We love it when ideas come to fruition. A couple of weeks ago we met up with a group of seniors from FRCZ to come up with a concept for this year’s Impact Tee – their high school youth group. This past summer a group of students were on an extended service trip to Bolivia then they came across some pretty heavy addiction issues. From their blog:

Glue sniffing is a serious problem in Bolivia. It is an inexpensive way for the homeless people to get high. Glue sniffing is not exclusively a problem among the poor, however once addicted they begin to spend their money on the glue instead of food. We spent time talking to the glue sniffers who live in the park while two women with medical training treated some of the glue sniffers. It was a very overwhelming experience for most of our group seeing how dependant on the glue these people are. They spent every minute we were there with their jars of glue held against their noses. Once we were back on the bus, Mike told us that while seeing these people in such a low state is hard, it is a reminder of why IOU Bolivia’s ministry is so important.  Most of these homeless glue sniffers lived on the streets as a child and turned to glue sniffing as an escape from their dismal lives. There was one couple with a one year old boy who would occasionally hold one of their jars of glue up to the baby’s nose. Mike told us this is fairly common for glue sniffers living on the streets as the glue helps curb hunger when the parents cannot provide enough food. This feeds into the start of street children turning to glue like their parents continuing cycle with each generation. By rescuing orphans and putting them in the homes they are much more likely to go to school and not end up back on the streets as an adult.

During our initial meeting we talked about their experience in Bolivia, what it meant for their group, and about the glue-sniffing epidemic going on there amongst the homeless population. We talked about need. About addictions. About ruts. About the need for community support to overcome stuckness. And with that in mind we started sketching.

The following Sunday we were stoked to have their amazing group of young people come out and screen print the final product. After an intro to screen printing we broke into groups and cycled through four stations – collage, drawing, lego, and screen printing. Good vibes abound! Many thanks to the students and leaders of Impact. We had so much fun slingin’ ink with you!