This afternoon I ended up in Asda for a few thing for work. I was awed by the choice. Just for rice there is a whole aisle! I have never noticed that before. (see facebook photo) I began to notice more:
A child screaming wanting what it wasn’t allowed. A lady looking at several bags of potatoes before making a choice. Another lady picks up a pineapple and goes back for one more. Buy one get one free. Three for Two. A crowd round the reduced section. Even as I get served I asked the guy how his day had been “crazy” he said ” Why I got myself 3 jobs I will never know.” I looked at him and responded “You are lucky then. Some people have none” (Poor man)
What was supposed to be a quick trip to the shops messed with my head.

This 5 days was just meant to be something to do to support Tearfund. It is already, for me, becoming way more than that. By this point you are probably desperate to know more about Tearfund and how you can support them right? Well please go to their website at http://www.tearfund.org/ and ‘See for Yourself’ what they do.

Hungry? Oh yes. I am so thankful for Dave doing this too otherwise I may have not managed But we are two days down. My plan for this evening is to go to sleep as soon as possible to pass the time until breakfast! I will leave you with Dave’s comments….

Day 2 and the novelty’s wearing off quickly!

Spent last evening / night / this morning with a thumping headache. Whether it’s hunger or spreading from the toothache I’ve got I couldn’t be sure but it hurt all the same!

Being basically very lazy, I thought I’d just go to work this morning and sort something out (we have a big canteen).
Breakfast – 1 scoop of porridge into a take-away tub that would hold probably 4 scoops, yummy!
Lunch – had a good scout around but couldn’t find anything that I could call suitably bland and uninteresting, that’ll teach me to be lazy!
Dinner – 60g brown rice (too lazy to soak any beans last night)

Lesson learned today…. be better prepared tomorrow or at least get more porridge and save half for lunchtime! I’ve already got some portions of beans soaking ready for tomorrow, might cook them tonight and take to work in a very small Tupperware container.

Things I’ve noticed today -
Everyone around me seems to be constantly gorging themselves on fruit, crisps, chocolate and cake!
It doesn’t matter how hard I think, I can’t make hot water taste like coffee!
It’s very difficult to think about anything but food when your hungry.
I’m glad I’ve got an office job and I’m not expected to put in a day’s hard manual graft on those portions.
Disappointingly, I’ve not spent much time thinking about starving people around the globe, I’ve been too busy thinking about the starving office worker in Dyce!

Never mind, this time tomorrow we’ll be more than half-way through!

So far the biggest thing for me has been other people’s reactions to this challenge.  I spoke a little in church this morning about it (In a very tongue tied, probably un-informative way!) and some comments afterwards really surprised me. For me this is all about sacrifice. Today I have already thought about those who live this way, prayed for them and prayed for the work of tearfund more than I probably ever have in one day. For me this is a big deal. I want to be the type of person who is compassionate and who is generous and who is thoughtful and caring. I realise I won’t achieve all of this in 5 days of a challenge but if I even come closer that is good enough for me.

I have realised a lot about myself just in today, how much I nibble on things for no other reason than just because. How much I LOVE fruit and seem to ‘need’ it as part of my day. That with the power of the brain you can make a hot cup of water taste like tea!! I am sure this week will hold a lot more lessons for me, less shallow than these.

So I will leave you now with Dave’s take on the day and will speak to you all tomorrow!

Linda

We’ve started then!
Day one and I’ve survived so far.
First some good news – I went to Asda today and stocked up on rice and beans – brown rice, red kidney beans, butter beans and black-eyed beans – total price for my week’s food £4.75…..result!

So what have I had to eat today?
Breakfast 30g porridge, made with water, no salt.
Lunch 60g brown rice.
Dinner 30g brown rice, 30g butter beans
The back of the rice packet suggests 75g as a single serving accompaniment to a main course so to have 60g as the only food on a plate made it look just a little lost!

Already missing not having any coffee, Diet Coke or chewing gum

Am I hungry? of course I am, but that’s the whole point though. I’m not on a diet, I’m trying to experience what it’s like to have just enough food to keep you going. I do recognise that at any time I can raid the cupboard / fridge / freezer or phone up and get a takeaway delivered, millions of people don’t have that option open to them.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Dave

Starting tomorrow myself and our friend Dave will begin the Tearfund rice and beans challenge.  The basics of this is to bring more awareness to ourselves about those who are going through severe poverty. To relate to them about how they eat, how they possibly feel when hungry, to of course pray for them and to donate any money we would of spent on groceries to the charity of Tearfund.

