preliminary internship doings

I guess I could explain how I got involved with LIFTED events.

This time last year, my good friends Catherine and Jess invited me to play music for what they called a "benefit concert." I was looking to play more, and was really excited to do it for a good cause. Catherine, who was the visionary for the event, said the event was called LIFTED. It was to be a one-time event in Raleigh to raise money and awareness for Remember Nhu.

Carl and Laurie, the founders of RNhu, were impressed with the outcome of the LIFTED event, and flew Catherine and Jess to Ohio to talk about the potential of future LIFTED events.

What came out of that meeting was a "go" on a pilot year for LIFTED as a NPO in and of itself, directly partnered with RNhu. Catherine is a full-time 5th grade teacher at a year-round school, so this year (April 09-April 10) was and is to see if Catherine could be employed as a full-time employee of RNhu and LIFTED. Catherine takes her weeks of track out to work full-time with LIFTED events, but also finds herself working on these things in and during school days.

So, when I approached Catherine and Jess last summer about possibly doing this as my internship with her, she was so excited at the thought of having someone who could give LIFTED attention full-time, and someone who could help her with things she doesn't always have the time to do.

When we got the "go" for the internship, Catherine began sending e-mails and informing me on the current and future goings-on of LIFTED. So, I've kind of been working on things unofficially since December.



This was Catherine and I's first official LIFTED meeting, which we decided will be every Monday and will be called "Monday Funday!"





This is an event we did last Saturday, January 9th, which we called a "Spark"
The Spark was a coffeehouse-style event, very casual, to inform those in the area who were familiar with the event we did last April about our current status, what's going on with us, and our upcoming trip to Thailand and Cambodia. It gave these people a chance to give money towards this trip and to commit to prayer as we travel. I played some of my music at the event, and spoke a little about my role as an intern as well.



We put maps on the walls for some nice aesthetics :)





Catherine, singing and playing guitar during the casual dessert & coffee time.



Jess and I, waiting for our turns to play and sing!

More on LIFTED's partnerships with North Ridge Church and Jess Ray & the Rag Tag Army (music) to follow!

the internship - a basic overview

This blog is primarily to satisfy my requirements for getting college credit from Appalachian State University during my internship with Ohio-based non-profit organization, REMEMBER NHU (specifically with their NC branch entitled LIFTED.)

It will be interesting balancing my academic requirements, and my personal thoughts and ties to this NPO, and the cause in general. As a forewarning, this blog may be a crazy mix of both academic observations and personal thoughts.

ME- a snapshot

Name: Samantha Crowder
Age: 22
Hometown: Raleigh, NC
Education: pending B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Cultural Anthropology and Creative Writing) from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. We'll see about that diploma after this internship!
Interests: cultures, serving, art (in all different ways!), tea, writing, making music, traveling

LIFTED - a snapshot

LIFTED is a non-profit organization based out of Raleigh, and linked in partnership with Ohio-based NPO Remember Nhu. Remember Nhu exists to extinguish the use of children in sexual slavery. UNICEF estimates that approximately one million children are sold into sexual slavery each year. There are houses in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, and other countries. These houses function similarly orphanages, with house and dorm parents. The houses provide education for the children, so they may be able to stay out of the industry.

Remember Nhu works primarily through prevention, meaning, taking children who are at high risk for entering the sex slave industry (impoverished families, recent death of one of both parents, etc) and putting them in the homes before they have a chance to live within that industry. From what I understand, however, Remember Nhu also makes relationships with girls already in the industry, and give them options to escape.

LIFTED partners with RNhu by putting on one-night events in the States to inform and ignite our generation to combat the emergency of global sex trafficking. There is music, media, and speakers. Attendees are encouraged to donate money and/or purchase merchandise, which goes directly to Remember Nhu.


Sam + LIFTED! What will that look like?

Educational objectives:
- better understand how anthropologists apply skills and knowledge in public and private agencies/services.
- understand the work of professionals in NPOs, ministry based and non-ministry based, and to gain awareness of possible job opportunities
- apply critical thinking skills
- develop oral and written communication skills
- develop time management skills
- specifically, to better understand how an anthropological approach to non-profit humanitarian work and ministry can directly benefit the agency/ministry, the people they serve to give aid to, and the information/media with which they use to raise awareness.

Means of accomplishing these objectives:
- keep this blog!
- reporting weekly to Dr. Keefe, my advisor from App
- responsible for specific tasks including
(a) gathering anthropological data during the Vision Trip, including notes, statistics photos, videos, personal thoughts and reactions, as well as collecting reactions from other team members (Catherine, Stef)
(b) using this info to more seamlessly and efficiently translate this data to our culture to raise awareness and funds.
(c) use this translation in media at events (videos, pamphlets, posters, art, and music)
(d) create anthropological/informational resources for people interested both in LIFTED events and helping RNhu
(e) meet & greets at events, some speaking during events, setting up, breaking down
(f) routine weekly studying news feeds, documents, history, etc to compile resources and keep LIFTED team informed on current events involving sex trafficking


Vision Trip - What's that?

From January 22nd to February 6th, Catherine (my internship on-site supervisor) and I will be traveling to Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai) and Cambodia (Phnom Penh) to visit the RNhu houses.