Pretty Awesome Idea to Lift People Out of Poverty

There has been a growing effort to help bring people out of poverty in a sustainable way through microfinancing. Microfinance refers to the provision of financial services to poor or low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed.
As stated in wikipedia, “it is a movement that envisions ‘a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers.’ Those who promote microfinance generally believe that such access will help poor people out of poverty.”

I came across a website that is bringing poeple in to partner in this effort in a pretty awesome way.
OptINnow.org invests in the business efforts of impoverished clients who would not qualify for financial assistance from other financial institutions by providing them with a loan. The public is invited to donate towards the loan for a specific entrepreneur in Kenya, Ghana, Mexico or the Phillipines. The website lists the client by name and their business. When the loan is paid back, the money is reinvested in another entrepreneur.

Here is the fun part: The group provides a creative gift option. They offer gift cards. Recipients of the gift cards can designate the funds on the card to a specific client. Say I am given a $50 gift card. I go online, and read about the clients and decide to donate that $50 to help Ama Serwaa in Ghana who wants to scale up her existing restaurant and wants to use the proceeds to support her sister’s children in school.

What is powerful about microfinancing is that it empowers those in poverty to support themselves and others. It recognizes that they can work and contribute to their community and simply need the resources to get going. It gives dignity and humanity and encourages individuals to use their skills and gifts. It creates something sustainable and ongoing to stimulate the local community and it’s economy.
Providing food aid staves off hunger as long as it is available, but does not meet the need of a father who feels that part of his identity is to be the provider for his family or of the person who wants to do more than just survive.
For so long, we on the outside have seen the poverty and gave the immediate needs: food, medicine, water, etc., but have made people dependent on that aid. Someone mentioned to me recently that donations of food aid from foreign countries have deepened the problem in some situations by taking away demand from local food producers.
Enough of my soapbox…go visit the site! =)

Developing a Heart for Justice

Gary Haugin, president of the the International Justice Mission, spoke on Focus on the Family in a three day series on justice. I highly recommend listening to all three days or reading the transcripts. International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.
Click here to hear the program

Some Things Cost More Than You Realise

Radiohead teamed up with MTV for this video. Go to mtexit.org

Love Changes Lives

Reprinted from Dinuba Sentinel, November 27, 2008. go to “Seeing Love and Hope Where There was Once Despair” post for the first part

