Sep
28
ISAAC Updates – September 2009
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What about the rule of law?
Libby Grammer Garrett has a well written article entitled On immigration: Do Baptists believe the Bible. In the article, she gives the example of Lidiana, an undocumented immigrant, who married a legal resident. Her husband petitioned for her to remain in the country legally:
But in the meantime, her marriage became abusive, and Lidiana was forced to leave her husband. He withdrew the papers he had filed for her, making her ineligible to obtain legal status. Her only option to regularize her status was using novel legal arguments from a skilled attorney, but she still faced the possibility that the petition could be rejected. If rejected, she would be put in deportation proceedings, leaving her children with no mother and no income to support them in the only home they have ever known.
Ms. Garrett then argues that Baptists must respond more Biblically and choose to either “view them [illegal aliens] through the lens of our Kingdom citizenship — or our national xenophobia.” This provoked a comment from “Robber”:
So where exactly does the rule of law fit in with your thesis?… I don’t want them here because they entered the country illegally; and if they don’t have respect for our laws then what else might they do when they’re here? What you present is a sad story. If I were her neighbor, I would do what I could to help her. Make sure she was clothed, and fed. But it wouldn’t change the fact that she was here illegally; and she should return to Mexico. I’m having trouble making ends meet right now, but that doesn’t give me a right to break into my rich neighbor’s house and take money or food — no matter how desperately I might need it. It’s a matter of law (emphasis added)…
I would make this reply to Robber. It fits in perfectly. The fact scenario states that Lidiana did enter illegally but then attempted to adjust her status to that of a legal resident. She was trying to follow the law and the law allowed her to apply for an adjustment. Immigration law is not written on a postage stamp. The law, to which Robber so sacredly upholds, has many variables and alternative courses of actions for illegal aliens depending on the circumstances. That was what Lidiana was doing. So if Robber is upset that Lidiana had the option to apply for a chance to stay legally, then Robber’s quarrel is with the law and not Lidiana.
Please keep separating the wheat from the chaff!
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Sep
28
TBOWH Updates – September 2009
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Water: Promise and Peril
It is an axiom of hunger relief and development that the safety and availability of water marks the upper boundary community health. The health of a community never exceeds the abundance and purity of its water.
People in the developed world usually take water for granted, not giving the issue much thought until safety and availability just happens to become an issue with regard to their own water supply. People in the developing world have no such luxury. For them, water is a paradox—the source of both life and death. No one can live without it, but millions upon millions of people are decimated by the microbes and chemicals which contaminate the only water available to them.
Addressing this all-too-common dilemma is the focus of the water and sanitation projects supported the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger for 2009 and 2010:
Port-Prince, Haiti: Haiti Baptist Mission, Sanitation Project–$20,000 (2009)
Haiti is one of the least developed countries in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world. Eighty percent of the population lives in poverty, and the average life expectancy is 51 years. Only 41 percent of the people have access to safe drinking water. The Haiti Baptist Mission will help communities build sanitary latrines and cisterns in twenty districts. TBOWH funds will help purchase building materials for the project.
Aksum, Ethiopia: Water Well Project–$20,000 (2009)
Despite recent economic growth and rainfall, poverty and hunger remain widespread in Ethiopia. Millions continue to face chronic food insecurity and water shortages. Much of the population, especially away from the major cities, lacks access to clean water, health care, and education. Current Buckner ministries in Ethiopia include a foster care/kinship program in Addis Ababa and surrounding suburbs; vocational training and community development programs in Addis, Nazareth, Gulele and Debra Zet; a Baby Home and Adoption Center in Addis; and a Community Development Center and school in Bantu. The goal is to expand foster care to Aksum in 2008 and to build a Community Development Center and school in 2009. A new water well will be drilled on land for the Community Development Center and will provide fresh drinking water for the children attending the school and the surrounding community. TBOWH funds will help underwrite the cost of drilling the well.
Arusha: Mount Meru University, Water Borehole Project–$25,000 (2009)
Formerly known as International Baptist Theology Seminary for East Africa, Mount Meru University was granted a certificate of full registration in 2003. The university is currently working to achieve full accreditation and offers eight diploma and bachelors degree programs. The educational opportunities afforded by Mount Meru represent a way out of poverty for Tanzanians, and as such, the student body is rapidly growing. Because the present water supply has proved inadequate, plans have been completed for drilling a new water borehole. By fitting an existing, abandoned borehole with a new pump and bringing the new well online, the needs of current and future students for adequate drinking water should be met. TBOWH funds will be used to underwrite the cost of drilling and the purchase of new pumps and a storage tank.
