Tikhtak

IJM Cebu Vision Trip Aug 10 - 16

DAY 1 (Saturday)

Just landed in Cebu, Philippines to spend a week with the IJM Philippines team and IJM Canadian supporters. Looking forward to a
week of getting up close to view the amazing work this team does protecting children from online sexual exploitation.

 

Day 2 (Sunday)

Encouraging worship at living Word Church  this morning. https://linktr.ee/livingworditpark This afternoon we chilled togetheter back at the hotel

 

Day 3 (Monday)

This morning we had an orientation time and met the IJM Cebu team. This afternoon it was sobering to travel through Lapu-Lapu and Cordova neighborhoods this afternoon where International Justice Mission has made numerous rescues of children being exploited online.

 

Day 3 (Tuesday)

Today we visited a floating restaurant for lunch and bumped into a group of football loving Filipinos who explained they are a "football for humanity" team using the beautiful game to raise awareness about online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines. Very excitedly I said, "I Love football" and I pointed to our IJM Philippines team. I started to explain that we are fighting OSEC as well and it turned out they use our materials and have attended some of our trainings. A small world.

This afternoon we visited the Women & Children Protection Team WCPC and learned about how IJM work closely with this Police unit in investigation and preparing cases with them for putting on rescue and maiking arrests. We even got to pray together!!

 

Day 4 (Wednesday)

Today we were taken to the Regional Trial Court in Lapu-Lapu by our IJM Philippines lawyers. This is a special families court for cases of abuse towards children including OSEC. it was great to meet and thank the Public Prosecter for bringing many perpetrators to Justice, working with our two wonderful IJM lawyers Atty Kaye and Atty Therese. We also got to see a special room which IJM transformed from a store room into a play area for children as they wait to be interviewed. I couldn't help noticing Winnie the Pooh and sharing about his connection to Winnipeg. So many demandside perpetrators who consume the abuse of children over the internet come from countries like Canada so it was good to see a Canadian Character, be it a bear who can be a source of comfort and help for vulnerable children. This evening we met with a number of Survivor leaders for dinner who had all been through or are still going through this court system. it was a privilege to meet these young brave female leaders whose heart was to help other children who are going through the torment and abuse they knew so well. One was training to be a social worker and another had just graduated as a psychologist

 

Day 5 (Thursday)

Today we visited an International Justice Mission partner about an hour and a half out of Cebu City. The partner NGO is a shelter and school for children rescued from Online sexual exploitation. (OSEC). Around 40 girls are housed there between 4 and 17 yrs. We were given a tour of the facility and spotted another Winnie-The-Pooh. It is a place of great hope and we were welcomed with a program of singing and dance. We got to introduce ourselves and hang out with the children ,singing, dancing and chatting about our names. families, favourite pets and the like.... The biggest encouragement was that these children for all they have been through were like any other children laughing, joking and giving lots of high fives. This is the beginning of the children's long road to recovery supported by social workers, Child psychologists, caring adults and proper trauma informed care. I know it works because of the survivor leaders we met yesterday for dinner who are graduates of this and other shelters that IJM works with.

 

Day 6 (Friday)

This afternoon we had some time to relax before we return back to Canada. We saw some of the sites, Magellan's Cross, Fort San Pedro and a very nice resort on Lapu-Lapu. It was also a time to debrief and reflect on our week getting up close to IJM's work protecting children from Online sexual exploitation. My lasting memory from an incredibly inspiring week will be the dinner we had with the Survivor Leaders. Once they were trapped in a place of terror and abuse and now they have hope and a vision to use their experience to help others. If you are interested to know more check out Ruby's Podcast. https://lnkd.in/eiyXbe7M

 

Studying at Bethlehem Bible College

I am doing an online course with Bethlehem Bible College this year. It will consist of a fall and winter semester and then an in person two week course in May. Below I have pasted my intro of myself.

My name is David. I am married to Irfana and have two children Zara 17 and Zane 14. I am currently working for International Justice Mission Canada as our head of Development and I am really pleased to be able to go deeper into issues of Peace and Reconciliation especially in the Palestine/Israel context. In 2003 I was working for the Church Mission Society in England and took part in a desert encounter with Musalaha in Sinai. It was an experience I will never forget and opened my eyes up into the struggles of the Palestinian people, but also the power as Christians of working together in an extreme environment where we grew closer together through the experience without the need of heavy conversation or solving any great issues. I am looking forward to learning more and applying some of what I learn to my context here in Canada among indigenous people and to my work context as well where reconciliation and Justice sometimes do meet.

Watch this space for updates on the course, my learnings and my challenges!!

Loving the Sport!!

I am in Sport's heaven watching an array of sports that I am passionate about. This is what I am currently tracking!!

