Slavery Part III

So now we've discussed the problem let's start talking about what we can do to make a difference.  It may seem like a drop in the ocean but if we each do one thing, change one small part of our lives then it adds up to a huge difference.  I'm sure there was a time in America and Europe when slavery was so intrenched in every day living that the thought of abolishing it all together seemed impossible and seemed like it would destroy the economy and fabric of people's lives.  But it was an evil thing that had to stop and a couple hundred years later we can't imagine something like that happening at all.

However, as we've already discussed it does happen.  Even in this country people are being forced to work for nothing out of fear and desperation.  Places where it happens more frequently are "spas" (especially if there is a large privacy fence surrounding the area), nail salons, asian buffets, cleaning services, and other construction migrant type work.  For victims of labor trafficking look for these clues:
* They do not have possession of their own legal documents and ID
* They have poor working and living conditions
* They are unable to leave their job or situation due to threat or coercion
Remember: Victims can be seen anywhere along the production line- from food service to manufacturing to farming to domestic servitude. And if the price is too good to be true then maybe it is.


For Victims of Sex Trafficking in Minors Look for these clues:
* The average age of entry into prostitution is 12; this is often due to the presence of a manipulative and controlling older "boyfriend".
* 1 in 3 runaways are picked up by a trafficker/pimp with in their first 48 hours on the street
* 70-90% of children who have been sexually exploited and trafficked have been sexually abused in the past.
Remember: anyone under the age of 18 who is exploited through pornography, stripping or prostitution is a victim of slavery.


For victims of sex trafficking in adults look for these clues:
* The presence of a pimp or controlling individual
* Substance abuse, signs of physical abuse, and fear
* Often manipulated and threatened emotionally, mentally, and physically
Remember: individuals working in prostitution may not be there by choice; they may actually be trafficked/pimped.
If you suspect any of the above call 1-888-3737-888 or email endslavery@iteams.org

The second thing we can do is to educate ourselves and those around us.  Consider hosting or attending an awareness event.  My dear friend Susie, who introduced me to this tragedy, goes all over our state educating women, friends, church groups, parents etc. about this issue and about what they can do to protect their children and make a difference in the world.  She is amazing and I'd like to give her a special thank you not only for her tireless work in this field but in the time she took to give me the information and point me in the right direction so that I can share it with you. To contact susie go to www.betterwayimports.com or look her up on face book.

Susie works for a company called better way imports.  Better way is a supplier for several companies around the world that rescue women from prostitution, teach them a valuable skill, give them an education and start to help them heal both physically and emotionally.  I could really go into all they do but I'll let you go to their website and browse it yourself.  Every thing they sell is fair trade certified and has to meet standards beyond that.  The stuff is cool so if your wanting something unique for christmas gifts this would be a great place to start.  Or if you own a shop consider selling some of their items. You know the adage "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a life time?" well that's sort of what they're about giving women an alternative to selling their bodies.

This brings me to the final part of my series.  I feel like one of the biggest ways to advocate for these women, children and families is by "voting with your dollar" money speaks and it speaks loud.  The bible says "the worker deserves his wages" Luke 10:7 and it also says that "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:10.  Notice it doesn't say "money is the root of all evil." it says "the LOVE of money." when I first started thinking about this problem and being challenged to change my life style the first thing I thought was "how can I afford it? I'm on a really tight budget!" which is true, I am on a tight budget but maybe it just means I buy less, I have less stuff. I only get coffee at places I know are fair trade certified and I don't eat m&m's in my popcorn (sigh).  I trust that God will provide for me if I do what he asks.  Basically all the excuses in the world boil down to "I love my money I love stuff more then  people." Better Way represents 600 women.  600 is not a lot compared to how many are out there but those women will have children and their children will have children.  Future generations that will grow up and get educated, who won't be living in such poverty. Not to mention the more their products sell the more they can hire.

So how do you know if something you consume is slave free? Well you can't always know but I think every choice we make now when we previously wouldn't have is a step in the right direction.  A lot of it is research (you do not want to know how much time I've spent looking at chocolate web-sites) but their are some basic ways to check.

The most well known one is "fair trade certified". To be fair trade certified a product has to prove and show that it is coming from a place where the people are being paid fairly, and treated fairly.  Some of the money from fair trade products is going back into the community and infrastructure ensuring both education and health care among other things.  Many fair trade ingredients come from a co-op type plantation or farm rather then one owned by a land owner and worked by workers.

Slave-free means that the product was made with out the use of forced labor.  That the people are being paid fairly, but does not include money going back into the community.


The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. You can go to their website www.rainforest-alliance.org to see what products are rain forest certified (my favorite is Caribou Coffee, the first major coffee retailer to receive this certification and presently includes 80% of their coffee soon to be 100%)

The Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) is an alliance of tea packers who are working together to improve the sustainability of the tea sector.  The ETP members share a vision of a thriving industry that is socially just and environmentally sustainable. (my favorite Twinings!!)

