Introduction to human trafficking

Much of the time, policy makers and activists put a lot of focus on getting people out of slavery. Considering the number of people who are in slavery, which again is conservatively put at 27 million and is likely quite higher, this is absolutely critical. However, surprisingly little consideration and focus is given to stopping people from going into slavery in the first place. Thus we will consider the supply side. But instead of talking about this in theoretical terms, let me tell you a story.
Consider Dara. Dara is from a tribal group called the Akha. She and her people live in the mountains of Burma. They have always been marginalized by the dominant lowland civilizations because they are thought of as primitive and backwards. Likewise, most of them can’t speak the national language of the country that has drawn borders around them. This makes education and employment difficult, but it has never really been a problem for them because they have always been able to grow enough food to stay alive. Until now. There is a war in Burma and many Akha are moving to Thailand to avoid being used as human minesweepers. Dara and her family are among them. They live in a small village with no running water or electricity and don’t seem to be able to get enough food anymore. This is because the Thai government frowns on their slash and burn agriculture because it is destroying the rainforest. So Dara’s family resorted to growing and selling opium.

This went well for a while until the Thai government cracked down on opium growing. To their credit, they tried to introduce new cash crops like coffee and fruit trees, but these have a slow turnaround and those in the village need money to buy food now. They scrimp and save and do the best they can. But then Dara’s father died in a traffic accident while trying to transport some of the coffee they grow to market. In addition to growing coffee he also worked seasonally on construction sights in the city, when it wasn’t planting or harvest time. This brought in some extra cash for the family–enough to send Dara to school a few days a week. Since her father died this is no longer possible. Getting enough money for food is no longer possible either.
Things become really complicated when Dara’s little sister contracts a major infection from bad drinking water. Mother borrows what money she can to pay for the medicine. Little sister is safe for now. But the family is in serious debt, with not much hope. Mother does what is normal in the tribe and remarries with the hope that a new man will be able to bring in more income. Unfortunately, the man she marries already has a plan for getting more income. “That girl of yours is getting old enough. It’s time to put her to work in the Karaoke bars down in the city”, he says.

All the older people know what working in the karaoke bars means and everyone expects Dara to do it. After all, it is her duty to do whatever she has to do to support the family. It is every daughter’s obligation to do whatever she can when she is old enough. At 11, she is old enough. The next time the recruiter comes to the village, Dara is handed off to her. She doesn’t know what awaits her in the big city. She also doesn’t know she will never see her family again. After being “broken in” in the city, she is sent to Bangkok for a while and is then sold to a criminal organization that exports her. She ends up in Japan servicing those with a taste for “fresh meat”. She passes away not long after, beaten to death as an “example” to the other children.
This doesn’t need to happen. It wouldn’t have happened if the new stepfather actually cared about her. But it also wouldn’t have happened if the family hadn’t gone into debt paying for medicine to cure water born disease that would not exist if the village had running water. It wouldn’t have happened if her father didn’t have to travel on unsafe roads to get his produce to market. It wouldn’t have happened if there were better agricultural practices in place to provide enough food in the first place. It wouldn’t have happened if education were available to her village so people could learn the national language and get better paying jobs if they wanted. It wouldn’t have happened if there actually were alternative jobs to extremely low wage manual labor or prostitution. It wouldn’t have happened if villagers could have a safe place to bank what little money they have and to get low interest loans in order to start new enterprises. It wouldn’t have happened if the “recruiter” had been restricted from so easily going from place to place. It wouldn’t have happened if her family hadn’t moved from Burma. That wouldn’t have happened if the war were brought to an end in the first place.

This story plays itself out every day in various ways, in millions of lives, all over the world. It will continue to do so until all these the factors contributing to end “product” are dealt with. Stay tuned as we examine how to remedy these contributing factors.

On the brink of a new decade. Behind us is ten years of fear and loathing, shame and scandal, war and terror. But these things happen all the time. The only thing that really changed was the level of involvement on the part of America in global conflict and crisis, as well as confronting domestic issues of greed and corruption. In that way it was a time of new beginnings. Polluted with short comings of course, but none the less real steps towards responsibility.

With regard to the decade to come, these beginnings have several possible trajectories. On the one hand, these new steps could lead nowhere. Constant military involvement in in the Middle East and ongoing mindless corruption at home may just continue in a holding pattern. On the other hand, fatigue from the fighting, or more accurately fear and close mindedness, and a lack of willingness to take responsibility could bring us to a tipping point of a shift inwards. We could become self absorbed and try to forget our sins. However, regardless of what seams likely, the question not of what is, but of what can and should be must be asked.

To continue as is in the Middles East would be foolish and counter productive. To allow the corruption that lead to the collapse to continue would be equally so. But to rage against the wars and demand sudden withdrawal would be heartless and irresponsible. Instead we must end put an end to passivity and complacency if it be in allowing things to remain as they are or in going with the crowd in demanding immediate withdrawal. We must take responsibility for our actions. More over we must take responsibility for our abilities. Corrections to the path of travel, which will direct this ship to highest way will not be made if good men and women do nothing.

It is time to act on the full spectrum of possibilities to bring forth the final objective of ultimate victory.

It is time to challenge ignorance and fear and take the steps needed to wine lasting positive peace.

A start

The sun rises over the hill of the skull.

The blood sinks into the darkness of the earth.

It is the place where heaven and earth became the same.

Transformation of all reality expands in all direction

Even the past is transformed.

The sacred flame of the divine consumes all darkness. The holy fire burns in all shadows. The light reveals all truth and that which is bent is forged strait.

To the redemption of all reality is added the genesis of new life.

That which can not be contained and does not stop. In all directions redemption expands.

Sinners are sainted. Sick become phisitions. The weak become champions. True nature is revealed and extremes are reached and passed, as the divine wind passes on by.

Divine wind blow on by. Take my as you fly. Divine light shine on me. Holy fire consume me as I am lost in eternity.

The sun rises on skull hill and shines on love.

New beginnings to new reality

As 2009 was a year of new beginnings so let 2010 be a year of new realities. Pushed to the braking point in every way and still not bent. Down on one knee and still not bowing. Completely drained and still not finished. Such was my reality at the mid point of 2009. After that the divine came in force and carried me to a new place completely. Power beyond what was possible. Strength beyond ever giving in. Love beyond failing. It was a new beginning in a new world. From the desert to the river of life.

Now that river flows to the sea. I embrace the new reality and sink into the depths. I am lost in a cloud of unknowing as I am enveloped in the light divine love.

All that has gone before is lost in freedom. New beginnings transform into new reality. The seed becomes the great tree. The river flows into the sea.

My prayer for you

Nothing is impossible. This too will pass. You will get through it. Even in the deepest part of the valley of the shadow of death, the storm passes and pools of blessing remain. The race only gets harder the closer to the finish you get. I pray that you find those pools of blessing. I pray that you find the power to win every race.
I have come to see that all the hardship in my life has only prepared me to be stronger now than ever before. I pray you learn the same. Only through suffering can truly great things be accomplished. There is no way around it. I pray that you learn to embrace it. I pray that your suffering becomes meaningful to you because it is already meaningful to God. He lives in you and knows all your pain. It is not wasted. It is not wrong. Jesus cried out too. Read the psalms and you will see nothing but crying out. Feel free to do the same. It's not wrong to complain to God. He is the only one you should complain to. In fact it is only right. He is the only one who can understand. He is the only one who will love you for it all the more.
You are not weak and you are not a failure. I can say it all I want and I will say it as much as I can, but I pray that it becomes real for you. You are not judged by God, so don't judge yourself. Embrace the freedom that he brings. Freedom even to be depressed. In your depression, fall into his embrace. Accept that love and surrender. This too will pass. You will see freedom and love at the end like you never knew before. let it come to you. let God show you how much he really cares. If anyone ever says otherwise forgive them because they don't know what they are talking about.
Let go of all the things that are in your way. Feel free to cut away and give up from your life things that are not you. It's not weakness. It's God showing you who you are. Let all things become new. The sun rises and the darkness is no mo more. God's love shines and your darkness will be no more.

Friends

Even in the valley of total darkness, after the storm passes, pools of mercy remain. Shining into the deepest places, divine love brings redemption. Divine love shine on me.

I must say that it has shined on me quite a lot. And for that I am truly. What I find my self being thankful for more than anything though is the current realization of just how much it is time to move beyond just basking in divine love, but to more and more let that divine love shine through me. Fortunately, I have many people who I truly. However, I find my self more and more wondering how I can love them even more. I find that in my slightly more than empathic state, I am well versed in understanding the pain and suffering they go through. However, the step between knowing and doing remains unmade far more than I am pleased to admit. Thus I suffer. But I do not go down into darkness anymore.

Instead, I look to those pools of mercy and constantly call to all the world, but most especially those who I have been given in the world, to join me as I dive in and lose myself once again.

Equilibrium

In pushing harder and going farther, I have encountered my common tendency to go just a little too hard at times. This time it was sleep deprivation. I was in fact seeing things at the end of last week. Still though, I went to work and did school and all that, but I felt more and more like a machine with less emotions than usual. I am comfortable with that state of mind, but having been exposed to other realities of freedom and joy, it just didn't cut it anymore. I had to get out.

Sleep was the only option. Now, this has been a complicated subject for me before as I have some level of disorder when it comes to sleep. Insomnia runs in the family. But more than anything, it was legalism. From reading all my other work, you will know that I profess a spirituality of freedom and grace and shun legalism whenever it raises its ugly and ultimately dejected and sorry head. However, making the link between what I believe and every aspect of my life is a work in progress. You will also know from reading my work that I believe our spirituality informs every aspect of our lives without us even knowing it at times. This makes it all the more apparently strange that I would be so effected by legalism in this aspect, but I just am obsessed with self denial in many ways.

I think this is problematic in the long run. When it came to my sleeping patterns, I did brake down and force my self to rest. It was good. Afterwards, I felt fully ready to go at it full force. And so I am now. This realization though that accepting and embracing every aspect of ourselves, including our weakness as biological beings is truly needed is what I am still coming to grips with though. I don't want to be weak. I don't want to have limitations. I want to do anything and everything. But then, I there is loss of sight of the binary relationship between my and the divine and I fall back on mere humanism. It is written that in our weakness, his strength is made perfect. Even though I have seen this many times, it is a lesson I continue to learn.

For now, I begin to embrace weakness and find my strength in the process of rest and renewal. Maybe this will lead to new realizations and greater freedom. It must, as it is a brake from slavery to legalism. May the divine inform and transform this too.

I find equilibrium in dependence on that greater power.