Step of Faith

I took a step of faith back in September and decided to sponsor a 2nd child through Compassion Canada.  God has always provided the funds for my 1st sponsor child, even through unstable employment and all my travels, and I felt like I should be stepping out in faith at this time again.  It takes awhile to get paper processed and so Compassion says that it may be up to 6 months before hearing back from your new sponsor child.

When I started sponsoring my 1st child, I had them pick out a girl - beyond that it didn't matter how old she was, where she was from or her family situation.  This time it was a little different and I put a bit more thought into it.  When I received 50 profiles for my church, I went through looking for some specifics:  a boy from a country that needs real men as role models and who doesn't necessarily have a stable home situation.  Suraj caught my attention, being from India and only having his mom to look after him (she is only sometimes employed).  Little did I know what I was really signing up for!

I received my first letter from Suraj today - glad to finally make a connection with him other than his picture and brief amount of information that I have about him from Compassion.  He starts with the basics like his favorite color (blue) and sport (football) and talks about how thankful he is to be sponsored and what he is studying in school.  This is how the letter concludes:  "He says that his father has left the family, therefore his mother is working as harlot to survive the family."  I have been talking human rights and trafficking and all these issues all year long and I end up with a sponsor child who is the face of all of it.  I try to practice what I've preached all year and believe that the small things do add up - like sponsoring a little boy in India, whose mother is a prostitute so that she can provide for her children.  Maybe God has much bigger plans in store for Suraj than I could ever hope to imagine!  And it all started with a little step of faith.

20 Cents

"The World Bank started making international comparisons of poverty only about two decades back.  For obvious reasons of convenience, it developed two simple notions of poverty.  The lower poverty line was set at $1 a day per capita.  Those below it were considered to be 'the poorest of the poor.'  The upper poverty line was set at $2 a day.  Those living on $1 to 2 a day were still poor, but not as bad off.

However, there was a problem.  It was realized that $1 goes much farther in purchasing necessary items of consumption in a poor country than in a rich one.  To make purchasing power across countries comparable, economists developed what is known as the PPP (purchasing power parity) index.  Taking into account the lower cost of living in impoverished countries, a conversion factor is now applied to market exchange rates to calculate what is minimally necessary to survive there.  Using World Bank numbers, applying this conversion factor for India effectively means that if you survive on 1 PPP dollar a day in that country, it is equivalent to being given 20 cents in your hand in the U.S."

By Aseem Shrivastava from Justice for the Poor - Participants' Guide

Food for Thought

"If we become equals with each other then we won't judge each other, and if we don't judge each other there won't be wars, and if we don't have wars, we'll have hope.  And like I said, hope can do anything."

Amira Mortenson (age 12) from Three Cups of Tea - The Young Reader's Edition


"We must commit to end the shameful and unjust practice of human trafficking with the same urgency and persistence we would if the victims were our sister or brother, daughter or son, mother or father, wife or husband - because victims of human trafficking are these people to someone."

Benjamin Perrin (p. 240) from Invisible Chains

Speak Up

"In Germany they came first for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time,

no one was left to speak up."

~Pastor Martin Niemoller

Overcoming Indifference

A Prayer for Overcoming Indifference

I watch the news, God.  I observe it all from a comfortable distance.  I see people suffering, and I don't lift a finger to help them.  I condemn injustice but I do nothing to fight against it.  I am pained by the faces of starving children, but I am not moved enough to try to save them.  I step over homeless people in the street, I walk past outstretched hands, I avert my eyes, I close my heart.

Forgive me, God, for remaining aloof while others are in need of my assistance.

Wake me up, God; ignite my passion, fill me with outrage.  Remind me that I am responsible for Your world.  Don't allow me to stand idly by.  Inspire me to act.  Teach me to believe that I can repair some corner of this world.

When I despair, fill me with hope.  When I doubt my strength, fill me with faith.  When I am weary, renew my spirit.  When I lose direction, show me the way back to meaning, back to compassion, back to You.  Amen.

Not on our Watch, Cheadle & Prendergast, p. 169

Peace at Home

I was working the midnight shift at the women's shelter this Christmas weekend and, as with many other shelters, numbers are low over the holidays.  People want to be with their family over the holidays, even though it can be a stressful time which can add to the abuse they normally experience.  The shelters may be quiet, but that's far from meaning that there is peace at home.

www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/abused-women-in-christmas-dilemma-112367964.html

A World Without Chains

From Benjamin Perrin's book Invisible Chains:  Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking, he concludes with references to the work of William Wilberforce (abolishing slavery in Britain) and Martin Luther King Jr. (fighting for civil rights in the U.S.):

"Wilberforce's and King's appeals were met with noxious lies, fraudulent
justifications, and phoney excuses from those who either directly or
indirectly benefited from the systems of exploitation being challenged or
could not picture a world without chains." (p. 238)

This Christmas, I wish you a world without chains - whatever that means in your own life; in the life of your family & community; in the life of your country & of our world.  Just like those who wish for "peace on earth", you must understand that a "world without chains" begins with YOU.  What do you need to do or change to start breaking the chains that grip your life and the lives of others around you?

