I have been wanting to get a new documentary since I heard it would be coming out. It is called Not My Life and it is a sampling of the types of trafficking going on in the world today. It focused on various places in the world including Ghana, the US, India, Cambodia, and some other places.
Well I got the DVD for Christmas from my sweet mother in law (thanks :)) and got around to watching it today. It is a very good documentary. If you want to see what is going on in the world in terms of slavery, this is a great film to check out.
I had not even watched the film for two minutes before the tears fell down my face. The first scenes are of my precious children on Lake Volta. How I miss those kids, how I miss the reality of trafficking in front of my eyes, how I miss the heartache that motivates me so much. Sounds strange to miss heart ache and reality of atrocity but I do. The atrocity can be easily overlooked in the US, it can be easy to come home and do what I have always done and I don't want to be that person. I think if I become that person, in the end I won't be able to respect myself. So I dive into information to remind me of it.
And it did. I saw my friend George discussing his passions and I saw children that I recognized. I saw some of my heroes discussing their passion and heart for children and human rights abuses. I saw Desmond Tutu and Somaly Mam and George.
But most importantly... this guy who I don't know his name... he was just in the last clips. He said something that resonated with me. He said something like this: I don't have a passion to do what I am doing because I am a good person. Or because I have better morals than anyone. I am not worth more or more valuable. I do what I do because I am human too.
I am human too. This could have been me, this could be my kids we were born in a different culture and time. It could be my nephews or nieces. But more importantly... this is OUR world. Each child is vital to it and the progression of human kind. To say that is "not my life" is to say that this is "not my world". To say that they are "not my children" is to say that they don't matter to our world. Future leaders are there in trafficking. Do we want them to be products of life long abuses or do we want to change our world so that their potential can be given back to them?
It is my life. They are my children.
Showing posts with label slavery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slavery. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Some days, I can't feel
I am a very "intense" person. I feel greatly, love hard, anger angrily, run after things I want like my legs are on fire. My youngest son is the same way. I see so much of me in his tiny, ambitious and intense self.
But there is another side of me that has been numbed by abuse. The days where I just can't feel. I can't cry, I can't find smiles, I just don't know how I feel. And to me, there is nothing that comes out of that. I. can't. feel. I recently started working on some abuse related issues with my therapist and I am supposed to let feelings of my childhood come to me and accept them and feel them. I am supposed to cry if I need to, scream if I need to, call my best friend and let words of seething anger pour out if I need to. I am simply supposed to allow myself to feel. Seems like it shouldn't be too difficult to feel. But the thing is, I have never let myself feel before what abuse was like. I remember and I know the stories. But just like when I was a child, I put it on a shelf deep down inside myself and refused to feel it. Now, as an adult, I am back at that place and I can't feel.
Feeling makes something real. It makes something "intense". It interprets life for you. It lets you experience new things how they are intended to be experience. I have lost some of that. I don't experience new relationships like they are meant to be experienced. Or my sons first day of preschool in a way it should be experienced. It is the constant burial of feeling revealing itself to me as an adult. And I have escaped relatively unscathed. I am sure we can all think of people who have experienced abuse who are barely functional.
Maybe this seems off topic from Slavery?
Well, it isn't. Because when I look at this face:
I see that he can't feel. Those feelings are buried deep down inside of him. Those feelings are buried deep down inside of millions of people just like him. Who are forced to work long days, abused, malnourished, abandoned by the people who are supposed to protect them, manipulated, tortured...
But I also feel as intensely that we can all do our part and help these kids. We can rescue them and love them and prepare them to be the next leaders and advocates in their community. It can't start with them who are bound in slavery. What power to change things do they have? We have to step up and protect the innocent and abused. I am standing up. And I will keep standing up and doing my part. I hope you will join me.
Because that smile, is hope.
But there is another side of me that has been numbed by abuse. The days where I just can't feel. I can't cry, I can't find smiles, I just don't know how I feel. And to me, there is nothing that comes out of that. I. can't. feel. I recently started working on some abuse related issues with my therapist and I am supposed to let feelings of my childhood come to me and accept them and feel them. I am supposed to cry if I need to, scream if I need to, call my best friend and let words of seething anger pour out if I need to. I am simply supposed to allow myself to feel. Seems like it shouldn't be too difficult to feel. But the thing is, I have never let myself feel before what abuse was like. I remember and I know the stories. But just like when I was a child, I put it on a shelf deep down inside myself and refused to feel it. Now, as an adult, I am back at that place and I can't feel.
Feeling makes something real. It makes something "intense". It interprets life for you. It lets you experience new things how they are intended to be experience. I have lost some of that. I don't experience new relationships like they are meant to be experienced. Or my sons first day of preschool in a way it should be experienced. It is the constant burial of feeling revealing itself to me as an adult. And I have escaped relatively unscathed. I am sure we can all think of people who have experienced abuse who are barely functional.
