DEEPGREEN PROJECT

My daughter and her husband live and work in China. I've asked her to share here about their mission project, DeepGreen. Here she answers some questions about their work.

 1. What is the DeepGreen Project's Mission?

To cultivate a community of people who are inspired by hope, changed by love and committed to justice.We carry out our vision through two creative solutions in our community:

Deepgreen Threads is a knitting business that provides work for women in our community who have suffered injustice. Our desire is to see these women empowered to grow professionally, personally and spiritually.

                                                          Hand knit scarves shown above
Deepgreen Treks uses outdoor adventure hikes to engage young adults in our community in discussions about spirituality and social justice. Our desire is to see these young people develop into leaders who change the world for good.

2. What does the name, 'DeepGreen' mean?

Names are important. They give us our identity. Whether clearly stated or creatively ambiguous, names are a statement about what we want to be. The name giver always has deep emotional response to the name because it is significant. Our name, DeepGreen, has special meaning to us. It emerged as we examined the things that are important to us and how we want to be known.

Deep 

We are still convinced that the best way to make lasting impact and affect real change in the world is through sustained relationships that reach past the surface and into the depths.One person who believed in depth rather than breadth is Jesus. What he did in 3 years with 12 men is arguably the greatest influence any human being has had on this earth. He did it by investing deeply in a few people who then went out and changed the world forever. Jesus walked with them and ate with them, laughed and cried and prayed with them. He served them and taught them and He empowered them to change their world.

We believe our world is in need of a little change and this same method can bring it about again. As individuals and as an organization our desire is to invest deeply in a few and set them loose on the world. We too want to walk with them and pray with them, to serve them, teach them and empower them to change the world.

Green

Nobody worries about green grass. It's the brown blades that cause alarm. Green grass is as it should be: healthy, alive and growing. In our minds, the color green is all about growth and growth is extremely important to us. We believe that each person has infinite value, unique gifts and an enormous amount of potential. In John 10:10 Jesus said that He came to give us life, but not just any life. He came to give us abundant life, but abundant life is something we grow into. Attaining it is a continual process. We want ourselves and the friends within our sphere of influence to be "always growing".

We want to see people grow in their love and devotion to Jesus Christ and also in their compassion, respect and love of other people.We want to see people grow in their understanding of their unique God-given abilities and how they can be used to contribute to a bright future full of hope. We want to see people grow in their confidence to try new experiences, take risks and lead others.We want to see people grow in their understanding of the world and their ability to be a catalyst for change in any community in which they live.

3. Was knitting a hobby of yours before moving to China in 2009?

Actually, I am still just in the early stages of learning how to knit! Before DeepGreen, I had always wanted to learn how to knit, so that sort of became part of my incentive to getting things going with DeepGreen. Our knitting teacher, and even all of our knitting team far exceed my skill level, so I get to learn from them. I think it’s a great dynamic for our team to be learning different things from each other – I think they enjoy that they can teach me things I don’t know about knitting, and I love having to look to them for help.

4. What was the inspiration behind starting a knitting project? 

We found that many women in our community were knitting as a hobby, so we thought it would be a great way to encourage them in the beautiful things they were making. We also found really great local fiber - yak down yarn - that we thought was an incredible product that we wanted to share with people back in the US. Yak fiber is said to be of the same softness as cashmere, and warmer and more breathable than wool. Our suppliers receive 100% of their product from the exclusive Himalayan regions of Western China, where the process starts with local Tibetan nomads hand combing each yak for the finest product. We make a portion of our products out of this unique material. 

5. Can you tell us more about the DG Treks side of the project?

In the summer of 2012, we planned the very first DeepGreen Trek. Our vision for the first trip was to just get college students outside, experiencing God’s beauty, and engage them in meaningful discussion about life. We worked with local universities to invite students and professors, and brought our team of native English speakers to lead the small group discussions as we hiked. We learned a lot on this first trek, and look forward to creating even better experiences in the future. We are working on a curriculum to bring students through that allows them continued opportunities over a semester, to hike, learn, engage and act. It will be an exciting year.

 

For more information or to order scarves online or to donate go to deepgreenproject.org