Tikhtak

Manila day 9 - Farewells to Jigsaw

Today was quite an emotional day as we said goodbye to all the children and staff at Jigsaw. At lunchtime we all met up and took everybody to KFC as a thank you to everybody. We had a lot of fun and we were presented with a t shirt each and a card from the children.

We have been really impressed by the commitment of Jigsaw staff to the work with the children.They really are one big family and perhaps a better expression of church than most around. The children themselves are amazing and have a faith that has transformed them, whilst difficulties around them still remain.

Tim Lee (CMS and Jigsaw staff worker) put into perspective the value of a project like Jigsaw, which doesn't lift these children out of their community but helps them to transform it themselves. Talking about the boys we have worked with he said " They will grow up to be good fathers, Uncles and Husbands." What a great legacy that is.

This evening we went out with Tim and Kate Lee and their 3 children for a Chinese meal. We had managed to find a photo shop to blow up and frame 3 pictures which we had taken that afternoon and we gave it to them as a parting gift.  We have an early flight tomorrow morning and then a 16 hour journey back to the UK. Check out our latest pics on dave's flickr and the CMS flickr.

Manila day 8

Today was our last day of filming and it was made a little more challenging with the tail end of a typhoon causing constant down pours. In spight of this the GV's (General Views) of Manila went on and in some ways they were more desperate with children having to huddle for shelter under trees and bridges. It also felt quite a cold and detached exercise as we filmed them in their plight. I know that the Dvd will be a tool to educate and challenge schools in Britain to these issues, but the camera couldn't filter out the fact that these are fellow human beings.

For much of the day we were based at Jigsaw and worked with the teenagers filming them going about  their business. Some played on a "Track and Field" consul game that I was hooked to myself at their age, while the girls played pictionary and did craft. Obviously the trick was allowing them to relax and not be too thrown by the camera and lights. At the end of the filming we got them together for a pose giving us their best Filipino look. It has been very special to get to know this group and they have been so welcoming and loving to us.

So we finally filmed the last shot outside a pizza hut where some of the children guided in cars to parking bays, which is a common way for children to get money here. As we made our way back through a traffic jam it was time to reflect a bit about the week and what we have achieved. One thing is for certain that we are all very tired and have crammed in a challenging project in to a short space of time. Superlatives can't be used enough for Tim and Kate Lee and their willingness and flexibility to enable us to film and interview both children and staff at Jigsaw. They are remarkable people working in a very difficult and yet blessed environment, with a real love and passion for both God and children. Check out our latest pics on Dave's Flickr or CMS Flickr.

Les Isaac's street pastors & Peace on the streets

Today I met with Les Isaac in Brixton from the street pastors initiative to interview  for trax16. As I expected it was an inspirational time hearing about how young people's lives have been changed by Christians of all ages and walks of life just listening to them and spending time with them. Unfortunately the interview is too late to go out on Octobers trax16 but will be used as a feature on another podcast. Irfana also seized the opportunity and came along and has arranged for Les to speak at Holy Trinity Church Clapham in December. Les also mentioned a project called Peace on the streets that is happening this month as a response to recent gun and knife crime. Check out all the events in London Peace week  which include a peace rally in Hyde park on 20th September hosted by Richard Blackwell and  numerous events highlighting young peoples talent and potential.

Jacob Isaac

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Jacob Isaac from Bangalore in India. We actually had met him in India in 2005 at the South Asian youth Conference where he was a speaker. He has again been in England as a speaker at Greenbelt this year. Jacob is a real entrepreneur and has set up numerous projects in Bangalore under the banner of Kerygma. They include an outreach coffee bar for young people, a school to train christian leaders and a rehabilitation centre for different addictions.

Greenbelt 08

This year at Greenbelt the CMS youth team juggled between 3D, trax16 and Tajik break dancers. Each day we ran 3D workshops with around 40-50 young people. 3D stands for Drama, Dance and Drumming and using this medium we explored both man's and God's perspective on looking after the environment and encouraged people to engage with A Rocha. As always we got interviews with various people from around Greenbelt  ranging from Martyn Joseph and Comedian Jo Enright to authors Richard Burridge who has  just written "Imitating Jesus" and Philip Yancey. It was also good to catch young people just milling around the site and working in here with various organisations. Again the Tajik breakdancers Vito and Illios were doing their stuff, sharing testimonies and the Youth team compared their programme. Neema crafts from Tanzania in the CMS tent were an inspiration to everyone and engaged people in making paper out of elephant dung, jewelry out of glass and dancing. I think outside of the CMS programme my highlight was chilling with Irfana in the big venue Centaur listening to Aradhna, a white, traditional Indian band, while Zara danced and ran around the wide carpeted expanse. Check out flickr for more pics

Soul Survivor 08

Another year at Soul Survivor slightly left me with a "Ground Hog" feeling this year. I joined a CMS team and used the CMS stall as a launch pad to get interviews for trax16. It was incredibly wet too just to add to the drama. I have to say that Soul Survivor did have more of an urban influence to it than normal with hip hop beats and blasting out from the underground venue and more of an ethnic mix than normal with groups from other countries from Malta and Czech to South Korea, Do listen to trax16 to get a flavour of the week. Also check out some pics on flickr of my travels around the sight as well with the help of Ruth's camera work, which was to be created into a talking heads short film. Not sure if that happened?

Church response to Gun and knife crime

Here is an interview I did with Rev Andrew Brandon at the recent JEANS event in East London. Download Revandrew.mp3 (12286.0K) I asked him what the church could do practically about the current problem of gun and knife crime.

JEANS - A response to knife and gun crime

On Saturday I attended a conference in Leyton, East London run by the Adonai Amdassadors Assembly called "Make The Difference" The bit I attended was the launch of JEANS (Joint Effort Advocating New Society). It was great that they had managed to engage local community groups like the Police, their Local MP Harry Cohen and the deputy Mayor of Waltham Forest. The speaker for the day was Rev Andrew Brandon who works with gangs, and he shared insights from his work. I also managed to interview a young rap band called "da fellowship" who are dedicating money from their latest EP to victims of the China earthquake. Check out their myspace page. All these interviews will probably come out on trax16 in October. On Sunday Irfana and I took our youth group to Clapham Baptist church where Pastor Les Isaac was preaching. He is a good friend of Andrew Brandon's and was responsible for setting up a street Pastoring scheme in south London. I chatted with him afterwords and he too will be included on October's trax16.

trax16 and Tajik Breakdancers at Angel Space

On Sunday Mike North and I ventured down to Rochester Cathedral to interview young people from the Rochester area at an event called Angel Space. Illyos and Vitalek, two Tajik breakdancers who are on tour with CMS over the Summer joined us and entertained everyone with their back crunching routines and a workshop for anyone who wanted to ache the next morning. It was also an opportunity for people to find out what Tajikistan and breakdancing have in common and how they have both been called into mission in this unorthodox way (excuse the pun) We will be featuring this event in trax16 next month.

trax16 is two years old

In our 25th edition of trax16, we are celebrating our second anniversary!  Join myself, Mike, and Anita as we look back over the last year, remembering the best interviews and other highlights. It’s also been a year of hearing from christian musicians, and this month we have new music from The Steels. Also check out etrax this month where we look at Paul's Urban Encounter in Athens and hear about an opportuntiy to have an Urban Encounter in Birmingham