Um...I want the Presents

If you don't know already, I'm partnering with One Days Wages to raise funds for women who have been raped because of the longstanding civil war in Congo. The idea behind the campaign is to celebrate my birthday by asking friends and family to donate to the cause.

One night before bed, I talked to Lizzy (7) about it and explained that Mommy was asking people to give to these needy women instead of presents for my birthday, and I suggested maybe someday she could do that as well. At this point, she clarified that if she did that she would NOT be receiving any presents, is that right? I said yes, that's right. It didn't take her long to quickly exclaim "I want the presents!" which made me LOL.

Yes, I do hope for both my children they would grow up to be compassionate, generous givers, and let's face it: obviously Lizzy is not quite there yet. And this whole birthday-for-a-cause thing is not to guilt trip anybody. Although if giving up the new tenth pair of jeans to give to a women who have been gang raped and abandoned by community makes anyone feel guilty then I'm not gonna fuss about it. The point is that giving makes a DIFFERENCE in this world in the lives of these women. Giving is cool, hip, fun, feels-good, obedient to God, cares tangibly for the poor/marginalized, it's a FANTASTIC way to celebrate a birthday. And if anyone doubts it, you should've seen my face when I saw that someone donated $200 to my birthday cause today. THAT gave me a HAPPY birthday. :) :) :)

Crap Happens

What kind of crap? Well, when a 9 year old girl named Chance risks everything to tell the story of how her parents were killed in front of her, her aunt gang raped by soldiers, and how one raped her. You can see her in the video here:

I've already ranted on the problem of pain in my last post so that's not what this post is about. This one is about finding hope. When I see the face of that little nine year old, I see the horrific violence done to her but I also see how beautiful and strong she and her aunt are to share their story with all of us. In the most recent tragedy in Haiti, accounts of Haitians risking their lives to help each other and international aid pouring in are the beauty found among the ashes. In a world where one sixth of our population live in extreme poverty, we see grass organizations like One Day's Wages working hard to bring change.

So it seems no matter how much theologizing, evangelizing, and politicizing we do, crap happens. But there is also much hope and light to be found in the midst of darkness. And though we cannot control terrible things happening in our world, we can make choices in our response. For my birthday this year, I'd like to respond by trying to make a small difference in the lives of women and children like Chance who experience war and gender violence. Please consider joining me in praying, donating, and sharing this cause so their voices can be heard.

Ah...the Problem of Pain

Tragedy has struck again. The earthquake that has instantly destroyed thousands of lives in Haiti not only shook up the world geologically, but shakes the foundations of those with solid faith. Because we have such a hard time answering the question that stares us down in the face of massive suffering: Why would God allow it to happen?

Last night, I explained to my six year old daughter why we needed to pray for the people of Haiti. Haiti is a country far away from us, but there are people there who have lost their homes, families, and their lives because a big earthquake happened. (Lizzy experienced her first big earthquake just a couple weeks ago here in our building) She then proceeded to ask me, "then why didn't God stop the earthquake?"

The best answer to that question that could come from me is "I don't know." All the answers I've ever read from theologians and Christian thinkers only satisfy to a certain level and breaks down after that. But I will hold on to what I DO know, that despite what it appears, God is still a good and loving God. He cares for the most neglected peoples (and certainly the impoverished country of Haiti qualifies), He cares for the suffering and the grieving, and His mission for us as His community of believers is to reach out and rescue. My prayers for Haiti are that their deep and unfathomable pain will bring attention to the world to stop neglecting their poverty; that the aid will continue after the initial emergency rescue; that there will be a commitment from the richer nations to help lift the nation out of poverty, and through these efforts there may be redemption not only for Haiti but for all of us who have chosen to not ignore the cry of those who suffer.

The One campaign, www.one.org offers lots of good resources so we can pray informed prayers, give to trustworthy orgs working on the ground in Haiti (my personal pitch for One Days Wages' Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, www.onedayswages.org), and how to act through appealing to the government to commit to helping Haiti.

Christians and their attacks on Christmas

I'm fascinated by all these news of Christians attacking Christmas (who would've thought googling Christians, Attack, Christmas, would turn out with so many results!)

