the LIFTED event + thoughts in general

so, i have realized that the last day of classes is april 27th!! that date is speeding towards us, and i feel like i've only just started this internship.

looking back, i see how much we've actually done. from trip preparation, to the 2 weeks overseas, to intense planning for LIFTED events this year, to the Boone event, this semester has been a whirlwind. definitely not your typical, 9-5 internship, but an unforgettable experience.

i also realize that i have 2 whole weeks until the last day of classes. i think this is encouraging, because i can have the mindset to finish strong and confidently, knowing my place in LIFTED.

SO, first, i will express some thoughts, feelings, and opinions on the LIFTED: BOONE event.


where to begin? we put 4-5 months of preparation into this event. many group and individual times in prayer over this night in particular. we had the promotion team, who did a phenomenal job putting up flyers, handing out flyers, inviting people personally, and even digging a giant "LIFTED" sign in the snow in front of Trivette Hall. when i think about the sheer number of people involved in the preparation and running of this event, it is kind of humbling.

the 2 weeks prior to the event, i was pretty anxious. i felt unprepared personally. i knew we were ready as a team, but i was thinking about music practices and making sure i had everything i needed for the cultural table. i didn't want to short-change either one, especially because i wanted to do each one really really well. those were my specific responsibilities, so i wanted to do a GREAT job!

i was really excited about the cultural table in particular. one thing i felt i could add to the LIFTED event is a place for people to get information about trafficking overall, as opposed to just trafficking info through LIFTED's eyes/experience, RNhu's eyes/experience, or whatever other ministry's eyes/experience. those outlooks are priceless, but i also thought it would be helpful to present facts, stats, and cultural factors as a whole. since trafficking is a global issue, i decided to pick 3 cultures in particular and offer info about those places.

i chose cambodia, thailand, and the US. i chose thailand and cambodia because i've seen it personally, they are 2 of the most highly trafficked areas, and RNhu has homes in these places. i decided to print out information so people would be able to take it, while having a slideshow on my computer for some visuals. i think the map (the one at the top of my blog) was a really nice visual as well. the feedback i got from the table was so positive and encouraging! people really seemed to enjoy the i guess more academic approach to trafficking. i think this table would be a strong addition to LIFTED regularly as we are settling into our call to serve colleges and universities.

a lot of my personality, and therefore relationship with Christ, is intellectual, it's a mind thing. i like to read the book, get the facts, consider the factors. of course, this is one of my best strengths and worst weaknesses! my heart and my mind are trying to become more synchronized. anyway, i say that to say that i know i'm not alone in that, and i think the cultural table will appeal to and be appreciated by the "mind" people on college campuses.

i was also really nervous about playing music, but excited. i'm still just starting playing my music for other people, and nervousness is something i have to battle. it was an honor to play and that catherine allowed me too. i also loved singing for the worship set with jess ray, too.

all of the apprehensions about the Christ-centeredness of the event, and having to pray over them, really allowed me to appreciate how careful we were in the planning, how bathed in prayer the event was, and the fact that only Jesus can soften hearts to this issue. no planning on my part or craftiness could soften hearts to care. to care for little girls and boys they've never met and will probably never see. to care about trafficking laws here in the US. the LORD answered our prayers, and the feedback we got from believers and non-believers alike was beautiful.

A pleasant surprise: Anthropology... JOB?? in RALEIGH?!?

So, the Drummonds are a family at North Ridge Church who are deeply involved with LIFTED.

I remember sitting down at their dinner table sometime last semester, and telling them about my internship and how I wanted to use my anthropology skills in LIFTED for multiple reasons. I mentioned the anthropological difference and how valuable that could be in LIFTED. Mr. Drummond was interested in this and began to talk about his work, and I vaguely remember it being design something-or-another and they use anthropologist-type people and strategies in their designs. He said I should come in sometime and look around. But of course, out of sight, out of mind.

