But recently a friend shared this article with me by an atheist that offered an interesting perspective on the role of missions in a war torn Africa:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

Food for thought…

We began editing this project about 2 years ago – and a team of people* have helped us comb through a total of over 150 hours of footage to help get us to this point. You might wonder how does one boil down 150 hours of footage. A Giant Cork Board is how:

Every episode since around EP 8 has been laid out on this cork board (the stacks for each past episode are on the left side of the board). This may be an crazy way to do things, but it’s the only way that I could stay sane while trying to figure out how to distill that many story arcs into some kind of engaging narrative. Our goal has always been to tell the story of Robin and Wendy while weaving their journey together with the needs that are present in the DRC every day.

I hope that this little picture reminds us all of just how large this story is. There are so many different lives represented on this board. Some stories are happy and uplifting while others are hard to hear and even harder to share. But at the end of the day – each one of those cards on that board represents a moment in time – a moment in someones life – a moment in this story that hopes to engage you in the cause of helping end this conflict in the DRC.

I hope that you are able to take just one moment from this podcast – just one of these cards – and share it with the people you know. Take the card and the little story that it represents, the story that has impacted you, and pass it along as we try and work together to help bring an end to what is happening in the DRC.

*The previously mentioned team of people are a major part of what has made this project possible! Thank you so much Parrish, Joey, Luke, Matt, Caroline, Kellie, Jessica, and Hillary!

This podcast exists to bring awareness of the situation in the DRC in an effort to bring about positive change for the country – we’re working hard to be a voice for the Congolese and stir people to action but we DESPERATELY need your help! The more people that watch Congocast, the more awareness we can generate and ultimately, the more funds we can raise for the Julie Project. Here are a few, seriously simple things you can do to help:

• Mention us on your blog/MySpace/Facebook page –send out a note to your friends, become a fan of Congocast on Facebook or our friend on Myspace.
• Copy and paste this into an email and pass it along to your friends and family:

Hey everyone! I just learned about this amazing story and wanted to share it with you – it touched my heart, and I hope it touches yours too. In the summer of 2006, two American women left home to live and serve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an African country oppressed by war and ravaged by violence against women and girls. They experienced some pretty incredible stuff and you can actually watch their story unfold online visit http://www.congocast.org to learn more.

Thanks again for supporting this crazy thing that we’re doing. We really appreciate all of you taking the time to watch the episodes and pass the story along to others. We couldn’’t do this without you!

Tune back in later this week as we start off 2008 with Episode 9 of the Congocast…

1) get people to pray for the situation in DR Congo and its people

2) raise the awareness of the American community of the crisis in the DRC by sharing about it with everyone we know

3) and help get the Julie Project finished – a crisis center for rape victims in Bukav

This episode ( No. 8 ) tries to get across the great importance of these three things. The last two episodes have been incredibly hard to put together. Because there is so much that can be said about what is happening in the DRC, it is hard to know what stories need to be told. I hope that all of us see a part of ourselves in the faces of each of these women in episode 8. There are inumerable ways that you can help them, and the Julie Project is just one way you can get involved

If you want to find out more about this project or support it – you can click here to visit our page about the Julie Project or visit www.answeringthecall.org, the website for the organization that began this tremendously important project

Take up the challenge and find a way that you can help–whether is is through this project or somewhere else. You now know the story, and you have the opportunity to do something about it.