Have you been wondering about the length of time since our last update? In this case no news has not been good news.
I had planned to write in detail about what we discovered during my trip to Nashville and our visit to Fiji, but Bella returned from Fiji so sick that she was in hospital for two weeks and we are only just getting back on top of things.
So here are the headlines, with a promise for more details later:
Nashville: I spoke at both the Holy Trinity Community Church and the annual Theology and Peace conference about modern slavery. Both talks were well received and I think I have made a handful of contacts with people with whom we will collaborate in the future. The Theology and Peace conference was especially energising because I was part of a group who were all on the same page with regard to violence, faith, and the importance of restorative options for perpetrators.
I thoroughly recommend clicking on this image to hear Naomi Tutu's talk from the conference, in which she describes the African philosophy of ubuntu.
Fiji: Bella and I visited good friends Peter and Jill Schultz in Suva. The main purpose of our trip was to experience the prison rehabilitation work they have been doing for the last 14 years, and to ponder whether their programs could be adjusted for the rehab of trafficking perpetrators.
We also visited Homes of Hope, which offers sanctuary to girls in need, including teenagers trafficked for sex.
After that we planned three days in a tent under a coconut palm soaking up the sun. But by then Bella was quite sick … and it rained!
When we returned to Oz, Bella's health deteriorated to the point that she was hospitalised. A tough bout of flu lead to pneumonia and other infections. Fluid built up in and around her right lung, requiring surgery to drain it, and she is still on the slow road to a place called Recovery.
I intend to write more about what we’ve been learning and how it affects the future of the project soon.
—Matt & Bella.