This entry goes out to my girlfriend Ann Matsushima who is going to spend the next year supporting the community in Atlanta, Georgia. this is her message...
To my dear family and friends,
If life is a journey, a path we travel upon, then one must take hold of every opportunity that arises.
As for my journey, I have decided to dedicate a years-commitment to serving and working with an inner city community in Atlanta, Georgia. People search their whole lives for their true “calling”, their true vocation, yet at times it is to those who are actively listening, who hear that quiet call of a desire so strong that it cannot be ignored. We must strive to love people.
How can “loving people” be a vocation? I will be partnering with local non-profit social services, community programs, public schools, local churches, and other organizations of Atlanta, focusing most of my energies to the poor and under-serviced. By working within the community in which we live, we hope to better serve the needs of the people in these neighborhoods.
It was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”
Pray for people. Pray for your neighbors, the neighborhoods, your brothers and sisters, and the children. For we are not simply fighting social justice issues, we are fighting on behalf of people, of those who are marginalized and suffering.
We must have the courage to know that we can challenge and seek to change the things that need changing in this world.
Peace be with you,
ann matsushima
Please visit my blog to be updated on my happenings. (http://www.missionyear.org/blog/annmatsushima)
Credentials didn’t really matter. What mattered was your heart. What mattered was your will. -Mumia Abu-Jamal
if you would like to support Ann, please send donations to
Mission Year
PO BOX 17628
Atlanta, GA 30316
Place: 07-0064 in the memo.
Place: 07-0064 in the memo.