Maybe this seems off topic from Slavery?
Well, it isn't. Because when I look at this face:
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| Photo Credit: JD Richardson |
And THEY MATTER. We do not, as a world community, want to let millions of people grow up in slavery. Millions of children who don't know how to feel. Who can't feel. Millions of children who know violence to solve problems. Millions of children who have learned that children are worthless. Millions of potential leaders. Millions of potential doctors, teachers, lawyers, advocates, business owners. Potential torn from their hands and replaced with feelings of lost hope and worthlessness.
Some days, I can't feel. But today, I feel intensely. I feel intense sadness that children have to live like this and go through so much simply to survive. That their potential has been stolen.
But I also feel as intensely that we can all do our part and help these kids. We can rescue them and love them and prepare them to be the next leaders and advocates in their community. It can't start with them who are bound in slavery. What power to change things do they have? We have to step up and protect the innocent and abused. I am standing up. And I will keep standing up and doing my part. I hope you will join me.Because that smile, is hope.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Evaluation
I think mission trips always bring you home with so many ways to evaluate yourself. I mean, how could it not leave you with a sense of "am I living how I need to be living"? (hmm... I wonder if that is the right way to write that question...)
You come back questioning everything. For me, it has mostly been how I parent my children (teach them gratitude and how to serve others), my personality struggles and anxiety, and what changes I need to make in my life to be a abolitionist.
It just seems that there are no easy answers in our culture on how to raise children who are thankful and who genuinely care for others. My two boys are like that now and I pray they continue to grow and learn to be like that. But we need to be very intentional in how we lead them.
It is always interesting when I think of my family as "poor". I know how ridiculous that is compared to the poverty I have experienced in Mexico and Africa. It is almost laughable actually. We are poor based on income but there is very little poverty in the US. Go ahead and challenge me on that one. I speak the truth. My children do not know they are poor. They do not go without clean water, food, shelter, clothes, education, healthcare and let's be honest... most people here, the vast majority of people in the US don't experience 3rd world poverty. So I want Kolt and Kenton to be absolutely aware of how blessed they are to live in a country where poor doesn't mean death. Where poor doesn't mean sick. Where poor doesn't necessarily equate to homeless. Where poor doesn't mean people sell their children to feed their other children. They are among the world's privileged not among the world's impoverished. And they need to know the distinction between the two. And that is our responsibility to teach them.
It is also our responsibility as parents to teach them that because we are among the world's privileged, we have big responsibility to help others. To give to others and to serve others. It is not an option. It is a responsibility. It is how you show love to others. A pastor told me once that love is not a feeling. Feelings come and go. Love is an action. An action you can do no matter how you feel. I hope we can teach our children how to love (verb).
There are also many personality and anxiety issues I really see myself needing to focus on. It isn't something I can explain in depth and I don't want to beat myself up over things. So I won't. I will just say I have some areas to focus on that will help me become a better servant to others. Which is something I want desperately. I don't want past hurt and anxiety to keep building walls between me and others.
And then focusing on what I need to do to walk the walk. I have a passion for children and helping them that can't accurately be expressed by words. It is a deep feeling that pushes me to pursue many goals that I have. It is compelling and complex. I just can't get complacent and let myself fall into doing things that I know somehow harm the children I love so deeply and hope to help.
So I need your help. I need ideas and encouragement from anyone who can pass it along. What steps do you take to address these issues?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Becoming an Abolitionist
Becoming an Abolitionist.
You ever think about slavery?
I mean, really think about it.
It makes some people.
And it breaks most everyone else.
It separates the haves from the
Have not a damn things
Trafficking is the euphemism for:
Owning other human beings
For Slavery
We color coat it and wrap it in pretty words
Why? To make us feel better?
To make us forget the faces and the scars
The scars. God, the scars.
On tiny faces and long lean bodies.
Covering them like freckles cover my face
The danger never fleeing.
But the mind sure is doing just that
Escaping the reality and pain
Pain that is visible to people
Who haven't themselves experienced the injustice
Who can't even imagine the agony.
We see it, we start to feel it
Swim in the emotions
And breathe in the injustice
And we are left changed
Left to see the pain in every purchase we make
To think about dead bodies under the cool water
We are left to cry on the boat
For the boy that can't come with us
No more euphemisms for us.
Just Slavery
Real. Raw. Injustice.
My life reviewed
Actions called out
And conviction came down.
Now to live as an abolitionist.
You ever think about slavery?
I mean, really think about it.
It makes some people.
And it breaks most everyone else.
