Hi Everyone,

Josh is in Mali now. Today he met with the founder of Temedt, Ibrahim, who is Tuareg and a nomad. Josh said he was humble, thoughtful and intelligent. They talked for almost two hours and it was videotaped. We may, at some point, be able to make clips of their talk available to you. Ibrahim explained that some of the money will be used for the legal fees to work with the government to create the law abolishing slavery permanently in Mali. Some of it will be given to former slaves or indentured servants who are starting a new life. They shared examples such as one woman who only owned a bracelet when she left her situation. Temedt paid for her to have some goats and get an education. Now she is married, and has children.

Today I was able to talk by phone with an Ashoka (www.ashoka.org) field worker named Violet who lives in Mali, and supports the Temedt project. She served as the translator for the conversation between Josh and Ibrahim. She is British and has lived there for 28 years. For all that time she has been aware of the slavery and really yearned for someone to come along to change it. Two years ago Ibrahim appeared on the scene, and she is so grateful. And now Josh, family and friends are helping.

Some people have written in to ask if they can still contribute. Yes! We are still trying to raise money to help people in Mali improve their situation. Mali is the 5th poorest country in the world.
If you want to donate, or share the information with others so they can have an opportunity to be part of this, go to www.inspirationcommunity.org, and click on Making a Difference in Mali with Deacon's picture. If you or your friends donate $50 or more we will still put you on the list to get a copy of the CD that Josh will be making when he comes back.

Speaking of that CD, Josh played his first solo concert ever on January 1 in Baltimore, with all new music that he will be playing at the festival au desert in a few days. So on January 1st there was new music, and the goal of bringing money to Mali to make a difference had been reached. It was a wonderful way to begin 2010. Thank you for caring.

More updates to come from the festival....

Happy New Year,
Jessica (Josh's mother)

Hi everyone,

I'm sitting in JFK right now waiting for my flight to Bamako via Dakar. I thought i would take the opportunity to give u guys an update. I'm really psyched that we were able to raise the money we did. This whole project really moved to a very different place than how it started and I'm really proud of that. It wouldn't have been possible without all of you and a number of people around me that really pushed to work this all out the best we could in the time we had. It was difficult to get a lot of the press that we wanted by the time we reimagined the project. But we were able to get a few things going that will be up soon so that we can continue to raise money. The baltimore sun did a piece for the sunday edition. And baltimore's Fox45 morning news show did a short interview that will be aired next week.

I am going to get to meet Ibrahim ag Idbaltanat, the founder of TEMEDT sometime next week. I am really looking forward to it and will do my best to get another update out as soon after as I can. Not sure how easy it will be to get to internet while there.

But I am going to go play some music in the desert and meet and see some incredible musicians and I am really looking forward to that too. Played my first show last night in baltimore and it felt good. So all these things move forward into 2010. Thanks to all of you.

More later.

Take care,
Josh

Hi Everyone,

I am really happy about the excitement that people feel in bringing money in to help abolish slavery in the region where I will be performing. I really had no idea when I started this that so many people would get behind it. There's a good buzz on the web, and I am starting to get requests for tv and newspaper interviews.

Ibrahim of TEMEDT is going to meet me in Timbuktu, on the way to the festival, and everyone is really excited about that meeting. The people from TEMEDT in Mali are deeply touched about what we are all doing for them. I am really looking forward to experiencing more about Mali and the TEMEDT initiative on the ground.

At this point we have arranged it so that your contribution, including ones from the beginning of the project, are tax-deductible minus $2 for the photograph, $5 for the CD and $40 for the book. We will send you a tax receipt after the project is over if you need it.

So PLEASE, if you need to make a year-end tax deductible contribution, we would be honored if you decided to increase your pledge. Also PLEASE do let friends know about this by email, facebook, etc. We are about half way towards our goal, and we have media kicking in now, so we are confident about meeting our goal, but we need everyone to pitch in. We've done so much already. Let's take it all the way.

We can start out 2010 knowing that we helped to make a difference.

all the best to everyone,
Josh