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Sharon Bemis
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What books should we add to the endless list of mustreads? Add books (with reviews) that should be added to all of our bookshelves in our search for justice!
November 16
What books should we add to the endless list of mustreads? Add books (with reviews) that should be added to all of our bookshelves in our search for justice!
November 14
What books should we add to the endless list of mustreads? Add books (with reviews) that should be added to all of our bookshelves in our search for justice!
November 3
Randy joined Sharon Bemis's group
What books should we add to the endless list of mustreads? Add books (with reviews) that should be added to all of our bookshelves in our search for justice!
February 17
Interesting choice of books: Paul Polak's Out of Poverty, explains a new model for development and foreign aid (or in this case missions). His is oriented toward micro-enterprise for farmers and some attention is paid to homeless individuals. This…
February 9
What books should we add to the endless list of mustreads? Add books (with reviews) that should be added to all of our bookshelves in our search for justice!
February 9

Profile Information

Location:
Bucharest, Romania
Church/School/Organization:
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
Justice issues I'm interested in:
Poverty, discrimination (ethnic, class, etc.), human trafficking, inner city issues, religion
Website:
http://bemis.wordpress.com
About me:
I live in a communist bloc apartment in Bucharest, Romania. My landlady lives across the hall and likes feeding me. I ride around on public transportation and like climbing mountains. CRWRC Intern is my official title, and it's important to people here that I graduated with a degree in Sociology (education is huge here).

Before coming here, I grew up home-schooled in Michigan, raised mice, went to Calvin College, worked as a camp counselor for inner city kids in Pennsylvania, worked in a glamour dog shoppe, taught English in Eastern Europe and galavanted around a lot of formerly communist countries, and worked for AmeriCorps in Arkansas. Between Arkansas and Romania, my English grammer has pretty much been destroyed.

Sharon Bemis's Blog

Sharon Bemis

Call + Response

Just a quick post to remind people that the documentary Call + Response about human trafficking is in Grand Rapids this week! My apologies to those of you who don't happen to be around Grand Rapids, but hopefully you can find it somewhere near you too!

Critics and viewers alike are giving it extremely high ratings.

I haven't seen it yet, so I can't comment, but I'm going tomorrow!

Posted on December 9, 2008 at 3:02pm — 1 Comment

Sharon Bemis

Without unity

While living in Romania I had a chance to see something rather incredible happen. There was an evangelical festival (BucurestiFest) hosted by the evangelical churches in Bucharest. It was one of those events that maybe don't mean much, and maybe mean a whole lot, depending on how you look at them. There were numerous presentations of the gospel and people were asked to pray to start a life in Christ. Over the space of a week, over 1500 people prayed. One of the speakers said, "This isn't about R… Continue

Posted on November 18, 2008 at 10:57pm — 6 Comments

Sharon Bemis

In Transition

This is it, folks. The last post in this series. I hope you understand Romania a little more thoroughly now. I hope you can appreciate some of the challenges of working in a "country in transition." The social issues I've talked about are pretty negative and I didn't add to much encouraging news to any of them. So let me encourage you.

Twenty years ago, this country was in communism. People really were starving. Some were arrested and even killed for what they believed or for saying something t… Continue

Posted on August 30, 2008 at 8:16am — 2 Comments

Sharon Bemis

Excuses, excuses

Looking back through these recent posts, I realized that social problems can be good excuses for doing nothing or making some lousy decisions. Especially as a sociologist, it's easy to look at society and see the roots causes for lots of things and to stop there, stuck in my research. As a Christian sociologist, I can't stop there. Studying sociology as a Christian means that I see a lot of root causes but have a reason to go forward and seeks answers for those challenges.

I understand somethin… Continue

Posted on August 28, 2008 at 1:58pm —

Sharon Bemis

Economics

I don't really like economics, and I don't like the arbitrary importance given to pieces of paper (or cloth or plastic), known as "money". That being said, let's talk about money.

Romanians talk about money a lot. Mostly because there doesn't seem to be enough to go around, or because a certain few people have the majority of it, or because the landlord just raised the rent, and that new house all of a sudden costs double what it did or because food prices have skyrocketed.

While half of Roman… Continue

Posted on August 26, 2008 at 7:58am — 1 Comment

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At 11:56pm on December 4, 2008, Charlton Breen said…
Yeah, It was funny to run into you at the Festival of Trees. I recognized you by your photo. I am glad it was you or I would have been really embarrassed ;-)
We made over $3,000 on our first ever TTV sale. I was so happy. A lot of people really get the whole idea of knowing the story of where our stuff comes from. I am guessing that we probably won't do it again until next year, though. Speaking of next year, I am chairing the board of directors for We Care INC, and I noticed we still need a board member from your church...any thoughts? Hopefully, I'll talk to you soon. cb
At 10:53pm on November 22, 2008, Charlton Breen said…
Hey Sharon, Are you back in the States?
Are going to be spending any time in S.H.? It would be great to have coffee with you sometime. I am putting on a Ten Thousand Villages Festival Sale at church the day after T-Day as an alternative shopping choice. Tell your SH friends and family!
At 7:54pm on August 5, 2008, Charlton Breen said…
I live on Blue Star, south of town, very near the road that goes to the state park. A public access to the lake is a short walk from my humble home. The house is a 2 BR 1 bath.
At 8:15pm on August 2, 2008, Charlton Breen said…
Hi Sharon, How are you?
I am starting Seminary this fall. I plan on trying to keep my house here in South Haven. One thing I am very interested in is taking in a roommate to rent the spare bedroom. Before I resort to putting out a very public ad, I am just trying to talk through my grapevine, to see if I bump into anyone who is interested. So, if you happen to know someone 'round here who is looking for a good deal, feel free to let them or me know! Thanks. Chuck
At 8:19am on May 5, 2008, alida said…
i copied that quote you had above and put it on one of my blog entries. hope you don't mind. i would love to visit romania again some day. i visited there in 96 while on calvins semester abroad program. amazing place. the first people who unknowingly challenged my definition of poverty, grace, and hope. i will never forget it!
At 1:04pm on March 31, 2008, Tracy Young said…
yup, we'll give you a ring when we swing over to romania :)
At 1:30pm on March 27, 2008, Tracy Young said…
Hi Sharon,
Guess what I learned? Your brother and my husband were good buddies growing up. Do you remember Scott Blasco?
At 3:41pm on January 20, 2008, Charlton Breen said…
So, you're from South Haven, too! I've only lived here for four years, but I love it here. I am from GR originally. Are you related to the Bemis that manages Foundry Hall?
At 1:33pm on January 18, 2008, Kate Kooyman said…
Isn't it weird?? They grow up!! Ha. Well looking forward to getting to know you on this new cyber-community. :)
At 11:42am on January 18, 2008, Kate Kooyman said…
Hey Sharon, welcome! What camp did you work at in Pennsylvania? I'm a Camp Tall Turf alum myself.
 
 

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