I hadn't really given it a second thought until I recently started actively looking for careers out there. Needless to say, I felt immediately defeated in my primary pursuits. I looked online for "jobs in raleigh," but little did I know that unless I wanted to be a manager, camp bus driver, administrative assistant, financial whatchyamacallit, or government worker (ALL with 3-5 years of experience required at the least), I would be out of luck.

All of this is not to say that I didn't feel like the classes at App prepared me for this search, they did. But they can't prepare you all the way. No matter what, you have to just jump in and start doggy-paddling somewhere. My concentrations in particular, when paired together, create a specific overall purpose that you can't just NAME a job or career from. I could list to you a million different ways I think my athropological difference could be used in any field or even just the one field of minstry-based non-profits. But typically, there aren't ready-made positions out there for us. There aren't job listings on jobsearch.com for these things. It's because we're specific, we're passionate, we're driven, and we're well suited for very special jobs that not just anyone can do.

Okay, enough of that soapbox!

So, as I started searching (and becoming increasingly discouraged) I remembered Mr. Drummonds offer to visit his work to see how they use anthropological techniques. I contacted him and he told me he wanted to connect me with two people, Ross and Shanna, who are "human factors specialists." I didn't know much about the company, what they did, or what exactly these two people did. But what I learned today during my visit answered all of those things and, more, made me come alive.

Mr. Drummond works at a Product Development firm called Insight. Another name for their type of company is an Innovation Firm. There are quite a few across the U.S., and their job is to help businesses with their products. These businesses come to Insight and say "Hey, we need your help redesigning our product. Something just isn't right and our customers aren't exactly satisfied anymore. How can we make it better for them, and for us?" Insight has different teams to tackle this job. There are the human factors specialists, who go out and do what they deem an "ethnography" of their client's customers to understand what is missing from the product and how that could be remedied. There are the designers who work with the human factors people to create the idea, and the engineers who make it come to life. Happy customers, happy businesses, happy Insight.

In our Applied Anthropology class, there were just so many overall fields presented, that it's hard to touch ALL of the different ways and venues anthropology can be used. Before today, I really didn't know these types of jobs even existed.

The work space at Insight, for one, is an absolute aesthetic dream. Their office is in a refurbished factory/warehouse in downtown Raleigh, with beautiful big factory windows, original brick, and hardwood floors. No cubicles, just wide, open space. There is a loft overlooking the work space, and immediately I felt the space was totally conducive to creativity and efficiency. Mr. Drummond led me to the conference room, where Ross and Shanna were waiting.

At best, I was hoping to be a thorn in their side for an hour, asking semi-lame questions about their jobs and how they use anthropology. They were beyond beyond gracious about this meeting!! Ross is probably in his 40s, with a family and bold personality. Shanna more recently graduated from NC State. The first thing they did was ask me about my studies.

I cannot tell you how GOOD it felt to tell someone about what I studied and not have them look back at me with a blank stare and courtesy smile!!!!

And BEYOND THAT! Ross asked me if I did a thesis, and when I told him about my intensive research on ethnography and it's evolution in anthropology over time, he knew exactly what I was talking about. It was an immediate connection and the conversation was just on that deep level of understanding, which could probably bring tears to my eyes. They EVEN used terms like "participant observation," "qualitative," "quantitative," "maps," and "informants"!!!! Someone speaking my language!

I've felt so unsure about my decision to study 2 seemingly unrelated passions, and unsure about the relevance of my thesis beyond school, beyond just having to do it to graduate. They picked my brain for a good hour and 30 minutes on ethnographies. They asked questions, asked for my opinions, and gave insight to how it's used in their world, and how it could be better used in their world. How someone like me could be used in their world.

They told me my experience in anthropology was like a halo. That ethnography, in the design arena, was a loose, abused, and bastardized term people threw around without really knowing what it means, and without focus. They made me feel valued, and finally, all those thousands of dollars put into school seemed worthwhile.

As if the talk wasn't good enough, Mr. Drummond ended the conversation by addressing Ross and Shanna, stating that he wanted to expose them to me so I could be on their radar should any positions become available. They nodded enthusiastically. WHAT?!