I think that in order for something to be considered organic it must also adhere to certain labor practices (at least in chocolate but I think in every thing) so that is a very basic guide line.  Let me know if I'm wrong on that.

Clothing is a tough one.  Even if it says it's made in the U.S did the fabric originate here? For now I'm avoiding buying things that say they were made in small asian countries because they seem to have more problems with forced labor.  Also things that say they were made in Germany a lot of times were made some where else and then filtered through Germany because of restrictions our Country has trading with them. But please let me know if there is a better or easier way to know, or if I'm totally wrong on that one.

I would love to  use this as an excuse to sew more but have had zero luck in figuring out where fabric in our fabric stores comes from.

There are more and more ways to know it's just a matter of research.  I would love your feed back.  If you know of a company or product that is doing the right thing (or one that isn't) please let me know.  I am currently in the process of revamping my blog and want to feature products and get feed-back to make it easier on all of us.  What to buy and where to buy it are big things with me right now. I know this is hard but we're talking about people here.  We're talking about our responsibility to make a difference for good.  There is even more information out there! Check out www.notforsalecampaign.org for more ideas on projects and ways to get involved.  I'm making a commitment to change my life style so that others can have a better life.  I know I won't be perfect I know that there is no perfect way to know about every thing I buy; but when I can I'm going to do the right thing.  I hope you'll at least consider joining me maybe we can wipe out slavery in our own life time wouldn't that be incredible!

Matthew 25

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Slavery Part II

How do women and children come to find themselves as property being used? The answer of course, is that there are hundreds of reasons.  Some of them however, are more common then others and it's important for us to be able to pin point the beginning of such a tragedy if we're going to make some kind of difference to stop it.

Many children and young girls are sold by their parents.  My first reaction is total outrage but then if you look deeper you start to see a system that is giving them little choice.  A father is watching his children starve, he is in such debt to the land owner that the only thing he can do is sell one of them.  Sacrifice one to save the many.  Most girls that are sold are sold for the amount of one weeks groceries.  Or at some point some one in her family borrowed money but the interest on the loan was such that they will never pay it off thereby putting his future generations into the hands of the loan shark, they become his property.  Many times a young women that has left her village will come back with lots of money and tell girls that they can go with her and she'll get them jobs as models etc. they trust her because she's one of them and they want a better life for themselves so they go, she takes their passports for "safe keeping" and they are quickly handed over to be used in brothels. In our country the pimp finds girls who don't have privacy settings on their face book type accounts and "befriends" them.  He listens to them tells them how amazing they are and then when they really need some one they go to him never to see freedom again. And of course many of them are simply kidnapped, stolen away.

It's not just sex, slavery touches almost all good and services.  People who work for nothing or almost nothing are slaves.  Remember Europe several hundred years ago from history? The peasants work the land but every thing they make goes to the Land owner, the peasants live in continual debt to the land owner while he gets rich they stay in poverty.  That is what is happening around the world in farming and manufacturing.  If a woman is working in a sweat shop and doesn't even make enough money to feed herself then she is a slave.  I used to hear when I was young "yea but if she didn't do that then she would be on the streets as a prostitute." I see now that it's conditions like these that lead to prostitution.  If you can make more money turning a trick then working 18 hour long days in a factory you may do it.  Or if your working but some one you love is ill then you have to borrow money from a loan shark etc. You see the cycle just goes on and on.

The worst two things touched by slavery beside the sex industry are (I'm so sorry to tell you this) coffee and chocolate.  In the Ivory Coast, which produces the majority of coco used by the major three candy companies. The following is an excerpt from an article from CorpWatch:


Approximately 286,000 children between the ages of nine and twelve have been reported to work on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast alone with as many as 12,000 likely to have arrived in their situation as a result of child trafficking. These children are often at risk of injury from machetes and exposure to harmful pesticides. With world cocoa prices so low, many farmers maintain their labor force through trafficking; West African parents living in poverty often sell their kids to cocoa farmers for $50-$100 in hopes that the children will make some money on their own.


Sadly, although these children work 80 to 100 hours per week, children working on cocoa farms frequently make little or no money and are regularly beaten, starved, and exhausted. Most of these children will never even taste the final product that results from their suffering.


AAAAAhHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I am so frustrated right now! How terrible.  Please understand I am not and expert on these things I'm just trying to relay information to you that I think you should know about. Mars, Hersheys and Nestle are doing practically nothing in this country to work on this problem.  Yes I said in this country they do offer Fair Trade products in the UK and Ireland because to quote Hershys "It's a hotter issue over there." So basically it was hurting their bottom line in Europe but not in the U.S so they're going to do the right thing over there but not here! How about you just do the right thing.

