system of rule of law. He commented that for days people would talk of the struggles in the world offering up education, grants, microloans, famine relief, and others as solutions, but he was the only person to talk about rule of law. He called it the invisible air they were breathing as there were several security personnel for every one forum attendee. The concept of rule of law is so basic to our society that when we look at what is wrong in the world we think of more tangible efforts to fix it rather than establishing an environment for the world to fix itself. I was walking home from the metro last night through a shady looking, but in truth harmless, part of town, and I was struck by that thought. I feel a little nervous walking home, but I know that there are hundreds of people driving by that I’d like to believe would help, but, even more so, a fair judicial system that would defend my rights. If I was walking at night in Darfur, the question wouldn’t be if I would be assaulted but when, and there would be little hope of justice for me. One piece of exciting news before I go, I just found out today that I was accepted for the internship in South Asia! I had my interview late last night, and wasn't expecting to find out for a couple of weeks. I will hopefully be deploying in June for a year internship. What a wonderful picture of how the Lord brings such good things in his time. Also, random update. I am changing blogs. I'm not much of a blogger or blog follower, but I've been hearing rumbles and rumors that Xanga isn't exactly the cool kid in the blogging world. I didn't really care because it's just a temporary measure for staying in touch, but since I'll be gone for a year and xanga has recently been taken over by Hong Kong apparently (all of the text is in a foreign language and alphabet) I decided a move was necessary. Any suggestions? | | |
| Enough of random catching up. It’s impossible because I don’t write frequently enough. I wanted to share with you that I’m trying to move to India for a year. It has been a process in coming, but I’ll share briefly the series of events. A few weeks ago, I was meeting with a woman at IJM and she mentioned there still being spots available for summer deployment. I shuffled around for a couple of weeks, not sure if I wanted to revive that dream. Finally, on Friday, I was talking with someone who has gone to India through IJM, and I found myself getting so excited. I told them that I would want to go to Kolkata and would ideally want to be working with Aftercare, but I didn’t think either of those were realistic options, especially since I don’t have my Master’s. I inquired about the available positions, and guess what? Kolkata’s Aftercare department is looking for an administrative intern. In a word, Me. I hope it is, rather. It would be a sweet, sweet gift, but I know that if this doesn’t come together that I can say with full assurance that God will bring something else. But, I would welcome your prayers for wisdom and peace and a trust in him that is beyond myself.
Okay, this isn't all I wanted to share, but I failed to email myself the right document with the approved update, so that will hopefully happen tomorrow. Much love, friends. | | |
| Tonight will be a big night for blogging. Two entries at once. This one is separate because it is short, sweet, and embarrassing.
So, the interns were having dinner at the Haugen's house (may there be many more stories that begin this way), and I was fairly hungry, which is to be expected. They had a beautiful table of appetizers, which Gary and his wife, Jan, encouraged us to enjoy. As I was walking toward it, I noticed a large bowl of cherries in the center and thought, "Oh, wow, those look amazing!" Immediately, I grabbed one and bit into it. Now, I'm sure you are all thinking, "Kari, February is not the season for cherries." You are right, it's not. Which is why those particular cherries were plastic and not intended for human consumption. What makes this story even better, is that Gary was standing next to me with a platter to replenish the brie and raspberry stuffed pastries. I honestly don't know if he noticed (I can only pray that he didn't), but we definitely didn't share a laugh about it, sadly. So, I don't think you could hope for a better first impression. | | |
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