zig zagging along

This evening I spoke to a group of students from my alma mater, Point Loma Nazarene University, about my path of ministry. As I wrapped up my bachelors degree and headed off to inner city Philadelphia to work with youth, I certainly never would have imagined the places I'd go. Child Protection? Peace Corps? HIV awareness? Public Health? I was pretty committed to a life in inner city America for the rest of my life. I was pretty sure I wanted to be involved in ministry full time. You'd never look at the career trajectory and see the Masters hand leading me, guiding me. In fact, it looks more like confusion and chaos. Maybe that's why I love Ephesians 2:10 so much, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in him." BEFOREHAND. Though it looks confused and unguided to the outside observer I can look back and remember how at each intersection I could look back and see clearly God's guidance. And He knew beforehand. And he was guiding me and will continue to guide me.

Glimpses

Shapla* was ten years old when she met a woman who promised her domestic work with a family. She traveled to Dhaka, full of anticipation, only to be locked in a hotel for eight consecutive days while men were being brought in to her.  Having already been "spoilt" n the eyes of society, she was trapped in prostitution for ten years before she was given a place in Pobitra, Mennonite Central Committee's training program, where she received weekly wages and an opportunity for a new life.  In April of 2010 she began working for MCC to develop new products.  Shapla's sorrow was tangible when we first met her but now her smile lights up a room.

Badhon’s* mom died when she was 11.  Her father remarried and arranged a marriage for her just before her 12^th birthday.  She was 14 when she gave birth to her daughter.  Her husband left her shortly after her daughter’s birth.  Desperate to provide for her daughter, she turned to prostitution when she was sixteen.  Now twenty one, Badhon has been out of prostitution for a year and a half and the sparkle in her eyes and proud stature reveal her newfound sense of dignity.  Badhon has a job making Sacred Mark soap.  She budgets carefully to send her daughter to school and ensure she has the opportunities Badhon herself never had.

Fresh start

These are just a couple stories coming from MCC’s training program which gives these women a chance at a new life.  Each year twenty women are selected to participate in the program.  Their entry into the program is marked by a new life celebration complete with birthday cake, gifts, and a pledge to live a different life.  They are provided a stipend as they learn to read, write and develop life and work skills needed to succeed in normal life.   Not everyone manages to complete the training program, but for those who do, the transformation is remarkable. Upon completion of approximately eight months of training women are provided employment.  A very similar program started by Serving in Mission provides the same opportunities for women who have been living on the streets of Dhaka.  You can read more about both programs at http://mcc.org/stories/news/mcc-teaches-new-job-skills-former-sex-workers-bangladesh and http://www.sim.org/index.php/project/98336.

 It is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 women and children are trafficked in Bangladesh each year.  While many will be taken to Pakistan, India or the Middle East, many women are forced into prostitution right in their own country. This statistic doesn’t even include the women who are forced into prostitution through financial desperation, being “ruined” in the eyes of society through rape, or being unprotected following the death of a husband or father.  In Bangladesh, there are an estimated 60,000 -100,000 people in prostitution. Thousands of these are young pre teen and teen girls.  Few, if any, chose this life.

 Futures

 While many of these women have resigned themselves to their fate, thousands more are desperate for new opportunities.  Creating jobs not only gives women a livelihood and dignity, it gives them a chance to discover their God given potential.  It gives us a chance to be Jesus’ hands and feet and serve him humbly.  It provides a demonstration of God’s grace in the midst of injustice, cruelty and evil. 

 

 Let me tell you a bit more about myself.  I grew up in Oregon but since 1989 have lived and worked in South Central Los Angeles, United Kingdom, South Africa, Zambia, and Bangladesh.  My activities have ranged from missionary work with youth in Los Angeles to HIV prevention in South Africa to developing programs for AIDS orphans in Zambia to overseeing various relief and development activities in Bangladesh.  I have a BA from Point Loma Nazarene University and a Masters in Public Health from Oregon State University.  I have now completed a four year term with Mennonite Central Committee during which time I worked with staff to develop the Pobitra Training Program.  I will return to Bangladesh in March 2011 independently to start a business which will develop, produce, and distribute high quality handicrafts. There are already forty women participating in job training who will need work within the next six months.  I will return to Bangladesh in March with the organization Hand and Cloth (please see handandcloth.org).  I am in need of your support to make this a success. 