It separates the haves from the
Have not a damn things
Trafficking is the euphemism for:
Owning other human beings
For Slavery
We color coat it and wrap it in pretty words
Why? To make us feel better?
To make us forget the faces and the scars
The scars. God, the scars.
On tiny faces and long lean bodies.
Covering them like freckles cover my face
The danger never fleeing.
But the mind sure is doing just that
Escaping the reality and pain
Pain that is visible to people
Who haven't themselves experienced the injustice
Who can't even imagine the agony.
We see it, we start to feel it
Swim in the emotions
And breathe in the injustice
And we are left changed
Left to see the pain in every purchase we make
To think about dead bodies under the cool water
We are left to cry on the boat
For the boy that can't come with us
No more euphemisms for us.
Just Slavery
Real. Raw. Injustice.
My life reviewed
Actions called out
And conviction came down.
Now to live as an abolitionist.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Shopping Slave Free
One thing that going to Ghana and seeing the children on Lake Volta has done for me... is convicted me to be very conscientious about the purchases I make.
I have long had very strong opinions and convictions on certain companies. Nestle and Nike are the main companies I have boycotted for several years. They violate human rights in several areas and I just couldn't stomach using their products any longer. But Ghana made me think broader about this. I don't want to intentionally use anything that has been slave made or been made in a manor that violates the rights of people.
But what does that really entail? Well if you think about the vastness of slavery and how it is used to make products cheap... well you will be overwhelmed. So I have decided to go about this slowly and methodically so that I can really learn about what I am doing and educate people on it as I transition.
The first step is shopping fair trade for Christmas. This means if it is imported (one example I ran into was a footbag/ hackey sack), find it fair trade or locally made. We wanted a crocheted footbag and knew that they were typically made in S. Mexico and Guatemala since that is where we got our first one and most awesome and amazing quality one ever. So I set out to find some to go into the hubs stocking that I could feel good about. It may cost $1 or $2 more but the payoff is that I know the person who made the footbag will be paid fairly. Totally worth it to me. The idea is always to pay the person who made the item a fair price enabling families to have successful businesses. I have also tried to make sure the items I have asked for this year for Christmas is slave free. Fair trade, hand made or companies I have researched.
This was not particularly hard for me since I did most of my Christmas shopping in Ghana. I paid the people who made the objects directly. But in the States, it is obviously more complicated. It means researching companies and/or just staying away from box stores and shopping fair trade or at locally owned small businesses. Or small businesses through etsy or other sites like that. I can't really do that all the time because it is cost prohibitive for my family. So I try to look at my options and research them to purchase slave free products.
Like I said, it is overwhelming to go at it all at once. So start small. I started with Nestle. It was easy for me to stop buying nestle products as there are tons of other brand options (but you gotta watch out because nestle owns a ton of other companies) and the conviction I felt was overwhelming. Then I went to Nike. And I just keep adding another facet to my buying habits as I can.
This may seem simple but I will state it anyway as a lesson I am really starting to understand. In life, intentions don't go far. I can't say that I am an abolitionist and that I oppose human rights violations if I stay, knowingly, a part of it. It is like saying you love your child but never touching him or showing affection to him. It makes your words empty and useless. Even harmful because you are not letting your convictions humble you to action.
So, I encourage you all to think about this. How can you take steps to live a more "slave free" life? I definitely hope you look into the idea and see where your heart is led on the matter.
Some ideas if you want to go slave free for Christmas are:
Shopping fair trade: Coming Together Trading Company, The Hunger Site, World of Good and many many many more stores to consider
Shop local and small business. Make sure to frequent places and make relationships with employees and store owners and ask questions about their products.
Shop Etsy and buy from friends you know with their own online businesses. I have a ton of talented friends with their own businesses.
Shop second hand: it is pretty difficult to get clothes that were not made using sweatshops or slavery but if you buy 2nd hand you are not contributing to more slave labor.
There are so many other ideas and ways to limit purchasing slave produced items. If you have more ideas, leave them in the comments and I will be sure to compile a list soon.
Friday, December 2, 2011
The acceptance of truth: Child Slavery
JD wrote a very touching post today about a little boy we had to leave behind. I encourage you to read it.
This experience, going to see modern day slavery for myself, has turned into a processing experience like none I have ever known until this point. As I explained in my last post, even coming up with analogies is hard because it is so unlike anything I have ever seen. And we want, so desperately, to believe that it doesn't happen or it isn't "that bad". But the fact is that it IS that bad.
So today I am going to attempt to show you a bit of our experience of exploring slavery on Lake Volta. This is the part that gets hard for me. It was such a personal and deeply felt experience that a lot of me doesn't want to let out the vulnerabilities I have surrounding it. But I know what is required of me and that is to be an advocate for child slaves.
It was actually quite a nice day. On the lake its much cooler and has a pretty decent breeze. It was the coolest I had felt the whole time I was in Africa. We boarded the boat and our navigator (shown above) untangled the boat from some trees and stuff that we were kind of caught in and we set off on our first experience on Lake Volta
It did not take long until we saw our first boat with trafficked children in it. How do we know they are trafficked? Well there are several ways... the vast majority of the kids you see are trafficked. Slave masters don't often put their own kids on the lake for 16 hrs a day and make them go without an education.You can also tell by their physical appearance. Underfed, over developed, apparent and frequent scars laid across their bodies. The fact that the children absolutely are not allowed to respond to us if a master is with them (they may ruin the lie of "hes my nephew" "he is my son").
We approached several boats and spoke with masters about the children they had. George Jr. was flawlessly making arguments and asking questions about the children. He was trying to have the real picture painted for him by interviewing and befriending these slave masters. An approach I had never really understood but that I was starting to come to cherish (but it took me and is still taking me a long time and a hard road to get there).
And another boat. Two boys diligently working on the nets and bailing water out of their boat. Thin frames and over developed muscles belie their age a bit. The master is on the left just out of the picture... paddling and watching. The kids know what we know... because they have been at the end of the beating several times. If they make a wrong move, punishment is on the way as soon as we disappear into the horizon. My heart aches as I think about my sweet sons doing work like this for 16 hours a day on little to no food. Tears start to form in the corners of my eyes but also anger starts to seethe a bit in my heart.
We approach boat after boat meeting the trafficked children of Volta. I ask nearly silent questions to the children that are just as silently translated to them. I am at the end of the boat and all the commotion and conversation is going on on the other side where the master is. How old are you? 8 Where are your parents? I don't know. Have you eaten today (they get up at 2am and it was will into the morning by now)? No. Do you want to go to school? Yes.
One boy was sold to his master several years ago. He is now a teenager (maybe 15) and impregnated the masters daughter. So, the master went to his parents and told them to give him his brother since he committed such a horrible act. Now two children with no education and no way to escape are working the lake. And it is like that. I met orphans and I met siblings of the children who have already been rescued.
Eventually boats started running from us not wanting to have us confront them. Again, I felt angry. How could people do this to children? One boat in particular had several (SEVERAL) children in the canoe and he hightailed it to the island. We watched him unload a boat full of kids and tell all the other children to run and hide (the apparent message was that we were the police). And they all fled.
As we pulled up to the island, there were a group of people working on the shore. I immediately (as did my friends) noticed a little girl in just panties. We rustled through the bags of dresses we had brought and pulled on out for her. She had longer hair than normal (well for little girls in Ghana anyway) which is often times associated with trafficking because trafficked children are not taken care of. I do think she had parents on the island though. I just can't remember well. Anyway I took the dress and went up to her. At first, I handed it to her. She gave me a shy grin. My hands then took over. I spoke softly to her as I told her how beautiful she was. I unfolded the dress and gently slipped it over her head. The blue looked amazing next to her brown skin. I looked down at her and told her a few more affirming words and she let me take a picture.
Be still my heart, beautiful girl. I gently rubber her sweet cheek and patted her head and we went on. The trail of people at the shore following along.
And we went... we went into the village where the children outnumbered the adults and where little tenderness and love was given to the trafficked children (which were most of the children on the island). And we loved. We passed out clothes and cherished smiles and patted heads.
JD also made a trade with a little boy. She gave him 2 pairs of shorts for his pair of old, worn out, holy shorts. A reminder of where we have been and testimony to people that these children exist and have real, tangible needs. A way to say, this is our story and here is what we have to show for it. I still tear up when I look at those shorts.
Eventually we met up with some of the people, masters, we needed to see. We also found a pile of handsome, sweet boys. Some as young as or even slightly younger than my Kolt. My heart sank. All of them... every last one of the boys we met there... were trafficked. I asked if they had eaten today... none of them had. They get up at about 2 am and it was 10 by this time.
This handsome young guy was very muscular and well defined. Lots of scars (face, neck chest, arms) and wear from working on the lake. The most surprisingly built child that I saw. His muscles were very overdeveloped and you can tell that he does a lot of the "hard work" on the lake. He has a beautiful smile.They all do if you can get them to show it to you.
Next we met our sweet Richard*. The face of slavery and the face of hopelessness that has been haunting me since I left him. Very poorly taken care of. Dirt covered, red tinged hair and most devastating of all...
Hope Lost Eyes. I don't know where this sweet child has retreated to and I am certain that knowing would scare the hell out of me. But he is not present, doesn't respond, doesn't connect. His eyes are empty. His soul is buried under hurt and fear and hopelessness. I had no clue what to feel other than despair and hopelessness at the obstacles ahead myself. I just wanted to give him tenderness and love and care but had no clue how to do that for him. This is what captivity does to the human spirit. This is what slavery turns you into after long enough.
