The Life Changing Book Club

I got an Amazon.com gift card for my birthday from my mom (thanks, Mom!), and most of it went to ordering books. I ordered enough books to last me most of the year, considering the fact that I have two  babies around and I can only read a few pages here and there once in a while.

I've gotten really passionate about the issue of human trafficking, and specifically how my lifestyle might be financially supporting it. I really want to know what everyday people like me can do to fight slave trade in the world today.

Of course, I feel fairly small and helpless even thinking about it, and I don't really know what to do. I've written about ways I hope to be more responsible with my stuff, time and money, but when it comes to a global level, I figure the best place to start is with educating myself.

So, I'm going to start an online book club with my blog. You're all invited to participate! If you have a blog, feel free to start your own chapter so that you can read and discuss with your readers. Or, you can invite them over here to join me.

I'm going to call it "The Life Changing Book Club", which is a little dramatic and tongue in cheek, but it portrays the purpose of this book club pretty well, I think. I want to read and discuss books that will actually change the way we live our lives.

Here's my stack o' books, underneath my necessary-to-life-right-now coffee.

We're going to start with Not For Sale by David Batstone. As the description on Amazon.com says -

Human trafficking generates $32 billion annually and enslaves over 30 million people, half of them children. Award-winning journalist David Batstone, whom Bono calls "a heroic character," profiles the new generation of abolitionists who are leading the movement. This groundbreaking global report is now updated with the latest findings, new stories, and statistics that highlight what is being done to end this appalling epidemic—and how you can join the movement.

Click this image to order yourself a copy!

We'll take the month of August to read through this book and discuss it together. I plan on trying to make it through a section every two days.

I did go ahead and start reading it a few weeks back, but decided to wait until I could invite you to read it with me to. I learned a very important lesson in chapter 1 - this is not bedtime reading! I  know. I should have known that going in. This book deals with some very disturbing material. We are talking about modern days slaves here. It's the kind of stuff that makes me wish I didn't know it, but I know that willful ignorance can't be an excuse for ignoring this problem.

So, if you'd like to join my bookclub, order yourself a copy of this book and get started reading! Let me know you're reading along with me, and comment on this blog as you find topics you want to discuss. I'll be writing a few posts as I read it, too.

Are you in?

Trafficking in Humans Report 2012

I made some scary commitments on Wednesday. I didn't really want to be that honest in such a public way, but I need the accountability, and I need help knowing how to follow through. I may be taking this blog in a new direction for a while, so I hope you'll stick with me and learn along with me.

So far, I've ordered some great books on the subject, which I'll share with you when they come in and I have a chance to look over them. (I have a good friend, who's ahead of me on this journey, and she's been making recommendations. Thanks Ashley!)

I've found a great website, the CNN freedom project, that highlights stories about slavery worldwide. Through it, I found out that the day after I wrote Wednesday's post that something called the "Trafficking in Humans Report" was released for 2012. This report rates countries based upon their efforts to minimize all forms human trafficking, including commercial sex, bonded labor, child labor, involuntary domestic servitude or child soldiers.

Photo Credit

Secretary of State Clinton Describes it this way:
"This report ... gives a clear and honest assessment of where all of us are making progress on our commitments and where we are either standing still or even sliding backwards...This could mean enacting strong laws, stepping up their investigations and prosecutions, or simply laying out a roadmap of steps they will take to respond." 
You can read her full report (or watch it) here.


In this document, countries are rated Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 watch, or Tier 3. The criteria are as follows:

Tier 1 ranking indicates a government has acknowledged the existence of human trafficking, has made efforts to address the problem, and meets minimum standards.

Tier 2 is countries whose governments do not fully comply with minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.

Tier 2 watch is countries where governments do not fully meet minimum standards, and although they may be making significant efforts the country has a particularly large number of victims, or is not providing evidence of its efforts

Tier 3 is countries that do not fully comply with minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. Tier 3 countries face the possibility of US sanctions because of their poor human trafficking record.

You can read the full Trafficking in Humans Report for 2012 here. (Scroll down and click the links titled "country narratives") 


The countries are listed alphabetically and begin by listing the countries rating as well as a profile of human trafficking in that country in recent years, followed by what that country is currently doing and what it should do to help minimized slave trade in that nation.


You probably won't be able to read the whole thing, it is insanely long, wordy, and official. I would love for someone to have this condensed into a user-friendly manual that lists what countries are safest to buy from. I always look at the tags of the clothes I buy and wonder what the factory they were made in looks like. Imagine a little list, sort of like the "dirty dozen" list of fruits and vegetables that we need to buy organically.


I may start to work on something like that for myself. Perhaps a list of all of the Tier 1 ranking nations.
This document is really long, I've skimmed some of it, but I truly hope to look over the whole thing to get a better picture of what's going on in my world today. 