What does this mean for us? Well it means that if we start making a fuss they'll have to listen.  To quote a good friend of mine "I vote with my dollar ever day." money talks and the biggest impact we can have as consumers is being careful about what we consume.  It means we're going to pay more for coffee and chocolate. That may suck but I can't stand the thought of having to have a cheap sweet treat when it's literally destroying some one else's future.  Plus the more things we buy in an ethical way the more the costs will go down though they'll never be as cheap as they are now.  Coffee is an easier one this as been an issue for a while so it's way easier to find "fair trade" coffee I pay about a dollar more per pound then regular that doesn't seem like much to me if it means that the farmer is going to be able to feed his family.

I am a libertarian and I believe in free trade but I do NOT believe in slavery! There is a difference.  If people start earning a living wage (meaning a living wage in their country not what we earn) then they stop living in so much debt, they can save, put food on the table their children can get an education and the cycle of poverty that leads to so much harm is broken.  It's the trickle down effect or "reaganomics" for people.

I know this a lot but tomorrow I want to start telling you about the awesome and easy things we can do to help and about companies that are making a difference.  Tomorrow will be a good day, a hopeful day!

Slavery

I want to start off today's post by sharing with you one of my big flaws.  When faced with a really big issue, a really big problem; my chest squeezes tight, my blood pressure goes up, and I feel hopeless.  Hopeless is a pretty big scary word for a Jesus loving person because it shows a real lack of faith.  It also shows my selfishness.  What I mean by that is when a really really big issue starts to come into view I will usually turn my back and flee.  I look the other way and pretend that I don't know about said problem because it is easier on me to live in ignorance (it really can be bliss can't it).  If I don't know about a problem I can't feel guilty for not really believing that God is big enough to change things and I don't have to feel guilty about not changing my life to help make a difference.

I was told recently that when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges there are two types of people.  The first group charges in head long to make the challenge surmountable.  They work at it tirelessly and with great passion until they fizzle out or change does indeed happen (this is my very brave and courageous sister Courtney) and then there are people like me who throw their hands up in the air and say "well I'm just going to pretend it's not there because nothing I do will make a difference" and then go back to bed or stuff their faces with chocolate (well the bed and chocolate thing is what I do).

I love this blog and I love that you all read it.  I want it to be truthful even when it hurts me, and funny.  I really want it to be funny.  I do not want it to be about politics or other hot button issues we get enough of that every day.  But there is something that I think we need to discuss it's big and scary but it's important.  It's about women and children around the globe.  It's so big I'm sure it's going to take more then one day to talk about it but I want you to know as hopeless as it sounds there is a lot being done and a lot we can do so stay tuned in because even if I don't get to solutions today I will get to them in the following posts! I also want you to know that this issue has been on my peripheral for a long time but I really didn't do any thing until it was shoved right into my face and for that I'm sorry.

There are more slaves in our world today then there were during the civil war.  Most of those enslaved are enslaved in some form of sex trafficking.  The average age of a prostitute world wide is 12 years old (the average age in the U.S. is also 12 years). 27 million people are enslaved globally in various forms of sexual and labor exploitation. UNICEF reports that across the world there are more than one million children entering the sex trade every year. The U.S. Department of State estimates that approximately 800,000 persons (mostly women and children) are trafficked across national boarders annually (notice that doesn't count trafficked people with in their own country).

Even here in the United States girls are being smuggled in to be used as prostitutes! Our own teen agers are being targeted and forced into a life a spiritual and actual slavery.  There are so many awful stories that take place right here Some one could write a book (some one probably has).  Please know this is not a problem that doesn't touch us or happen here in our Country.  You know the movie "Taken" that actually happens!! What about the girls who don't have ex-CIA operatives for dads? The United States along with Belgium, Germany, and Japan rank "very high" as destination countries of trafficked persons.  Meaning that these are countries people are being forced into against their will to work as slaves (mostly in the sex industry)

We like to believe that prostitution is a life some one has chosen. But it really isn't and if this is something happening in our own Country, if as Christians we're suppose to be standing up for the oppressed then I don't see how we can't do something.  But in order to understand how this happens we have to begin to understand poverty and how people around the world are being used as slaves in other areas.  I know this a lot and I don't want to be a bummer but there are solutions (Northern Thailand has completely wiped out child prostitution!) there are things we can do please take some time and digest what I've written about check out the resources below and then come back when I'll put some ideas out there give you the heads up on groups that are doing something good and tell you signs and things to look out for so maybe you can be some ones silent angel.

If you want to do some more in depth research check out these sites.

Here are some web sites to keep you busy forever!

www.sharedhope.org
www.thehomefoundation.net

www.notforsalecampaign.org
www.ijm.org
www.missionhopeproject.org
www.humantrafficking.org
www.polarisproject.org
www.freetheslaves.net

www.iast.net