I am in the process of relocating my blog to the following address:

http://amandawingersimages.blogspot.com/

Photos can be viewed WAY easier, so be sure to check out the new stuff…and glance over the older pages too. Thanks for all your feedback and encouragement!

love mandy

“But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.”

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
³ For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.^[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity^[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.^[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.

¹⁵ If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
²² I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

You see, the DR Congo is in a war that has killed 5.4 million people—the deadliest conflict since World War II. Almost half of those who’ve died are under the age of 5. In addition to the death toll, in 2009, it was estimated that over 215,000 people had been raped by the armed military forces oppressing the country. They also estimate that in 2010, about 1,000 people were raped each month. In June 2010, UK aid group Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased by seventeenfold. Reported victims have range in age from a few months old, to a 110 years old.

Although citizens of the DRC are among the poorest in the world, having the second lowest nominal GDP per capita, the Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$ 24 trillion.

So why is all of this happening and what does it have to do with my trip to Best Buy with Marcel?

The Enough Campaign explains it this way.  “The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by regional conflict and a deadly scramble for its vast natural resources. This greed for Congo’s natural resources has been a principal driver of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history. In eastern Congo today, these mineral resources are financing multiple armed groups, many of whom use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control local populations, thereby securing control of mines, trading routes, and other strategic areas.”

In Congo, rape is used as a weapon of war. Women are like the glue that holds the communities together. If a woman is raped, she is considered unclean and her husband almost always abandons her. This leaves her to fend for herself and her children resulting in the break down of the community, vulnerable families, and thousands of traumatized men, women and children.

“Armed groups earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the militias to purchase large numbers of weapons and continue their campaign of brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas of Eastern Congo. The majority of these minerals eventually wind up in electronic devices such as cell phones, portable music players, and computers.” (http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/initiatives/conflict-minerals)

“Cell phones, portable music players, and computers…”

The disconnect of geographical space that normally numbs me evaporated as I watched a man who dedicated and risks his life to help his fellow countrymen who are victims of this war. I marveled at the fruitlessness of our attempts to entertain, distract and satisfy ourselves through materialism and was sickened by the cost it created.

I have no conclusions, just a heavy, sick feeling in my stomach from the stark realization of the cost of our entertainment. I’m as guilty as the next person. Even as I type this, I feel conflicted by the laptop I am holding.

I’m not so ignorant as to think that we can and even should abandon all technology or boycott all minerals involved. But I do believe that it is our moral duty to take responsibility by demanding to know where the materials we consume came from. If companies like Apple and Microsoft were forced by consumers to ensure that each device was conflict free, we could literally impact thousands of innocent lives.

I’m amazed by the grace and love radiating from his man who daily gives his life to bring justice and healing to his people. He could easily been bitter, angry and resentful, and I don’t think anyone could fault him. Yet he sees the brokenness and emptiness in our culture and seeks to love, encourage and uplift us in our brokenness.

I just have never seen grace personified quite like I did in Marcel.

Almost 2 years after leaving Uganda, I’m finally headed back. This time, I’ll be traveling to Lira, Uganda to visit Otino-Waa Children’s Village. This unique orphanage grew up out of the desperate need to protect and shelter children orphaned by the war in Uganda and to protect them from the rebel group abducting and forcing them to become child soldiers. Otino-Waa was begun over 12 years ago with 78 children, today there are over 200 children. The thing I love about Otino-Waa is the group home set up: 8 children are assigned to a home and adopted by a “house mom”-usually a widow from the area. This creates a family structure and a sense of belonging and security.

I’m so blessed and excited to have the opportunity to visit Otino-Waa this May. One of their major needs is for photos of the children for their sponsor families. Another need is to document the stories of the newly arrived children and house moms. In addition to this, I’ll be photographing the complex which includes a cafe, church, school and the homes in order to help them communicate the story of Otino-Waa to churches and families who would like to partner with them.

In order to raise support for this trip, I’m selling 8×10 prints (see below). If you’d like to contribute your support to this cause by purchasing a photo,  contact me and I’ll fill you in on the details.

amanda_wingers@yahoo.com

But more importantly than all this, I ask for your prayer support. Prayer has more of an influence than we will ever understand. I am certain that many times throughout my life-especially the last time I was in Africa-prayer was what kept me going, kept me healthy and safe.

Blessings friends,

Amanda

Copyright Benjamin Edwards Photography
Photos by Amanda Wingers

Today, we were blessed to hand each girl and woman a beautiful portrait of herself. Their responses ranged from giggles of excitement and wonder, to silence and contemplation at seeing themselves. We had each one paste their photo to a piece of paper, and write words that described who they are. We encouraged them not to write things that others have told them-what men had said, or what the madams at the brothels said, but rather what they believed, what they felt, who they thought they were.

Afraid, Broken, Joyful, Saved, Sad, Beautiful, Angry, Confused, Betrayed, Hopeful, Ashamed, Healing

Then we encouraged them to describe what “God’s love is…”

Healing, Trustworthy, Rescuing, Powerful, Real, Strong, Precious, Forgiving, Perfect, Father, Merciful, Peaceful

Some women proudly displayed their work, some didn’t write anything at all, some wept. But at the end of the day, each woman and girl had been reminded, or perhaps told for the first time, that she was precious, worthy of love, and beautiful.

It is humbling and beautiful to have witnessed this day. I’m amazed and thankful to have been a few moments in these women and girls’ lives. There is a lifetime of healing and battles to fight ahead of these beloved daughters of the King. But we serve the only God who can change lives and mend the broken hearts. Praise God He is not finished with any of us.
Click to view slideshow.

These are a few of the women and their beautiful children who I am falling in love with each day.