There's one camp of Christians, led by orgs like Focus on the Family, who stage campaigns and rail against the secular commercial industry for taking the Christ out of Christmas. These guys don't like how stores try to be PC and use slogans such as "Happy Holidays" instead of making Christmas a celebration focused on the birth of Jesus. They put up billboards with signs that say, "I miss you saying - Merry Christmas. Jesus." Or they rate various stores on how "Christ-friendly" they are on the basis of how they market their products.

Another camp of Christians says to the previous group, "Seriously? Seriously? You're gonna take issue over whether stores say Merry Christmas while going on spending sprees with no regard for the poor, sick, and hungry? You think Jesus cares about holiday slogans more than He cares about justice?" These guys campaign against widespread consumerism during the Christmas season and encourage everyone to spend less, give more to charities, and buy gifts from companies who take social and environmental responsibilities seriously.

Then there are those of us (and I say us because this was my context for the past 6 years) who celebrate Christmas overseas and are safely distanced from the marketing tactics of retailers in America. We live in a place where Christianity has not largely influenced recent history and tradition, and thus Christmas is superficially celebrated with some cheesy music and decorations and young people exchanging gifts. It's sort of like Valentine's Day with red and green. These guys celebrate Christmas by claiming this window as a precious opportunity to share the gospel in a context where precious few have heard of what Jesus is all about. These guys spend the bulk of the Season working on various evangelistic outreach events.

I actually park my feet pretty firmly in camp number two. Camp number one confounds me a little bit. Why would we expect non believers to care about celebrating Christmas? Retailers are trying to make a profit and if being PC gets more customers buying, then of course they are going to chant Happy Holidays. Camp number three is exhausting and I often doubt its effectiveness. I believe we need to share the gospel through a tradition that is meaningful and relevant to the host culture instead of forcing a very western Christmas on them and then trying to share the message of the gospel through that. That is an outdated missionary model, I believe. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ who came to bring us salvation. I believe it is a salvation which delivers those of us who are held bondage to our consumer oriented society AND a salvation who delivers the poor, neglected, oppressed, marginalized. So it is quite appropriate to celebrate Christmas by spending less and giving more.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint. We definitely have a very large tree set up with presents under the tree for our kids. I do see the value of creating a sense of wonder and excitement for my children who are only children for a short time. They deserve to imagine santa and eagerly anticipate what's wrapped underneath the tree. I just hope at the same time we can work towards giving more children around the world the opportunity to be the children they deserve to be instead of being worried about hunger, disease, violence, being orphaned, or risk of being trafficked.

However, if there was a camp (and if there isn't one, I guess I'll invent one) of Christians who see a need to decrease Christmas and increase Easter, I would stand in line to sign up. Like N.T. Wright says in "Surprised by Hope", if we lose Christmas we lose a couple of chapters in the gospels. If we lose Easter, we lose the entire New Testament! Easter is our Day of Celebration! Easter is when we need to hoot and holler, pause and meditate, adjust our year's resolutions to match up with the MEANING of Jesus being risen. Maybe more Christians ought to channel our passion against various issues during Christmas into uplifting the celebration of Easter.

Half the Sky

I just finished the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It was filled with gut wrenching stories of the suffering women endure, particularly in developing worlds. From rape victims to those sold into brothels to fistula patients, I often had to put down the book and just take a deep breath before moving on. At the same time, the authors highlighted amazing stories of women who have risen above their plight and, given the right aid and help, changed their own lives and the lives of countless other women. The hope is the book would inspire a movement to change the realities these women endure. They liken the oppression of women to slavery, and how we look back now and are appalled at the inaction of those who saw slavery simply as the way things were, in the same way, years from now people will look back and be appalled at our inaction on behalf of these women. The plight of women, the authors claim, is the biggest humanitarian challenge of our time.

Now that I've read this book, I am without excuse. I have been educated and been made aware. If I put the book down and move on with life, I will be counted among those future generations are appalled at. And I will be made accountable at the day I meet the Lord, the One who says, "whatever you did to the least of these, you did for me." I believe there IS such a thing as the sin of omission.

But what can I do? What can one measly little Cindy Brandt do to change lives? Not much, I know. But I am so beyond saying "I'm too overwhelmed" and throwing in the towel. I want to do something that will utilize the limited amount of gifts and resources at my disposal and produce the maximum amount of change. Still praying over that one...

Read the book so you can be without excuse too! :)

What I want to be when I grow up

Don't you just LOVE old people? I mean, the sight of an older Chinese couple strolling down Love River holding hands can just brighten one's day. A friend posted on their FB status about being cuted out by two old men in a bookstore talking about how they could spend all day in there. And how cute are the older couple who are learning English along with all the college students in Jason's class? It got me thinking about the kind of old person I'd like to become.

