Friends and Supporters,
We hope this finds you well, rested, and enjoying some time with family and friends! We are celebrating a remarkable year at eXile international! We aren't sure we'll ever experience one like it again. And it's not over! Stay tuned for some exciting news on how your year-end tax donations can go directly toward a new project in Congo! Because of the contributions, prayers, and support of so many, we are excited to share the remarkable highlights of the past year. Even we can't believe it!
- Art/expressive trauma care was provided to over 1000 war-affected children, former child soldiers, and those orphaned in Congo, Uganda, Sudan, and Haiti.
- Trauma care training was provided to over 200 local leaders on the ground.
- Local counselors who lead weekly group work and counseling with the children are now supported monthly.
- The first dormitory has been built at the Peace Lives Center for restoration of former child soldiers in Goma, Congo by the boys themselves! (And we were able to hammer a few nails with them....)
- Over 300 shoes and shirts were given to children orphaned by the LRA or young girls who were victim to sexual violence and rape.
- We began our Sponsorship Program! We now assist 15 former child soldiers by providing education, health care, trauma care, and teaching peace building skills.
- We had the incredible opportunity to hand deliver letters to President Obama from children orphaned by the LRA directly to the White House as we actively participated with our teammates at Resolve in Washington D.C. through our Advocacy Campaign.
- Bethany was honored to speak by special invitation at the Child Soldier Education Symposium at The Hague in conjunction with the Thomas Lubunga trial at the International Criminal Court.
- eXile was recently chosen as the recipient of a $10,000 grant from Giving of Live! With those funds, we will be training local leaders in Uganda & Congo in the Empower Program to continue weekly group work with additional war-affected children. We will also be putting a down payment on NEW LAND at The Peace Lives Center restoration home in Goma, Congo.We could not work toward change in these children's lives without your active support. We are over $14,000 toward our goal of $20,000 by 1 - 1- 12. Youryear end tax donation will assist us in completing the purchase of new land at The Peace Lives Center in Congo for restoration of boys & girls rescued from the bush and to train counselors to walk them into peace & healing.
You may donate here: http://www.exileinternational.org/onetimedonation.phpor become a monthly SING! donor starting at only $7 a month or sponsor the direct physical, emotional, and spiritual rehabilitation of a former child solider.
Thank you for making this life changing year possible in the lives of so many children.
Wishing you the happiest of New Years!
~ the eXile team
--eXile international
5123 Virginia Way st b - 11
Brentwood, TN 37027
"eXile international, inc is officially incorporated as a non-profit organization and is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3)Corporation. All donations are 100% tax deductible. (EIN 26-3098725)"
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Because of You...... This happened!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
My name is Innocent. I've been orphaned. It's Christmas. I don't need your money. I need your heart.
Returning the night before Thanksgiving and two days before Black Friday after being in five African countries was surreal. It seems hands are out everywhere, and we don’t just want to be one more hand.
What does it really mean to be Thankful?
What does it really mean to be In Need?
We saw hearts broken from war. Teenage hands holding babies born in the bush after being raped. Heads holding memories that our movies would not even show. And Joy beyond comprehension.
We not only came back with hands full of needs from children who have survived war, but spirits full of lessons taught to us by tiny hearts and young men who were once forced to kill.
Like Innocent.
“Mr. Innocent” as he calls himself. He is recovering from malaria as you read this. Once a child solider, he is now one of the leaders of the Peace Lives restoration center. He is learning how to live again, and he taught us more than we had to give.Yes, there are needs. Massive needs. Homes that need to be built for street children. Land that needs to be purchased for more homes. Funds for training of counselors. School fees, food, and sponsors.
But as I sat down to write this, I realized…. They don’t just need our money. They need our hands and ourfeet and our hearts. To only ask for money would be placing them in a position of a beggar.
They are not weak. They are strong. And we are blessed to serve them in small ways. We invite you to join us.So in a silent way…. Our 2011 Christmas Campaign information is below. We would love to invite you into our journey beside of these children.
Be that
- a store purchase for a present
- a child sponsored
_ a monthly SING! donor beginning at $7/month
- a church/business partner supporting our work monthly
- a prayer or simply a heart touched.