The last stop of the day was to meet Innocence* and Patrick*. Innocence was sitting in the boat busily working on the net when we approached. I was positively shocked to learn that she was a girl. She had some shorts on but that was it. Her lean, muscular body fooled me quickly into believing she was yet another young boy. Her half brother, Patrick, was hauling heavy nets across the shore. Hanging them up and various things. These were the children we were negotiating for on this day. They had been promised before to the team. The master said we could pick them up on monday and that he would have them ready for us. My heart sank again... Monday? Dear God, I just want to take them with us now. I don't understand why this is working out how it's working out.
I discuss with the slave master what he is doing with these children. He knows that it is not okay to purchase children and force them to work. He told me he would never do it with his own children. When I proceeded and asked him why he does it, I got nervous laughter. My face was red with anger. My emotions were supercharged from the day and the previous experiences. I stood there red-faced and angry, in silence.
We got into our boat without our children. Without ANY children. I sat solemnly and reflected on the boat ride home. I accepted in my heart the truth I had seen. I had long ago accepted it with my brain but now, it was a heart level truth. The anger slowly faded into grief and sadness as I thought about Kolt and his friends and how so many of the kids we met were his age or not much older. Sadness creeped in when I thought of the sheer desperation and manipulation it must take to sell your child to someone. Grief overwhelmed me as I thought about how many bodies were lost forever under the water we were cruising across. And I let myself cry.
*Child's real name not used
This experience, going to see modern day slavery for myself, has turned into a processing experience like none I have ever known until this point. As I explained in my last post, even coming up with analogies is hard because it is so unlike anything I have ever seen. And we want, so desperately, to believe that it doesn't happen or it isn't "that bad". But the fact is that it IS that bad.
So today I am going to attempt to show you a bit of our experience of exploring slavery on Lake Volta. This is the part that gets hard for me. It was such a personal and deeply felt experience that a lot of me doesn't want to let out the vulnerabilities I have surrounding it. But I know what is required of me and that is to be an advocate for child slaves.
We approached several boats and spoke with masters about the children they had. George Jr. was flawlessly making arguments and asking questions about the children. He was trying to have the real picture painted for him by interviewing and befriending these slave masters. An approach I had never really understood but that I was starting to come to cherish (but it took me and is still taking me a long time and a hard road to get there).
One boy was sold to his master several years ago. He is now a teenager (maybe 15) and impregnated the masters daughter. So, the master went to his parents and told them to give him his brother since he committed such a horrible act. Now two children with no education and no way to escape are working the lake. And it is like that. I met orphans and I met siblings of the children who have already been rescued.
Eventually boats started running from us not wanting to have us confront them. Again, I felt angry. How could people do this to children? One boat in particular had several (SEVERAL) children in the canoe and he hightailed it to the island. We watched him unload a boat full of kids and tell all the other children to run and hide (the apparent message was that we were the police). And they all fled.
JD also made a trade with a little boy. She gave him 2 pairs of shorts for his pair of old, worn out, holy shorts. A reminder of where we have been and testimony to people that these children exist and have real, tangible needs. A way to say, this is our story and here is what we have to show for it. I still tear up when I look at those shorts.
|
| Photo credit: JD Richardson |
I had grown up in an abusive home. I had been beaten and molested. I had felt like I could never speak out. I had felt angry and lost in myself. But I had never seen a face like this before. I had never seen despair so blatantly written on anyone's face. As I walked away from him, I felt grief. I felt struggle. I felt overwhelmed. I cried quietly as we walked to the next place. Prince was talking to me and I was half listening but not able to focus. How can I ever forget this child? I can't. I can never go on acting like I don't know about him and the thousands of other children on the lake in Ghana.
The last stop of the day was to meet Innocence* and Patrick*. Innocence was sitting in the boat busily working on the net when we approached. I was positively shocked to learn that she was a girl. She had some shorts on but that was it. Her lean, muscular body fooled me quickly into believing she was yet another young boy. Her half brother, Patrick, was hauling heavy nets across the shore. Hanging them up and various things. These were the children we were negotiating for on this day. They had been promised before to the team. The master said we could pick them up on monday and that he would have them ready for us. My heart sank again... Monday? Dear God, I just want to take them with us now. I don't understand why this is working out how it's working out.
I discuss with the slave master what he is doing with these children. He knows that it is not okay to purchase children and force them to work. He told me he would never do it with his own children. When I proceeded and asked him why he does it, I got nervous laughter. My face was red with anger. My emotions were supercharged from the day and the previous experiences. I stood there red-faced and angry, in silence.