Cajamarca, Peru: Villa Milagro Ministries, Water Well Projects–$10,000 (2009 and 2010)
Since 1984, Villa Milagro Ministries has engaged in hunger relief and development projects in economically depressed areas of Peru, including water well drilling, road construction, youth scholarships, microenterprise development, medical and dental clinics, and school construction. Several locations in the coastal valley north of Chiclayo do not have access to safe water supplies. Residents have long recognized their major health problems were directly related to contaminated water, and health officials report that the overall health of the villages receiving new wells has improved by 80 percent or more. The health benefits of potable water for these villages and schools where new wells have been placed are manifold. Because accessible aquifers offer pure water in the proposed locations, boreholes will be drilled and wells established. TBOWH funds will be used to help underwrite new well construction.
Bungoma, Kenya: Buckner International, Water Well Project–$20,000 (2010)
With a regional population of 1.4 million, the major economic activity in Bungoma is farming. The population density coupled with rural unemployment has put pressure on land use and other natural resources. Living standards in the Western Province are generally low, and social amenities like running water and electricity are not available to the majority of the province’s residents. UNICEF reports that less than 50 percent of the rural population has access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities. In the past two years Buckner has drilled water wells in Busia and Kitale, also in the Western Province. Both communities now have a healthier population, better crops, and more social services. With the introduction of a new water well in Bungoma, other services and ministries will follow, the health of the general population will be enhanced, and crop yields will improve. TBOWH funds will be used to underwrite the costs involved in drilling the new well.
South Sumatra, Indonesia: Water Relief–$7,500 (2009 and 2010)
Clean water is critically scarce throughout South Sumatra. Villagers who live near one of the many rivers of the province typically use polluted river water for all of their water-use needs–bathing, washing clothes and dishes, brushing teeth, washing food, using the restroom, and water for drinking. Those who do not live near a river often use shallow dug wells which draw from contaminated surface water. Even in larger cities, the scarcity of clean water is a serious problem. Providing clean water produces enormously positive results: less illness, greater opportunity to work and attend school, better standard of living and quality of life. The project provides clean water through the construction of community sized, slow-sand water filtration systems in villages situated along rivers. Each filter consists of a gravel-pre-filter, a slow-sand main filter, and a charcoal final filter. No chemicals are used so as to keep the expense and difficulty of maintenance to a minimum. In areas not close to rivers, hand-drilled wells are established. In both the construction of filters and the drilling of wells, recipient communities are closely engaged so that they have a greater sense of involvement with and ownership of the final product. TBOWH funds will be used to purchase materials for filter and well construction.
Read about the relationship between water availability and climate change. (pdf)
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Sep
28
Food Policy Roundtable
The Texas Hunger Initiative is a joint effort from the CLC and the Baylor School of Social Work with the goal of ending hunger in Texas by 2015. The project launched in February and we introduced you to their work and their Director, Jeremy Everett in the May edition of our E-newsletter.
Part of this effort will look to affect the policies or procedures that need to be enhanced on the state and federal level in order to achieve this attainable goal. In order to understand the policies and programs involved, discuss current problems and advocate for solutions, THI the CLC and have launched the Food Policy Roundtable. The CLC Austin staff will provide leadership and serve as facilitators and conveners of this group of nonprofit advocates, direct service providers, representatives from state and federal agencies and others. Our initial project has been to plan and host a one-day conference called, Texas at the Table: Baylor University Hunger Summit on November 19 in Waco. You will receive more information about the Texas Hunger Initiative, the Hunger Summit, and the Food Policy Roundtable and how you can get involved in coming months.
Lottery Commission and Gambling Update
As reported in previous editions of our E-newsletter, the CLC is opposing a proposed rule change at the Texas lottery commission. (See links to news articles for more info.) We are concerned, in part, because these new games will introduce a central determinant system to our state that is an essential element of video lottery terminals. An identical computer system was part of previous legislative attempts to legalize VLTs. The expansion of legalized predatory gambling does not occur in a vacuum. In other states, we have witnessed small advancements resulting in full blown casinos. Many attempts at expansion in Texas have relied upon previous failed efforts. Many small steps to casino gambling are pushed by casino and game manufacturing interests. In an attempt to gather all pertinent information regarding the current lottery proposal we made several open records requests to state agencies. We are particularly interested in similarities to previous attempts to legalize VLTs and would like to know the individuals and entities behind such efforts.
In November the National Stop Predatory Gambling conference (pdf) will take place in San Antonio. The CLC and several of our partner organizations have been helping to organize this event and we encourage your attendance. The conference will be attended by predatory gambling opponents from across the country and will shine a spotlight on our state. Whether you are a passionate opponent of gambling expansion, a legislative staff member or would just like to learn more about the issue, don’t miss this opportunity.