The Euros

Copa America 

The T20 World Cup Cricket

Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix

And Wimbledon tennis  and the Paris Olympics just around the corner!!

I'm back blogging!

I have decided to return to blogging. It really is not for anyone else but myself. Writing is the way I process and make sense of things. It is also a release for me when I see something that is unfair, unjust or just interesting and I want to acknowledge that it exists rather than just move on to the next thing I have on my list of things to do!!

This 'pause' in blogging happened to me between 2011 and 2013 and back then I decided list down things that I might have blogged about in that time. I don't have the energy to do that again, but instead I have just picked one thing for each year between 2015 and 2024. So here we go:

2015 - Created an eBay auction for Premiership Captain's football boots to raise money for Christian Aid's work in Ethiopia. Stevie Gerard's boots went to 3,000 pounds. It was his last game for Liverpool!!

2016 - Worked at St John Ambulance for 1 year. I organised donor events at Aston Villa FC and Middlesbrough FC as well. Here is a video we made of the event at Villa Park. 

2017 - Emigrated to Canada and lost my Dad at the same time in February! We landed in a very cold Winnipeg.

2018 - Completed 1 year working for International Justice Mission. Travelled to Washington DC in January for an orientation into IJM Global at our DC headquarters and met Linda Yang, an IJM Fellow from BC going to work in Cebu in the Philippines. Unbeknown to me at the time this meeting helped to bring the arrest of one of Canada's worst criminals of Online Sexual Exploitation of Children or OSEC. Here is an article I wrote in 2024 for IJM Canada that tells that story. We also welcomed Biscuit into our family

 

2019 - Returned to England to bid my Mum farewell as she succumbed to Parkinson's. Visited Much Wenlock where we grew up and popped in on actress and Mum's friend Gabriel Drake at the Wenlock Priory. Ayozie my sister-in-law and my nieces Daniella and Kezia sang a dedication song in a newly refurbished room in the Priory. A dedication song for both the room and my Mum.

2020 - Covid 19 hit - I decided to do visit 40 IJM donors around Winnipeg. ended up cycling over 500 Kms and raising over $4,000 for children unsafe in Lockdown. An IJM Canada campaign at the time. 

2021 - Started the IJM Canada Midlevel program. This was a brand-new program and also became part of the national leadership team.  

2022 - This was a big snow year where we seemed to have snow storm after snow story. It led to being creative indoors. Here is Zane doing a performance of Granny's house!!

2023 - Returned to England for Christmas with Irfana and the children. It was 7 years since we were last there together, so it was fascinating watching Zara and Zane recall and relive their childhood in familiar places. It was lovely to stay with The Burdette's in Clapham, and the kids  got very excited at Clapman Bandstand where Zane used to scoot around at 100 Mph and dropping in on their old school Macaulay Primary School, where they bumped into some old teachers who are still there! 

2024 - Settled into my role Leading IJM Canada's Midlevel and Major Donor teams. Also engaged in a "Fuller Retreat" across the year with a 3 day retreat in each quartre, taking us to Maryland, Austin Texas and Los Angeles. Here's a photo of my wonderful small group who I also got to meet online in between the retreats. I also was honoured to speak at my church Whyte Ridge Baptist for our Pastor's final Sunday before he retires. Due to the loss of his wife Pat he wasn't able to be there but I was able to weave his thoughts into my talk. Here it is.

Over By Christmas Opening in Worcester Cathedral

This Thursday 30th January our new "Play in a Day" Over By Christmas will open at Worcester Cathedral working with 100 children from local schools. The play will run throughout 2014 commemorating the Out-break of WW1 and exploring and promoting peace and reconciliation. We will also run the project on 31st January at Worecster Cathedral and then on to Gloucester Cathedral in February. 

In Kony's Shadow - Online Exhibition

Christian Aid has recently launched an online exhibition called In Kony's Shadow  (Warning that readers might find content disturbing) It is the story of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army and those it left behind  – from children forced to become soldiers to civilians caught up in the conflict. In my time working for CMS I  took part in a Campaign called "Break the Silence" highlighting the plight of many children who were taken captive by Kony and forced to become Child Soldiers and others who were displaced from their homes. It is incredible that almost 10 years on and he has still ot been caught.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

The Christmas Nativity today...

Christian Aid have put together a collection of photos representing the nativity story through
the eyes of some of the people and communities they support around the world. Click on the Christmas Nativity Gallery

 

A Gospel Christmas 2013 - Christian Aid

Here's my first gig for Christian Aid... A  line-up of top gospel artists  taking part in a festive fundraising concert for Christian Aid.

Special guest, X Factor runner-up Jahméne Douglas, will be joining MOBO award-winning Lurine Cato, Paul Lee, John Fisher and London gospel choir IDMC, and the winners of 2013's Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year, Town Hall Gospel Choir (THGC).