Even if their budget never allows me to join the team, I learned so much today. I learned that my dream job, that I didn't even KNOW was my dream job, actually exists in the world and in THIS world of our poor economy. I learned about different design firms that do similar things as Insight, and they even offered to connect me to them for interviews. They said to email any time with questions, and gave me invaluable tools to walk confidently in the way of my dreams!

HERE is Insight's Website

HERE is a job description of a human factors specialist in a similar company called IDEO

Getting Closer

So, it's 12 days until our Boone event!!!

I feel prepared in that I know what I have to do, where I have to be, and what is expected of me. I feel well informed and capable.

12 days will be sufficient to make it all happen, if I work hard and stay motivated until the 27th.

I need to:

practice with the band for my music.
compile the information I want to present at the "cultural table"
continue communicating with ArtSociety about their sound needs and merch table
continue helping Cat and others with whatever their needs are.

I'm really excited about this event. I think it will be really interesting to see the response we get. LIFTED is a gospel-centered event, not to shove opinions down people's throats, but because LIFTED truly believes Jesus cares the most about child sex trafficking, more than we could ever care about it. Part of my conversation in the past few meetings has been through giving insight about Boone peculiarities when it comes to the idea of Christianity. Boone is a place of great passion, specifically passion for causes. Boone is also a place particularly resistant to Christianity. Based on my time there, I can say that overall many people respect Jesus, believe He was real, and believe He did good things, much like Ghandi or Muhammad. But when it comes to Christianity the religion, nothing could be more despicable, backwards, irrelevant, and out of date.

My insights have been helpful. Not helpful in that LIFTED has planned to do things a certain way based on this, or that LIFTED has used this information to "up" it's "Christian strategy." That's far from what the response was, and honestly, even if we were a bunch of geniuses and planned a spectacular form of Worldview Manipulation we still couldn't change people's minds or hearts. It has been helpful in that LIFTED has been more focused in it's prayer. We're praying that people will dare to care about children they don't know. We're praying that the name of Jesus won't be so offensive that people will turn off their ears to what we're saying, and what we're saying is that Child Sex Trafficking is global, it's growing, it's heartbreaking, and we MUST RESPOND.

We're praying that the Lord would do what He wants to do at this event. We want to yield our plans and our strategies to Him, so He can address individual hearts. Because at the heart, we're just like the kids being sold, we're just like the girl willingly selling herself for extra cash, we're just like the men who buy them.

Picking Up Speed

For this post, I want to share a little bit about how things are rolling right along these past two and next few weeks. I would like to share some about the people I am working with and how they are approaching the issue of child sex trafficking. I would also like to share some of my insights as an anthropologist who believes in Jesus, and the interesting juxtaposition there.

Of course, much of my internship has revolved around and hinged on our trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Being there, ALL there, for 14 days straight, there was much to see, learn, and experience anthropologically and otherwise. It was constant sense overload in good ways, exhausting ways, and disturbing ways.

This past week was the first one that I felt very settled in my place in LIFTED as a whole, in its normal state in Raleigh. One interesting thing is that there is no LIFTED office here, it's more of a cooperative of people (mostly out of North Ridge Church) who come together to form LIFTED. For many of these people, their responsibilities in LIFTED ebb and flow depending on whether or not there is an event coming up. For a few (Cat, Jess, Dan, and myself to name some) it is something on our minds most days, planning for future events, corresponding with people who have questions, people who want to host events, people who want to know how they can get involved. I am realizing how exhausting non-profit work can be. You must love the cause, and be willing to devote most of your time and many of your best efforts to making a tiny dent in the problem, literally one changed heart at a time.