By Brandi Nuse-Villegas

Stephanie with a girl she met at an orphanage in Pattaya, Thailand

Part two of a story about Dinuba woman Stephanie Seitz’ involvement in an outreach in Pattaya, Thailand.
Thinking about what she would like to say to readers about her recent trip to Pattaya, Thailand, Stephanie began, “Love changes communities, individuals, and stereotypes… and always trumps anger and judgment.”
From September 14 to September 28, Stephanie was involved in an outreach called Extreme Love with over a hundred teammates from Thailand and around the world.
“The Thai church was encouraged, energized, equipped, and excited for what God has for them. Local believers, churches, and outreach ministry staff were uplifted with prayer, labor, finances, and other support. We probably talked to thousands of people. Hundreds of people came to Christ. Over a hundred people had a physical healing, and that’s a low estimate.”
She shared that one day, they prayed for a man who was blind. By the time they left, she recalled, “He said that he felt peace in his stomach and his chest. We thought ‘Oh, God we want to see this man see!’”
“Two days later,” she said. “Another group went to the same slum…They started praying for him too … one of his neighbors was walking by and he said ‘Red,’ and she was wearing a red shirt. She froze and looked at him like, ‘What did you say?” And she asked him, ‘You can see red?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I can see red.’
“So she started calling all the rest of the neighbors together, saying, ‘Don’t go home, something is happening here.’ They kept praying and he saw shadows of some other things. One of the guys who was praying felt God was telling him that he ought to put saliva on the blind man’s eyes, but he thought, ‘Are you sure? Is that cultural appropriate?’ So he did it subtly.”
“The lady in the red shirt explained that the man had been blind for nine years because his brother-in-law had beaten him so badly that he lost his vision and had brain damage. So they started praying into that relationship and that situation and the guy actually started— unprompted— to forgive his brother-in-law.”
“They kept praying and finally he locked eyes with the guy standing in front of him and he said, ‘I see you!’ And the whole slum exclaimed ‘We have never seen a God work like this before!’ And at least sixty came to accept Christ.”
Stephanie shared that one day they met a man who was obviously intoxicated. “We were praying for him and he just fell down and he was praying to God, ‘I want to see you! I want to see you!’ We didn’t expect that. Then he started weeping. We asked, ‘What did He say? What did He tell you?’ and he said that God told him ‘I’m your father, and I’m fighting for you.’ Immediately after, he said in a sober voice, ‘It’s gone!’ He was delivered from alcoholism right there on the spot!”
She noted that she got to return to an old fishing village that she visited last year, where many elderly were healed.
“Stuff like this was happening everyday…there are so many stories!”
“We helped people leave bars/ brothels. Some were bought out— one of our team members bought a woman’s freedom for $80. Some people were brought out who were taken from Cambodia. These human trafficking victims were freed and resettled back home.”
Stephanie and her team also got to be a part of a micro-financing ministry that started on the spot by using extra donations they received to help a man, just released from prison and needing to support himself and his daughter, with a motorbike that would help him travel between dumps and collect recyclables and other sellable items.
“It was beyond what he could imagine.”
Among one of the most poignant experiences for Stephanie was spending time with AIDS orphans in an orphanage run by Mercy Center.
“I was blessed to go three times and I just loved it. Of all the times I got to hold kids, play with them, bathe and change them, the best time was the last day we were there.” She said that they got to share words they believed God was telling them about the kids. “It was the most amazing thing to see a kid say, ‘God loves me? He loves me that much? He says that He is proud of me? He says He’s my Father?’”
“I can’t even put into words how much that meant to them and to us.”
“Those twenty kids… they are going to be nation changers. People wrote these kids off, but no, God says they are valued. They are amazing and they are going to do great things.”
Stephanie commented how God changed the way she saw the city, the situation, and the people, to see the hope and what He wanted to do. “When I think of Pattaya, I don’t see it as a dark place, which I thought for so long. This is a place where God’s light has broken through.”
She said that she also realized who she was as God’s child and what a difference that made, “What power, and faith, and love is in that!”
Continuing her thoughts on what she wanted to say to her community, Stephanie shared that before her trip, “God is real and active and very willing to enter places where some people would not expect. I want people to know what happened was true and if God can do this there, it can happen anywhere, including locally.”
For more information on Mercy Center, go to www.mercypattaya.com.
Stephanie’s team also partnered with Bridges to the Nations (www.bridgestothenations.com), Glory Hut (www.gloryhutfoundation.org), and Lynne/Ron Thompson, who began the micro-financing projects (lynnethompson01@yahoo.com)

CHILD SEX TRAFFICKERS SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IMPRISONMENT

News Release from International Justice Mission (click here)
From the article:
“This conviction is a clear statement that the trafficking of minors is simply unacceptable in the Philippines,” said Carmela Andal-Castro, Director of International Justice Mission Manila. IJM has been on the forefront of combating the trafficking of women and children in the Philippines since 2001. Both trafficking convictions issued in the Philippines so far this year have been in IJM-involved cases.

