Slave in the Garage

Posted by on Sep 22, 2010 in Slavery in the News | No Comments

The October issue of Reader’s Digest has an article on a lady whose job is busting slave holders in America and bringing the slaves to freedom. Pretty cool. As of Sept 22 it is not available online. When looking I found an article from 2008 about a a girl Shyima Hall, whose parents willingly sold her as a slave to a family in America for $30 a month.

Only about 2% of slaves are freed each year in the US and it usually comes from an observant person seeing something that they think is not quite right an alerting authorities which was the case for Shyima.

Freed Slave

Shyima Hall "Freed Slave" Photographed By Lori Stoll

You can read the full article here. http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/slave-in-the-garage/article55737.html

Be sure to keep your eyes open as you go through life. Who knows, God might use your awareness of the issue and willingness to be get involved as a means for bringing freedom to someone held in slavery some day.

“When Injustice is Great All Men Must Shoulder a Portion of Dishonor.”

Posted by on Sep 15, 2010 in Reflections | No Comments
Injustice

Injustic

“When Injustice is great all men must shoulder a portion of dishonor.” ~Stephen Lawhead

For much of my life I have been blissfully ignorant of many of the travesties of justice that go on each day throughout the world. Honestly, on any given week I am more likely to be upset about a call against the New York Giants in a football game then about some of things going on in our world.

Lately that has begun to change. As I have become more aware of what is going on in our world I can’t sit back and just think, “Well someone else will deal with that.” As God has brought things across my path I realize that I need to act and be part of the solution to restore Justice.

In Proverbs 14:24 it says, “If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?”

Each one of us will stand before God and be held accountable for our INACTIONS as well as our actions some day. I don’t say that as a threat or to guilt you into something but hopefully as a further encouragement to live lives that are focused on eternity and not on this world.

I read the Lawhead quote above and was challenged by it. I think it moves me to fight against the injustice going on in the world today to think about shouldering a portion of the dishonor that injustice and dishonorable people bring to our world today. May it challenge you to fight injustice as well.

Paul’s thoughts on Slavery

Posted by on Aug 18, 2010 in Reflections | No Comments
john piper_hands

John Piper

The historic and contemporary reality of slavery is never far away from how we think about the Bible. Instead of a frontal attack on the culturally pervasive institution of slavery in his day, Paul took another approach, for example, in his letter to Philemon.

Onesimus was a slave. His master Philemon was a Christian. Onesimus had evidently run away from Colossae (Colossians 4:9) to Rome where Paul, in prison, had led him to faith in Jesus. Now he was sending Onesimus back to Philemon. This letter tells Philemon how to receive Onesimus.

In the process, Paul does at least 11 things that work together to undermine slavery.

1. Paul draws attention to Philemon’s love for all the saints. “I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints” (1:5). This puts Philemon’s relation with Onesimus (now one of the saints) under the banner of love, not just commerce.

For the rest of the article please go to Desiring God.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Great Message on Slavery & The Skeptic

Posted by on Aug 12, 2010 in Slavery Information | No Comments
Matt Chandler

Matt Chandler

I don’t know if you have ever heard of Matt Chandler but he preached a great message on the 1st of August that you might enjoy. You can get it from the Itunes if you search for Village Church or download it from their site at


I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t know of Matt Chandler he’s a great guy to listen to and he have some good thoughts on what the Bible says about slavery.

2010 Trafficking in Persons Report

Posted by on Jun 19, 2010 in Advocacy | No Comments

2010 Trafficking in Persons Report

The 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report was released by Secretary Clinton and United States Department of State.  The US Department of State has probably had the most impact on human trafficking around the world in the last 10 years.  I am usually a less government is better type of guy but one area where the government has had a huge impact has been in curbing human trafficking.  If you would like to read the Report you can download it here.

If you would like to see Secretary Clinton speaking about the report you can watch the video here.  The report is really more like a book so you probably aren’t going to read the whole thing but you might want to look at it and skim parts of it and especially any countries that you are interested in.

For the first time the United States has included itself on the list in recognizing that we need to continue to make efforts to combat slavery and trafficking in the US as well.

5 Thai Women Trafficked to Australia for Sex Slavery

Posted by on May 10, 2010 in Slavery in the News | No Comments

Trevor Frank Mclvor, 62, and his live in girl friend, Kanokporn Tanuchit, 44 are being charged with 5 counts each of possessing and using a slave.  The slaves were recruited in Thailand by a third party who had arranged Australian visas for them. Once they arrived in Australia their passports and phones were taken from them.

They would stay at either the Fairchild brothel or the couple’s house.  They had to work at least 16 hours each day servicing many clients for which the couple made about $125 each.  The women were told they had incurred a debt of between $35,000 and $45,000 and needed to work it off, according to Crown prosecurter Bruce Levet.

The women were often locked in one of the two places and were told what they could wear and where they could go.

The trial is ongoing in Sydney, Australia before Judge Jonathan Williams.

One Good Man

Posted by on Apr 9, 2010 in Advocacy, Stop Slavery Story | No Comments

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke.

I spent today with a good man.  One who is making a difference in the lives of others.    His name is Sareth.  He survived the reign of Pol Pot and the killing fields in Cambodia.  At 5 he was ripped from his parents.  He had no clothes and his only possession was a blanket from his mom until that was taken from him.  He would often sleep like a frog; His body in the water with his head on the bank because the water would be warmer than the air during the long winter nights.