So, we've been getting ready for this Boone event, and it is hands down going to be our biggest event yet in terms of prospected attendees, promotion, our efforts in planning, and length/content of the event. I've written contracts, corresponded through emails and phone every day. I've been planning my cultural table, gathering statistics about RNhu and the issue as a whole for some of our visuals. I've been planning my music, planning rehearsal times and set lists. Numerous students from App have emailed me asking how they can get involved, and I've corresponded to find a way for them to help out. I'm updating the LIFTED blog every week, which is a more time and thought-consuming task than one might think. I've been involved with the practical planning of when we'll leave, who rides with whom, where we're staying, and a general schedule of the time. There are many things I just get to dip in, sharing my voice, thoughts and opinions in conversation. Because the people I work with are friends of mine outside of LIFTED, it is something we talk about quite a bit together. It's becoming a part of my overall life here, which is good. That's the way I'd want to do it if I were doing this full time.

Catherine, who is my direct overseer and founder of LIFTED events, is 24 and a fifth grade teacher at a year-round school. She literally spends free moments at school texting and emailing about LIFTED stuff. She comes home and plans. On her trackout weeks, she is primarily doing LIFTED full time. To help get a picture of Catherine, she is teeny tiny skinny with a fire-y personality. She speaks quickly with her hands flailing in the air, animating her scattered and quick-moving thoughts. She is bold and, most of all, a woman of conviction. She does not grow weary as readily as one might think, because of her deep conviction and call to this issue. And she'll be the first to tell you it's not her, it's the Lord. Hands down, the majority of her involvement in LIFTED is in her prayers about and for it. I am not exaggerating.

At first, this was a tough thing for me to deal with as an anthropology intern. Not because I don't share my beliefs with Catherine, but because in my 5 semesters in anthropology classes at Appalachian, I tried to keep my beliefs in one side of my brain and the theories and methods of traditional anthropology in another. I even remember one class specifically, the teacher saying how you cannot be Christian and an Anthropologist. I remember thinking, well, that's not true, because I believe in Jesus and follow Him and I think he's the God of Anthropology. There are so many ways that Anthropology and Christianity go together, it makes so much sense to me. But in classes, it's not something I talked about because I knew it wouldn't be worth the trouble trying to explain myself. In that, I didn't realize how disconnected I let my beliefs become in my studies.

So I get here, and the biggest point that Catherine will make about LIFTED is that it wasn't her idea, it was the Lord's. And that it is a gospel-centered organization, a gospel-centered event. Something in me immediately became almost offended. If you really want to reach people, I thought, you must not force the gospel down their throat! These people are resistant to even just the word "Christianity," let alone a "Christ centered event"! HEL-LO! I thought. They think Christians ruin everything that was good. Did they understand people in Boone? Did they understand how resistant people were to this sort of thing?

What I didn't realize in my thinking was that I had kind of become one of those "Boone" people. I kept my beliefs so quiet because I didn't want to offend anyone, even myself.

What many people don't realize is that we don't do this to give Christianity a high-five, like... YES! We put Jesus' name on the issue of human trafficking, we got it, so we're set. What else can we put his name on?

What we have is something I might align with the anthropological term "communitas."

A community, deeply moved by something together, something supernatural. To the anthropologist, it's something scientific, something in the DNA of how humans react to one another and to the meaning of life. To me and my LIFTED friends, it's something real. More real than breathing or getting up in the morning. More real than what my eyes can see and more real than what my mind can dissect to understand. It's counterintuitive to how I would explain things myself.

So here I am as a believer in and follower of Jesus the Christ, praying for this event. And here I am as an anthropologist of sorts, not typical I guess, but I consider myself one. I'm passionate about anthropology, how it's in everything we do because we're humans, together. I am passionate about the theories of anthropology, and how they can be applied in Christianity, not just to it.

A lot more thoughts on this, which I could explain way more eloquently, but I just had to come out and address the elephant in the room, even if just a little.

Learning My Place

As we settle down from the trip, I am able to see my specific roles and tasks a bit more clearly.

I am Catherine's first intern, so a set of roles was not spelled out in black and white, but we're working together to trail-blaze for future interns and volunteers. I am really enjoying it in that regard, because I have more flexibility to lean into my personal skills and interests with what I'm doing.

