tEAm news #67 | 01.12.21
Not just a pinch and a punch for the first of this month - the first doors of the advent calendars can finally be opened. We hope you are full of excitement and anticipation for all that is to come and not suffering from the over-whelm it can also bring.
“Anticipation is watching with hope and expectancy, it is indispensable to our faith”
Dates
MOMENT OF PRAYER - Mondays 9-9:15: a moment to pause, prayer, light candles for our work & team. All welcome!
Link here (Meeting ID: 708 452 7633 Passcode: empathy)4.12.21 Christmas Fair: Skinners Kent Academy Primary School
5.12.21 Christmas Fair: Skinners Kent Academy
Christmas campaign on The Empathy Store - involving a few new products! (Stars and Syrian Veggie cook book)
14.12.21 - Christmas Coffee Morning 10.00 - 11.30 (a chance to buy some products!) and EA get-together at the Office.
20.12.21 - 4.12.21 Office closed
Late Feb/Early Mar 2022: TPT Sevenoaks
Summer 2022: DJ Sevenoaks
Sept 2022: TPT: Activate Learning
Volunteer Christmas Coffee Morning
All volunteers and trustees are invited to share coffee, tea and cakes at the Church Road office between 10.00 and 11.00am on Tuesday 14th December. A chance to catch up and share Christmas Cheer in the holiday season. Also an opportunity to show off your Christmas jumper, hat, boots etc.
It would be helpful if you could drop a line to r.watts@empathyaction.org if you are planning to come along so we have some idea of numbers.
The Empathy Store
We’re open for Christmas sales and as a special thank you to our team news community, we have a special 20% discount code for you (please keep it to just you guys as it’s been a hard year for Empathy Action and we would love every penny from others).
The Discount code is “TEAMNEWS'“. Happy shopping!
A limited edition handcrafted Star that has care written all over it.
It’s designed to be given away to some one you care about just like the makers who care deeply about the family members it helps. Perfect for advent gifts, stocking fillers and adorning your Christmas tree this festive season.
Crafting ways out of poverty for the small band of artisans who call themselves ‘Vashavi’ (Zimbabweans in Cape Town, SouthAfrica) is not only a daily act of creating but also a reclaiming of hope. A source of hope that means educating their children, sending ‘home’ money to family members in Zimbabwe and for medication. These stars are skillfully made by these displaced artists with hope to provide for the people they love most. The Vashavis’ message to you 'thank you’.
Made from used Cambodian bullet shells: the metal used to make these tiny bells comes from spent bullet shells that have been melted down and reshaped. The organisation that makes them, Rajana, trains and employs Cambodian artisans, enabling them to further their education and earn a decent wage.
Formerly weapons of war, these shells now improve lives rather than take them. They symbolise the power of transformation and the strength that lies within.
We’re looking for local hosts
We’re placing this ad in a few local church newsletters. There’s a longer note here.
Can you help us spread the word?
Room needed for an International volunteer for 10 weeks (Jan-Mar)
Can you help Empathy Action through hosting Vanya Chung, a new International Volunteer from Taiwan for 10 weeks between Jan 7th - Mar 13th? She’s a former All Nations Christian College student and working with OM until January when she begins her placement with Empathy Action to learn about their work with refugees, simulations and more.
We are looking for a local Host who can provide a bedroom, food and a warm and friendly environment.
A contribution will be provided towards board and lodging but most of all you will be helping a local mission with a pressing need. If you can help please contact Ben Solanky on bsolanky@empathyaction.org
Art by Tim Sanders - a refugee nativity scene
Update from Zimbabwe
Thank you for your incredibly generous and open hearted response to our seeds of Hope appeal.
Thanks to your kindness, we have been able to buy enough seeds to plant out the whole area of land (4 hectares) with maize seed. We have bought hoes for the guys to clear the land and make little holes for the seeds. We have also been able to buy them rain coats, food, cooking utensils and and blankets. It's also our aim to buy a couple of bicycles to help with the long walk from home to the field.
The rains have been falling all week and so far, half of the area is now planted out. We are working full blast to get the remaining area finished by the end of this week.
The little team of lads, so recently off the streets, have pulled together amazingly. They have worked from 5am until 7pm every day to try to meet our target. They have been out in boiling sun and pouring rain, and still come home laughing!
We await a great harvest and we thank you for being part of this life changing venture.
Praise the Lord!!
All our love
Annie and One Hope team
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OTHER UPDATES
Vegetarian Syrian Cookbook delayed - sadly and due to the pandemic the Syrian cookbook project with Sevenoaks Welcomes Refugees and Sevenoaks School is delayed until after Christmas. We’re gutted but it’s ‘another thing’ in a year and a half of ‘anther things’! Looking forward to it’s launch on the Empathy Store next year!
Desperate Journeys simulations (DJ) - a few more opportunities cropping up (one possibly with St Johns Church (c next March) and another with a school in Bexley - date TBC). Early to say whether we can make these happen - but exciting to think these are back on the horizon!
Selling products this Christmas - we’d love your help to boost our Christmas sales via social media. Please share posts. Thanks!
Empathy Experimenting - we’ll be having a deeper look at what others are doing in the virtual space. Following last year’s viewing of Where There’s Smoke and our tests with the social hackathon, we believe there’s some opportunity in the digital simulation in the future as we look to newer ways to deliver powerful empathy programmes. This week we’ll be having a look at Secret Cinema’s offering of their production of Ghostbusters: Gates of Gozer
