Ignorance Is Bliss
Do not watch the following story if you do not want to be made aware of the reality of sex trafficking in places like India. At the core of my being is a desire to help make a difference for the enslaved. There are 1,000,0000 children who are trafficked in India alone. To put that number in perspective that’s about 25% of the entire population of the state of Kentucky.
Now imagine being a 16 year old girl who was trafficked, was rescued and rehabilitated only to be trafficked AGAIN. Share this story with as many people as you can and most of all give to International Justice Mission.
“As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!” (Psalm 40:17 ESV)
LOVE WINS!
Atlanta – The Child Sex Trafficking Capital of America
About ten years ago I began to become aware of the human trafficking issues of our day that not only include sex, but chocolate, tea, coffee, and even rubber. Even then statistics indicated that Atlanta was a hot-bed for human trafficking. I’ve now become even more aware of the sexual trafficking of children in my own community. Sadly, it often is one’s own parent that pimp’s their child.
Child sex trafficking is not a new thing, but only within the last decade has there been an uncorking of the bottle in regards to the information we have about it. While, in the past, I may only have agreed with Ashley on the choice of her favorite basketball team I can honestly say that I believe we completely agree on the evil that possesses those who misuse children and women for their sexual satisfaction.
After watching this clip you may not only want to stay away from Atlanta, but you may want to pay closer attention to your children in airports.
If you want to do something about it, then I suggest looking into supporting www.IJM.com.
The Blog that spawned The Conversion Investment Series
[singlepic id=50 w=320 h=240 float=left]Are You a Slacktivist? | Donald Miller’s Blog
A friend of mine has a non-profit in which he raises money to provide academic scholarships to kids in South Africa. It’s a terrific organization doing terrific work. He raises funds on the platform of Academic Equality, and mostly mobilizes college students to host parties and fundraisers then works closely with students who are being provided scholarships. As he started his organization, I couldn’t help but notice it grew much more quickly than The Mentoring Project, an organization I started to provide positive male role models for kids growing up without fathers. I couldn’t help but wonder why.
As my friend and I talked about it, we wondered whether organizations that simply raise money in America and send that money overseas weren’t easier to grow because, quite frankly, they don’t require you to change the way you actually live? I know that sounds harsh, but think about it, if you could feel like a humanitarian for simply wearing a t-shirt and attending an occasional rally or updating your facebook status, or if you could feel like a humanitarian for taking a few hours a week out of your life and working with an actual child in an after-school program, which would you rather do? In other words, would you rather wear a t-shirt that says you are a humanitarian, or would you rather be a humanitarian?
My friend shared with me a term he’d learned that summed up our current dilemma: Slacktivism.
Are you a slacktivist?
Now to be fair, organizations building wells and freeing child soldiers and stopping sex-trafficking are doing extremely important work, but I don’t think we should feel all that altruistic for throwing them a twenty in exchange for a t-shirt. People need more than money, they need other people.
What if you laid out all your non-profit t-shirts and asked how you were directly dealing with the issue? And what if you no longer considered yourself altruistic unless the causes you supported were actually making your life more complicated? What if slacktivism wasn’t actually social change? What if it was just another way of exploiting the poor and marginalized, using them to foster our own false identity as humanitarians?
Does your activism cost you anything besides money? And in exchange for that money, do you get a social commodity and identity as an activist?
