17 May 2011
Los Niños
This past semester, I went to Colegio Claret primary school once a week to teach English to four-year-olds. Sometimes I dreaded it before going, because I wasn't prepared fully or because I didn't want to walk the 30 minute walk to get there. But I always left feeling so glad that I went! Here's my class... Click the picture to make it bigger. Check out the kid to my left pickin' his nose. They're so cute! I'm really going to miss them!
12 May 2011
Morocco in Photographs
You know you're not in Spain anymore when the stop signs are in Arabic...
Above: The second largest Mosque in the world. Casablanca, Morocco.
Above: Argana Cafe, in Djemaa el-Fna square, Marrakech. This is the cafe that was bombed on 28 April, just about a week before I went there.
Above: Cooking a delicious Moroccan tajine.
Above: Spices!
Above: My favorite photo from the trip. That's Omar, playing a 3-stringed instrument and twirling the tassel on his cap in a circle. Smiling all the while.
Above: Can't go to Marrakech without getting some fresh-squeezed 100% orange juice!
Above: Two men in Djemaa el-Fna square, doin tricks and pan-handling for some coins.
Above: The second largest Mosque in the world. Casablanca, Morocco.
Above: Argana Cafe, in Djemaa el-Fna square, Marrakech. This is the cafe that was bombed on 28 April, just about a week before I went there.
Above: Cooking a delicious Moroccan tajine.
Above: Spices!
Above: My favorite photo from the trip. That's Omar, playing a 3-stringed instrument and twirling the tassel on his cap in a circle. Smiling all the while.
Above: Can't go to Marrakech without getting some fresh-squeezed 100% orange juice!
Above: Two men in Djemaa el-Fna square, doin tricks and pan-handling for some coins.
07 May 2011
Regarding Osama bin Laden's death
The day that I left for Morocco (this past Monday, May 2), I woke up, showered, ate breakfast, packed, and checked my facebook. Of course, my newsfeed was crazy with statuses commenting on the death of Osama bin Laden. The majority of those statuses were filled with celebration and American pride. I couldn't help but feel a small twinge of sadness over all those one-line statuses so jubilant over someone's death. We cannot simultaneously love our enemies and kill them. It just doesn't line up biblically.
Prince of Peace, renew our vision.
“Rejoicing in the death of another, however wicked, involves forgetting the depths of our own depravity and the astonishing reality of our own salvation." -Gideon Strauss of the Center for Public Justice, in response to bin Laden’s death.
Prince of Peace, renew our vision.
“Rejoicing in the death of another, however wicked, involves forgetting the depths of our own depravity and the astonishing reality of our own salvation." -Gideon Strauss of the Center for Public Justice, in response to bin Laden’s death.
01 May 2011
Romania: Part 2
Back to hear more about my time in Romania?! Great. I'll jump right in. (If you haven't read the post prior to this, scroll down and read that one first, and then read this one)!
As a quick update, my sociology paper is officially half done. It's been slow going, but I'm proud!
Another day in Bucharest, I went to a woman's shelter for vulnerable women. Their goal there is to teach the women life skills and help them find jobs so they can eventually support themselves and their kids. There were five women living there when I visited, and each had a baby. I don't know what each individual woman's situation was prior to moving to the shelter, but I expect there was abuse and/or addictions... or at least just some bad choices or mistakes involved. The lady who co-runs the shelter (Alice) told me that they are really focused on teaching these women how to care for their children. You'd think that that sort of knowledge is instinctual... but I guess not. These women need to learn what sacrificial love looks like. When you have a kid, you should give up your life for your kid. If you are fed, he should be fed. He needs hugs and kisses and love. He's dependent. These women are learning that, and they are learning to care for themselves too.
This is Aurelia and her smiley baby boy Mihai (one year old). While I was there, Aurelia cooked lunch for all the women in the shelter. Boiled chicken and overcooked green beans. Not the best lunch ever, but what can you expect from a woman who has never learned to cook before? The shelter teaches them to cook and they have a schedule so every woman cooks one or two days a week for them all.
This is Gina and her beautiful baby girl Andreea (seven months old). She's feeding her some mashed banana mixed with what she told me was "cereal for babies"... yummm.
Last but not least. My favorite day in Romania was when Ed took me to Pitesti (see it on the sign?!) to visit another shelter for girls/women who have been trafficked for prostitution. I walked in and was greeted warmly by 12 women... some with no makeup, some with too much makeup, some with skimpy shirts, others with baggy pants... and Iana, the amazing woman who started the shelter years ago and has devoted her life to rescuing girls from sex trafficking. I hung out with Dana, age 21, whose favorite song is "Mighty to Save." We sang part of it together in English, she sang part in Romanian, and I sang part in Spanish. Dana didn't talk about this, but Iana told me later that while Dana was forced to be a prostitute, she prayed for deliverance daily... and look where she is now, safe and healing. God really has proven to her that he is mighty to save. Gives that song some life, you know?
