January has been declared National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month by the White House. So, please, take part in prevention with me, not only this month, but starting here. As in other realms of life, I wanted to use the small influence I may have in blogworld to get the word out and wake us to to the evils in this world such as… every 30 seconds another victim is pulled into human trafficking. This cause has, honestly, consumed my heart. I’ve been reading & studying up, I often step back in disbelief that such darkness can be in the world…But as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “I would rather light a candle than curse the darkness.”
But it is. And I can do something about it, even as a stay at home mom. You can too. So come back this month and find out how. The A21 Campaign provides practical ways that we can all help abolish slavery in the 21st century.
The first thing we can do, and dont underestimate this is, pray. God is passionate about people, He gave is Son for people. He knows what we need, what they need, our part is to ask. Psalm 109 (MSG) says, “My mouth’s full of great praise for God, I’m singing his hallelujahs surrounded by crowds, For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy, to rescue a life from the unjust judge.” We know it’s His will to rescue the needy, fatherless, destitute AND we know that when we pray according to His Will He hears and answers…so let’s pray.
(now)
World AIDS Days 2009
When you are faced with a leaky faucet (which ironically, we have a leaky garbage dispoal at the moment) there are three options:
1. Ignore it. Let the problem build and deal with the potentially costly affects at some point down the road.
2. Bucket it. Catch what you can. Empty the bucket. Replace bucket. Repeat as necessary…which if this is the solution, the repeating will be necessary for…forever until the root of the problem is fixed.
3. Deal with it. Pay the price. Admit there’s an issue and resolve it.
While the first two are the easiest, they also seem to be the costliest long term.
There is an entire continent that is facing a crisis much more real than any plumbing problem. The seemingly endless problem is the AIDS pandemic that is killing Africa. You know, AIDS is evil, but the people that have it are not. Nelson Mandela said, “a tragedy of unprecedented proportions is unfolding in Africa. AIDS today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines and floods”. Every minute a South African dies of AIDS. One in 4 is infected. By next year there will be far more than 3 million orphans in South Africa because of AIDS.
It’s true. But it doesn’t have to be. There is a strategy, there is an answer. And one that is more effective than placing buckets under a leak. Want to know more? Check this out. Or this, it’s really good too.
Please, be disturbed. Pity says “What a shame”. Compassion says “This cannot be! I must do something to stop it”. We can each do something to end this.
[Insert shout out to Thrive Africa and Grit for letting my borrow the analogy and the quote...I hope. I didn't really ask. 
]
It’s trendy to be “green” now. And I’m glad. I love recycling, it’s good. I love that in my Better Homes and Gardens & InStyle magazines that there is much discussion about living green. We must take care of the earth…it was one of the first instructions given to Adam by God in the garden of Eden. We want our air clean, our garbage recycled and our food organic and free-range.
All of this green talk combined with what God’s been showing me about human trafficking makes me think of a tee-shirt I had as a teenager. It read “Forget the whales…Save the people”. I have no problem with whales, to be clear, but I think that green issues need to not be our only, nor our highest priority. We’re more concerned that our chickens are free range than the people we share this planet with. We can be concerned with both our planet and the that people fill it. The causes are not mutually exclusive.
27,000,000 slaves. Slavery isn’t legal anywhere, but it is happening everywhere. I think it’s time that we, as a nation, start going orange as well. Orange is the color of freedom.
I was talking with a good friend today and she said these words about slavery “It is the issue of our generation. We will be judged on how we deal with human trafficking”. Isn’t it true? Think about the great leadership of Abraham Lincoln. One of the things he is most known for is the abolishment of slavery. And what will history think of this generation, understanding the legacy we have in Lincoln combined with the fact that there are more slaves today than in the whole trans-Atlantic slave trade?! If you want to get some more easier-not-to-know info about human trafficking look here and here. Organizations that fight trafficking are here and here.
Here are some ways that we can go orange together. Alece commented on my last post, “if we all did the somethings we CAN do, everything would be covered.”
Lots of voices of ONE together can make quite the sound.
there are 27 million slaves in the world today. what i can’t believe is that number is larger than all of the slaves taken in the trans-atlantic slave trade. a lot in other parts of the world, but also a lot in our part of the world.
free the slaves and not for sale share the alarming statistic that, on average, slaves can be bought for $91. there is a recorded story of an undercover journalist who in a half an hour and with eighty-some dollars bought two grown men as slaves. these slaves, these fellow humans, are described as being like styrofoam cups…grab one, use it, crumple it up, dispose of it and grab another one.
i can’t get this out of my mind. honestly, i’d much rather forget. it’s easier not to know about all this. because knowing this…how can i do nothing?
last evening, i was enjoying a sweet dinner with daniel and my girls. the girls were expressing concerns about being able to play with their friends in the morning. playing with friends and sharing toys are the biggest worries my girls have. i couldn’t hold the tears in as i thought about the concerns of some other girls, boys, men and women who have gotten trapped in human trafficking.
