Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2014

Courage in theMidst of CrISIS by Clem Boyd GraduatedMay 3. Interning in northern Iraq byMemorial Day. In themiddle of a hugeMiddle Eastern conflict by June 10. Josh Evans ’14 had a bolder summer than he was expecting. media research and presence, a key way to connect with potential donors and keep current donors informed about what the organization is doing. “I heard about internships with PLC through a fellow student station manager at Resound Radio,” Evans said. “When PLC was on campus in February 2013, I tweeted back and forth with their social media guy, then walked to their booth and talked to him for about an hour. It put their internship on the radar.” FromMay 25 to July 25, Evans organized PLC’s donor base, analyzed and suggested ways to improve its use of social media, generated research for future marketing efforts, and taught English to Syrians and Kurds. From Routine to Volatile Then ISIS happened. “I was sitting in a coffee shop in the mountains of northern Iraq on June 10, blogging about the mundane aspects of working at PLC,” Evans related. “I was writing how everything we do is a holy act, and then I get this Facebook message from my friend Dave back home, asking, ‘You’re not in Mosul are you? Hoping you guys are safe.’” The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had invaded northern Iraq. Mosul is just an hour-and-a-half drive to Erbil, capital of the semi-independent province of Kurdistan. “My heart was in my stomach for a couple of days,” Evans said. “People were saying, ‘This is Iraq; it happens all the time.’ But it seemed like something else going on.” Very early in the conflict, ISIS said it had no interest in Kurdistan. By mid-July, Evans, who earned a bachelor’s degree fromCedarville in broadcasting and digital media this past spring, began an internship several weeks after graduation with the Preemptive Love Coalition (PLC). PLC tells the story of Iraqi’s children with congenital heart defects, a result of malnutrition and the continuing after-effects of chemical and other weapons. According to PLC, Iraqi babies evidence 10 times the rate of heart defects compared to the world average. PLC also raises funds for lifesaving surgery and recruits surgeons for short- term Remedy Missions that double as training for Iraqi surgeons and medical staff. Evans went to Kurdistan in northern Iraq with the goal of improving PLC’s social 14 | Cedarville Magazine