I hung out with Ramona, age 20, who was shy and sweet. I hung out with Betty, age 13, who was at LEAST as talkative as any typical 13 year old! She knew English the best out of all of them, and she was more than excited to talk to me. I learned quickly that her favorite color is pink, that she doesn't like tea, and that she is proud to be a gypsy. While we made bracelets with some craft supplies they had, she kept calling the beads "bling-bling." She'd yell to me from across the room, "HEY! Where's my bling-bling?!" It was so funny. While hearing her chatter away and seeing her adorable smile, it was hard to imagine that she has seen some pretty ugly parts of the world, at only 13 years old.
After hanging out with the 12 for awhile, Iana welcomed me and Ed into her office and immediately opened up about her life and the work she does. She had no problem getting into the gritty details, which I appreciated a lot. I didn't want a sugar-coated picture of how these girls had a hard life, have since been rescued, and how now they're all fine. There's so much more to it than that. (If you're interested, go back to my blog post titled "Not for Sale." It has a fair amount of information I learned about human trafficking. To go to it, go to the columns on the right side of this blog page and click "2010" and then "November." It will be linked there for you to click).
First of all, Iana is really struggling right now in dealing with some lawsuits. Some of the girls' parents (no doubt parents who willingly sold their daughters into prostitution) are accusing her of holding the girls hostage, of selling their sex "services" to the neighbors, of getting them drunk and taking advantage of them... the list goes on. There are no conclusions for these lawsuits yet, so be praying for that, please. There have been many instances in Romania in the recent past where the policemen and the judges side with the traffickers because they are bribed. What has our world come to when the people who are supposed to be administering justice are not doing their job?
Iana also explained a common technique called the "lover boy" technique used by traffickers to lure young girls such as Betty. The trafficker will find a vulnerable girl, preferably a young virgin whose family isn't super well-off (Betty, for instance, is a gypsy, meaning her family is already socially excluded from Romanian society), and start taking the girl on dates and woo her over the span of a couple months. Eventually he'll convince her to have sex with him (not forced, because they're dating and he's sweet), and because girls tend to attach emotionally, these girls quickly fall in love with their "lover boy." After a time, he convinces her to run away with him so they can start a new life together and live happily ever after. She complies, and off they go. After this point, there's a couple directions the story can take. One, they conveniently end up lacking money, so he suggests that she try prostitution, saying it will only be until they make enough money to get on their feet, and that no one will ever have to know about it. Or two, his partner (who the girl knows nothing about) kidnaps the girl and forces her into prostitution. This latter technique is especially terrible, because there are many cases of these girls truly believing that their "boyfriend" is still out there waiting, wondering where she went and longing for her to return.
Hearing stories like this from a woman who sees this every day is unbelievable. Like, literally unbelievable. I can't wrap my mind around it. I can't process it without getting overwhelmed, sad, and angry. I want to do something about this injustice. I want to go in and rescue those girls with Iana. I want to hug girls who have been rescued and show them what TRUE love is. At the very least, I want to bring awareness to this situation and hopefully see hearts stirred and action taken.
This will be a journey, friends. I'm going to keep learning about this stuff, and I'm going to try to think of ways to change it, and I'm going to do everything I can to act on those ideas. I believe that God's heart is to defend the cause of the oppressed, to care for orphans and widows, to give life to the needy. I believe it's the very heart of the gospel. We just have to let ourselves be used to administer this justice. I can't do it alone, and you can't do it alone either. But if everyone who hated this injustice did a little something, we'd have a pretty big army fighting for a really noble cause. So starting thinking, sharing, and acting. And keep me updated (I'll keep you updated too). This is a journey.
Love you guys.
As a quick update, my sociology paper is officially half done. It's been slow going, but I'm proud!
Another day in Bucharest, I went to a woman's shelter for vulnerable women. Their goal there is to teach the women life skills and help them find jobs so they can eventually support themselves and their kids. There were five women living there when I visited, and each had a baby. I don't know what each individual woman's situation was prior to moving to the shelter, but I expect there was abuse and/or addictions... or at least just some bad choices or mistakes involved. The lady who co-runs the shelter (Alice) told me that they are really focused on teaching these women how to care for their children. You'd think that that sort of knowledge is instinctual... but I guess not. These women need to learn what sacrificial love looks like. When you have a kid, you should give up your life for your kid. If you are fed, he should be fed. He needs hugs and kisses and love. He's dependent. These women are learning that, and they are learning to care for themselves too.
