Hello!

I hope you're all having a lovely summer!

This past month the ladies at Damaris have been working hard, making wonderful new pieces that we have begun to fire and glaze! The ladies have also begun using their own personalised signature stamps.

What was once an office room is now a pottery pantry! We hope to have our own kiln soon to make firing easier. Transporting pieces to a kiln has been a challenge.

"Outreach"

This past month I trained and joined the "outreach groups" that go and visit the brothels here in Athens, reaching out to the prostitutes and offering them free "social services". The aim is to develop a relationship with them by consistently visiting them in order to establish trust. Given the many psychological layers of manipulation, grooming, distrust, and shame, achieving their trust is not an easy feat. There are some volunteers who have been going weekly for more than a decade and thanks to their persistency and heart, they have seen the fruits of their "reaches" with women coming out and receiving help.

There are more than 400 brothels in Athens. Due to Greece's geographical location as well as the fact that prostitution is legal in Greece, more than 80% of all human trafficking in Europe goes through Greece first. There are many NGO's here working on ground together as part of an alliance called "The Athens Freedom Network".

Back at my studio, I'm practicing portraits and have also begun making a new set of wings! Here's a sneak peak of its base. I can't wait to see how the feathers will evolve.

Hope you all are well! Looking forward to sharing more pictures of our glazed and final products at Damaris soon! Thank you for your prayers and support!