Chris was hoping to do this challenge also but due to a throat infection he is unable to take part at this stage but will hopefully we doing it in the near future.

I have to say as the day draws closer I am apprehensive about beginning this challenge.  I have treated tonight as if it was my last supper! This probably defeats the point on lots of levels but I am hoping to give this a go and see if I can do it.  I make no promises however. If it turns out I am a mere weakling and need my food too much then shame on me but I guess we will find out…..

Dave will be contributing to these blogs also. I encourage you to follow the blog posts, to pray for us (!) and to try and support us if you either see or hear from us over this next week.

Here’s to the challenge!

I got very frustrated with myself on Thursday. We were out visiting projects in Thatta and Badin, in the Sindh province. Areas affected by flooding this year and last.

One of the places we visited was a village called Bachyo Jogo. A village of maybe 15 huts, perhaps a population of 90 (these numbers are very rough, not exact!). About 50 people in all came to see us.

My job was to note stories and take photos. Both of which I managed. But, I’m not happy with the results of my photography. The images are good, exposed well, composed fine. But none of them really stand out to me. I had high hopes for what the results would be and didn’t hit them.

Some people will say the photos are great and I should be happy. But I’m not. I know I can do much better, and it highlights, to me, reminds me, humbles me into remembering that this visit was my first ever of this type. It was my first chance taking photos in this setting. So why should I expect my photos not to reflect that!? I know as I gain more experience I will improve, but it frustrates me now that my pictures aren’t as good as I’d wanted!

There are a few challenges about taking photos out here in Pakistan. Firstly, the biggest problem is the light. Being so far south means that the sun sets very quickly and early. This gives less daylight hours to use. The light is also extremely harsh between 10amish and 4pmish, it glares on everything, creates very harsh shadows and flattens everything. It keeps photographers on their feeting and constantly trying to adjust settings and lighting to make it more flattering.
Secondly is the time span. We were in the village for less than an hour. To get the kind of images I’d hoped to, I now know that it involves spending more time in a village getting to know the people, getting comfortable with them and allowing them to get comfortable with me. But I won’t always have the time, so I know within myself thay I need to cut out those brief seconds of hesitation and just do my job.

It’s good to be reminded of my shortcomings, to not let me become big headed!

I find it hard while we are travelling, driving in our cars. We drive past so many excellent photo opportunities. But I know we have little time to stop!

This week I will have the chance to spend longer at the projects we are visiting, and I’m confident my photos will reflect that increased comfort around the people I’m with.

Peace Out!

For the last 6 years, since Linda and I got married, I’ve been employed in full-time Christian Youth Ministry. It’s been….an experience. Plenty of highs and lows, unfortunatley more lows than highs. But thats chat for another post, tonight I’m focusing on the new thing God is doing with Linda and I.

7 years ago, at CLAN Gathering I was prophesied over, the prophecy was that I was going to serve God with my hands. At the time, I was still planning on having a long career in youth ministry, with a focus on sports ministry – so I assumed the hands was to do with American Football! Then, 4.5 years ago, January 2007, Linda bought me my first digital camera, a Fujifilm S8000. She bought me it at a point in my life where I was starting to struggle with depression, a struggle that hasn’t long ended. It was during this time that I threw myself into photography, it was an escape, a way for me to block out everything. Within a couple of years, I progressed from my Bridge camera onto a DSLR. As each day has passed, and passes still, I fall more in love with photography. I grow in my understanding and technical ability, I grow in how much I understand how little I know and still need to learn! I’ve gotten to the point where all I can imagine doing is photography. I’m always dreaming up new projects to do, new places to go. Always reading about new techniques, new challenges, new ways to do things. I’m sure I drive my friends and family nuts at times talking about and constantly taking photos! One hing that has emerged from it all, that is very apparent to both myself and Linda, is that I have a passion for Humanitarian photography, for photography that tells the story of real people’s lives and moves others to react to it. Photography that is powerful, meaningful, striking, beautiful, challenging, heart-breaking and intimate. Photography that will make a difference.

That’s the abridged version of the last 6 years, which brings us to the point of this post.

Hoskins Gallery.

In April this year, Hoskins Gallery was created. Linda and I had both gotten to the point where the stress, depression and dissatisfaction I was facing in my various roles in Youth Ministry was just entirely too consuming. It was time for me to move on, I was burnt out, nothing left to give. We’d been contemplating opening a business together for a while, and we got a good kick in the right direction. Linda still had a few months to go at Uni and that was without doubt the most important thing to be focused on, but at the same time, we felt it was time to take a step of Faith and venture into the unknown.

Hoskins Gallery is a photography and fine art business. Obviously, I am the main photographer. Linda is the creative director. As well as producing prints (she has a degree in printmaking from Gray’s school of art) Linda plays a vital role in the photography side of things, helping to arrange poses/ props etc so that I can have my eye on the shutter the whole time to make sure I don’t miss the moments or the light.

As we start out, our main focus is on wedding and portrait photography, primarily based in Aberdeen and the surrounding area, although more than willing to travel! These two areas are where the biggest market is and where we think it is right for us to start to get our name known. Currently, we are a purely mobile service. Based online at www.hoskinsgallery.com we have a portable studio that fits in almost any house. The dream, however, is to, as a business, own a property where we would have a studio for portrait and lifestyle photograhy as well as a studio for Linda to create her artwork from. We would also like a gallery space within our premises, where we can have exhibitions of our work, the work of peers in the photography and art world as well as up and coming artists/ photographers. One area of photography we, I, are very keen to expand into is the Humanitarian field. I don’t think I could have picked a harder area of photography to aim for. An area where you need to take exceptional photographs (I have a way to go yet) but you also need nerves of steel, on top of a compassionate heart, to be able to focus on and process the realisities of human life you will invariably come across. I anticipate it to take around 5 years, if not longer, to break into this field. Partly because of the growth I need to do to be better enabled to work in this field, but mostly because of how long it will take to buld a good portfolio in this area. That being said, my first trip where my role is that of a Humanitarian photographer starts on Monday. On Monday, I leave for Pakistan for 11 days with a small group from the Church of Scotland World Mission Council. It’s my first trip in this role, butnby no means the first step on the journey.

All in all, despite the weekly uncertainties, this is an incredibly exciting time for Linda and I. We hope that we can rely on you for your prayers and support (perhaps your business too!?). And I look forward to sharing more of this journey with you on my personal blog here, and our busness blog on our business website.

Peace Out

The theme of the Assembly this year was “Love life”, with John Bell being the main speaker. From all accounts John spoke very well – passionate and challenging, over the weekend. When I was there on Monday he was speaking about the importance of recieving blessings from other people alongside the importancd of giving blessings to them. He illustrated this with stories about people he has met over his life that have enriched his life, even when he initially thought they had nothing to give. Now, usually I don’t find myself in agreement with some of John’s approach to Theology, but on Monday I found myself agreeing with him, more than that, I found myself really resonating with what he was saying. It started me thinking about my time at the Youth Assembly over the last 11 years and how it has blessed me through the people that I was often there to serve; about the times when I took part in summer mission and how they people I met more often than not blessed me more than I felt I blessed them; about the hospitality I was shown when I visited an unrecognised Arab village in Israel, visiting a community who had very little, were severely oppressed, yet still gave everything they had to the 11 white people who were visiting them.

There was only one debate on Monday at the assembly, a debate talking about marriage. It was really interesting to listen to the groups as I was walking around taking photos, hearing how each group had picked up on different aspects if the material. Some were delving deeply into Theology of marrisge and looking at what the New Testament had to say about it; some were exploring current cultural approaches to marriage, asking questions such as “Is more emphasis
put on the wedding than on the actual marriage?” and “Is marriage as important to society as it used to be?”; other groups were exploring issues around divorce and remarriage, during the ‘blether’ where they had recieved some background information about the subject they were also asked some specific questions about Marriage and how the Church relates to it, one of the questions being “should the Church develop a liturgy of divorce?” The reasoning behind this being that an earlier survey of young people had brought back the suggestion that a service marking a divorce may help children and young people (and the adults) to cope with thr break up a marrige better. It was a really interesting debate, I’m sure the final deliverance will appear on the COSY blog soon!