"'When one is deprived of one's liberty, one is right in blaming not
so much the man who puts the fetters on as the one who had the
power to prevent him, but did not use it,' wrote the Greek historian

Thucydides in The Peloponnesian War in 431 BC." (p. 238 - 239)

Let Your Dollar Talk

It would seem that, even though I've volunteered at Ten Thousand Villages previously and now I sell fair trade products through Jolica, I am in an intensive time of learning about fair trade.  I've highlighted the book fair trade:  a human journey by Eric St-Pierre over the past few days (and once again I will say - go out and buy it!).  I also just finished reading Invisible Chains:  Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking by Benjamin Perrin.  Human trafficking usually comes with the idea of the sex trade and prostitution, but child labor and forced labor are also a part of it.

I have Benjamin Perrin's list of 10 Things You Can Do to Combat Human Trafficking listed on the side of my blog (www.endmoderndayslavery.ca) and #6 is "Let Your Dollar Talk & Buy Fair Trade".  If you have been to one of my Jolica parties, you know that I've already talked about this.  One of the best things about buying fair trade is that is gives you a CHOICE and a VOICE.  As a consumer, your money speaks and if you decide to buy fair trade, companies will notice (both those that are not fair trade and are losing your money, and those that are fair trade and are gaining your money!).

"A 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Labor identified 122 common goods from 58 countries that ranked among the worst for forced labour or child labour." (p. 236, Invisible Chains)  I googled that list and urge you to consider the following purchases, especially at this time of year:
Coffee from Columbia, Cote d'Ivorie, Domincan Republic, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Tanzania, Uganda.
Cotton from Burkina Faso, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Benin, Brazil, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Paraguay, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Gold from Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Columbia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Mali, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Niger, North Korea, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania.
Rice from Brazil, Burma, Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Mali, Philippines, Uganda.
Sugarcane from Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Thailand, Uganda.
Other items on the list include Bananas, Cocoa, Diamonds, Flowers, Footwear, Garments, Tea and others.

A Few More Thoughts. . .

Just a few more thoughts from fair trade:  a human journey by Eric St-Pierre (if you haven't already bought it, go now - what are you waiting for?!):

"'Acting together accomplished more than the sum of our individual actions,' could be FLO's [Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International] official motto." (p. 207)

"'Fair trade is not just about higher prices.  It's about social justice, health, education, culture, control of the food supply and ecology.  Fair trade is an integrated policy.'" (p. 212)

"There are many people who refuse to accept the injustices and disparities of the conventional market.  The strength of fair trade is that it offers a very real alternative, which can be expressed every day through our consumption choices, our purchases and the businesses we patronize." (p. 231)

Now We're Talking!

Craigslist, you have made my blog not once but twice this week and it's finally for a good reason!  They have removed, not only the US adds (4 months ago), not only Canadian adds (earlier this week), but they have removed erotic service adds in dozens of other countries.  Now we're talking!!

www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/breakingnews/craigslist-removes-adult-services-listings-globally-months-after-cutting-them-from-us-sites-112277634.html

The Longest Night with No Moon

Last year ended with a blue moon and overnight (though we couldn't see it because of the cloud cover), we experienced a full lunar eclipse, coinciding with the winter solstice.  The last time that occurred was in 1638.  It's exciting to think we'll be once again gaining daylight hours!

fair trade: a human journey

Perhaps you are still looking for a few last minute gifts and that certain someone is little like me - interested in all things regarding justice.  This is not a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" (like you should go out and buy this FOR me - no, I already have it!) - I am helping you out with your Christmas shopping.  Head out to Ten Thousand Villages because they are the only store in Canada selling the book fair trade:  a human journey by Eric St-Pierre.  It features many Ten Thousand Villages artisans and provides an up close and personal view of what fair trade really involves.  That is, the people who are working in the tea gardens of India or caring for roses in greenhouses in Ecuador, all in the name of fair trade.

"In 2001, four major fair trade organizations defined the movement as follows:

Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade.  It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers - especially in the South.  Fair trade organizations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, raising awareness, and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade." (p. 12)

"'Fair trade is not a question of charity, but of justice.'" (p. 44)

For more information on Eric St-Pierre or the book go to ericstpierre.ca or www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cgi-bin/category.cgi?type=store&item=2310074

peace is. . .

