Exciting News

Just got an e-mail from International Justice Mission, one of my favorite slavery-fighting groups:

We are very excited to announce the launch of IJM’s new Web presence. The site www.ijm.org was designed to give you unprecedented access to the work and people of IJM. As we work together to end slavery and oppression, we hope this new front door to IJM provides the resources and inspiration to unite and strengthen all of our efforts.

The enhanced technical capacity of the new site provides many avenues to explore IJM’s work, including expanded multimedia options, casework stories, first-person accounts from field staff and agency information by region and casework element.

The site’s frequent updates will keep you informed of exciting developments – whether they occur in Africa, on the Hill, in a congregation or at a Campus Chapter meeting.

Go check out the new site, and if you're so inclined, sign up for an e-mail or make a donation. These folks are doing great things!

Mostly Back to Normal ...

This is my first attempt to act like I am back on semi-regular basis. Had a work trip, which went very well, but then I was swamped with work more or less straight from Tuesday morning to Thursday night. Fortunately, some time to recover was offered in return, and I am working on that recovery presently. The wind is returning to my sails, thanks to some rest and encouragement. Being back at church after 3 Sundays away also helped.

Now that I am starting to feel like I live in this time zone, I'll try to appear here more often. We have a meeting of the Clapham Carolina Circle this week, and I hope that we'll hear good reports as some of our members have been able to get some ideas up and running. Perhaps we can put our heads together for a few more. ... And, of course, we'll pray that God will free slaves and use us to do it.

Go Ahead—Get Angry at God!

The other day I started writing a post about having a major argument with God during the past year or so. It was a struggle, so decided to set it aside for a bit. Then a friend of mine sent me a link to an audio clip from her church. Sara Groves spoke to their women's group recently about her own argument with God as well as how and why she is involved with ending slavery in the world.

You're probably tired of reading my references to Sara, but these days she's right on the money. Bear with me! Her introduction is aimed toward women, but hang in there because the stories she tells after that are powerful. She makes essentially the same point I was fighting to make about being angry at God about what we see in the world. Then she sings, so really, this is better than my post. I promise you I will never sing.

If you've ever been ticked off at the horrible things you've seen, I challenge you to listen to this audio clip. Then go have your own fight with God and see what He says. If you listen closely, He will answer.

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

If you live in the Carolinas and want to fight slavery, join us this week for the third gathering of the Carolina Clapham Circle. Visit my friend Bob's blog and fill out the information box on the left side of the page. He'll send you details about the meeting. We are eager to discover what we can do in our own neighborhood to fight this evil.

Talk About Crafty!

In case this isn't already obvious, slave traffickers are extremely slippery, deceitful people. This blog post is just one example of their wiles.

Lord, give us even more creative ways to stop the evil!

Another Voice

Singer Natalie Grant is taking matters into her own hands when it comes to slavery.

Yay, Natalie!

Every person who joins this fight encourages me. I liked Natalie's music before, but I'm gonna have to get my hands on a CD now.

Things That Make Me Angry

... and then reduce me to tears.

Tonight our local Clapham Circle met to pray, watch a short movie and brainstorm about things that our group could do.

The movie we watched is the sort of thing that fills me with rage and then tears. Even after reading a few books about the sex trade and what happens to women and girls all over the world, I wasn't prepared for how angry a dramatization could make me. The film was called Fields of Mudan If you're interested in this topic at all, find a way to watch this film.

And now for the post I've been trying to write for weeks.

Working as a writer for a Christian organization, I've been sent all over the world. Often, I go to third world countries and meet some of the poorest people in the world. I've been in sweat shops, orphanages, slums, homeless centers and soup kitchens. I've seen defenseless people firsthand. Some are defenseless because they have no opportunity to go to school or find a job. Some are defenseless because their families died or abandoned them. Some are defenseless because of the economic realities of our world that allow corporations to pay people pennies for hours of toil, all in the name of profits. I don't know for sure that I've seen enslaved people, but I probably have, as I have seen hundreds of street children and women doing whatever they could to survive.

After a few years of this, I got tired of doing nothing, of feeling helpless, of feeling guilty for not using my own resources and buying power to do something. But the problem always felt too big for me to make a difference. I've prayed about these situations and given some money, but it never felt like a complete response.

When modern-day slavery came to my attention, I had the same feeling. But I told God that if He showed me what to do, I would act. For months, this was just a thought in my mind. Eventually, I came across people who were also concerned. They were everywhere, even at work! Over the past few months, we've been putting our heads together and some ideas have come to the surface. There are local people for us to support. There are some ventures for us to consider. God is moving to do something and I can't wait to see what comes next.

An Open Letter to Sara Groves

Some of you gentle readers may identify with this letter:

Dear Sara,

Please stop stalking me. I know you are doing it. This is the only way I can explain how your music describes my life, down to the very detail; how, when I am at my lowest points and stonewalling God, your music points me in the direction that leads out of the funk without surrendering my intelligence; and why I have spent innumerable commutes to work and church listening to you with tears pouring down my face.

And now I understand that you are getting involved in the fight against slavery.

Copy-cat.

Seriously. Have you been following around behind me the past five years as I've traveled and seen the despair, the evil, the darkness—then witnessed how the hope of Christ rises above it all, giving peace and joy to the most destitute when I expect them to curse God and wish for death? You can't look away and do nothing, either?