After horrible experiences during that time his heart became very hard.  God rescued him and drew him to himself at the age of 19.  He went on to Paris to study environmental engineering and then the Philippines to attend Seminary and get his Masters of Divinity Degree.  He now lives in a small house with no running water, no electricity and no Internet in a village of 540 families.  I asked why he had chosen to live here instead of in town where he could have some of the modern conveniences that he had experienced overseas.

There are two reasons he told me.  The first was to see what was going on in the border area first hand.  (He has named his house the Minefield Hospitality House because of all the mines laid there during their conflict with Thailand)  The second was because he heard there was a bad man who was trying to take the land from the people.  The land owner had sold off the land but was trying to force the villagers off the land through a variety of means or at least hope they would not be able to make the meager payments and he could resell the land to others.

Sareth moved into the village two years ago and began helping them communicate and understand the different things that were going on in this battle for the land.  He started a church and has since hired a pastor that he provides for monthly so that he can pastor the people of the village and not have to work.  One of the keys to the land battle was the access to the land because the land owner was trying to sell the land between the village and the road.  Sareth, with the help of others from Cadence and LightBridge purchased land to develop a road.

He sent letters to the village leaders, district and provincial leaders and to the largest local city council asking for permission to build a road, which would add legitimacy to their claims to the land.    No one responded.  He sent another letter to all of the same people asking them to deny permission to build the road.  No one responded again.  So he moved forward building the road.  The road was completed yesterday.

I visited the village 4 months ago and it seems like a different place.  A few years ago the only way into the village during rainy season was to walk through mud soaked paths.  The new road has opened up the village.  At the front of the road the property has a small place for a small store for the villages to sell their goods and produce.

In addition to the land owner the village leader was a corrupt man as well working with the land owner against the villagers.  Sareth and others prayed against this man.  He ended up in jail for other corruption.  A few months later he had to sell his house (one of the nicest in the village) and land for $700.  The house alone was worth $2000.  Sareth purchased the house to extend his ministry in the village and provide a place of hospitality to others.

Yesterday the 30 village leaders got together and asked Sareth to be the new village leader.  He said that he would continue to be their advisor, pastor, counselor and friend but that they needed to elect someone from within their own ranks to lead them.

One of the ladies told him “The road from the Lord Jesus gives us freedom.”  They have hope for their future and there is an excitement in the village.  I can’t wait to see what the place looks like in another year.  Plans are in the works for an elementary school, playground, community center and soccer field.  The land has been leveled and construction will soon begin.

Evil was defeated, Jesus Christ has been glorified and hope is growing in the minefields because one good man did something and made a difference in the lives of over 2500 people.

Sareth fighting against injusticePaul and Sareth in his village talking praying for the children.

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Baby for Sale, $500

Posted by on Mar 28, 2010 in Uncategorized | One Comment

There are horrors here in Cambodia that I haven’t even imagined. This week, in the village that my friend Sareth lives in, a lady was trying to sell her 8 day old baby for $500. She wanted a new start in life and didn’t want to keep her baby.

They tried to explain to her that they couldn’t buy the baby but they would care for it and see that it was raised well and got to go to school. Later they decided they could give her bus money to get back to Phnom Phen but they wouldn’t buy the baby.  She wasn’t willing to let the baby go, though, she wanted to sell it.

She left and they haven’t seen or heard from her for a couple of days. Her backup plan was to drop the baby off in front of one of the Casino’s. In the states it’s not a big deal to formula feed a baby but here they were mostly worried that the baby wouldn’t have good chance of making it to out of infancy.

Orphan Baby

In this picture Paul and Sareth are taking to the Pastor’s wife who had agreed to raise the kid. Paul was willing to raise the money needed to take care of the baby. It was really cool to see a family willing to take on a baby and the compassion that the christians there felt.

Making Care Packages for Free Burma Rangers

Posted by on Mar 22, 2010 in Stop Slavery Update | 5 Comments
Making Care Packages for those who are threatened, oppressed, enslaved and abused by the Burma Military Regime

Making Care Packages for the Free Burma Rangers

From right to left Kate, Jose, Anna and Akari making care packages for women and children ministered to by the Free Burma Rangers.  My family and I are getting on a plane tomorrow to take these packages to people in Thailand who will ensure the packages get to the women and children who need them most.

Care Packages for Burmese Women & Children

Posted by on Mar 14, 2010 in Take Action | No Comments


(photo from FreeBurmaRangers.org)

We are going to be going to Thailand passing off care packages to the Free Burma Rangers who will be taking them to people that need them in Burma.

Care Packages for Burma
Burma is a war torn country in Southwest Asia where some of the population is killed, raped and enslaved by the military regime in power. You can help the Free Burma Rangers and their ministry by gathering the following items for kids and mothers.

For Mother and Children:

  • Multivitamins (for mom)
  • Pediatric vitamins (Gerber Vitamin Drops, for example)
  • Cap, hand mitts and a shirt (not a one-piece). It gets very cold in the mountains of Bumra!
  • A teether
  • Small fingernail clippers

For Children:

  • Small comb and mirror
  • One box of children’s chewable vitamins
  • 2 child size toothbrushes
  • Fingernail clippers
  • A small toy

We are taking a trip in a week to Thailand but if you would like to mail a package for us to send with a missions team that will be going later please ensure that it is shipped USPS First Class or Priority mail no later than May 15, 2010 to

Buddy Rathmell

201 Corpo Stone

13 Chatan Cho Sunabe

Okinawa, Japan 904-0111

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