Seeing Love and Hope Where There Was Despair

Stephanie Seitz with a woman she prayed with in a slum in Pattaya, Thailand

Originally printed in the Dinuba Sentinel, November 20, 2008

Part one of two on Stephanie Seitz and her invovlement in the Extreme Love outreach in pattaya Thailand
By Brandi Nuse-Villegas
Nobody is beyond redemption,” Stephanie Seitz said, as smile revealed that her mind was on the very people with whom she experienced the reality of her statement.
Stephanie joined with over a hundred people from Thailand and around the world, including former Dinuba residents Tony, Connie, and Amy Willems, in a two week outreach called “Extreme Love,” in Pattaya, Thailand on September 14 through 26. The outreach took them to brothels, beaches, orphanages, slums, prisons, hospital, HIV homes, she said “Wherever there was a need people were going there and things were happening.”
She explained, “the purpose of the trip was to love extravagantly the Thai people and to show God’s love in a place that had a very twisted version of it; to kick out the counterfeit and bring some of the true stuff in.”
Pattaya is known for its sex tourism. “It is everywhere. They don’t even try to hide it.” While prostitution is illegal in Thailand, many brothels function under the name “bar,” and do not do much more to conceal their true operations. Within the industry are many who are trafficked in, mainly from Cambodia, and made to work against their will. Some work willingly at the bars in order to make money, many in hopes of attracting a foreigner to marry. “Then they will be set for life.” Others have found themselves in difficult situations and do not wish to work in prostitution, but have no other means of supporting themselves and family. Stephanie said that of these, which largely come from an area of Thailand with extreme poverty, some have been raped and are considered useless to their family or they or their spouse left due to their husband’s infidelity in an area where infidelity is high.
Stephanie visited the city last year and recalled how she was overwhelmed by the darkness in the city and angry at what was going on.
“Last year I felt hopeless. I didn’t even ask what I could do because it was beyond my wildest dreams I could have a part in redeeming this city. And I was just angry. I couldn’t see how the darkness in this place could be done away with…but God is really good.
She said that in this trip, she realized that “God is walking with me and is in me and what power there is in that.”
When there was an opportunity for her return, she took it.
This time, she and her team came with great hope and expectation that God was going to change lives and the community with His love. During the day, the teams were trained to do outreach and listened to missionaries working in Pattaya. Partnering with organizations and churches, the teams reached out in love to everyone, including the tourists, as they sought to show the people the value they had and the great love that God had for them.
Stephanie said that on their first day they met with women who had already been taken out of prostitution and are now being discipled by YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and being taught a different trade, being healed, and are finding a better life. “The thing I wanted to do all [this past] year was apologize to these women for what westerners, especially, are doing to them and their city and their destinies. We got to go and repent and ask God to forgive. We were bawling. They were bawling. I think that over the city as a whole, something shifted then.
Stephanie and her team got to be part of freeing many women from the brothels by giving them hope and connecting them with organizations who would help them find a better way to support themselves.
On one of these encounters, she said, one of the teams went on a ‘treasure hunt,’
“Basically what we do is before we go out we listen to God to what places where we should go, people’s names, location, or whatever.”
She noted that the words one team of women receive became like a crumb trail to a bar they had visited the day prior. One of these teammates wrote down the number 63.
Upon arrival, they noticed that the women working there had numbers affixed to their hips. “The ladies in this bar don’t have names, they just have numbers and are totally stripped of value.”
One of the ladies, who was pole dancing on stage, had the number 63 buttoned to her hip. The group bought her a drink, which bought them time to talk to her at their table. Stephanie commented that while they were there, the customers and several of the ladies shot dirty looks at them, wondering why the group of girls were there.
“They told her about Jesus and she said, ‘I’ve heard about Him’ and she said, ‘Yeah, when I’ve heard His story it was the most special I’ve felt in my whole life.’ And they told her, ‘You are special! You know how special you are? He’s sent us from 10,000 miles away to tell you. And she started weeping. Weeping is not a Thai thing; they don’t show emotion.”
They noticed a lady in the back who was giving them really dirty looks. So when this happened she ran to their table and asked, ‘what are you doing?’”
“They said, she just became a Christian and wants to leave the brothel,” Stephanie said, “Then her whole countenance changed and she asked ‘That’s what you are doing? Please take me with you!’ She had been brought to the brothel four days before and they were going to make her start ‘working’ the next day.”
She was angry becuase she did not want to be there. Both got out.
Stephanie shared that at one point of the trip, “We had a really nice dinner for women who were bought out of the bars for the night. We treated them with love and respect. We had a really nice buffet and talked about the Father’s heart, which for most of those women is a foreign concept.”
Many she said became Christian and many accepted the offer to leave the brothels.
She also got to talk to numerous tourists, whose lives where changed. She recalled one of several men from Iran who at first didn’t believe in God because of the suffering in the world, but later expressed that God revealed himself to him during their meeting. She said that she encouraged him that his heart for the hurting was good and she believed he was going to doing something big with that.
Stephanie shared that Pattaya is an ‘apostolic city,” a place where the world is influenced by what happens there. She said that in the past, what was taken out was evil, but that God is changing it to what it was meant to be, where people come and changed by His love and take that back to their countries.
One day, she shared, they met a Cambodian woman and her young children who were begging in the streets. For a couple days, they visited them and gave food and money, but couldn’t talk to her due to language barriers. Then they were joined by a Cambodian man name Chomonin who translated for them that the family had been brought into Thailand against their will, bought, and sold. They were made to beg in the street and whatever they earned was stripped from them. Women with children were most often used because they would get more from sympathetic tourists.
Stephanie said that Chominin was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge and, after finding out about human trafficking of Cambodians, had dedicated his life to rescuing them and helping them start a new life through his Cambodian Hunger Organization.
Stephanie’s team was able to get them off the street, contact the government to get their identification papers, which were destroyed by the traffickers, and provided the finances for them to return home. She added that Chominin would go with them to help them resettle.