"Now we are at the point where women are owning property whereas before women were part of the property." ~Workshop participants, Uganda

peace is. . .a world in which women are not treated as commodities

Across the world the most dangerous place for a woman to be is in her own home.

peace is. . .a world in which women are safe within their own homes

and free to come and go at will

At one clinic in India 7997 out of 8000 aborted fetuses were female.

                         peace is . . .a world in which female life is valued and celebrated

                         peace is. . .a world in which all women have both names and faces

Taken from peace is. . . - women imagine a peaceful world by Jennifer deGroot

Craigslist Finally Gets It

It would seem that Craigslist is giving out Christmas gifts early this year - to all the women and children who would have been exploited and trafficked via its website - by finally pulling the erotic services ads in Canada:

www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/craigslist-pulls-erotic-services-prostitution-ads-from-canadian-sites--112124584.html

God is with the Vulnerable & Poor

"God is in the slums,

in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is in the silence of a mother

who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives.

God is in the cries

heard under the rubble of war.

God is in the debris

of wasted opportunity and lives,

and God is with us if we are with them."

Bono, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast 2006

Within the Reach

"'In judging our progress as individuals, ' he [Nelson Mandela] would write to Winnie, 'we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one's social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education. . .but internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being:  honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, purity, generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve your fellow men - qualities within the reach of every soul. . .'"

Mandela:  The Authorized Portrait, p. 166

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today I finally landed back on Canadian soil after trekking the globe since April 2, 2009.  It took 6 grueling days (well, actually 7 if you consider that I went back in time crossing the International Dateline and experienced 2 December 12th's last year!) to go from Cape Town - Johannesburg - Sydney - Auckland - Honolulu - Kona - LA - Chicago - Winnipeg.  Yep, I NEVER want to do that again!!  And some days it feels like it was all yesterday and other days I feel like it was ages ago.  Of course, the most popular question these days is, "So where are you going next?"  I have absolutely no idea, but wherever it is, whenever it happens, I'm excited about it already!

Family Update

It has certainly been an eventful year for some of my family on my mom's side.  My grandma had some health set-backs this year and she is very slowly getting 'used' to life at a personal care home.  Today she also had cataract surgery on her 2nd eye (the other was done earlier this year).  As for my uncle Levi, there has certainly been a lot of progress since March, but there have also been some disappointments along the way.  Things were looking so hopeful that he would be able to get off the ventilator entirely, but now that does not seem possible.  Even if he's only on it for the night, it restricts the type of places he is able to live because of the care he needs.  Definitely not great Christmas news for him.

Lemon Grass Tea

Do you ever have those moments where you're able to step back in time and just enjoy a specific moment again?  Maybe it was a recent memory, maybe one stored for a long, long time.  I stumbled upon some lemon grass tea a few weeks and I just couldn't stop thinking about it.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, I remember having real lemon grass tea while in Panama during the summer of '09.  I knew it had made an impact back then because, when I went back to my journal, there is was:  "and great lemon grass tea for breakfast" (that and "What in the world does God want with me way out here, visiting a tribe in Panama?").

Lemon grass tea is not the only thing that brings me back to Panama these days.  I had heard about the mudslides and wanted to be sure that my friends were all ok.  As I turned my computer on to write this blog, my friend Tulio had responded to my email [my edits in brackets - his English gets better every time]:

"hello friend, God bless you for reminding [remembering] us, errebache [the tribe referred to before] was flooded up to the bigger house and get the water there was a landslide that covered the bathroom and a house. we are all good - material damage only. now errebache'll be in [Gamboa, the town we were stationed or at the YWAM base is my guess] until January. I prayer [pray] for errebache to [go] the right direction for our village."

Please keep Tulio and all his friends and family at Errebache, as well as all those in Panama affected by the floods and mudslides in your thoughts and prayers over the coming weeks.  Many won't celebrate Christmas in their homes, so pray that they would have others to surround them in this time.

You Know It's Really Cold When. . .

Winter is settling in - more so this week.  Temperatures have started to drop, but this week we've also added the windchill.  For those of my friends who have no idea what I'm talking about, let me briefly explain.  Let's say it's -20 (Celsius that is - we're in Canada!), which is cold - not crazy cold, not pleasant cold, just cold.  But if the wind starts to pick up, then it becomes a factor and then we hear things like, "it's -20 but feels like -36 with the windchill".  Ok, now that's COLD because the wind just bites!  And you know it's really cold when the sun dogs come out (I didn't get to take a picture, so you'll have to Google them for now) - little rainbows of light seen on either side of the sun created by the ice crystals in the air.  Brrrrrrrrr!