John Fisher, founder of IDMC, is looking forward to hosting the evening: 'This concert is so very special not only because of the stellar line-up of musical artists, but also because we will be able to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ while supporting the awesome work Christian Aid are doing.'

Event details

When: 13 December 2013, 7-9.30pm

Where: Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London, W1C 2DJ

Tickets: £15.50, with a limited number of concessions (£13) for children aged 15 and under, and those over 65. A booking fee of £1.50 will be added to ticket purchases (£1.37 booking fee for concessions) and all profits go to Christian Aid. 

Buy tickets

For more details and to purchase tickets, go to the Eventbrite website

Poetry and Opera at Denville Hall's Christmas Party

Yesterday my brother and I visited Denville Hall for their Christmas party. Denville is an care home for retired actors. It was a great event that brought everyone together both the residents and their families. The evening started with a mulled wine reception. Dan and I went to get our Mum from her room to bring her down for the booked entertainment Franz Hepburn a renowned Opera singer. We went down stairs led by his amazingly deep bass-baritone voice and seated Marg right at the front. This meant she got a lot of the serenading as he sang musical classics like "Old Man River" from Show Boat and "The Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. After some very tasty food and visit to see the widest Christams tree I have ever seen inside a property, we made our way back upstairs. It was that difficult time of the evening where we have to say goodbye to our Mum but it was eased by listening to a recital of her lastest poem for Advent. You can find it here

Over by Christmas - New Play for 2014

Scene Change Arts have started booking "Over by Christmas" our KS2  play for 2014 commemorating the out break of WW1. James Manning and Myself had an afternoon last week at The Royal Festival Hall putting together how we want the workshops to look and how they will fit into the day. We were both very pleased with the end result.The play will cover some of the major events of WW1 such as  conscription, the battlefield and trenches and of course the memoriable day when war stopped for Christmas. The events are carried by a simple story line of a soldier who is killed on the battlefield. Finding himself dead he cannot accept it "How did it come to this?"  A voice calms him and helps him retrace his journey until he is able to finally accept his end. We are also excited to be using actual, poetry, letters and images from the front line which we hope will bring the whole experience home for the children. Our first booking is at Worceseter Cathedral on 30th and 31st January. If you know a primary school who might be interested then they can contact me on [email protected]

Final DREAM day 2013 at Jubilee Primary Sch, Thamesmead.

Last week Scene Change Theatre took our DREAM Project to Jubilee Primary School in Thamesmead. James Manning and myself worked with two year 6 classes to learn out Martin Luther King's iconic "I have a dream"  speech, the civil rights movement and other dreamers who have changed the world. It was a great day working together and seeing how the children visibly gained confidence and stage presence as the day went on. It didn't go unnoticed by the Year 6 Teacher who assisted us throughout the day:

"All the children joined in and were keen to take part. They all loved the acting and it really built on their self esteem. Our Children benefitted a lot from the day."

This was our last DREAM day of 2013. We will be taking DREAM to Guildford Cathedral in January 2014 before we launch our new project "Over by Christmas" to commemorate the out break of WW1.

Oh What a night!

Oh What a night! It doesn't get better than this for a forty six year old football lover. As a child I remember the perfect birthday was to have a 5 a side football party at the Top School (William Brookes), always followed by Jelly and ice cream in the little side room next to the reception. Now my knees and ankles might not get through a game of 5 a side so what could be better than inviting some of the greatest football minds in south London, Irish Bonner, Scouse Luce, Jarvy the Welsh,  Bird of the South  and Richy Rich from up north. And then England go and qualify for Brazil... A special thanks goes out to my wifey  Mannu of the East for getting it just right!!

That snail is fast!

Had a family trip to the cinema this afternoon to See Turbo. What a surprise! I usually fight the tiredness off in animated children's films but this kept my attention throughout. Its about a snail who has a passion for speed to the amusement of his fellow snails. However in an accident where he gets sucked into the gubbings of a car he comes out a racing machine. He then gets picked up by a Taco seller who races snails who discovers not just the snails potential but his own. He has failed in many whacky attempts to sell his brother's taco-making gifts but the snail gives him the crazy idea to enter him in the Indianapolis 500. The film reiterates "Go for your dreams!" "No dream is too big, no person too small no matter what people say" I won't spoil the end of the film but suffice to say I feel inspired to go for my dreams again...

Friendships...

Friendships

 Friendships are from heaven above,
 They are full of love.
 They take and give to those most dear,
 And bring to life, a joyful cheer.
 For it's now a time to celebrate,
 Lift up your hands and celebrate,
 To God who loves us and gives us joy,
 And brings us doves from above.

 

For more poetry from Mum go to http://margogracecooper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/friendships.html?spref=fb