Living Incarnationally: Recommended Blogs pt. 2

I’ve been coming across several very good blogs and sermons from my google search of “living incarnationally,” that I may add to the resources here.
In making recommendations, I cannot neglect to point readers to the blog of my friend Matt Naylor.
I suggest The Righteous and the Poor and
John 17 Unity is Evangelism, with the expectation that readers will explore other writings on the blog.

Living Incarnationally

So I’ve been trying to understand and learn how to live incarnationally; meaning, to be a living embodiment of the gospel. To let my whole life reflect Jesus.
In seeking out other’s thoughts on the matter, I came across John Static’s blog: “10 Tips For Living the Incarnation [Plus One]“

To me, he articulates well specifics ways in which we are to live incarnationally and concisely communicates ideas I’ve discussed with friends lately. I haven’t had the opportunity to read many more of his blogs, but so far, I would highly recommend it.

Rejecting That Which Breeds Oppression

November 27, 2007:

God has been speaking to me about justice and hope.

Do a concordance check on the word justice in the Bible (go to unboundbible.com). So many scriptures stress how important justice is in human interaction. It is closely tied to righteousness. Several Greek and Hebrew words translate as both just and righteous.

 

On Monday, I had an incredible conversation with my friend Matt about numerous things. At one point, he was contemplating how he might need to alter his participation in entertainment that depicts images of violence against human beings, based on the question If I am to love human being then. I wondered where I need to change my activities if I’m to love people.

In that same conversation, he spoke on a scripture that is hugely significant to him Psalms 42 which says,

”1.”Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

2.              “He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

3.              “A bruised reed He will not break

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

4.              “He will not be disheartened or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

 

Matt commented that that the church should be seeking to establish justice in the nations.

Where there is injustice, we should be responding.

 

Later that night at home, I felt prompted to pick up and read the bible that had been laid open to no particular spot. It was opened to Amos. I read the introduction to the book and then read through the whole book. It spoke on justice. Amos had been sent to warn Israel of the consequences they would face if they didn’t change their ways. I expected that I would read about them worshipping other gods, as Israel had done many times during the rules of the kings. Well outwardly at least, they were doing acts of worship to God. Very extensively.

But God did not want their acts of worship because they were acting unjustly toward the poor and powerless.

 

As I read, one of the scripture got me right between the eyes.

.               Thus says the LORD,

“For three transgressions of Israel and for four

I will not revoke its punishment,

Because they sell the righteous for money

And the needy for a pair of sandals.”