We got into our boat without our children. Without ANY children. I sat solemnly and reflected on the boat ride home. I accepted in my heart the truth I had seen. I had long ago accepted it with my brain but now, it was a heart level truth. The anger slowly faded into grief and sadness as I thought about Kolt and his friends and how so many of the kids we met were his age or not much older. Sadness creeped in when I thought of the sheer desperation and manipulation it must take to sell your child to someone. Grief overwhelmed me as I thought about how many bodies were lost forever under the water we were cruising across. And I let myself cry.
*Child's real name not used
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Human Suffering
Have you ever taken the time to truly ponder suffering? I mean worldwide, large scale suffering?
Every. single. day. 18,000 children die from hunger. Over the course of a year that is 6,570,000 little people who die from starvation. Which, that is not even the tip of the iceberg as far as human suffering goes.
And how many people suffer with cancer?
How many people die of easily prevented diseases every year?
What about persons who are permanently physically or mentally disabled?
And what about the MILLIONS (246 million or 1/6 of the worlds children is the last estimate I saw) of children who are working as child slaves across the globe?
It blows my mind to think about these things. There are a lot of people out there suffering. It is overwhelming. It is sad. It sometimes feels hopeless.
But as Mother Teresa said:
"We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
And that is the essence of turning this world on its head. If each of us makes the choice to do small things with great love... the collective work will result in less suffering. Fewer children dying of hunger, fewer outcasts in society, fewer children being forced into the labor force and out of schools.
All it takes is you knowing your calling and attacking it with much love. We can't change it all but we can impact our own parts of the world. That is what this trip is about for me.
It isn't changing the world. It is following my calling to help the people I feel called to help. And to help them with much love. It is taking Loving God and Loving Others to its logical conclusion. And we ALL have the ability to do that. We all have the ability to lessen suffering wherever we are. The world's suffering is overwhelming and I think that is kind of what Mother Teresa is getting at. I can't do it all but I CAN do what I do with great passion, conviction and love.
So I just want to encourage you to not over-estimate your importance but also don't under-estimate it. You can't do it all but you can and should do what you can when and where you can.
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." ~Edward Everett Hale
May you be encouraged to do what you can do... always.
Every. single. day. 18,000 children die from hunger. Over the course of a year that is 6,570,000 little people who die from starvation. Which, that is not even the tip of the iceberg as far as human suffering goes.
And how many people suffer with cancer?
How many people die of easily prevented diseases every year?
What about persons who are permanently physically or mentally disabled?
And what about the MILLIONS (246 million or 1/6 of the worlds children is the last estimate I saw) of children who are working as child slaves across the globe?
It blows my mind to think about these things. There are a lot of people out there suffering. It is overwhelming. It is sad. It sometimes feels hopeless.
But as Mother Teresa said:
"We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
And that is the essence of turning this world on its head. If each of us makes the choice to do small things with great love... the collective work will result in less suffering. Fewer children dying of hunger, fewer outcasts in society, fewer children being forced into the labor force and out of schools.
All it takes is you knowing your calling and attacking it with much love. We can't change it all but we can impact our own parts of the world. That is what this trip is about for me.
It isn't changing the world. It is following my calling to help the people I feel called to help. And to help them with much love. It is taking Loving God and Loving Others to its logical conclusion. And we ALL have the ability to do that. We all have the ability to lessen suffering wherever we are. The world's suffering is overwhelming and I think that is kind of what Mother Teresa is getting at. I can't do it all but I CAN do what I do with great passion, conviction and love.
So I just want to encourage you to not over-estimate your importance but also don't under-estimate it. You can't do it all but you can and should do what you can when and where you can.
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." ~Edward Everett Hale
May you be encouraged to do what you can do... always.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Why go to another country?
Lately, it seems as if I have a lot of questions concerning why I am going to Africa. No, not about motives or the importance of what we are doing in Ghana or anything like. But WHY go away from your family and home to help when there are lots of people to help right here.
It is a complicated matter to explain my exact feelings on this but I am going to try my best.
It is about "The Big Picture" for me. I think so many Americans really have no real idea how people in the rest of the world live. Yes, we have poverty here. Yes, some kids are going hungry. Yes, some kids have abusive parents. Yes, some children live in filth and horrible neighborhoods. I am not disputing those things even one bit. I am also not saying that we don't need to help in our own back yard! I have a lot of goals and ways to help in my own community and country. I am passionate about education and our public education system and food in schools and making sure children are getting good nutrition when they eat 2 meals, most days, at school.