We count them all the same.
From the eXile team and the hundreds of children we have been honored to serve,
Merry Christmas!
~ Bethany
Monday, December 19, 2011
eXile international receives $10,000 grant from Giving of Life!
Sometimes you just want to pinch yourself!
A heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you who voted, posted, reposted and voted some more! 233 well deserved non-profit organizations and your voting placed exile international in the top 20. After a few interviews, exile placed 3rd and will receive $10,000 toward our work with war-affected children in Africa! We are very humbled and our board met this morning to begin discussing how we can best use this gift!
We have come to know the hearts of our friends at Giving of Life Grant
and we are more than honored to be chosen. Congrats also to Heartline Ministries and The Simple Way.
What makes this even more amazing is that eXile stayed in the guest home of Heartline Ministries while doing work with children traumatized by the earthquake in Haiti, and The Simple Way has had a great impact on our outlook and work with the world's most broken children. Read Bethany's blog written in August here:
Check out more information below from the website of
Thanks again for your love and support!
We’ve been hard at work here at Giving of Life for the past several weeks as we have been meeting with, deliberating over, and praying about our Top 50 ministries. During this first season of Giving of Life, God has already connected us with some truly amazing people. We have high expectations for this next year.
Over a six month period, we received 752 applications and accepted 233 ministries. Then our voters chose their favorite 50. After that, our Committee selected 20 ministries and chose three of those 20 to receive the major grants.
Today we are recognizing the top 20 ministries - ministries who stood out to us both for their incredible work and their sincere servants’ hearts. We are so proud of these ministries, in addition to all of the Giving of Life ministries, and we are thrilled to be able to bless them financially.
We are pleased to announce the following ministries as recipients of the three major grants:
- Heartline Ministries - $50,000
- The Simple Way - $20,000
- eXile International - $10,000
Check out this video of our founders making the big announcement to the winning ministries:
The following 17 ministries are the recipients of the $2,000 grants.
Youth Missions International
God’s Littlest Angels
Josiah Venture
Children’s HopeChest
Hands and Feet Project
Women at Risk, International
ABBA Fund
The Mentoring Project
TentMaker Ministries
Sixty Feet
Daymark Pastoral Counseling
Christian Educators Outreach
Snowboarders and Skiers for Christ USA
Not this Girl
Wonderfully Made
The Chalmers Center for Economic Development
Music for the Soul
We could easily just leave it at that - these are the recipients; these are the grants; now we can cheer and call it a day.
But that’s not what we’re about.
Our Committee chose these ministries for specific reasons. Each one is making an incredible impact. We want to share some highlights so you can not only congratulate them, but also come to understand their hearts.
Heartline Ministries has been serving in Haiti for the past 20 years. Their ministry focuses on the health (both physical and spiritual) and empowerment of women in their community of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They have a Maternity Center where women can come for weekly vitamins, a check-up, a healthy meal, and a class focusing each week on a specific area of care for themselves and their unborn babies. They also have a birthing room for women to come when they are ready to deliver their babies.
Ultimately, Heartline is helping to reduce the number of orphans in Haiti by equipping mothers with valuable parenting skills. This incredible ministry is impacting the community of Port-au-Prince in immeasurable ways!
The Simple Way is an urban ministry that serves in one of the roughest parts of town in Philadelphia, PA. Check out this great description from their profile:
“We are not simply interested in dealing with the symptoms of poverty but the disease itself.
It has been said, ‘Give a person a fish and they will eat for a day. Teach them to fish and they will eat for the rest of their lives.’ But we also have to ask who owns the pond… who built the fence around the pond, and who polluted it. And why does a fishing license cost so much?
Here at The Simple Way—we feed people. We teach folks to fish. And we also ask who owns the pond. May we continue to build the world we dream of.”
eXile International provides trauma care to war-affected children and former child soldiers in the Congo and East Africa through art and expressive therapy. Besides engaging these kids in musical and artistic activities, eXile International also acts as an advocate for the children who are suffering and do not have a voice to speak for themselves.
We ask you to continue to support these ministries, along with all the others featured on our site, with your prayers, words of encouragement, and even financial donations. These grants would have been impossible without the generous donations of people like you - people who care about the ministries serving hurting and needy people. You can contribute by clicking on the Donate button at the bottom right of this page.
Please join us in celebrating the work these ministries are doing, and continue to show them love!
Thank you all for all of your hard work and enthusiasm. Don’t forget to check back on our website to find out about the all-expenses-paid trip we are providing for two fans of a Giving of Life ministry.
Blessings,
The Giving of Life Team
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Children orphaned by the LRA raise their voice....
Over 200 letters collected in Northern Uganda. Many written by the same children who wrote letters last year. When the children learned their letters had been received by the President of the United States they cheered. They cheered because their voices had been heard. They cheer because they have been given back a voice. A voice is important… With a voice you can be heard. You can share and you can heal. They have been given back the voice and empowerment that Kony’s evils have sought to squander.
Primary to any trauma is the disempowerment one is left with. Traumatic experiences - especially chronic, traumatic experiences - can leave a person feeling powerless… defeated… unable to fight or raise their voice to be heard.
These children wrote letters sharing their story.
They raised their voice.
They were empowered.
They cheered.
Their letters express thanks to the US Gov’t for sending military aid to help seek and stop Kony.
Voices were penned asking for continued support to bring the LRA’s terrors to an end.
Their voices matter. I am so thankful to share that message with them. So thankful to carry their messages back.
I wish you could see their words. They have seen too much for such little eyes.
“Please help stop Joseph Kony.”
“Please help stop the LRA.”
“They burned down my village.”
“They have killed our people.”
“They tortured and killed my family.”
Then the details… The details they know all too well. I won’t share the details. They are too much. Too much for such little eyes.
My heart breaks for them. My heart overflows for them. I am where I should be.
- Matthew Williams
Friday, November 25, 2011
Greetings of thanks from Congo….
CONGO Day 3: “I am writing this from DR Congo where we just left 60 boys who were once forced to kill. 60 boys abducted by 5 different rebel groups. Thirty of them are part of a program at The Peace Lives Center that exile international is excited to partner with. I don’t have words for today. Only an overwhelming feeling that True Life lives in the center of redemption, and God’s grace is an ocean that He is ready to baptize us in.
We have just come from the mountains of Masisi. Having to practically talk Didi into taking us because of recent violence and riots this week. A few aid workers were killed not long ago. We watched with full hearts as 30 once boy soldiers became men of peace. Last year we washed the feet of these boys following our art trauma program. We prayed for each one individually and gave them bibles. Their FIRST Swahili bibles!
Today we drove with them into the mountains and sat beside of them as they washed the feet of 30 more former child soldiers who are the next “peace team” to receive trauma care and peace building training. I watched Augustine as he sat at the feet of these boys; both of our hands in the water. Him washing one foot. Me washing the other. Both praying a prayer of peace. The water was as dirty as the depth of their scars, and the bonding I could feel with my spirit was untouchable. Redemption at this level is just breathtaking.
“We thought we would die in the bush, but now we are bringing peace. It is God’s vision”
These boys usually sleep three to one twin bed. Teenage boys. No mattresses. Their floor is broken lava rock and their beds are mats on bamboo sticks. But at least it isn't the bush. At least they didn't wake up next to their guns this morning.
But because of generous donations (and Jessie raising funds for her birthday in lieu of gifts) this year was different. THIS year, we built a new home for them! Side by side. Because of YOU, we were able to buy new beds with mattresses. Because of YOU we are able to make sure they get healing groups for their war trauma each week. A few more thousand dollars, and we can build concrete floors in the homes over the broken lava rock. About $7000 more dollars and we can purchase the land next door to build more homes one day! God continues to be faithful….
“The new boys in the transit center heard about the Peace Lives Center. They heard of the boys singing at church and living again. They asked to come. Many ask to come, so we pray for the room to take them in”
Thank you for helping us help them! We are deeply grateful and wish you a beautiful weekend of giving thanks with those you love. Stay tuned for more blogs, and we invite you to our next event The Snow Ball http://www.snowballnashville.com Dec 8th at Cannery Ballroom. Come hear more of our new projects!
His,
b