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Sep
28
Giving and spending – these are two things I have done all my life.
Giving – I have long associated the rituals of giving with stewardship and gratitude toward God. As early as 6, I remember raiding Dad’s change jar on his dresser for enough coins to fill the offering envelope I brought to Mrs. Sanger at church. I learned about a tithe and was challenged to give, year in and year out for more than 40 years now. But it wasn’t until recently that I really took a look at the concept of stewardship beyond giving, to the stewardship of spending.
Spending – is such a rhythm of daily life that it is almost invisible. Spending for me, like most, has often been for necessities, but also spending for special occasions, spending for family and home and creating a comfortable life. In general, if I considered my lifestyle judicious, then I considered that I was a moral spender. I am not an extravagant spender so I was content. In my contentment, however, I must confess that I have been a completely unconscious spender for most of my life.
I never really considered that my spending could be a gift to God, like giving, until I asked a simple question: Who made this? Holding a jacket in hand at the counter of a department store, remembering the news story of a sweatshop in some distant place, I allowed this haunting little question to put a face on my spending. “Who made this?” My unconscious habit, of spending, just shifted toward stewardship thinking.
Not long after this Roger and I traveled to Turkey. The first day of our trip, our wise and generous guide made a suggestion, “Although you will end the trip in Istanbul with shops of every kind…” he said “as we travel through towns and villages, I will take you to the makers of Turkey’s treasures and if you like, you can buy from them directly.” Within a few days, we bought the same porcelain plates that we would have purchased from Istanbul, but we bought them from the 3 generation family pottery in a Cappadocia village. We were welcomed by the father and shown the whole factory by sons and cousins – the special family pride captured in signature designs is a story I would never have known without knowing who had made these beautiful plates.
At our next stop, we detoured down a dusty road until we scattered chickens with our van pulling up a long drive. Inside one of the four buildings surrounding us was a group of brightly colored pots steaming with yarn dye and a bustling group of women. Eager to show off the pure wool and brilliant colors, they dipped strands of wool from the vats that looked like steeping tea, “Never bright red, in my rug,” the interpreter said repeating the cheerful voice of one of the artisans, “only RICH red in my dye.” A color distinction I would never have known but I shall never forget because it was her sheer joy to make the best that she could. She was proud and skilled. Just how skilled I learned as she took to me to the loom and tried to teach my fumbling fingers to tie the knots that flew out like silk from her touch. My attempts were met with gales of laughter from the gathered women (no interpretation needed!), and in three compassionate steps she undid and redid my knots from lumpy to graceful. Come by my office and you can appreciate her rich red rug as I do, every day.
One of our last stops was along a mountain highway where Bedouin tribes camped in hand woven goat hair tents just off the shoulder from the modern roadway. From their goats and sheep they sheared, carded and wove the wool into coats and socks and mittens and blankets. The site was almost deserted as we drove in. Only the elderly grandmother was there. Colored socks, gloves, hats, blankets and rugs were pinned to the ropes and surfaces like nautical flags. She offered us tea and invited us in to the goat hair tent. Apologetic that the family wasn’t there to greet us for a sale, she explained that her son and daughter-in-law had taken their child into the hospital at the nearby town. Tears welled up in her worried eyes, and she brushed them away. Roger prayed for the child and the doctors (whom the grandmother did not trust, we learned) and she said “I will surely be blessed by my first Christian prayer.” She showered us with embarrassing gratitude for our simple compassion. Our bags were filled with socks and gloves, and now, every time I slip them on, I know for sure who made them and I remember her with grateful humility.
There are a million plates, rugs and socks in the world, but I am blessed by knowing who made these. They are not mere commodities, but treasures because I know that their lives are full of pride to craft them, that their families eat from apricot orchards supported by this work and that hospitality and connection were gifts given to the maker and buyer. Turkey turned out to be a spiritual outpost where I learned about the stewardship of spending.
Unfortunately, my life is still filled with too much anonymous and unconscious spending, but thanks to Good News Goods and other local and personal connections, I am trading in more and more of my unconscious spending for spending with a purpose. It is an added joy to know that I support the release of a woman from exploitation or that a child has uniforms for school because I am purchasing now with a purpose. There is justice and joy in a simple quest to know “Who made this?”It turns out to be a kingdom question.
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Sep
28
Good News Goods is a very simple concept with a very powerful impact because it connects us to the people who make our products. Purchasing bags and jewelry gives freedom, restoration, and purpose to sex-trafficked women in Thailand and Cambodia; Divine chocolate from Ghana alleviates the forced slavery of women and children working on cocoa bean farms; and coffee provides peace and prosperity to farmers in Uganda who have struggled with constant conflict and poverty.