 

This how you are being unjust, Brandi, those words said. (At least one of the ways)

I have been placing a higher importance on getting what I want and getting it cheaply than the humane treatment of other human beings.

I have been neglecting the oppressed for the sake of my own material gain.

 

The reference to the sandals in the scripture is figurative. However to me, it was specific example of my lack of love to my neighbor who is exploited.

I’m looking for a new pair of black slipper shoes to replace the ones I’ve worn threadbare.  I place a high value on getting these shoes inexpensively. That price tag comes at the expense of another human being who is being exploited so that the company can market those shoes at a price attractive enough to win my patronage.

 

Thing, I know better. Maybe most Americans don’t make the connection between the sale price and the means at which it was obtain.

But at that moment, God used the knowledge that I’ve had of the problem of unfair labor conditions and said, ”It is time to make a decision and take action.”

 

Because God loves justice and He desires that His children bring justice to the nations.

I am called to love my neighbor and He gave me a very specific way to do so.

 

He has spoke to me about this in the past and I had responded in little ways I learned about fair trade. I felt good about buying something at a local fair trade store.

 

I remember reading an article about children kidnapped and forced to be slaves on cacao plantations tied to major chocolate/ confectionery companies.

 

I’ve been receiving information from the organizations International Justice mission and Free the Slaves, which work to expose and stop slavery, including forced labor for businesses whose products are marketed in the states.

 

 

In June I was reading on the spiritual discipline of simplicity- living simply- in the book “Celebration of Discipline.” It was quite a beautiful chapter. At the end he gave some suggestions on ways we can live out a life of simplicity. (I strongly recommend that people read it)

He suggests: ”reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.”

He notes ”this is one of the most difficult and sensitive issues for us to face, but face it we must. Do we sip our coffee and eat our bananas at the expense of exploiting Latin American peasants? In a world of limited resources, does our lust for wealth mean the poverty of others? Should we buy products that are made by forcing people into dull assembly-line jobs?”

 

That idea came to mind Monday night with the thought, ”it is time to act on that. Fully.”

 

I have since been chewing on this. The how is fairly simple (though, admittedly, not necessarily easy in practice.)

There is a variety of resources I can utilize to find out what businesses and products contribute either to fair labor or oppression. I plan to share those resources I encounter with others in order to make it simple for them.

 

It’s a matter of taking to those steps.

 

It will necessitate a change in lifestyle.

 

It means being willing to give up stuff. 

 

(Through my prohibition of companies that do unnecessary animal testing, I found that I really didn’t lose much personally, as I had found much better products that I would not have bothered with, had I stuck with the old tried-and-true items I’ve since avoided)

 

 

This decision, at the surface, challenges my value for frugality.  It has long been cemented in my mind that it was important and virtuous to spend as little as needed on a particular item. It’s one of the reasons I love thrift stores.

 

It seemed a waste that people would spend a lot of money on pricey clothing and other items. That money could be used for more important things, including the benefit of people in need. And one, practically speaking, can get more for their money.

I’ve subconsciously tied saving money with being able to help people more, even though I realize that I didn’t necessarily use my saved money for others.

Frugality is good. It’s just that my practice of it has to change.

 

I thought, well God, that means everything I buy will cost more money.

And I got the response:

Buy less.

 

“It’s gong to be a huge inconvenience, God. I may not even be able to buy some things locally or even directly at a store.”

 

What’s more important?

 

 

Okay.

I looked up shoes under fair trade. I found a pair that most closely matches what I’m looking for at the lowest cost I found. $55. I’ve never spent that much on shoes. The proceeds go to help AIDS orphans in Africa.

 

What’s more important?

 

I’ve got so much to learn.

 

I will even more gladly continue to patronize thrift shops. It is a great way to contribute to the ministries they support, support the recycling of resources, and save money.

 

I encourage others to seek God regarding this issue.

