Sex Trafficking

This blog of mine is for the most part, a place for me to share beauty, to inspire and give people a break from the not so nice things out there that we are constantly bombarded with. I never wanted it to be a live journal, where I pour out my deepest woes and you feel sorry for me and write me comments of encouragement (although, that's always nice!). I want my blog to be a happy place where you can come to see pretty things, learn a recipe or two; a place to visit and feel good.

Then I went to a screening of the documentary Nefarious Merchant of Souls and I realized that the pretty-ness that my blog has to offer can do nothing for the millions of women and children caught in the horror of human trafficking.

My world has been rocked, my heart has been shaken and my eyes have seen things that my mind will never be able to forget. And I don't want to forget. We are so unaware of the evil that is happening in this world, we don't see it on our drive to work, we don't really hear it on the news and most of us simply don't know anyone who has been affected by it. But that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Infographic from Compassion.org

Right now I feel so passionate about the injustice of it all, and I feel so helpless at the same time. What can one privileged girl do in South Korea that could possibly make any difference? Right now I'm not sure. I am Christian, so I will be praying, but often I feel that "well, you should pray" is just not cutting it for me right now. I want to get my perfectly manicured hands dirty, I want to physically go out there and do something that might pale in comparison to what missionaries are doing in Thailand, but at least I will be doing something. I've been reading Eddie Byun's book Justice Awakening - How you and your church can help end Human Trafficking and this is something that called out to me: "Time and time again, the biggest frustration I would see in others was not knowing what they could do to enter this fight for freedom and justice around the world. Beyond just giving money to other organizations - as good as that was - the questions that kept coming up was, 'What could an individual or a church do to end human trafficking in our day?'...Whatever your gifting is, use it to send a message to your sphere of influence. Whatever your passion is, use it to spread this message of justice for all. So write, paint, draw, speak, publish, compose, act, campaign and do anything else to the glory of God and for the freedom of all people".

I know that a lot of people get a bit iffy with the God word, but I want to point out that Eddie Byun doesn't say that only if you are Christian, and if you can draw, paint, write etc should you be allowed to do your part in this fight. Human trafficking is a worldwide problem, it isn't a Christian problem, or a Jewish or a Buddhist problem, it is a human issue, and we are all able to do something, in our own way.

And so I want to use my gifting; this blog and my camera, to help in some way. I am not sure how yet, but I do hope you will join me in this journey.

I hope I haven't made you feel uncomfortable, actually, in a way I do hope I have. Because it's not when we are in our comfort zones that we can make a difference. It's when we are pushed beyond our bubble, to the point where we are so angry and hurt and frustrated that we can evoke the power within ourselves to make a difference.

And after all of that, I have to also say something else. The fight to end human trafficking may not be your battle to fight. Everyone is wired differently, and different causes may appeal to you more than others. I really don't want to be here on a soap box trying to covert people to join this fight. I just want to raise awareness for something that has made me feel so angry, as a woman, and more so as a human being. I will be posting more information here on the blog, with what I hope will be useful posts about what is happening locally here in South Korea, and more globally. If you're interested that is. If you're not, I will still be posting recipes and pretty pictures for you enjoy.

I want to leave you with these: