Team Follow Up Meeting

Sankofa '08 participants are meeting Sunday, April 13 in RC 417 at 4:30. Please be praying for the team as we gather to talk about all that we have experienced and plan for all we'd like to do as we move forward. Thanks for reading about our trip.

First leg back home

Well, this is Dunn, and this is my first post on the Sankofa blog, and it's the second to last day! Sorry about that. But you're probably thankful I didn't post too many times here. I tend to be long-winded. It didn't help that I didn't have access to my computer for about a day and a half (long story, and you can read a little about it in my blog, areyoudunnyet.blogspot.com). Anyway, today we simply drove back north, leaving Jackson MS, and driving through MS, through TN, a little bit of AR, and now in IA. I don't even know the name of the town we stopped at for lunch. For most of the morning most of us slept. The afternoon was filled with an amazing discussion. Leon and I talked later, and we think it clocked in at about 6 hours long. It included a long talk about tangible, immediate things we can do at Bethel to help promote change, and fight oppression. It was great, and very encouraging. I love our students! They inspire me. I pray that they continue the momentum, working for change and against oppression.

Just four shots...

Sunrise at the Perkins Center.














All but about three students asleep.













Oh yeah, and some staff slept too.


















But some needed to be active, like Mike (Merv) doing a few wind sprints during our lunch stop.

Last stop in Iowa City, and then the final 6 hour leg home. Please pray for traveling mercies.

Shalom!

Friday - on the road!

Sorry that we have been missing in action for a few days. We arrived in Iowa City tonight after a LONG drive. (We left Jackson, MS this morning at 7:30 A.M.) Thanks for checking in. We plan to leave here at 9:00 and be home back on campus around 3:00. See you soon!

Thursday Photos in Jackson

In Jackson the whole team banded together to do what seemed impossible! We cleaned out the basement of one of the houses at the Perkins Center. Sure, "clean the basement" doesn't sound too intense but it was an incredible amount of work! We worked all day and in the end the team had a lot to be proud of.
Mike and Terrence doing the heavy lifting.

Korissa, Maria, & Jenn found an old box of jerseys.

Fiona & Naomi were waiting for the next assignment.

Ahmed and Moses kicking back on the tractor when we were finally finished for the day.

Wednesday Photos in Montgomery & Selma

We visited the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery on Wednesday morning. The round black granite memorial (designed by the creator of the Vietnam Memorial) includes a time line of the movement and includes the names of 40 people that were martyred working for Civil Rights.
The back wall of the memorial includes a quote from one of Martin Luther King Jr's speeches that inspired the designer, "Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." It's hard to tell here, but the entire memorial is covered in flowing water! Mike, Maria, Charles, and Moses posed for this picture.

In the afternoon we took a tour through Selma, AL. Here most of the team is pictured with our tour guide, Sam Walker. We are standing on the steps of Brown Chapel AME Church where voting rights marches including "Bloody Sunday" and the historic Selma-Montgomery march were organized.
After visiting the Voting Rights Museum and having a pretty intense experience at the Slavery Museum, we were led across the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Moses and Ahmed. This is the site where police marshals beat peaceful marchers seeking the right to vote. It was incredible to follow in their footsteps, literally, in that way. Still, I think the team enjoyed visiting the park at the other side of the bridge a bit more. It was a moment of beauty in the midst of a heavy day.

From Selma we drove 3 1/2 hours to Jackson, MS where we debriefed our earlier experiences and had a great BBQ dinner at the John Perkins Foundation.

Wednesday / Thursday Plans

Wednesday is bound to be another very hard day. We will be visiting the Civil Right Memorial here in Montgomery before leaving for Selma where we'll visit the National Voting Rights Museum and take a guided tour of the city. From there we'll be driving on to Jackson. We'll be spending the night at the John Perkins Foundation and doing a service project with their organization on Thursday. Internet is unsure but we'll get new posts up when we can. Thanks for checking in on us. Please leave a comment. ;)

Tuesday Photos in Montgomery

Today in Montgomery was generally a positive day for us a team. We're experiencing so much together and we're going at a break neck speed! Please continue to pray for all of our group as we journey together through these intense conversations.

We visited the Rosa Parks Museum this morning and learned more about the bus boycotts that started in Dec of 1955. The picture above is of group members hanging out just outside the museum. (It's beginning to warm up. We're hoping to see 70's tomorrow) Although we were not able to take cameras in the museum, this photo shows the Davis Theatre, the bus spot where additional passengers boarded the bus prompting the driver to ask Mrs Parks to move. (I imagine the bus would have been about where the UPS truck is.) Dao and Tanden are chattin' it up as Katrina looks on. Dunn is looking back at the museum. Terrence and Amanda are in a good conversation and Korissa is sitting near the lamp post ;)

We had more soul food at Martha's Place today. Martha is a Christian woman that overcame incredible odds to open this restaurant in an old house. We sat together as a whole team in a room on the second floor. After lunch, Martha came upstairs to greet us and share her testimony. It was a blessing to pray for her and hopefully be as much of an encouragement to her as she was to each of us! This is just a small part of team... Terrence, Yer, Lindsey, Dunn, Liz B, Samantha, Mike & Tanden.

Elyse, Naomi, & Naomi sitting on the far side of the room. The zoom on my new camera works pretty well.

After lunch we visited the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture at Alabama State University where we had the chance to hear from three people that lived in Montgomery during the boycotts and told personal stories of their involvement. Here Lindsey is talking with Reverend Bob Graetz and his wife Jean.

Here Ahmed is talking with Charles Varner. If you're not sure what to ask us about when we return, these stories would be a safe place to start. Not everyone agreed with everything that was shared but I do think that we each took something unique away from this experience.

Personal stories are powerful. We will each have so many to share when we return. Please begin now to prepare to ask. Even if it's hard for us to share, we have so very much to tell. And... for some, you may already know that you won' t need to ask. We're coming home with lots of new things to share and you can expect to hear hear our hearts on it.

Monday Photos in Atlanta

There was so much to see and experience in Atlanta. We spent the early part of the day in the King Memorial district. Many students toured the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born and lived as a child. Also in the area there are several buildings with exhibits dedicated to MLK, Coretta Scott King, Ghandi, and Rosa Parks. The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial is also located there just blocks from his home. Seeing his final resting place together with his wife, Coretta, was a meaning part of the day for many.

In this same block is the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King SR was a pastor and where Martin Luther King Jr eventually joined him in the ministry. Jenn posed for this great photo as we were walking by.
A bunch of the girls quickly joined Jenn for the photo but I'm not sure they realized I was no longer focused on the sign. Jade, Amanda, Laine, Naomi, Korissa, Fiona, Jenn, and Dao all made it into this shot. Chelsea is peeking in the back ;)

The rest of the day in Atlanta was good and bad. There was miscommunication, bad decisions, hurt feelings, hard conversation, and ultimately a good chance for us to work out as a team the things that we are trying to be about on this trip.

Looking for more Sankofa 08 news?

One of the staff members traveling with us is Dunn Yoshitani. He is also posting updates on his blog at http://areyoudunnyet.blogspot.com/ Feel free to check it out.

Sunday Photos in Birmingham

This photo is taken from Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham of 16th Street Baptist Church. We were very warmly welcomed to celebrate Easter with them. One woman commented, "As a church we have a legacy but here Jesus is the main attraction." It is so true! Although they are known for the bombing that killed 4 little girls in the church basement we were so blessed to worship "the main attraction" with them today. (and YES there were beautiful flowers through out the park.)

We also toured Kelly Ingram Park where police used fire hoses and trained attack dogs to injure teens marching from the church. There are many beautiful and thought provoking statues in the park.
We got lunch at "Mrs. B's" and ate in the park. It was the most incredible southern cooking I can imagine... fried chicken, collard greens, candied yams, baked macaroni and cheese, baked beans, sweet tea... and on and on!! This is a picture of Leon, Fiona, Naomi, and Elyse enjoying their Easter feast!

I think this is my favorite photo of the day. A big group of Bethel students sat down with a man in the park and heard stories of what it was like to live in Birmingham during the days of the marches. The photo is taken looking through a sculpture remembering the dogs used to attack people in that park. You may want to look at the photo a bit larger. Just click on.

