Dear friends,
Thank you
for taking time to opening up this blog. Welcome to any new viewers and welcome
back for those who have been following my blog for a while. Below, I will share
a bit about the work we have been doing for LINK Village in Kamloops, BC.
This story is about God's redemptive work being done today. There are glimpses of His Kingdom breaking in our own backyards. We don't always have to wait to get to heaven to see all this.
I
recently interviewed Isabelle Meunier of the LINK Village Society to hear about
her vision for serving broken families, how we helped her take the next step,
and the things that God is doing in Kamloops, BC.
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In British Columbia, there are over 8,900 children who do not live with their biological parents, 65% of whom are Indigenous. With the recent finding of the remains of 215 residential school children near Kamloops, the call for reconciliation with Indigenous communities is stronger than ever. In a recent interview, our ministry Client Isabelle laments,
“It breaks my heart. They blame the Church for
that. And that's not Jesus. Jesus came to this planet to break those things and
proclaim the good news of God's kingdom. And in God's kingdom, there is no
racism. There's no division.”
Equipped
with the vision, but not sure where to start, LINK Village Society connected
with us in mid-2021. Isabelle said, “I have absolutely no knowledge of
construction or any steps needed to be done to achieve such a vision.” I told her, "We can help you get started."
One of the diversity goals for EMI Canada is to look to collaborate with our Indigenous people group (First Nations). What better way to start by having our first domestic project as serving indigenous children?
I gathered a small team of design professionals to help Isabelle and LINK refine
their vision, navigate conceptual visioning and design challenges:
In an attempt to live into a restorative world, this project is proposed to be a community center, day care, 9 homes on government land and is in some small way a start to this kind of restoration as a signpost to the redemptive world we aspire to live in.
Isabelle gave us a heartfelt thank you during the closing meeting, “EMI has been so amazing. From the beginning, EMI was able to
come alongside and to listen and capture the vision. And that is a gift itself;
to be able to listen in a way where they can put it onto paper. More than just
their skills in architecture and project planning, the EMI team was able to
provide LINK with something deeper.”
LINK as an acronym for Love In
Nations Kind – to be a sustainable source of affordable housing and
resources that keep children with their families.
In the indigenous tradition, restoration of people and land go hand in hand.
In recent news, the land Kamloops wants to donate to LINK village is part of that remediated site where the 215 unmarked graves were originally found. Is this restoration in both the "redemptive" kingdom building as well as "truth and reconciliation?" You be the judge.
Grace and Peace,
Dan