One of the things I loved about visiting this assembly was the number of people I recognised, it really wasn’t that big a percentage of the number of people there. I thought that was awesome! Yeah, it was great to see old friends, people I haven’t seen in ages when I went, but it was just as awesome to see more youth and young adults engaging with the wider Church, the more diverse the attendance at the NYA is, the better for the wider Church!

My role on Monday was to take some photos of the day, capturing some of the moments that could be used for publicity for the event. I was able to get a number of good photos, which will be appearing on here, the COSY blog, the COSY flickr page and a few other places soon, I was very aware that I was starting my visual story telling of the weekend at the end of the event. They may be good photos, the may provide a visual narrative to some of Mondays goings on, but they are missing the wider narrative and context of the entire weekend, so I can’t wait to see the photos appearing from others who were there for the whole weekend, or perhaps just for small parts of te weekend.

I’m going to leave my ramblings there for the time being, save to provide some links for you to better explore things around the Church of Scotland National Youth assembly:
For the COSY blog visit: www.cosyblog.wordpress.com
For the COSY Twitter account: www.twitter.com/#!/cosy_nya
For the COSY Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/cosyblog

Enjoy exploring these pages!

Peace Out

I’ve been very, very inactive on here over the last wee while, something I”m not happy at all about!

I’m not sure why I have been inactive, I’m certainly not short of things to write about – CLAN Gathering, Tearfund, World Mission Council, Canada, Cyprus, Hoskins Gallery, Starting a business, Pakistan…..if these things don’t make sense, that’s because I’ve not been keeping this up-to-date!

I’m hoping to remedy this over the next while, if I am fighting against writers block then the only way to deal with that is to write!!

Anytime I write on here, I’m a wee bit nervous about how it will be recieved, so it’s definitely not fear of how I write or what I say being the issue! Although, at some point, I do want to have the courage/ strength to blog about my experiences over the last few years!

I’ll leave it there just now, other than to say, one of the things that’s been keeping my so busy recently is that my wife, Linda, and I have started our own photography and art business, Hoskins Gallery, you can check it out at www.hoskinsgallery.com

Suffice to say, we’re very excited about it!!!

Peace Out

I expect I’ll be overloaded with information, ideas, questions and challenges over the next 2 days (It’s a 2 day meeting at Scottish Churches house) some of which I look forward to sharing here! All i know so far is that I’ll be serving on the Local Development committee, I’m still not 100% what that particular committee does and what my role will be. I’m sure I’ll find out soon though!

Peace Out!

I’ve been interested in the work of this council since I first became aware of its existence in 2000. I suppose it all boils down to the fact that, when I was younger my mind was captured by adventure, explorers like Marco Polo, Livingstone, Captain Scott, Amundsen, Alexander MacKenzie, James Cook, Shackleton, Edmund Hillary, George Vancouver, to name but a few. When I first heard of World Mission, I still had this romanticised idea of exploration and adventure in my head, and World Mission slotted perfectly into that notion of mine beginning 11 years of interest. I’ve since been able to move past that romanticised notion and recognise the work of World Mission for the great, real, work that it is. The Remit of the council is as follows:

The World Mission Council is the channel through which the Church of Scotland responds to the command of Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). We work in countries around the world, usually on the basis of partnership with local churches and institutions, and always with a view to involving church members in Scotland. The cultivation of two-way partnerships between congregations overseas and congregations in Scotland not only creates friendships but expands horizons.

Taking the first steps towards connecting with people in different countries can be the beginning of an exciting and life-changing relationship. Discover challenges people face every day; experience their heart and resilience; share in the joy of giving and receiving.

The Council report is available for download here. I’ll let you read it for yourself, it makes for interesting reading, but I will share with you here the proposed deliverance:

1. Receive the report.
2. Give thanks for the life and witness of Mission Partners who have died, acknowledge with gratitude those who have
completed their period of service overseas, and uphold in prayer all who continue to serve.
3. Urge members of the Church to visit, meet and support the Christian community in the Middle East.
4. Encourage members to pray for the Presbyterian and other churches in Egypt and the work of the Coptic Evangelical
Organisation for Social Services (CEOSS) amongst the least in the society.
5. Encourage members to pray for the witness of the Presbyterian and other Churches in Lebanon and Syria.
6. Commend the Kairos Palestine document to the whole church.
7. Give thanks for Jewish, Christian and Muslim cooperation in upholding the rights of the poor and oppressed in the
Middle East and beyond.
8. Appreciate the work of the Council in developing its Centres to support the Council’s work in the pursuit of justice,
peace and reconciliation.
9. Commend the Council for seeking to engage every member of the Church of Scotland in support of peacemaking
in Israel and Palestine.
10. Give thanks for the renewed co-operation between the Council and congregations of the Church of Scotland with
Christian Aid, and urge all members to support Christian Aid in expressing solidarity with the world church.
11. Thank the Guild for their keen interest and support for the Council’s work around the world.
12. Encourage congregations to join in twinning relationships.
13. Encourage members to offer for service as Mission Partners.
14. Encourage members to volunteer as Ecumenical Accompaniers.
15. Give thanks for the peaceful emergence of South Sudan as a new country and encourage the Council to continue
to support the Christian communities in North and South Sudan.
16. Urge the Government of Pakistan to release and pardon Ms. Asia Bibi and to ensure that she and her family are
protected.
17. Urge the Government of Pakistan to repeal the Blasphemy Law.
18. Urge congregations to be involved in advocacy activities in support of minority Christian communities.
19. Give thanks for the HIV Programme and the work of our partners at home and overseas, and re-commit the Church
of Scotland to playing its part in response to the pandemic.
20. Thank congregations for their enthusiastic support for Souper Sunday and encourage them to continue to support
the HIV Programme in prayer, action and giving.

I don’t want to preempt the debate this afternoon, but I am especially interested to see what might be said on the floor about sections 3, 12, 13 and 17.

My interest in the Council was boosted over the last few years due to 2 trips I was privileged to participate in. In 2008 I was part of a trip to the holy Land with the Mission and Discipleship council, you can read more about it here. Last year I was part of a faithshare visit to Nepal to spend time with the South Asia Christian Youth Network, you can read more about that here. These trips did more than I can vocalise to re-ignite my interest and passion for the work of World Mission. The people I met and the things I saw galvanised something in me, a desire to get more involved and see if I can’t help in someway, to see if i have something worthwhile to offer in this area. I’ve been nominated to join the Council this year, which I’m very excited about, which means I’ll be blogging more about World Mission.

In the meantime, here are 6 blogs from World Mission mission partners around the world:

• Joel Githinji in Nepal http://joelgithinji.blogspot.com
• Colin Johnston in Israel / Palestine http://colinintiberias.blogspot.com
• David & Rebecca Morton in Malawi davidrebeccamorton.wordpress.com
• George Shand in Israel / Palestine http://georgeshand.wordpress.com
• Ida and Keith Waddell in Zambia http://idaandkeith.blogspot.com
• Tabeetha School in Jaffa has a blog at: http://tabeethaschool.blogspot.com

Enjoy the Debate!

Peace Out

First, the official Church of Scotland media:

twitter: @generalassembly

Live video stream: webcast

Life and Work, the Church of Scotland magazine are also tweeting and posting regular notes on Facebook:

twitter: @cofslifeandwork

facebook: Life and Work

There is also an official hashtag on twitter where you can follow what is being said about the assembly: #GA11

There are also a number of individual twitter users who are regularly tweeting about the assembly:

Shuna Dicks: @shunad

Stewart Cutler: @stewartcutler

Niall MacKenzie: @rawxing

Lynsey Martin: @lynsey1889

Bryan Kerr: @revbk

Alistair Vannet: @Vdawg

Church of Scotland Youth: @cosy_nya

Fiona Fidgin: @Fidge

Mary Haddow: @WeeRant

Rev Marc Kenton: @kirkofscotland

GA_Junkie: @ga_junkie

A few blogs that are worth keeping an eye on this week too:

Bryan Kerr,  a Minister in Lanark: http://www.lanarkgreyfriars.com/bryans-blog/

COSY Blog, a blog set up to talk about various Church of Scotland Youth endeavours, this week featuring the youth Representatives to the assembly: http://cosyblog.wordpress.com/

GA Junkie, a blog by Steve Salyard following the politics of presbyterianism: http://blog.gajunkie.com/

John Orr, a probationer Minister with the Chuch of Scotland, and my old YF leader!: http://johnorr.me.uk/

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, I’m bound to have missed some people given that I don’t follow everyone! If you do see someone that I have missed, please add them in the comments below this post!

Peace Out