with $135 free the slaves sends modern day abolitionists into a child labor factory in india, sets the kids free and sets them up in safety and restoration. $135. that’s just a few bucks more than we pay for cable each month.
i’ve been teaching a missions class at church which is another post, but to say the least has been incredible on so many levels. our small class has given just over $800 which will result in six raids. because of our little class dozens of children will know freedom.
all that i know is…i can’t blissfully enjoy my blessed life while others are painfully suffering. proverbs 3:27 says that we are not to withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in our power to act.
i can’t do everything. but i can do something. and i will do something. i have begun to act…
For those of you dear friends that have stuck around despite my inconsistent posting (and now inconsistent reading) you might remember this from two years ago. We are back. Daniel worked yesterday from 7.30 am to 11.30 pm and was back at work at 7 this morning. Last week he worked a 20 hour day (last Thursday, he hit overtime by 10 am…and then had the 20 hour day!). Next weekend he’ll be gone in Colorado training a church. My facebook status the other day was “you know he’s working a lot when your husband gets home at 8 and it feels early! BUT thank God for his job!”. And I’ll add to that…thank God he is NOT salaried, but hourly!
I am so proud of him. He doesn’t complain and is such a hard worker. I am holding up pretty good. We are both pretty tired. I had a mini-breakdown when I found out last night that this will last for another month or so…I wasn’t expecting that long. But I’m okay, I’m over it. I miss him and I miss rest…but the extra hours help and are only temporary. What makes it better is that someone let Daniel borrow their car for the week so I’ve had a car, but after this week, I will not have a car (as it stands now). Dare I say I am getting to the point which I need a car come fall!
So, yes, pray for us…for strength, wisdom and for a car! Thanks for reading!
I’ve been out of the blogging loop a bit in the past month or so. Some by choice, some by busy-ness. Now, that I’m easing back in, would you help a girl out and put the link to your favorite /most important / best posts of the last month or two? I have 244 unread posts in my google reader and as much as I love you all…I probably can’t find the time to read them all.
Just cuz I’ve been away doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking of and praying for my dear friends.
And outside of blog world…tell me something about your past month. I’ve missed you!
we are on vacation now. just a few hours from home, sharing a cottage with my parents and brother. it’s nice..if a little lacking in technology.
but i’m not totally digging some things here. no internet. so here i sit at a local po-dunk library that is just cool enough to have wi-fi. {to add to the amusement, some guy has walked by twice and both times has tripped over his own feet to which he replies to the air “i hate my shoes”…both times!} the nearest store that carries organic milk is 30 minutes away. there is cable tv…but no dvr. this made me feel totally spoiled. i doubt we will be watching any of our shows this week. we’ve not watched tv “live” in four years. have you ever tried that with a 2 and a 3 year old…and not been frustrated?! this last paragraph makes me sound high maintenance. i’m really not. i’m a missions girl. totally cool with “sleeping under the stars in africa”…but i suppose if it’s a ministry or camping trip it’s different, not just for vacation to relax. so, fine, laugh at me because i like my computer. i’ve come to accept that i’m happy with suburbia. sorry.
i am enjoying the quaint little towns here. they are full of homemade pies, antiques, funky art, olive oil and pottery. my girls love seeing the “big, big boats” as anna has said several dozen times since we’ve arrived. last evening, the four of us sat on the dock looking at the water, the sunset and the fisherman. we woke up this sunny morning to birds chirping and a beautiful calm lake. most of all, i am loving having daniel with us, all day every day. plus, you dont always get a view like this in suburbia.
Emma, my child…the one that not so long ago was a baby but now says such grown up things such as “Mom, is that a new bowl? It’s cool”…is going to start preschool in the fall. I love every season and stage that both of my girls have been, and are, in.
She is the coolest kid. She prays with faith for any boo-boo we get. She helps take care of her sister and occasionally sits on her. She wants to do things like “just like mommy does”. She writes her own name now. She heard a clip of a song on the radio today and informed me that it was in a movie we’ve seen only a few times. I had to come home and check the soundtrack online…she was right.
And she’s leaving me for three mornings a week, 2 hours at a time. On paper it doesn’t sound like much…but it feels like much more. I know for her it is the right thing to do. I’m just thankful the first day they have “coffee & kleenex” for the parents.
So, I probably won’t be around much this summer. I want to soak up and enjoy every moment I get with my little girl. I get to keep Anna all to myself for a few more years. And, yeah…I am entertaining thoughts of home-schooling much more now.
solution lyrics by hillsong united. what a prayer.
It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now As we hold to our confession
It is not too far a cry
To much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet
Fill our hearts with your compassion
As we hold to our confession
God be the solution
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Higher than a circumstance
Your promise stands
Your love for all to see
Higher than protest line and dollar signs
Your love is all we need
Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinners past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widows cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands , we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be your light
We will be your light
We’ll sing
God be the solution
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution
