Becky's article on slavery in the world shook me up a little. Growing up I heard stories about people who were sold into slavery. Women were abused in deplorable ways, while men were exploited and beaten down emotionally and physically.
As a college student I heard stories of people being tricked into prostitution and some times even of servants who lived the lives of virtual slaves who escaped their slavery by jumping out of windows to their death.
Somehow the idea that people were being bought and sold never came up. I believe its the price of a life that has me so shaken. When the price of a 9 year old girl is a mere $50 USD, it makes me want to suddenly rush out a buy the freedom of as many as I can.
Freedom is a great ideal. Thousands of people flood the borders of the USA in hope of freedom. Countries riot and governments topple as people demand freedoms. Yet the plight of a little girl goes almost unnoticed. Does she dream of freedom? Does she even know what that concept means? Or has life's unfairness stripped that from her?
This is the world I live in. And I refuse to be blinded by products, new and flashy toys, or scare tactics. We must demand a better world. I do.
2 comments:
we must do more than demand. We must be involved in making a better world!
I remember first reading about chocolate slaves... we now stick to fair trade chocolate and buy our sugar from a co-op.
I nearly did International Development as my major, with a view to joining World Vision or ADRA after going to a leadership summit run by ADRA and meeting a woman with no legs (lost them to a landmine in cambodia) and playing a big outdoor role playing game where we were aid workers trying to talk our way through "borders" and governments - played by aid workers. It was very confronting...
it's amazing how much power consumers have in changing things.
and wow, that workshop sounds really interesting. the good thing is the organizations like ADRA working to send to school the children most at risk, so that they can get decent jobs and escape the fate of this brutalization.
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