Please come back for Monday's post. I'll be sharing some exciting news about something that's been in the works for a while in our home!


Have you heard of the Trafficking in Humans Report? Is it just me, or should it be bigger in the news?

Thief, Slaveholder, Murderer

For July's challenge, I had originally intended to do a series on saving money or exercising or something. I felt like I didn't need to do anything too challenging, being that I just had a baby and all.

But then I got convicted, and I have a confession to make to you.

I am a thief, a slaveholder, and a murderer.

I wasn't convicted in a court, it goes much higher than that. I was convicted by that still, small voice that says "You can't live like you don't know this. You can't ignore how serious this is anymore."

Why do I carry this weight? Why do I believe these things about myself? Well, let me walk you through it.

Thief


I have a closet full of clothes, and people are freezing to death every winter. I even have more than one winter coat. I live in south Louisiana, one is more than enough.

I have a fridge and pantry loaded with food. Not only that, if I don't like what I have or I don't feel like cooking, I just go out to a restaurant and pay someone else to do the work for me and I have a whole menu to choose from.
Meanwhile, people are starving to death. Mothers in other countries will have to choose which one of her children will get to eat today.


How, as a Christian, am I able to live like this?

Slaveholder


I know that the tomato products I buy to make our favorite spaghetti and pizza are very likely grown and harvested by slaves or something close to it, yet I think it's ok to keep supporting this industry because giving these products up would be too difficult. It's not just tomatoes either, I know that it goes much further than that.

I know that it's highly likely that the clothes I buy are not ethically produced. I know, and have known for years, that it's very common for factory workers overseas (and sometimes here) to work 15-20 hour shifts in unsafe environments for as little as 6 cents an hour. Yet, I continue to support this industry.

I even know that the toys and clothes I buy for my children were potentially made by workers who are children themselves. Often these children are sold to factory owners because their families are starving, and these child slaves are watched by guards and sometimes beaten for working too slow.

I know these things, and I continue to support the industry with my money. I am a mother, and I still give money to support child labor. I'm disgusted with myself.

Murderer


I said this already, but people all over the world are starving to death, and I continue to live in extravagance.

I don't know if you caught the gravity of this, but it rips my heart out and I'm going to say it again, and I want you sit and dwell on it before you read on -

Mothers in other countries will have to choose which child gets to eat today.


People are freezing to death because they don't have warm clothing, and my problem is that all of my coats are taking up too much room in my closet.

Families are dying because the only water they have available is plagued with parasites, and I am concerned that the abundant, treated water flowing from my tap might be unsafe.

I have a nice sized savings account and a decadent lifestyle and I'm not willing to share.

The truth is, if I take a broader view of it and look outside the borders of my nation, I am the one percent. I live extravagantly while my brothers and sisters overseas are dying of need.


So, I've told you the crimes I've been convicted of. What is my sentence?


My sentence is to stop ignoring these hard facts and start living out these difficult truths.

Beyond that, my sentence is to swallow any pride or fear that I may have over being labeled abnormal or radical.

My sentence is to confess these crimes to anyone who is willing to listen and ask them to come alongside me in my journey to recovery from this life of crime.

How, in God's name, am I going to do it?


This is where I am stuck. I've been living this way so long, I don't know how to live a life free of these crimes.

The part that makes me really angry is that I grew up in the church, I grew up in a Christian family, and I still don't know how to stop stealing, killing, and destroying.

Don't get me wrong, I don't blame my family, nor my pastors, because they are like me. They were raised without being taught how or why not to do these things, either. Somewhere along the lines, the church decided it was more important to keep the government in line than to be a voice for the oppressed and starving.

I AM NOT OK WITH THIS.

Again, how am I going to do this?


This has been on my heart for a while. Years actually. It's been growing lately, and I had originally intended to wait until I had some heart wrenching facts and some snazzy resources to show you. I was going to wait until I had a plan in place.

The thing is, there must not be as much money in reporting social injustice in mega companies as there is reporting on politics and war, so the resources are not that easy to find.

And I couldn't wait anymore to get this off of my chest.

I don't know anyone living a life free of these crimes, so I don't know how to change.

This is where you come in. If you are willing, I'd like for you to take on my sentencing.

I'm going to be dong some heavy researching on what companies are safe to support and which ones aren't. I'm going to try to restructure the way we shop and live so that I don't have to feel ashamed anymore.

I need your help, I need us to pool our resources and start a conversation and I need you to give me ideas on how to do this, because I'm scared.

I'm scared I will compromise. I'm scared I'll be afraid of looking too weird or that people will stop taking me seriously.

I don't want to live like this anymore, but I don't know how to stop.

You may think I'm being overdramatic, or taking too much of a burden on myself. I've made these excuses for myself, but what if it was my daughter or son starving to death? Freezing? Working long hours in a garment factory? It's someone's children, and that someone is no less of a person just because he or she is poor and very far away.

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