This quality of yours is why I have loved every CD you've produced, since you brought "Past the Wishing" to your first concert at my college. How I wished I had $15 that night. How I mooched that CD off of people who did until I scraped the cash together for my own copy. And now, I pre-order your CDs ASAP. I am an online groupie. And I am thrilled to see that modern-slavery has pushed you to act. We're happy to have you on board. I'm pretty new here, myself.

Now, please tell me how you knew about my life now when you wrote "The Other Side of Something" album some 3-odd years ago. Still can't figure that out ... . Also, have you been handing your notes on me to my pastor? He's been suspiciously prescient lately, too.


Sincerely,
Burkinator

A Fair Halloween

My friend Bob forwarded to me the following e-mail. This is a wonderful idea and makes me glad that I skipped the cheap, monstrous-sized bag of chocolate at Target this afternoon. The following suggestion seems so much better:

Halloween will soon be upon us. Chocolate is a favorite Halloween treat. But you may not know that MOST chocolate that arrives here in the U.S. comes from child cocoa laborers that work on family farms, even as slaves. The U.S. chocolate industry says it's working to end abusive child labor on cocoa farms, but so far little has been accomplished and their plan does NOT guarantee farmers a fair and stable price for their cocoa. There is a solution -- Fair Trade Certified Chocolate! Fair Trade guarantees farmers a fair price for their cocoa, so they can feed their families and keep their kids in school. Fair Trade does not allow abusive child labor or forced labor.

I want to share with you an opportunity to participate in making certain that farmers get fair compensation for their goods. Would you consider giving out fair trade chocolate with an accompanying note this Halloween? Click here to learn more. At this global exchange web site, you can even download Halloween cards explaining fair trade chocolate!

No one loves chocolate more than me!!! But as I consider more and more the abusive conditions under which the cocoa is harvested to give me a pleasurable treat, I want to make a difference in the process.

This Halloween campaign is a small, but significant, effort toward a day when all is REALLY fair in the world. Take a look at the website. And I hope you will choose to make a difference.

That website again is: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/halloween.html
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If nothing else, I will be making a trip to Trader Joe's before the kiddies ring my door bell.

UPDATE (9/27/07): I think the links had issues, but they should be correct now.

I Was Wrong

Wow. This blog rarely picked up hits. But in the last few days, there's been some real activity. This tells me that I'm just one of many who feel the pull to DO SOMETHING about slavery.

Do you feel helpless, overwhelmed, angry? I did when I first became aware of the scope of slavery, that it wasn't just in a brothel in Asia, but everywhere. It's probably here in this Bible Belt suburb. You know where this is going: "I'm just one person against a global evil. There's not much I can do!"

And that's where I was completely wrong. My friend, Bob, of Bob's Clapham Blog, had listed some organizations involved in this fight. Some were legal groups that work through the justice systems of various countries to free the oppressed. A few work in aftercare for victims. Others do job training or advocacy. The list goes on. And each organization is crying out for individuals to educate themselves about the problem and then do something—anything—to help. It became clear that one person could do a lot.

I am a print communicator and researcher at heart, so the natural place for me to start is by getting the word out. There might be something drastically different for you.

In the coming days, I'll begin putting up links to some of these organizations, listing some things to be aware of in your corner of the world, and explaining how I got here and where I hope to go. In the meantime, please visit the International Justice Mission's excellent site and the equally excellent Free the Slaves site. If you want more after that and I'm still not up to speed, Bob has more great links on his blog.

Will we ever see slavery completely abolished? Well, you've probably discovered that I believe in Jesus and His calling to minister to the oppressed in His name. I also believe that our world is hopelessly twisted and infected with an evil that will fight against good until the day Jesus returns to earth. As long as evil is in the world, some people will be so dark that they will enslave others. Right now, it's just too easy for them, and we need to make it much, much harder. This is part of my commission as a believer in Jesus. With His help, we can beat back this evil.

At the very least, if you pray, please pray about this issue. Pray for protection for the enslaved and for those who are literally kicking in doors to rescue them. Pray for the local group I've joined, that God will protect us from distraction, discouragement and disunity. Ask God to tell you if you need to act. Just tell Him your willing. He'll do the rest.

You can do something. It all starts with the step of willingness.

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

There is a desperate hope brewing behind this blog. A hope that there will be new readers from among old friends. Many of you have known me for years and we've connected again on myspace. You know that I get worked up about things that aren't fair. I can't help it. Firstborns have an overdeveloped sense of right and wrong.

Over the past few months, God has been pointing me to pick up a cause of ultimate "unfairness."
Would you believe that 200 years after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the end of slavery in the United States some 60 years later, there are 27 million people enslaved?

It's true.

It makes me sick. It makes me sad. And it ticks me off.

With the help of other like-minded folks, I am getting involved in the movement against slavery. Like William Wilberforce, the man who worked to end slavery in the British Empire, I know that God defends the widows, the orphans and the defenseless--through His people.

I am one of them, and it's time to get moving.

Very soon, I will blog about some things I have seen with my own eyes. To get you started in the meantime, I strongly suggest reading, "Amazing Grace" a Wilberforce biography (or at least rent the movie) and "Not For Sale" by David Batstone. See notforsalecampaign.org for more. If you live near me, let me know if you're interested in doing something on a local level.

If this isn't your thing, that's fine. Check back once in awhile, as I'll probably post on other topics occasionally.

If this piqued your curiosity, thanks for reading! I will only post when I've come across something worth mentioning. Please drop me a line if you find anything worthy of note.

Much love,
Burkinator

(FYI: trying to keep my name and location somewhat anonymous, so don't be offended if I remove comments that give away too much. : ) )