But when I went to Mexico after I got married... my perspective was permanently altered in a way that is hard to describe. We traveled down through Mexico on a bus to Comitan, Chiapas from Cancun. Cancun was like a very fancy and nice tourist area. UNTIL we got to the bus station where the people who live in Mexico and are not attached to the tourist industry were. We saw our first glimpses of poverty. And as we began our journey southward, we saw more and more severe poverty. No running water, homes built with wood and cardboard boxes, children playing in the dirt and helping with chores instead of going to school. Many meals skipped, many begging children, people in literal rags. No system to help orphans, the elderly, or the disabled. Many proposals of marriage to escape a life of extreme poverty. It is both soul breaking and extremely encouraging.
Why is that? Well because it HURTS to see so many people suffering. It is uncomfortable. It is odd having people look at you like you are wealthy beyond imagination. It is sad to get marriage proposals from young women and men wanting a better life. But, through the experience you learn a ton about humanity. About selflessness and hospitality. We built water tanks in Mexico for 2 months and every time we were with a new family, they would sacrifice their own meals to make sure we were fed well and taken care of. They would offer their very best with an extremely grateful heart. It made us feel thankful for our own comparative wealth and realize that even in very dire situations in the US, we are still very well taken of. It opened our hearts to other people and cultures. Gave me a love for travel and a heart for people.
A heart for people. God's heart for people being made clear. The BIG picture of what putting action to your words looks like. Before I experienced time away from the United States, I was very self-centered (certainly, I still can be). I cared about others but cared about myself and my own needs being met much much more. The people we came into contact showed me how to love people when it didn't directly meet my immediate needs. With no expectations. Just to care and to love and to help. These are things that *I* probably would have had a hard time learning without that experience. Now I have such a heart for people, especially children, that I feel positively convicted to go and help these children in Ghana. I am one person with 2 friends and a big and Mighty God. Maybe I can't change the world but I do feel like we need to do our part to change what we can change. And that is why I need to go to another country. Because I have been given the opportunity to make a difference somewhere and in a way I am passionate about. That is God! I can't speak for everyone else but this is where I need to be for me to pursue a passionate love of people and receive a passionate, pursuing love from God.
We can't do it alone though. We have had so much help along the way and are praying that we continue to get more help going forward. This school needs to be built. It will allow George and his NGO, PACODEP, to rescue more children from slavery and a hopeless existence on Lake Volta. It will provide education to these children who will then have the knowledge, power and redemption to change their country and be advocates for the children on the lake. It does more than just help 60 children who use the building to learn in. Much, MUCH more. Education is powerful. We don't think about how powerful it is sometimes because we just have it. Our kids turn 5 and go to school just like we did. Oh but education changes nations. And it will change the culture in the Volta region to educate these beautiful children. Christ and Education are their hope and vehicles for change.
Please consider making a donation to the school. I will be money that will never be thought to have been unwisely spent. It is money that, with every "brick" placed, will live on and do good, positive work for years and years and years to come. It is an investment in the lives of children who are going to grow up and change their nation. THAT is amazing.
It is a complicated matter to explain my exact feelings on this but I am going to try my best.
It is about "The Big Picture" for me. I think so many Americans really have no real idea how people in the rest of the world live. Yes, we have poverty here. Yes, some kids are going hungry. Yes, some kids have abusive parents. Yes, some children live in filth and horrible neighborhoods. I am not disputing those things even one bit. I am also not saying that we don't need to help in our own back yard! I have a lot of goals and ways to help in my own community and country. I am passionate about education and our public education system and food in schools and making sure children are getting good nutrition when they eat 2 meals, most days, at school.
But when I went to Mexico after I got married... my perspective was permanently altered in a way that is hard to describe. We traveled down through Mexico on a bus to Comitan, Chiapas from Cancun. Cancun was like a very fancy and nice tourist area. UNTIL we got to the bus station where the people who live in Mexico and are not attached to the tourist industry were. We saw our first glimpses of poverty. And as we began our journey southward, we saw more and more severe poverty. No running water, homes built with wood and cardboard boxes, children playing in the dirt and helping with chores instead of going to school. Many meals skipped, many begging children, people in literal rags. No system to help orphans, the elderly, or the disabled. Many proposals of marriage to escape a life of extreme poverty. It is both soul breaking and extremely encouraging.
Why is that? Well because it HURTS to see so many people suffering. It is uncomfortable. It is odd having people look at you like you are wealthy beyond imagination. It is sad to get marriage proposals from young women and men wanting a better life. But, through the experience you learn a ton about humanity. About selflessness and hospitality. We built water tanks in Mexico for 2 months and every time we were with a new family, they would sacrifice their own meals to make sure we were fed well and taken care of. They would offer their very best with an extremely grateful heart. It made us feel thankful for our own comparative wealth and realize that even in very dire situations in the US, we are still very well taken of. It opened our hearts to other people and cultures. Gave me a love for travel and a heart for people.