If you are interested in being part of creating jobs which give women a life of dignity and respect here's where your money could go:

$1000 per month salary needed for Robin to go to Bangladesh as an investor starting a business. This will cover a simple lifestyle as well as flights, health insurance, student loans and may even leave some extra to go back into the business operations budget.

$9 per week subsidizes one woman's salary until her business becomes profitable.

$55  subsidizes a full month of one child's day care expenses and helps break the cycle of poverty by ensuring each young child has a good meal, a head start on education, and stimulating play.  

$100 purchase one sewing machine to help develop a women's cooperative business

$221 purchase one serger to help develop a women's cooperative business

$294 purchase one embroidery machine to help develop a woman's cooperative business

$412 purchase on industrial strength washing mashine to help develop a women's cooperative business

Make a donation by going to handandcloth.org, specify Bangladesh in the note section or send your contribution to 4742 Liberty Road South, #193, Salem, Oregon 97302.  Please make checks payable to Evergreen Church, specify Bangladesh in the memo, and include your address if you want a tax deduction.  

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Hospital visit

I had finished my workout, taken a shower, and just settled down to my evening treat of vegetables and a bowl of popcorn for dinner and a comedy episode when the phone rang.  One of our girls from the 2008 job training program was in very serious condition in the hospital.  I grudgingly put my dinner aside and headed to the hospital.  

The local hospital is always an experience.  First of all, there are so many rows of buildings and floors, finding the ward you need is the first challenge.  En route you see so many people hobbling in on the arms of loved ones, being wheeled on a cot, or other visitors like you trying to find their patient.  

This time I was looking for the operation theatre of the maternity ward.  I was told the wrong building and the wrong floor first but eventually ended up in the right place.  She was in a room where another woman's  cesarean was happening so we had to wait outside in the muggy cement room without a chair or sign of welcome until after the baby boy emerged.  The doctor sent my colleague to see if it was possible to get a test done that night or if they should wait until morning. When she returned to say they could go immediately the doctor had decided she needed to stabilize more first.  They had us wheel her to a different ward where she had to share a bed. She did have a bed though... many patients are sleeping on a blanket on the cement floor.  

Gradually more and more of the story emerged.  Her husband had kicked her the day before.  She had bled some but the next day at work began to bleed profusely.  She said she was not aware of being pregnant but tests revealed she was actually four months along.  

They had her husband donate blood for her, and had my colleague by some medicine and supplies (it's very much a self service place which I guess makes sense with that many people.  At the same time, I wonder what happens to those who don't have someone to bring them medicine, food, wheel them to tests...).  One doctor decided they didn't need the blood right away and it should be taken to the blood bank.  Half an hour later they sent me back to the blood bank to bring it back. Back through the winding, confusing corridors! At the blood bank, the gloveless lab technician flicked blood with his bare finger before collecting the bag for me to carry back to the patient.  

Then I needed to get more supplies as my colleague had taken them to her house so they wouldn't be stolen.  When I returned, I started to sit on the edge of the bed which she now had to herself.  As I did, I noticed blood everywhere.  I jumped up quickly and found out it was blood that spilled when they were setting up the transfusion.  Yeah, I don't want to sit in that really. Universal Precautions anybody?  

Behind a curtain, babies were being born.  The first one I didn't get to close too not wanting to be a nuisance, but on the second one I decided to take advantage of the fact that they probably wouldn't send the white lady away and edged closer.  The mom seemed limp and was hardly making noise.  The doctor seemed to be pulling with all her might to get the baby out.  As they carried her over by us, the baby still was a greenish colour, sludgy and making no sound.  They suctioned her out using equipment which looks like what you've maybe seen at a medical museum, and finally the soft cry came, eventually turning to a much welcome scream! 

There was a family member staying with my friend so I decided to head home at midnight in spite of all the exciting happenings, including two more babies on the way. She was now more awake than she had been before, so, in my halting Bangla I told her about the woman with the years of bleeding who in faith touched Jesus and was healed.  Not only is the physical healing needed; her broken violent family needs the touch of God.  Please pray for her, her two children, and her husband, that somehow from this God will be glorified.