 

One thing I’ll need to be wary of is pride and self-righteousness.

 

I had a good conversation with my friend Stephanie Seitz and my mom about it.

 

I want so much for God justice to “flow like a river.”

 

I fear that in writing this for public viewing there may be pride, pride fishing, or whatever.

 

Why am I writing this? I’m excited about the hope in this. I want, and expect, to see this result in change. To see corporations finally respond to the demands for fair labor practices. For owners of cacao plantations to cease using child slave labor.

The church in America  (with all believers) is called to respond to the message of Amos and seek justice for the oppressed.

I want to be a part of encouraging the body.

To inspire poeple to seek God in this.

There is so much creative potential.

Unexpected Encounter With Beauty+Life

I had the opportunity to meet someone through whom God showed His love in a new way to me and I think I’m finally at a place to put words to my thoughts as best as I can.

On Tuesday afternoon I received an urgent call from my friend Guy Graham. He told me that there was a woman in a Fresno hospital in a desperate situation.

The woman, Janet Rivera, had a heart attack two years ago and is severely brain damaged. With a feeding tube, she is not dying, but doctors say she is unlikely to get better.

In early July, medical decisions on her behalf were put in the hands of a court appointed county guardian who decided, based on doctor’s recommendations, that she was not going to get better and that it was best to take away all life support measures, including her ventilator and the hydration and feeding tubes. The order came against the family’s wishes, including that of her husband, who lost his right of guardianship in June due to his own medical problem in his fight against prostate cancer.

As of Tuesday, she had been about 10 or so days without food or water. She faced death due to dehydration and starvation.

The story hit home for Guy. Years ago, he was in a severe automobile accident in which his heart stopped numerous times. He received severe brain injuries and was in a coma for I believe 18 days. He was in her place. He was very much alive, just as she is, he seemed to infer in his earnest conversation.  Janet’s situation was significant for his parent, who were by his side during that time, and his wife.

They went to the hospital and asked me and some other friends in our church to join them at the hospital to pray for Janet and possibly engage in peaceful protest. That day, only one news station cover the story and not until that week.

The weigh of the situation was heavy for me; she was on the verge of death by starvation and/ or dehydration. I did have peace that God had her in His hands and that He would be glorified.

When we got there in the evening Guy Sr. had greeted us with incredible news. Earlier in the afternoon, the nurses were given orders—they didn’t know who gave them— to resume feeding Janet.

We also had the privilege of joining the Grahams in visiting Janet in her room and I’m very grateful for that. The Grahams were talking to her and encouraging her, and a few times she smiled. They wrote the messages “She is so valuable” and “She is not forgotten” on red duct tape and gently affixed them to the wall before we left so that the nurses could attend to her.

It was an overwhelming beautiful moment and I sensed such love in the room and after that it was thick in my chest. I rode back form the hospital not having any words but feeling great joy for her. I know the others did as well. On my way back to work I stopped to get something to eat and was grateful that Janet was now able to eat, too. Something so simple.

She is beautiful. I could see that, knowing that that is how our father saw her. Her physical condition didn’t diminish her.

 

I found out in the coming days that it was the county guardian that called for the feeding tubes to be reattached and a judge ordered that these remain until a future official court order.

This coming Tuesday.  The judge will hear the family and the pro-bono lawyer who assisted in the Terry Shaivo case along with the guardian and doctors to make a more permanent decision. According to the news, if the judge decides the county does not have the right to take Rivera off life support and allow her to die, the family will petition to take back guardianship, and place it in the hands of one of her cousins.

She is very much alive. The news keeps saying that she is unconscious. I’m not exactly sure what they mean. She was greatly limited in response, but she responded.

She is fully dependent on others for care, including nutrition. What importance should this have on the determination of whether the care should cease? Should the probably (according to doctors) that she will not improve make a difference?

 

I ask those reading this to seek God in prayer concerning this.

 

 (I will not ask what to pray for, but would encourage you, in seeking His mind and heart, to ask Him)