A heart for people. God's heart for people being made clear. The BIG picture of what putting action to your words looks like. Before I experienced time away from the United States, I was very self-centered (certainly, I still can be). I cared about others but cared about myself and my own needs being met much much more. The people we came into contact showed me how to love people when it didn't directly meet my immediate needs. With no expectations. Just to care and to love and to help. These are things that *I* probably would have had a hard time learning without that experience. Now I have such a heart for people, especially children, that I feel positively convicted to go and help these children in Ghana. I am one person with 2 friends and a big and Mighty God. Maybe I can't change the world but I do feel like we need to do our part to change what we can change. And that is why I need to go to another country. Because I have been given the opportunity to make a difference somewhere and in a way I am passionate about. That is God! I can't speak for everyone else but this is where I need to be for me to pursue a passionate love of people and receive a passionate, pursuing love from God.
 |
| Me with a precious girl in Comitan the week we led a VBS |
Please consider making a donation to the school. I will be money that will never be thought to have been unwisely spent. It is money that, with every "brick" placed, will live on and do good, positive work for years and years and years to come. It is an investment in the lives of children who are going to grow up and change their nation. THAT is amazing.
 |
| Children who have been rescued from child trafficking on Lake Volta. A new life and a renewed hope. |
Monday, April 18, 2011
Slavery
I was reading a book with my son on Saturday. He just turned 5 in February but he is unreasonably good at reading and comprehension. So my husband took him to the library on Saturday while me and the toddler napped and they came home with a book that The Hubs said might be over his head but would be good comprehension practice for him. It is called The Transcontinental Railroad and is a book about how the Transcontinental Railroad was made from Sacramento California to Nebraska in the US. There are LOTS of big topics in this book. The manual labor involved, taking land from Native Americans via force and where to build the railroad (to either enhance or inhibit the slave trade as we made our way westward). Since the Civil War is one of the topics in the book, we got to discuss slavery in a pretty big way.
Let me just say, explaining slavery to a 5 year old is complicated! He is a very bright boy but to kids I think slavery is just so out in left field for their little minds. Especially if they grow up in loving and caring families. Plus the definition of slavery,
Let me just say, explaining slavery to a 5 year old is complicated! He is a very bright boy but to kids I think slavery is just so out in left field for their little minds. Especially if they grow up in loving and caring families. Plus the definition of slavery,
- bondage: the state of being under the control of another person
So I had to figure out a way to explain to my son what slavery was. In a real sense, who are these children we are working with will be? Why do we need to go if his understanding of slavery is pretty simple and by all accounts accurate according to the dictionary?
I kind of narrowed it down in my mind now I think. Slavery is not just simply being under the control of someone. Like I said, my children, are under my control. But they are under my loving control and direction. They have FREEDOMS:
1. The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
Both my own morals (obviously influenced by my background and sheer wealth when compared to the rest of the world) and my country indicate that I can not sell my children into an abusive workforce. So to me the lack of Freedom is what defines a slave. These children do not have the freedom my children have. They do not get to be in a safe home or have a safe place to sleep. Their parents can't make sure of it like I can for my kids nor can the government (especially as the area gets more remote) come in and force child slaves to be released. They do not have the freedom to choose their interest, no freedom of education, no freedom of sleep or even the freedom to eat as frequently as they need to eat (many eating a small meal once a day). No freedom to have the health care and medications they need if they get sick. No freedom to refuse diving down deep into Lake Volta to untangle nets because there is danger in the water and danger above the water when you decide you don't want to do it. There is just no choice or freedom in any of it.
My children have the absolute freedom to pursue their dreams! They have parents who are educated and who can protect them and keep them safe. And while they may not necessarily have "freedom" in some ways in childhood, they are under caring and loving direction. And as they get older, they are more released to freedom. These children will never have the same opportunities if they remain enslaved. They will likely never get off the lake, never learn English or go to school, never have money to make a better way of life and will learn that enslaving child workers is okay because we LEARN behaviors we grow up around And THAT is why it is important.
God wants ALL children to have that freedom. Every last one of them no matter where they happen live or how much money they happen to make. No matter which parents they get or if they are orphans. And I am asking and will continue to ask that you find a way to help in achieving this! A new school will be paramount in getting children out of slaver and creating even more advocates for the children on Lake Volta. MORE educated children who are loved and nurtured and who can grow up and make an impact on their communities. This is important because they deserve the same things out kids deserve. And WE can help that happen. Please keep praying, please donate, please help me collect items for the Auction in June, please have your kids collect pennies or collect school supplies.
Just don't... figure there is no way for you to help. If you want to help Tia, JD and I will find a way that you can help.
Much love.
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