Valerie Mossman-Celestin is the Executive Director of Haitian Artisans for Peace International, in Musac, Haiti. HAPI is a capacity building project funded in part by the United Methodist Committee On Relief. Valerie shared her testimony with me while on a visit to Musac in 2011. It is a spiritual journey that began with the question, “What is help?”

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This video was recorded at a local hotel. We were running out of daylight and finished recording just as the sun set over the mountains!

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Valerie Mossman-Celestin Executive Director of Haitian Artisans for Peace Internatinal (HAPI) asked me to produce three music videos in Musac, Haiti with the Shalom Singers. HAPI is an UMCOR funded fair trade artisan co-op focused on spirituality and creativity. The Shalom Singers are a group of young adults associated with HAPI. This video was recorded at a local hotel. The group is standing inside the mouth of a tiger. The Shalom Singers leader and HAPI Co-founder, Paul Prevost, thought this would serve as a metaphor illustrating Haitian resolve to trust in Jesus of Nazareth, even when surrounded by danger.

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This March, Tim Frakes Productions will team with People’s Resource Center in Wheaton, Illinois to produce a new video about that organizations work. PRC has been fighting poverty in DuPage County since 1975. Today, more than 31,000 DuPage residents rely on the PRC for help each year. It will be an honor to work with them and help tell their story.

Other interesting projects keeping me busy this spring include:
Haitian Artisans for Peace International
Recording three music videos with a Haitian choir. The videos will be shown at the United Methodist Church General Conference 2012 (April 23-May 5, 2012 in Tampa, FL).

ISAE Billy Graham Project
The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College asked me to produce a new documentary that looks at the life of Evangelist Billy Graham.

The Jazz Passion
Sat., March 17 I will record the Jazz Passion at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville. The Jazz Passion features 24 of the best professional jazz instrumentalists and singers from the Chicago metropolitan region performing a one hour original musical presentation which tells the story of the last portion of Christ’s ministry from temptation to Resurrection.   Tickets can be purchased at http://finearts.northcentralcollege.edu .

Seminex Documentary
Seminex (later known as Christ Seminary Seminex, is the story of a split in North American Lutheranism that led to the creation of the ELCA.)

Christian Family Services
CFS is an adoption, foster care and family counseling service based in St. Louis.

Alliance Women Ministries
The Alliance Women have asked me to create a video that helps them raise funds for global projects that support children.

Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions
The Parliament has asked me to help them create a video that focuses on sacred spaces in the Chicago area.

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Here is a short piece I cut together during a live worship in Mizak in 2011.

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HAPI Executive Director, Valerie Mossman-Celestin and my friend, photo journalist, Paul Jeffrey asked me to help with this project. The footage will be woven into a short documentary. “Let’s Hear it from the Girls” (working title) will connect the voice of girls in a rural Haitian community to touch us with stories, music and dance that convey the joys and challenges of growing up female in Haiti. The film will also capture the subtle messages of hope emerging from a dream that the community recognize the value and equality of girls and women.

We will be working in Mizak, a mountainous, rural section of La Vallee in South-East Haiti, 80 km south of Port-au-Prince and 12 km west of Jacmel. The total population is just over 35,000. Seventy percent are peasants living under the poverty level of less than $1 US per day, and 63% of the population is under the age of 18. There are no jobs available, no electricity, no telecommunication system, no plumbing, and no water filtration. The majority of households have no measurable income and they rely on system of barter and trade.

HAPI plans to make this DVD available as a teaching resource to folks in the United Methodist Church. The project is funded in part through a grant from the United Methodist Women’s organization.

Look for more in the coming days and weeks!

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In January 2011, Church World Service asked me to go back to Haiti to record stories about their blanket and food coop programs. It was a wonderful trip full of positive stories and hopeful signs. Here is the video the folks in Elkhart, Indiana put together with the footage we recorded.

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