I want to be an old person who keeps up with the times and is not willing to CHANGE. I love how facebook is being used by the older generations. It's so neat that older people can be engaged with social media, get on youtube, and exchange wall posts with their grandkids. Just think what the technology advances will be like when I'm 60+ years old? Whatever it'll be like, I hope I can embrace and engage in that world.

Along the same lines, I want to keep learning. A Chinese saying "huo dao lao, xue dao lao", translated as "learn as long as you live", exudes deep Chinese wisdom. My great uncle got a PhD when he was in his 70s. What an inspiration! When I'm old, I'd love to go back to school, or engage in learning through other avenues. I echo the prayer for myself which I pray with Lizzy each school night, "God, help Lizzy to learn lots of new things about Your world."

I hope to be engaged in active ministry. My family obligations at this season of my life prevents me from being fully engaged in active ministry. I hope to become more active when I enter that different season. Hopefully, by then, I'll have accumulated some sort of skill/experience/wisdom that I can impart and contribute to building the Kingdom of God.

I am plotting some sort of deal with God that at the end of my days He can take both Jason and I at the same time so that I would not have to spend even ONE day in my old age without him. You think He'll sign on that?

Of course, there are tons of other things I'd like to be when I'm old: healthy, some grandbabies to hold, have lots of disposable income to travel the world, etc. But I don't feel like those are things I can control as much so I won't go into detail about those.

Blue Sweater

Just finished the book The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz. Because we have decided to invest both finances and heart towards an organization fighting global poverty (one days wages), I've been trying to read up on the subject. I enjoyed this one although some parts were hard to get through. Here are some of my reflection thoughts:

1) Cross cultural sensitivity: As a westerner going into various developing countries,she had little training on how to view things from a cross cultural perspective. She talks about some hard lessons she had to learn because of her ethnocentric perspective, the western tendency to see a problem and fix it. In the end, because of her can do attitude and strong personality, she was able to accomplish the task of lifting many out of poverty. However, I believe it is still vitally important to learn how to work with people of another culture with deep humility and willingness to learn.

2) I've read a few books by humanitarians who have done amazing things for the "least of these" of our world, and each time I struggle with what motivates these humanitarians when their faith does not lie in Jesus Christ. For me, a desire to help the poor/oppressed stems solely from my belief that the gospel Jesus brings is salvation for the marginalized, forgotten peoples of the world. Reading about non believers who have put more heart and work into these types of work than myself and other Christians both humbles and puzzles me. Despite that, I still rejoice these people exist and no matter what their motivation, I am grateful their work contributes to the Kingdom of God here on earth.

3) The story of the Rwandan woman recounted in this book was absolutely heart wrenching. The way her Christian faith pulls her through some of the toughest circumstances a woman can go through, and how Christ's power of forgiveness shines through her attitude towards the perpetrators of extreme violence done to her family is mind blowing and life changing. I'd recommend this book for this story alone.

4) I was very intrigued by the concept of running a non profit humanitarian organization as a business model. She invites people to donate money but uses the idea that we don't invest for monetary profit, but we invest for change. It's not uncommon to see aid agencies and government programs to help the poor go awry because of inefficient management, unprofessional human resources, and lack of attention to the real needs in a community. I think her organization Acumen Fund maybe a good model of the changes necessary in the non profit sector.

Anyway, here is a copy/paste of an editorial review pulled from Amazon:

Acumen Fund founder Novogratz blends two narratives in this memoir about her years fighting global poverty. In one thread, she recounts her early experiences in Africa developing microfinance organizations to assist women. Many of her reminiscences focus on relationships with the local women in government who were key to her success as well as the personal trials she encountered matching her Western vision with their ideas about the future. She also writes about later work in India and Pakistan. The other thread focuses on her return to Rwanda after the genocide. Although her inside view of global poverty initiatives and politics at the most basic level makes for interesting reading, her personal story intrudes in a manner that some readers may find self-serving. Her reflections on the genocide also detract from the economic discussion in India and Pakistan, rendering the book more Rwanda-centric (and thus more political) than she may have intended. In the end, Novogratz does provide enough information on microfinance to make readers curious to learn more. --Colleen Mondor