My rant of the day
Wow. It certainly has been a long time since I posted anything on here. A lot has happened over the last 3 months. I have certainly dealt with a lot of heartache, frustration, loneliness, drama and pain. But I have also experienced a lot of joy and love and faithfulness. I have dealt with more craziness in the last 3 months than I ever dealt with in high school I think. But I do suppose that is simply a part of life, a part of growing up. Even though I have dealt with a lot, I have come through it with an understanding that it's only going to make me better and stronger and more faithful. When that will happen is unclear. But some day I will be able to look back on all of it and know that it served a purpose and blessed me in some strange way.
Anyway... this semester I am in a class called Ministry to International Children and Youth. It is an amazing class. It is definitely stressing me out though. We are discussing a lot of serious issues that arise when trying to do ministry among children and youth in a cross-cultural setting. The last few weeks we have watched the Invisible Children video and the Baht video. Baht is the video that was created for RaphaHouse in Cambodia and deals with the horrors of the sex-slave trade and sex trafficking. The Invisible Children video is about child soldiers in Uganda. Invisible Children made me angry. Baht made me sick. Watching that video literally made me sick to my stomach. There were girls who were as young as 8 years old! 8 YEARS OLD... who had been sold into a brothel and knew how to perform oral sex and intercourse. They knew how to do it in a way that would please the 'buyer' and pay them well. 8 year old girls! Those girls are younger than my youngest sister. And the worst thing is... Americans help to support this disgusting evil that is ravaging the land of Asia. Child prostituion makes billions of dollars a year. Not thousands or millions... but BILLIONS! In Asia alone over 4.8 billion dollars is made through prostitution. Over 1 million children get involved with child prostitution each year. There are 500,000 child prostitutes in the country of Brazil.... 300,000 in India... 10,000 boy prostitutes in Sri Lanka... and 150,000 child prostitutes in the USA!!! The USA has an estimated 150,000!!! What the crap?!?! And Americans and Westerners are helping to support this! They are trying to make it normal. Men travel to Asia on a regular basis to partake in the raping of young girls in brothels. That is what it is... it is rape. Girls as young as 8 years old are being forced to perform for men to satisfy their sick and twisted desires. Whadda heck?!?! Watching the Baht video literally made me sick and then getting the statistics made things worse. I had known a little bit about this issue. But not nearly as much as I should as a young Christian woman wanting to be involved in cross-cultural ministry. This is an issue that is not just contained in Asia. It's in South America, Europe, Africa, and the USA of all places. My home, my country is a place that has this happening. What can be done? What should be done? What are valid, effective strategies for reaching these girls after they have escaped or been released from the brothels? What is a viable strategy that will stop this disgusting act of evil? What can the Church do??? What is the Church called to do??? This makes me sick to my stomach, literally. I threw up my lunch after class. No joke. And it makes me angry as hell (pardon my french) to know that this is happening to girls younger than my sister! What if that was my sister??? I wouldnt just sit by and let it happen! So why isnt anything being done by the Church??? Why isnt this an issue that the Church is actively trying to tackle? Yes, I understand that there are organizations who are working very hard and doing a great job of taking this issue on. But what is the visible, body of Christ doing? What can we do? Are we not called to take care of the orphans, the widows, the oppressed? Are we not called to seek after justice? Why is there so much injustice taking place in the world and so very little being done??? Who will bow up and say 'enough is enough' and do something? I am just a young girl who is striving to figure that out for herself.... but she wont and cant do it on her own. So what can and will the Church do?
Okay... thats enough for now. My heart is broken for the world. And I can only pray that something will change soon to break the heart of the entire body of Christ and move it to action against the injustice that is taking place.
-love always-
Anyway... this semester I am in a class called Ministry to International Children and Youth. It is an amazing class. It is definitely stressing me out though. We are discussing a lot of serious issues that arise when trying to do ministry among children and youth in a cross-cultural setting. The last few weeks we have watched the Invisible Children video and the Baht video. Baht is the video that was created for RaphaHouse in Cambodia and deals with the horrors of the sex-slave trade and sex trafficking. The Invisible Children video is about child soldiers in Uganda. Invisible Children made me angry. Baht made me sick. Watching that video literally made me sick to my stomach. There were girls who were as young as 8 years old! 8 YEARS OLD... who had been sold into a brothel and knew how to perform oral sex and intercourse. They knew how to do it in a way that would please the 'buyer' and pay them well. 8 year old girls! Those girls are younger than my youngest sister. And the worst thing is... Americans help to support this disgusting evil that is ravaging the land of Asia. Child prostituion makes billions of dollars a year. Not thousands or millions... but BILLIONS! In Asia alone over 4.8 billion dollars is made through prostitution. Over 1 million children get involved with child prostitution each year. There are 500,000 child prostitutes in the country of Brazil.... 300,000 in India... 10,000 boy prostitutes in Sri Lanka... and 150,000 child prostitutes in the USA!!! The USA has an estimated 150,000!!! What the crap?!?! And Americans and Westerners are helping to support this! They are trying to make it normal. Men travel to Asia on a regular basis to partake in the raping of young girls in brothels. That is what it is... it is rape. Girls as young as 8 years old are being forced to perform for men to satisfy their sick and twisted desires. Whadda heck?!?! Watching the Baht video literally made me sick and then getting the statistics made things worse. I had known a little bit about this issue. But not nearly as much as I should as a young Christian woman wanting to be involved in cross-cultural ministry. This is an issue that is not just contained in Asia. It's in South America, Europe, Africa, and the USA of all places. My home, my country is a place that has this happening. What can be done? What should be done? What are valid, effective strategies for reaching these girls after they have escaped or been released from the brothels? What is a viable strategy that will stop this disgusting act of evil? What can the Church do??? What is the Church called to do??? This makes me sick to my stomach, literally. I threw up my lunch after class. No joke. And it makes me angry as hell (pardon my french) to know that this is happening to girls younger than my sister! What if that was my sister??? I wouldnt just sit by and let it happen! So why isnt anything being done by the Church??? Why isnt this an issue that the Church is actively trying to tackle? Yes, I understand that there are organizations who are working very hard and doing a great job of taking this issue on. But what is the visible, body of Christ doing? What can we do? Are we not called to take care of the orphans, the widows, the oppressed? Are we not called to seek after justice? Why is there so much injustice taking place in the world and so very little being done??? Who will bow up and say 'enough is enough' and do something? I am just a young girl who is striving to figure that out for herself.... but she wont and cant do it on her own. So what can and will the Church do?
Okay... thats enough for now. My heart is broken for the world. And I can only pray that something will change soon to break the heart of the entire body of Christ and move it to action against the injustice that is taking place.
-love always-
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