Our Work
We purpose to create works of art, stories, and spaces that not only inspire and capture the imagination of the heart, but compel people to be the people they were meant to be, extending a hand of mercy to those in need.
Creating, advocating, announcing – these are all important parts of the pursuit of justice. However they are only the first steps of many that a community of people must take in order to secure real justice for others.
The following projects represents some of the work we at Raise Their Voice have had a hand in bringing to life and that have touched people around the world.
A look at some of our work:
Raise Their Voice: The Trafficked + Exploited
About: On April 15 + 16, 2011, Raise Their Voice hosted an event at the Scott Block Theatre in Red Deer, Alberta called Raise Their Voice: The Trafficked + Exploited (#rtvRD) that brought together people from all over Alberta and other Canadians passionate about eradicating human trafficking in Canada.
Vision: The purpose of the event was to equip Canadians to identify what trafficking is, to learn who is vulnerable to trafficking and to discover how they can assist those who are victims of trafficking or susceptible to exploitation locally, nationally and internationally. #rtvRD featured workshops, networking, strategic thinking, creative expressions (including fine art, dance, and music) and keynote addresses by Glendene Grant, the mother of Jessie Foster, MP Joy Smith, Mark Wollenberg of International Justice Mission Canada, and Norma, a survivor of human trafficking. View a list of all the contributors’ bios here.
Beyond the Creative: The weekend also featured original fine-art by friends of Raise Their Voice who offered their original artwork to be auctioned in order to raise money for organizations addressing trafficking and helping exploited individuals. The six original works raised over $1400.
During the weekend, Raise Their Voice hosted a round table meeting during which representatives from Red Deer’s city council, Parliament, Chamber of Commerce, along with a student representative from a local high school, MP Joy Smith, key leaders from various anti-trafficking agencies and ministries engaged in strategic conversation to discuss how together they could do work to address human trafficking that they could not do alone. The meeting was fruitful and a commitment emerged from key leaders to develop a plan to combat trafficking in the city.
View photos and video from the event
Production of She Has A Name, a Play by Andrew Kooman
About:
The trafficking of people between borders and within borders for labour, for sex, and for other purposes is a $42 billion industry worldwide that destroys lives, especially of the young, and weakens society. Each year 1.2 million children are forced into some facet of the sex trade, globally. There are currently 27 million slaves in the world today, a number almost impossible to believe. Aware that the magnitude of such statistics can fail to register, I decided to write a play about one girl, caught up in the reality of the sex trade. This play is an attempt to explore and engage a staggering global issue through a story about characters in circumstances beyond their ability to control.
– Andrew Kooman
World Premiere: She Has A Name premiered to sold out audiences for all of its performances February 23 – March 5 in Calgary Alberta and March 9 – 12, Red Deer, Alberta. Described as a “Heart-wrenching hit” the play was critically acclaimed and deeply impacting to audiences. Currently, Raise Their Voice and Burnt Thicket Theatre are planning to tour the show. Read about the show in the press.
Beyond the Creative: In April 2011, as a follow up to the play, Raise Their Voice is organizing an event in Red Deer, Alberta to create space for audiences to be further informed about the reality of human trafficking in Alberta, Canada, and beyond. Participants will engage in an event that brings them to the table with experts in their field, working on the front lines to fight against trafficking of persons while engaging the creative through various forms of expression.
Raise Their Voice is also building up the faith and co-ordinating with burnt thicket theatre with whom they produced the world premiere to plan a tour of the play in the Fall of 2011 so that the impact of the story can resonate beyond Alberta.
View the official website of She Has A Name
Disappointed by Hope: Migrants and Refugees in Search of a Better Country
About: A 30 Day of Prayer book Raise Their Voice produced in partnership with YWAM Malaysia. Featuring the photography of Jonathan Kwok, reflections by Melanie Hurlbut, stories by Andrew Kooman, and a foreword by Ambassador Dato’ Dennis Ignatius, Former High Commissioner of Malaysia to Canada, the books highlight the plight of displaced peoples who come to Malaysia for a better life but become vulnerable to great exploitation.
Purpose: To inform and engage the moral conscience of people in South East Asia and in North America and to motivate them to compassionate action for the well-being and justice of the migrants and refugees in Malaysia.
Publication Date: June 2010
Beyond the Creative: We’re thrilled to report that the books have been well received, especially in Malaysia. In January 2011 YWAM Penang oversaw the soft launch of a new school called LifeBridge Learning Centre for the urban poor in Penang, 90 + per cent of which are refugees. The books helped underscore the need for such a school and will help educate children in English. Currently, there are 52 children age 5-15 doing work at the primary 1-4 levels.
As we shared about the need for such a school in Alberta, we received generous donations from children and parents at Lacombe Christian School and Gateway Christian School in Red Deer, money that is helping to get the Malaysian school onto its feet and to purchase a van for the students’ transport.
We’re also happy to report that the books have helped to mobilize a rotation of medical workers – doctors, nurses, and health professionals – to regularly visit one of the 13 Immigration Detention Centres in Malaysia to provide much needed medical attention and care to the migrants and refugees who sit in squalor conditions and await deportation.
Africa Sing Me Your Song
About: Africa Sing Me Your Song was filmed by RTV co-founder Daniel Kooman who worked alongside David Youngren of SaveAfricaNow to initiate the Salama Project. The film tells the story of two orphans, Juma and Haruna, on the streets in Tanzania without a home. The film is the mouthpiece of the initiative, the purpose of which is to build a community where AIDS orphans can develop the greatness inside them to be the future leaders of Africa that will bring about change.
Release Date: 2008
Beyond the Creative: Raise Their Voice has had the privilege to see the documentary touch the hearts of people around the world. The film was broadcast worldwide in 2009 to television audiences by the TCT Network. Gateway School in Red Deer caught the vision of the Salama project and raised over $10,000 to put toward the construction of the first SAN home in Tanzania. The occupants? Juma, Haruna, their cousins and grandmother. Daniel and his wife Christy led a team from Alberta to do work on the house. The Salama project continues to move toward its goal of creating safe community for children orphaned because of AIDs.
Sex + Money: A Global Search for Human Worth
About: Raise Their Voice was a key contributor to the production of Sex + Money: A Global Search for Human Worth, through the workshop and editing contribution of Andrew Kooman. The full colour photogenX publication is the collaborative work of a group of international students who traveled the world to document justice issues with their cameras. What they discovered was the sordid tale of trafficking in many forms, globally.
Purpose: To help mobilize 10,000 people to address the injustice of the modern day slave trade.
Release Date: 2009
Beyond the Creative: Six of the students who worked on the print publication have since filmed a documentary in the Untied States about the reality of trafficking within that country’s borders. Sex + Money: A National Search for Human Worth will be released in 2011.
30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless
About: Raise Their Voice has had a key part in telling the story of gender-based injustice in 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless. The photogenX booklet has been published around the world and translated into more than seven languages.
Purpose: The booklet focuses on different issues of gender-based injustice and has helped mobilized 100,000 people worldwide to pray and act against injustice.
Release Date: 2007 (English)
Beyond the Creative: The response to this publication has been overwhelming as it has shed light on issues so many would rather not discuss or engage. PhotogenX is currently at work to release a second English edition with new stories and a new format that Raise Their Voice is eager to help formulate.
