Thursday, April 4, 2013

Hair Bows and Hope

I sit on the rooftop of the guest house in Haiti,  my coffee mug warm in my hands, the sky becoming a canvas of soft pastel colors as night gives way to  morning. Alone on the roof, I am observer but unobserved, unnoticed and apart from the dailiness of Haitian life that unfolds below me...the gate guard patrolling his post across the driveway, the truck driver maneuvering the potholes on the street below, the teenage boy brushing his teeth as he emerges from his small concrete block home, the gray haired woman bent sideways from the weight of carrying the large, ten-gallon bucket of water for her family's morning needs.  I listen to the sounds of Haiti ...the constant, unremitting crowing of countless roosters and the endless barking of multiple dogs that continues night and day...the impatient cacophony of horns sounded by every tap-tap, car and truck on the road, as they fight for the advantage in the crazy traffic that is Port-au-Prince, alongside the gunning of motorcycle engines that weave in, out and around all.  I am aware of the faint, underlying smell of the gasoline fumes intermingled with the smell of charcoal burning.

But, what captures my attention and tugs at my heart is the sight of little girls in clean, navy school uniforms with crisp white hair bows in their braids, walking below me, walking past piles of rubbish on rough, unpaved roads.  I am moved by the thought of their mama's efforts to get them ready for school that day...most of them without electricity, without running water, probably without food for breakfast, without any assurance that this school term won't be the last they will be able to attend.  Mamas who are all too aware that their daughters are at high risk of rape, of pregnancy before they are out of their teens, of either dying in childbirth or of having to surrender their babies to an orphanage because they can't afford to feed them, of being physically abused by the men in their lives...all because they were born in the dysfunctional, most poverty stricken country in the Western Hemisphere. This beautiful, wounded country where massive amounts of aid money has failed to make any discernible difference in the welfare of the majority of its citizens, its women, its daughters.

I am overwhelmed at the force of will and courage it must take for those women to get up every day and somehow manage to keep those little girls in clean uniforms, in crisp white hair bows. I wonder how they do it. I think of my years of motherhood, getting my little girl ready to go to school, and how hard it sometimes seemed....the morning rush, forgotten homework and library books and clothes that didn't get washed, issues with teachers or friends, arguments over lunches. All "problems" of  having been blessed to be a First World dweller, of belonging to the 3% of the world's population that has abundantly more than the basic necessities of life, so much more that we can't even conceive of  how mothers and daughters in the Third World face life, of what a huge battle against poverty and deprivation and oppression and danger it is everyday for those little girls to go out the door in their white hair bows, to go to school.
What a triumph of hope over circumstances is represented in those white bows. 
It is as a purveyor of hope that I am in Haiti, here with other representatives of Trades of Hope, a company started to provide opportunities for women like these, for girls like these. We aren't just selling necklaces and earrings and scarves, we are selling hope for a better life for our artisans and their children and their communities. I sip my coffee and follow the progress of the little girls walking to school below, deeply thankful for the privilege I have been given to spread hope.

Weeks later, I see a film, Girl Rising (http://girlrising.com) a powerful, stirring look at the importance of educating girls, and the disturbing statistics about how dangerous and difficult it is to be a girl in most of the world. And I remember the school girls of Haiti, the mamas who face impossible odds to give their daughters a future that is bright, that is filled with hope and opportunity.
I remember why I started this blog, to encourage women to dream a new dream for their lives....
to hear God's heart for each of us to change the world for one person...
to make choices that deliberately do good and do not contribute to doing harm...
to advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves..
to become involved for the rights of the oppressed.
I feel the passion to make women understand that we are blessed to be a blessing.

One of the most powerful ways to change the world for one is through child sponsorship---enabling a girl to attend school impacts not only the girl's life now, but her future health and wealth, the lives of her future children and even her entire community! 
For about $1.00 a day you can be a world changer for one girl...how little to change a world!    
                      Haiti   http://threeangelshaiti.org/join-the-cause/donate/student-sponsorship/
                      Uganda: http://www.amazima.org/sponsor.html
                      Your choice of countrywww.Compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm

          "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act."
                                                              Proverbs 3:26-27


Sunday, January 6, 2013

Call me Scarlett

Not that I've ever made clothing from draperies or uttered "fiddle de dee" in my life. And, if you must know, not only does my waist measure more than Scarlett's 18 inches, so does my thigh.  To fully disclose, I've also never had handsome red haired twins enthralled with my beauty or a dashing blockade runner pay a fortune to dance with me.