Good News Goods gives Texas Baptist churches the opportunity to host Fair Trade events & establish on-going Trading Posts where fair trade products are available to your church and community members year-round. By simply redirecting spending to help the people Jesus called “the least of these,” (Matt. 25:40), we support His mission to “bring good news to the poor,” (Luke 4:18) which is so central to God’s Kingdom.
What Can You Do?
Bring Good News Goods To Your Church
- A JUST ONE card is a plastic card for your wallet that serves as a constant reminder to buy JUST ONE thing from a Fair Trade certified producer. After viewing an explanatory short video about the power of our spending choices (during Sun or Wed service), distribute JUST ONE cards to members and ask them to place them in front of one of their credit cards. Every time they pull out their credit card, this will remind them to go online and buy JUST ONE Fair Trade item from Tradeasone.com/goodnews
- A Good News Goods Market is a shopping event, hosted at your church where church & community members can buy Fair Trade items. The event allows your family, friends and co-workers a convenient and fun way to positively impact the world with their spending power.
- A Trading Post is an ongoing commodity Kiosk held at your church by church members at the time of your choosing (i.e. once a month, twice a month, or even as a part of your church’s bookstore/coffee shop).
Bring Good News Goods To Your College Campus
- Visit the GNG website www.goodnewsgoods.com and sign your campus up for a class presentation, a JUST ONE card campaign, a Market event, or a BSM or club sponsored event
- Event ideas: sell fair trade items during your missions emphasis week; host a fair trade coffee night; host a fair trade SMORES event made with our delicious chocolate bars
- The Good News Goods rice tote bag is great for carrying books to class or the library and makes for an easy fundraiser item for sororities, fraternities, and various social clubs. To order contact Charlotte Bumbulis at charlotte.bumbulis@bgct.org
CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE FOR INDIVIDUAL PURCHASES
- Go to www.goodnewsgoods.com then click on our supplier’s link TRADEASONE.COM.
Plus, 10 % of every purchase goes toward the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger!
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Sep
28
Living the Christian – Life How Will You Respond?
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Recently I was part of a conversation where the question at hand was “What are some of the issues the church is facing today?” One woman responded “We don’t know that, we don’t know!” This statement, simple yet poignant, points to the truth that we as the church body are inclined to the comfort of our own lives, our own situations, our own daily problems and are therefore, blind to the tragedies of the world that surround us—human trafficking (also known as Modern Day Slavery), extreme poverty, hunger, exploitation, greed, abuse, child labor, HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the list goes on and on. Detachment is our defense system against being bombarded by issues that seem too huge for us to touch, too heart-breaking for us to endure, and too far away for us to connect.
However, In Luke 4:18-20, Jesus begins his ministry by stating that he has been anointed to “proclaim good news to the poor… liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The prophet Micah also speaks to us of what the Lord requires, which is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before the Lord your God.” If we claim to be followers of Christ then we cannot ignore these calls any longer.
There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who suffer horrible tragedies at the hands of greed and injustice, and I believe that we would respond if we saw their faces, encountered their stories, and understood the connection between our wealth and their deprivation. If we knew that approximately 27 million people are presently enslaved across the globe, we would respond. If we knew that over 80% of the clothes and toys we buy, and over 95% of the shoes we buy are made by poor, exploited people in Latin America and Asia who work long hours and are paid very little to nothing for their work, we would respond. If we knew that a large majority of chocolate corporations use forced labor on their cocoa farms, we would respond. If we knew that the carpets we walk on are made by children who are taken from their homes in India, isolated, abused, and malnourished, we would respond. If we knew that tens of thousands of women and young girls are forced or coerced into domestic and manual work, or the sex trade, we would respond. Now you know. How will you respond?
It is clear now that our everyday spending is just as much of a discipleship issue as our giving, and just as important in bringing about the Kingdom of God. The poor of the world don’t want a hand-out, they want jobs. They want a means to support themselves and their families, and they want a way to pull themselves up out of their situation. It is less about charity and more about providing systems of justice that alleviate the cycles of poverty and its associated evils. Choose to know who makes your clothes, shoes, toys, and carpets. Choose to know where your food is coming from and how it was produced. Choose to find out whether the people who made these products were exploited, abused, or forced in the process. Choose to make a difference in their lives by supporting ethical businesses and buying fair trade when possible. Choose to make Good News Goods a ministry in your church.
A Good News Goods purchase not only connects our daily spending choices to the abuses that the poorest of the poor suffer on our behalf, but it also provides a tangible means for us, the body of Christ, to engage in their suffering and offer them hope and holistic healing through fair wages, dignity of work, freedom from oppression, sustainable development, counseling, and medical care. In this transaction, redemption is given to both the consumer and the producer.
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