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February 20, 2009
Mumbai and Beyond
Rainfall on the streets of Mumbai
I honestly don't know where to begin with this entry other than I want people to be aware (if you are not already) of an enormous problem...human trafficking and sexual slavery. Yes, it seems unimaginable that these things are present day issues, but they ARE. It's sobering!
Matt (and about a dozen others) went to Mumbai last summer to forge relationships with IJM and other NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to help combat this problem. And, thirty-five of our friends, who are actually on their way home as I type, went back, to continue those relationships and serve the teams of people on the ground in Mumbai who are dedicating their life to this fight. The blog entries from the trip have been both heart-wrenching and beautiful. They are finding hope in what seems an overwhelmingly hopeless and huge situation.
Here's an excerpt from our friend Josh:
The smell of India can be as overwhelming as its size. The traffic is difficult at best; it takes 2 hours to go 3 miles. Dirt is everywhere; every breath you take fills your lungs with construction dust. Mosquitoes are everywhere; my boney legs do not satisfy their blood lust so they move to my arms, neck and somehow down my pants. Don’t drink the water; it is bound to be filled with the run-off from someone’s toilet.
So why am I here? The people. It is the beauty of the people that brings me back, the fact that there is life in such impossible circumstance. I see hope in the eyes of girls who have been stolen into the world of prostitution, their innocence robbed; yet they still find a way to move on. I see hope in the eyes of the women who have given their lives to the mending of the wounds these girls have received. They clap as I play my drums for them, they weep as they tell me their stories. I smile as I play and weep as they tell me their stories. The girls insisted on painting my fingernails, how could I refuse.
I have found Jesus again. As I look through the Mumbai slums, I see Jesus. This is where he would be. This is where he would break bread.
I have learned, even today, that the opposite of good is not evil, it is indifference. Bad people will win when good people choose to do nothing.
Today I washed the feet of a saint; she insisted that she was just a “normal person”. I assured her she was in fact not normal, more super hero than human. Sister Lizzy...saint of the lost and broken.
We will turn the camera to more stories like hers, we will document more heroes, and we will see more Jesus. I love India…even the piss in my water.
Wow! I felt like I would be remiss if I didn't share this. And, as if that isn't enough, trafficking isn't just a problem in Mumbai or Cambodia or other countries on the other side of the world, it's a major problem in the United States. Let's choose to do something!
Here are a few ideas:
Support Transitions Global and their work in Cambodia and the US.
And, here's an example of what normal people can do when they're committed to being part of a solution. Four high school girls started this: unboundmovement.org.
Unbound Movement - Intro Music Video from Unbound Movement on Vimeo.
Posted by calley at February 20, 2009 10:00 PM