    So what, you may be asking, do I have in common with Scarlett O'Hara?

            Well, we both have some Irish ancestry ,
                                                              green eyes,
               a tendency to think about hard things "tomorrow"                          
                                                and slaves.

Yes, you read that correctly. I have slaves working for me. At least 50 .

                                  You may have even more. 
 
I took the quiz at http://slaveryfootprint.org and based on what I eat, wear, buy and how I live, it translated to 50 slaves supporting my lifestyle.

January is Stop Slavery and Human Trafficking Month. Shockingly, in this year of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, there are more slaves than at any other time in history!  The estimates are between 12-27 million.
 Over half are children.

Unlike in Scarlett's day, it's so easy in our world to ignore our complicity. Our slaves are not visibly woven into the fabric or our everyday lives,
          their faces are unseen,
                        their voices are unheard,
                                  their existence is unperceived
as we shop and choose and do all of our normal everyday activities. But as God has been opening my eyes, I now realize that I am both an active and passive participant in modern day slavery. I am complicit.

I am complicit when I buy products without awareness that I am supporting slavery.           
 I am complicit when I close my eyes to the women and children who are being trafficked for sex right here in my own country, my own state, and yes, even my own town.

Sadly, our evangelical churches have, for the most part, been complicit, too. We who name the name of our God and preach (some of) His word, have been strangely quiet on the issue of social justice.
This, despite the clear evidence that God is not quiet on this issue. God's word has more than 300 verses concerning the poor, needy and social justiceYou can read some of them here: http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/g8-bibleverses 
But we have abdicated the cause to the secular humanists, to the "liberal, tree-huggers",to those who do not follow our Lord---- when it is clearly God's heart that His people be in the business of justice and liberty and righteousness and freedom.

But there is a movement. There are Christian voices speaking for those who have no voice. This week at Passion 2013 over 60,000 students heard the call for action and took to the streets seeking freedom for the enslaved. Everywhere across our country and across the world, Christian organizations, ministries, and individual Jesus followers are rising up to say, no more slaves in our day! These modern day abolitionists are doing the work to make all of us aware, to cry for justice, to activate our apathy into action for the oppressed.
 
      Let's join in . Let's make 2013 the year to make a change, to reduce the slaves who work for us. Let's do God's work in our world.

Where to start?  Do one easy thing. Then do another. Then something harder. 

Start here. Easy. Be intentional. Shop to make a difference.

Change your makeupRadiant Cosmetics has a campaign this month to
Kiss Slavery Good-bye !  Radiant's mission is to help garner awareness of human trafficking by raising funds through cosmetics to provide resources for those fighting it and those involved in it. Their company is "beauty with a purpose" and with every purchase they donate time, money and effort to this fight. This month for every lipstick purchased they will also donate one to a victim of trafficking. Easy, right?   www.radiantcosmetics.org  

Change your accessories: Trades of Hope is a missional company lifting women out of poverty, sweatshops and the sex trade by creating a market for their  fair trade,hand crafted, artisan items. By giving women an opportunity to support themselves with dignity ,they and their children are not at risk for slavery.  Shop www.mytradesofhope.com/deborahadair

Change your groceries:  Look for fair trade labels at your grocery store (google fair trade label for some images to look for) to be sure that your coffee, chocolate, and tea is not being made by slave labor. These are the easiest products to find fair trade choices. For even more options, shop at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or other stores that carry a large number of Fair Trade groceries.

Change your facebook. "Like" these pages to spread the word about the issue, share pictures and calls for action.  Stop theTraffick, End slavery now, International Justice Mission, the Exodus Road, Not for Sale...you get the idea!

A little harder:

Shop for even more fair trade groceries, home goods and clothing by going online.
Begin at   http://tradeasone.com  .For more options, see www.freetoshop.org and www.shoptostopslavery.com
You can research brands you already use at www.fairtradeusa.org/shoppingguide and   
www.freetowork.com     You'll learn that it's better to shop at Express than American Eagle, buy Hanes, not Fruit of the Loom and wear Adidas, not Sketchers.
Download to your smart phone some apps to use at the store:  the Better World Shopper($1.99) or the Free2Work app (free) .
Spend some time educating yourself about the scope of modern day slavery. There is a lot of information out there. Become an advocate. Share on facebook. Share this blog. Speak up.  Write your congressman. Join a group. Donate to stop slavery and trafficking.
                             Be a modern day abolitionist!  Begin now!

"Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers.  Speak out for justice!   Stand up for the poor and destitute!" 
                                                                   
Proverbs 31:8-9 (the Message)







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