Since we've returned, our main focus has been on the Boone event. On Monday, Cat and I met with Dan, Judah, and Erin, who are all part of the LIFTED team, to discuss more in-depth details of the night. We discussed the order of events, the different booths (we are inviting 3 other like-minded ministries/non-profits from the area to set up info booths), and all the logistics of the sound, lights, and set up. Catherine has been wonderful to ask my input on even the smallest of details!

Cat uses me as a kind of sounding board for her planning. Often times she will send me emails with lists, just to have someone look through them and offer support and suggestions. For this event in particular, I am in charge of a few things:

I am the PR person for LIFTED to the bands that will be performing at the event. I was able to invite a local Boone band by the name of ArtSociety. I think this is a good example of the Anthropological difference. I know that ArtSociety is well-liked in Boone, and the hearts of the individual members support LIFTED's cause. Because of this, I know that the band will pull out a crowd to our event that we may not have been able to reach ourselves, and that their performance will be heartfelt and supportive to the tone of the night. It's really cool to see practical uses for Anthropology in seemingly unrelated fields.Also, in this role, I have created performance contracts for the bands, and this was no easy feat! It was my first try at anything like this, so some research and writing went into it.

I am also responsible for creating our "cultural table." This table, a collaborative idea between Cat and myself, and I am so excited about it!!! This table will include information about the areas Remember Nhu have homes, particularly the homes/areas we visited on our trip. We will include photos, cultural statistics, information about the cultural influence on the issue of sex trafficking, and artifacts. I will be writing all of the texts, which will probably take the form of small info cards or brochures. I am particularly excited about showcasing the Hill Tribes of Thailand that we visited while we were there. There are 6 main hill tribes in northern Thailand, and members of these tribes are culturally not considered Thai. Historically, they are primarily from China. Visiting the Lahu tribe was such an exhilarating experience! They live in huts made entirely of bamboo, which are set up from the ground. We were invited into a few huts, and were even served hot green tea in one by an old Lahu man. We also got to see women weaving on traditional looms. Many of the adults teeth were stained a deep red-purple, apparently from sucking on beetle-something-or-another. Anyway, it was such a special experience which I have a lot more thoughts on, but I just wanted to touch briefly on it!





Obviously, this is SUCH a great example of the anthropological difference. I am definitely the rallying person for making the issue (which seems so far away and disconnected to people at the events) and making it connect in the context of our culture. We are all capable of doing the same things, because we're human, and this issue happens IN THE UNITED STATES!

Lots of planning and prepping this week!

Planning and Preparing

Since we returned from our trip to Thailand and Cambodia we've had to jump right back into the swing of things (work, obligations, etc.), but not without sifting through some of the things we saw and experienced overseas.

Hopefully I will be able to post a more thorough collection of pictures from our trip! There are many stories to tell, and in time I hope to share them all.


What have we been up to since our trip?

The past two weeks, we've met with our families, church families, and friends to share and testify about our trip. We've finally gotten back on the right sleep schedule and have returned to work and life in Raleigh. So this week, we were finally able to tackle a few things on our list of to-do's.

Our upcoming event in Boone (March 27th) is well underway with planning and preparations! We have an incredible team of students from Appalachian State who have been promoting steadily since the beginning of the semester. Our hope is to draw as many students and members of the community as we can by making sure they have at least heard about the event. Here are a few pictures of their promo so far:









We want as many people to know about the event as possible, and as many people to learn more about the sex trafficking crisis as possible.

We'll be upping the promo steadily until the event, with more flyers, promo video showings, and even event t-shirts!

We will be partnering with an organization called sixty1, which has a home and programs in India. There will be informational booths for LIFTED, Remember Nhu, sixty1, and other organizations with similar hearts and purposes. These events are such a great opportunity to come together and connect for one cause.


My personal responsibilities have been...
-meeting with cat every monday
-updating the official LIFTED blog
-communicating with the bands who will be playing at the event in boone (which has included creating a contract and LOTS of emails)
-brainstorming promotion techniques
-developing an event program to pass out at the event (writing the content)
-AND i'll be playing my music at the event :)

Answering Some of Your Questions

How did Remember Nhu get it's name?


The overall organization, which I like to think of as an umbrella, is called Remember Nhu. This is how it is promoted in the States and other Western, developed countries to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking and to raise money.

In the actual countries, however, there are multiple homes which are not referred to as "Remember Nhu" homes. They are each named Help Cambodia, Help Thailand, etc. (based on the country.) For instance, if you were to talk to a house mother in one of the houses and mention Remember Nhu, she wouldn't know what you're talking about. So, I picture these homes as smaller spheres underneath the umbrella. Each home has it's own personality, it's own sustainability, it's own girls (they don't typically switch girls), it's own house mothers and fathers. I'm not even sure if the girls are aware of other homes like theirs, honestly. But each home is created, funded, and maintained by RNhu.

Sorry, a little sidetracked. So, the name...

Nhu is the name of a girl who Carl and Laura (the founders of RNhu) met in Phnom Penh. Missionaries (Friends of Carl and Laurie's) had led Nhu to belief in Jesus Christ and noticed that Nhu had gone missing (she had been sold by her grandmother as a result of becoming a Christian.) Nhu had begged her grandmother to use part of the money to send her to beauty school so she could start a salon and support the family instead of working in the trade. They told Carl and Laurie about Nhu, so Carl and Laurie trekked over to talk to Nhu and work out how she could be funded to go to school and stay out of the trade. Carl and Laurie were introduced to the sheer magnitude of the issue, and decided to make a home to keep more girls out of the industry and give them an opportunity to be educated and have a sustainable career.


On a completely unrelated note....
A little about my personal (but definitely still related to LIFTED) life.
Sam, you play guitar, too?

Yes, I do!! I play piano as well. I love to sing and write music. I've been trained in classical and commercial voice performance as well as composition (only a little) That's actually how I first became acquainted with LIFTED!

Before the first LIFTED event (which was only supposed to be a one-time event)Cat asked me to play a set of my original music in a line-up of about 4 music groups/music artists. The whole group that put on the event are all close friends of mine from high school and music stuff, community, and church stuff. Carl and Laurie decided to support LIFTED as an organization of events like the first one on different campuses, at churches, retreats to raise awareness and funds. Thus, the opportunity for this internship AND the opportunity to play more of my music at future shows!

You can hear some of my songs here on my myspace.


So, that kind of nicely segues into the other question... what else will I be doing with LIFTED other than computer work?

Since LIFTED is small, I'm definitely a part of the brains of the whole thing. A lot of my hours I've already logged have been in meetings and conversations with Cat brainstorming about the future of LIFTED and how it can be improved (that's where a lot of my anthropology training and mindset is being used.) I'm helping plan the events we have this semester and am definitely helping to develop events in the further future. That's everything from what bands will be (or could be) playing, the venue, our contacts, info booth set-up... I mean, every detail of what goes into the event, I help plan! Which is awesome!!

And then on top of that there's this trip I'm on right now, visiting the RNhu homes in Cambodia and Thailand (3 all together), getting to know Carl and Laurie, getting to know the girls and how everything works. I'm definitely collected a lot about the culture and history to see how that plays into everything (especially since RNhu is a Christ-centered organization, and the culture is predominantly Buddhist)

AND there's the fact I get to play my music at some events!! I'm actually also working on an EP (a small album of 4-5 songs) hopefully out by May, and everything I'm doing with LIFTED is definitely integrated in what I'm writing.


Okay, I hoped that help clear some things up! Keep asking questions as you have them. I can't wait to share more about what I'm learning here and how I can apply anthropology to benefit the people here, RNhu, and LIFTED.

Cat, Stef, and I with the girls at Help Cambodia in Phnom Penh



Me getting my hair cut at Agape Salon by Nhu!!


Playing games with the girls at Help Cambodia



We'll be back February 6th, and I'll be updating shortly thereafter!
-Sam