The past few weeks Laura and I have been really enjoying visiting a homeless ministry in down town Vancouver called Servants. As well as living in community in the poorest areas of the city and offering a friendly, warm place for dinner and friendship every night, Servants also have a group they call “Creative World Justice”. This group is a combination of missionaries, locals, friends from the neighbourhood and basically anyone else that wants to show up. They meet every Tuesday night after dinner for a time of prayer, worship and discussion of what actions can be taken to creatively fight for justice.
The topic focussed on switches every few months and as Laura and I first joined the meetings they were finishing off a long time of discussing what can only be described as slavery on cruise ships. Intrigued and a little confused I managed to corner Craig from Servants and asked him what this really meant. He sadly explained to me that most, if not all, cruise and cargo ships that travel the world are full of injustice and exploitation. These boats hire staff from our Western countries for the entertainment and the upper decks, the ones that mix with the paying customers. These staff are paid fairly enough, and as far as I can tell from conversations with people who have had jobs like these, they have a great time. However, below the decks is a very different story. The big ships stop in small countries, lots of them in Asia and pick up workers for their boats. They then take these workers to countries that have no labour laws and register them as their workers. This then means that very legally these ships can pay these poor people around $50 a month and have them working up to 7 days a week! The whole thing stinks of slave ships that we all pride ourselves in getting rid of so many years ago, but I wonder if we would be so proud after seeing the cramped and unhygienic living conditions of these modern-day slaves.
Craig explained to me that, being on the water so much, the ships have little accountability to any one source and, like me, most people have never even heard of this awful exploitation. So we happily, naively pay these big companies to cruise us on the holiday of our lives, completely unaware of the atrocities occurring in the well hidden, bottom, dirty sections of the ships.
So, to try to help, Servants don’t believe in only praying or only acting; they do both. For this issue their main goal is to raise awareness in the hope that companies will become accountable either to us (the paying customers) or even to governments that allow them to dock in their ports. Amongst these actions was a flash mob display of many, many “pirates” flooding into the local Quay demonstrating peacefully and in an entertaining way, whilst also informing intrigued passer-bys about the shocking truth. (Please see www.creativeworldjustice.org for photos and more information on how you can get involved).
But, like I mentioned, by the time Laura and I joined this interesting group of people on Tuesday nights they had began to switch focus to Advent (the time leading up to Christmas). One of the main things we have bee
n discussing is the commercialised approach we have all slowly slipped more and more into over the years, and how this disguises the true meaning of Christmas; Jesus’ birth bringing peace, love, forgiveness, life and truth. For many years now Christmas has been more about presents and nights out than anything else, and it seems that more and more we are even falling away from understanding the importance and the pleasure of spending real time with people. Instead we send them a Christmas card, updating them with our news and secretly hope they wont hold us to our word when we mention meeting for an “overdue coffee”.
However the thing that shocked and disgusted me and Laura the most was when we found out that whilst the states alone spend $450 BILLION on Christmas each year, it would only cost $10 BILLION (that’s right, one 45th) for every single soul in the world to have access to fresh, clean water. (For more info see www.adventconspiracy.org) I literally almost threw up and burst into tears all at once when I heard this. Because the thing is, these numbers are not just statistics, they’re not just interesting, sad facts, these are the lives of actual people that are being unnecessarily thrown away every few seconds because we have so much greed and so little understanding. All of a sudden I wasn’t so excited about the Christmas lights appearing in the streets around us.
But the more I thought about it, the calmer I became. Because the thing is, no matter how naive or childish this may sound, I do still genuinely believe that most people are truly good at heart. Even those who seem completely lost and consumed with greed, I trust they have a spark of passion for humanity somewhere within them, as lost as it may seem. But the problem in our commercialised world, isn’t lack of people trying to help, it’s the overwhelming need we seem to find facing us at every turn. I mean, in all seriousness, when I used to live in the city, if I had given to every charity box I met between my flat and the train station I would have ended up on the streets myself. There is just so much, everywhere, and it does just get to the point where the guilt and the overwhelming confusion over where to help drives us to the easier option; closing down and not helping at all. But the one thing I have had hammered into my brain time and time again this year, is the MASSIVE difference the tiniest thing can make to somebody with nothing. We think that if we can’t commit to donating a certain amount a month then we shouldn’t give anything, but that is so far from the truth.