Tonight we are sleeping in Atlanta are are looking forward to learning more about Martin Luther King Jr.'s deep legacy in this place tomorrow. As always, we appreciate your prayers and comments.

Saturday Photos in Memphis

Thanks for your continued prayers for our team. Here are a few pictures from Memphis on Saturday.


This is the balcony at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis. It will be 40 years ago next month.

Samantha, Jade, and Dao are sitting in front of the building where the fatal shot was fired. We also toured that building.

Naomi, Liz, Naomi, and Laine outside the National Civil Rights Museum. (The Lorraine Motel has been converted into this building.)

Our first team photo! :) Click the photo to see a larger version.

Have you seen the Neely's show on the food network? Amanda had and she made reservations for the team. We had some incredible BBQ! Can you see downtown Memphis in the background?
These few pictures don't do it justice. Be sure to ask to see more from Memphis when we get back.

Hello friends. Thanks for checking in on us. I’m sorry this is the first chance there has been to post updates.

Friday was a snowy day in MN. Not the way that we expected to start our spring break trip. We loaded the buses late and have been trying to make up time ever since. You can see that it didn’t bother Amanda and Moses. They were just glad to be getting on the way. Our bus driver, Pete, got us safely through the snow and the slush. We’ve had dry roads since passing Albert Lea.

One major glitch so far (or I should say the only major glitch ;) has been that the video monitors on our bus were not working. A big piece of the Sankofa experience is watching films and documentaries chronicling the Civil Rights movement. Films have been strategically chosen for each segment of the trip and we hadn’t been able to watch any of them until late today (Sat.) We’re so thankful the technician the bus company found here in Memphis was able to get it fixed this Easter weekend.

Saturday we left St. Louis in the dark. We loaded the bus at 5:30 a.m.! Pete has been a trooper. After a long drive yesterday, we have had many more hours on the road today. It’s been amazing to see the flooded fields and ditches along the way. Most things are green and it’s warming up. There were even flowering trees outside of the museum.

We made it to Memphis for our 10 a.m. tour at the National Civil Right Museum/ Lorraine Motel. It is the place where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed and we got to go through the building across the street where the fatal shot was fired from. The information in the museum sparked great (but difficult) conversations on the bus. It started small with just a few people but by the time we reached Birmingham tonight, the whole bus was involved (all 27 of us.)

We watched a sad film at the hotel tonight in preparation for our visit to 16^th Street Baptist Church tomorrow. It’s late, so I’ll tell you more about it from Atlanta tomorrow night and I’ll try to get you a few more pictures.

Please pray for the people that are sick (including myself, Angela – and Korissa getting over the flu.) Also, please pray for the hearts of the people that are in the midst of this intense experience. We are all feeling so much in these busy days.

Thanks for your comments. We’ll be sure to pass them on when we can.

Final Preparations

It's been a busy week. Students are finally done with mid-terms and we're all getting packed tonight. The final preparations are being done for every area of Sankofa. After a frenzied day, Amanda and I made a major trip to Sam's Club to buy food for breakfasts on the bus and food to pack for lunches during our service projects in Jackson. We unloaded everything back on campus, and when I left just before 8:00 p.m., Amanda still had a few things left to do in the office.

Please pray for all of our final preparations, for those we know are fighting colds, for all of us that are frazzled after an exhausting week, and for safe travels in the midst of spring snows, rainy forecasts, and flooding.

Trusting God's got it all under control! - Angela

Special Prayer Request

There has been a last minute change in the Sankofa 08 team. Our dear friend and bus driver, Gil, called today and will not be able to drive for us next week because of health reasons. We are so sad to learn that he won't be with us but we ask that you would continue to lift him up in prayer. Gil has offered to have a special meeting with our new driver, Peter, to fill him in on as many details as he can. Those of us that know Gil will miss him dearly on Sankofa 08. Please also pray for Peter as he joins our team in this important way!

Please Pray

Welcome to the Sankofa '08 blog. This is a spot where I hope to list updates from our trip. Please pray for our team as we prepare to leave. We have our final training meeting this Sunday, March 9. Partners will be introduced and it will be our first and last time together as a full team before we leave. Please pray, pass this link on, encourage others to pray, and feel free to add comments to encourage the team. I'll do my best to pass on your words to the team.