Jolica in the News

Check out this article written in Edmonton (a hot-spot for Jolica) with more details regarding what Jolica is all about:

www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2720515

Advent Conspiracy

Looking to do Christmas a little different this year?  Check out www.adventconspiracy.org

Video from www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

We Remember

Today Canada marks the National Day of Mourning and a National Day to End Violence Against Women in memory of the 14 women killed 21 years ago in the Montreal Massacre by enraged gunman Marc Lépine at the engineering school, École Polytechnique.  For video: archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/topics/398

We remember:

  Sonia Pelletier                    Maryse Laganiere

 

  Nathalie Croteau                     Maud Haviernick

 Helene Colgan                     Michelle Richard

 Maryse Leclair                  Genevieve Bergeron

 Barbara Klueznick                 Barbara Daigneault

 Annie Turcotte                   Annie St Arneault

 Ann Marie Lemay                 Ann Marie Edward

Long-Lost Relations

It was just over a year ago that I met a long-lost brother, well, that's at least what it felt like!  We were born on opposites sides of the world, in opposite colors, but I swear that he's my brother.  It was like we had known each other all our lives in spirit and now we were able to finally meet in the flesh.

I don't know if it's just the time of year or what, but it seems to be happening to me again.  I have met a few women within the last week who are totally in sync with me (which is not an easy task!).  You start to wonder how you ever got along without them before.  And the best part is that circumstances were such that I could have totally missed meeting them - but I didn't!  I knew last year that my life would never be the same. . .and I have a sneaky suspicion that I might saying that once again!

Kids

Christmas is just not Christmas unless you're able to share, enjoy and celebrate it with kids.  It's easy to catch on to their contagious excitement, and experience the wonder of Christmas all over again.  For our family, this also means getting involved in various ministries that work with children, especially at this time of year.  And no, it's not just about the gifts but rather extending love to these little ones - the ones most vulnerable in our society.

That's why we participate in Operation Christmas Child (through Samaritan's Purse) and send a shoebox of gifts out to a child in need.  For many children, this is the only Christmas gift they will ever receive.  If you forgot to, or you just didn't have time to this year, there's still time to donate at www.samaritanspurse.ca/occ.

Another organization we get involved with is Angel Tree (through Prison Ministries).  Inmates request gifts for their children and these gifts are bought by people like my family and then given to these kids at Christmas.  Many of these children are looked after by extended family, including grandparents or aunts and uncles, who don't have the extra money to buy Christmas gifts.  Maybe your church or community group would like to get involved - there's still time!  Check out www.angeltree.org/deliverlove for more information.

give empowerment

I was looking around one of my favorite stores yesterday (Ten Thousand Villages) and a display of bars of soap caught my eye.  Normally, soap would not be that interesting to me, but these were a little different.  Each of them had a piece of wax, with a fingerprint impressed into it.  So I came a little closer and saw that they were called "Sacred Mark".  I don't make a habit of crying in public, especially not standing in a store, but tears were sitting at the corners of my eyes as I read the story of these bars of soap:

"Known as 'survivors,' the women in MCC's Pobitra program receive much more than handicraft training.  They are offered an environment of respect and support where they are able to begin new lives.  Victims of Bangladesh's sex trade, the women take part in an eight-month vocational training program that also educates about health and hygiene, mental health, human rights, peace and literacy.  The program's name, Pobitra, means 'holiness, sanctity, the fresh cleanliness of a newborn.'  To join the program, women make a public commitment to embrace new opportunities and on completion, are given a blue sari to symbolize their rebirth.  Many of the program's graduates produce handmade natural soaps at Sacred Mark, an enterprise developed by MCC in Bangladesh."

Are there tears in the corners of your eyes?  If so, please go to MCC/Ten Thousand Villages and support this program either by buying bars of soap (guess what all my friends and family are getting next year?!?) or by buying a Living Gift - "Give Empowerment" - which, for $25, is the gift of literacy materials for a woman who is beginning a new life (online it's at www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cgi-bin/category.cgi?type=store&item=pageZAAAF39&template=fullpage-en&category=search)

"Your gift of empowerment gives women in Bangladesh the capacity to start over, learn vocational skills and find new sources of employment."

"O let me wear secretly. . .the sacred mark impressed by Your own hand."

~Rabindranath Tagore

More information about the program at mcc.org/stories/news/mcc-teaches-new-job-skills-former-sex-workers-bangladesh

31 Questions

How can it possibly be December already?  This year has once again flown by!  I thought I would use this last month of 2010 to ask God a few questions.  I have set up a new page, aptly titled '31 Questions', and I will post 1 new question a day, until the end of the year.  Enjoy!