For as long as I can remember my mum has been putting together shoeboxes at Christmas time to send as gifts to those in countries such as Romania for people with nothing at Christmas. They generally contain some concoction of gloves, a scarf, a hat, toothpaste, a toothbrush, a toy and some sweeties. I have always enjoyed making these with her and love the idea of a little child with nothing smiling as he opens this jam-packed gift. But when I first went to Africa a few years ago and saw how extreme poverty can be, I began to wonder how big a difference these tiny things make in the scheme of such a vast problem. However, this year, as we have met hundreds of people all in need of one thing or another, I have been reminded again and again of how important these little differences are. Not only will that child have a memory of kindness from Christmas, he knows that he is cared for beyond his family or the people he knows, he is given a spark of hope, and for once in what can be a difficult day to day life, this child experiences a taste of the unconditional love that was meant for him.
Or, on an even smaller scale, work it out for yourself. At some point in the next few days as you struggle through the crazy snow Europe is getting, or try to warm yourself waiting for a
bus, do me a favour and take off a layer of clothing. Remove your gloves or your scarf, or even just your hat. Just take one item of clothing off and I can promise you, within minutes you will have a whole new understanding of the huge effect you can have on someone else’s life through tiny acts of giving. You may not have money, or feel like you have many skills, but I am positive you have (or if you truly look for it, can find) time, and I guarantee you will have at least one person in your life that would love nothing more than your time.
I know, I know, this is beginning to sound like the end of a cheesy Christmas movie, but seriously, please let this be the year that we stop thinking and we start acting. Even if it is just little acts in our eyes, it wont be in the eyes of others, and you never know, your acting might just set the example others need to do their own “little” thing this Christmas.
If, you’re stuck for inspiration or ideas for the direction of your thoughts or prayers this advent, Laura and I are more than willing to help! The Soul Touch blog will officially become a 2010 advent calendar this year, with a small entry each day showing you the “door” into some of the inspiring lives and organisations we have encountered on our year so far. Please let these little messages resonate in your thoughts this advent and remember them as you reach for yet another reel of tinsel. Anybody that knows me knows I love glitter and all things sparkly, but there are also so many other people I know that despite all their own sparkle, they need so much more than glitter. Please remember them during this festive season.
Jenn x
In New Zealand we had the opportunity to walk through an audio tour describing the typical life of an African child. This was provided by World Vision to allow us a glimpse into the battles these children face daily. From here on World Vision was the main charity that we followed around the world. It pop
share something like this that with any other organisation they would miss. The kids all did a great job and seemed to enjoy the day and it was lovely for us to see which kids matched with which parents. Leaving however was a bit more difficult. Our hearts broke in two. One half wept for the many children we were leaving behind in their concrete home, and the other for the children and parents that struggled to once again say goodbye to each other. At that point I have to say I started to almost understand having the kids living in the jail. It was just so sad watching them leave their parents behind.
Bolivia is home to the world’s biggest salt desert, with over 10 billion tons of salt it is 3million acres and rests at 12,000 feet above sea level. The salt is covered in water which creates the effect of the horizon merging into the sky. With volcanoes and mountains in the backdrop, this sight draws tourists in their masses from all over the world. In January 2009 a young missionary couple, Jessica and Luke, set out with their 2 infant girls on a trip across the salt flats after preaching in a nearby town. They had been considering planting their ministry around this area and so wanted to check it out further. Knowing where they were heading, Jessica and Luke felt confident enough to go in their truck independent of tour guides. The family enjoyed the journey immensely, squealing at the sights and stopping to take advantage of some the many beautiful photo opportunities. They were a little confused when they reached the village at the bottom of the volcano they had been heading towards, to find there wasn’t a single soul there. However they weren’t completely shocked as they were both well aware that in villages like this it would often be the case that the people would be away in fields elsewhere working long days. So, as it was coming into the late afternoon Jessica and Luke decided it would be best to start on the drive back to make sure to be at the hotel before dark.