This is Aurelia and her smiley baby boy Mihai (one year old). While I was there, Aurelia cooked lunch for all the women in the shelter. Boiled chicken and overcooked green beans. Not the best lunch ever, but what can you expect from a woman who has never learned to cook before? The shelter teaches them to cook and they have a schedule so every woman cooks one or two days a week for them all.
This is Gina and her beautiful baby girl Andreea (seven months old). She's feeding her some mashed banana mixed with what she told me was "cereal for babies"... yummm.
Last but not least. My favorite day in Romania was when Ed took me to Pitesti (see it on the sign?!) to visit another shelter for girls/women who have been trafficked for prostitution. I walked in and was greeted warmly by 12 women... some with no makeup, some with too much makeup, some with skimpy shirts, others with baggy pants... and Iana, the amazing woman who started the shelter years ago and has devoted her life to rescuing girls from sex trafficking. I hung out with Dana, age 21, whose favorite song is "Mighty to Save." We sang part of it together in English, she sang part in Romanian, and I sang part in Spanish. Dana didn't talk about this, but Iana told me later that while Dana was forced to be a prostitute, she prayed for deliverance daily... and look where she is now, safe and healing. God really has proven to her that he is mighty to save. Gives that song some life, you know?I hung out with Ramona, age 20, who was shy and sweet. I hung out with Betty, age 13, who was at LEAST as talkative as any typical 13 year old! She knew English the best out of all of them, and she was more than excited to talk to me. I learned quickly that her favorite color is pink, that she doesn't like tea, and that she is proud to be a gypsy. While we made bracelets with some craft supplies they had, she kept calling the beads "bling-bling." She'd yell to me from across the room, "HEY! Where's my bling-bling?!" It was so funny. While hearing her chatter away and seeing her adorable smile, it was hard to imagine that she has seen some pretty ugly parts of the world, at only 13 years old.
After hanging out with the 12 for awhile, Iana welcomed me and Ed into her office and immediately opened up about her life and the work she does. She had no problem getting into the gritty details, which I appreciated a lot. I didn't want a sugar-coated picture of how these girls had a hard life, have since been rescued, and how now they're all fine. There's so much more to it than that. (If you're interested, go back to my blog post titled "Not for Sale." It has a fair amount of information I learned about human trafficking. To go to it, go to the columns on the right side of this blog page and click "2010" and then "November." It will be linked there for you to click).
First of all, Iana is really struggling right now in dealing with some lawsuits. Some of the girls' parents (no doubt parents who willingly sold their daughters into prostitution) are accusing her of holding the girls hostage, of selling their sex "services" to the neighbors, of getting them drunk and taking advantage of them... the list goes on. There are no conclusions for these lawsuits yet, so be praying for that, please. There have been many instances in Romania in the recent past where the policemen and the judges side with the traffickers because they are bribed. What has our world come to when the people who are supposed to be administering justice are not doing their job?
Iana also explained a common technique called the "lover boy" technique used by traffickers to lure young girls such as Betty. The trafficker will find a vulnerable girl, preferably a young virgin whose family isn't super well-off (Betty, for instance, is a gypsy, meaning her family is already socially excluded from Romanian society), and start taking the girl on dates and woo her over the span of a couple months. Eventually he'll convince her to have sex with him (not forced, because they're dating and he's sweet), and because girls tend to attach emotionally, these girls quickly fall in love with their "lover boy." After a time, he convinces her to run away with him so they can start a new life together and live happily ever after. She complies, and off they go. After this point, there's a couple directions the story can take. One, they conveniently end up lacking money, so he suggests that she try prostitution, saying it will only be until they make enough money to get on their feet, and that no one will ever have to know about it. Or two, his partner (who the girl knows nothing about) kidnaps the girl and forces her into prostitution. This latter technique is especially terrible, because there are many cases of these girls truly believing that their "boyfriend" is still out there waiting, wondering where she went and longing for her to return.
Hearing stories like this from a woman who sees this every day is unbelievable. Like, literally unbelievable. I can't wrap my mind around it. I can't process it without getting overwhelmed, sad, and angry. I want to do something about this injustice. I want to go in and rescue those girls with Iana. I want to hug girls who have been rescued and show them what TRUE love is. At the very least, I want to bring awareness to this situation and hopefully see hearts stirred and action taken.
This will be a journey, friends. I'm going to keep learning about this stuff, and I'm going to try to think of ways to change it, and I'm going to do everything I can to act on those ideas. I believe that God's heart is to defend the cause of the oppressed, to care for orphans and widows, to give life to the needy. I believe it's the very heart of the gospel. We just have to let ourselves be used to administer this justice. I can't do it alone, and you can't do it alone either. But if everyone who hated this injustice did a little something, we'd have a pretty big army fighting for a really noble cause. So starting thinking, sharing, and acting. And keep me updated (I'll keep you updated too). This is a journey.
Love you guys.
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