Orphans & Trafficking

Back in October, I attended the "Together for Adoption Conference" here in Austin. One of the break out sessions I had registered for was on the topic of "Orphans & Trafficking". I assumed the session was going to be an explanation of why the international adoption process is so full of paperwork, red tape, etc... because countries are trying to protect orphans from being "adopted" by people with mal-intent. But once the session got rolling, I realized that it was about orphans who "age-out" of the system and are highly vulnerable to trafficking because of a complete lack of options to survive.

The simple version of a common story with Russian orphans is that...

• * they "graduate" from the orphanage at age 15...
• * they are released from the orphanage in May of that year with papers enrolling them (room & board included) in a technical school in the nearest big town...
• * they are driven to this nearest big town and dropped off at the school...
• school doesn't start until fall, and the facilities are closed for the summer...
• the kids have no where to live, no way to feed themselves...
• the result: many-- within weeks, if not days-- have been tricked into meeting up with "well-intentioned Good Samaritans" who will "help them", but in fact are wolves in sheep's clothing who then forcefully traffic the kids into slave or sex-slave industry...
• the end.

How painful is that? And how frustrating... because it could otherwise have such a simple solution: how bout releasing the children in the fall, instead of May. Geez!

The breakout session was led by Tom Davis, the CEO of Children's Hope Chest. One of the hardest things I heard during that session was, "When you go to your orphanage to pick up your kid, all the other faces you leave behind will likely end up as prostitutes because the transition out of the orphanage leaves them vulnerable." OUCH. According to Davis, in countries like Russia, traffickers target kids coming out of orphanages as their #1 supply chain.

At the conference, I purchased a novel Davis wrote called "PRICELESS". The book is a fictional account of the common story of Russian orphans who age out of the system. It takes a deep look at the dark underworld of the trafficking industry in Russia. It was a page-turner. I could not put the book down. In an interview with the author, published as an appendix to the book, Davis was asked "How much of what you wrote in Priceless is based on true events?" His response: 80%. Wow. This story is painful and frustrating-- a thriller that SHOULD be pure fiction. Instead, it is reality for thousands & thousands of girls in our world today. (I highly recommend reading this book.)

Children's Hope Chest is involved in the prevention, rescue, and restoration of trafficked orphans in places like Russia, Moldova, and India. This is only one branch of what the organization does... the main umbrella being orphan care & intervention... but it is a moving & valuable cause. One that is close to Andy's & my heart.

If you want to get involved in this tragic global issue, you can partner with Children's Hope Chest in the following ways:

• In Russia, Children's Hope Chest provides over 1,000 orphans with protective services through our Ministry Centers, Family Centers, Independent Living Center Programs, and the Young Mothers Program. Girls and boys in these programs are not only safe, but loved and cared for by our dedicated staff.

• In India, you can sponsor a classroom of orphaned & vulnerable children to help educate them to in vocational & life-skills to prepare them for independent living when they grow up.

All Children's Hope Chest programs are designed to help these children beat the odds, to become productive citizens and mature Christian adults with healthy families of their own.

Don't you want to be a part of their story too??

Isaiah's Story: A Beautiful Rescue

Isaiah's Story from 31Films on Vimeo.

I saw this video this weekend at a conference I attended about adoption & orphan care. It is a moving story!

Holy Cow! (An Indian Adventure)

In 2005, Andy & I traveled to India 3 months after the tsunami hit. We had already planned the trip to go and work with 2 orphanages in the state of Orissa through Austin non-profit, The Miracle Foundation (TMF) before the big wave. But after the tragedy, we asked to extend our trip to be able to go down to the tsunami affected region and see how TMF was meeting the needs of the devastated community.

During the first leg of our travels we were with a team of a dozen Americans who were serving alongside us. And someone brought HOLY COW: An Indian Adventure to read. The book was passed around to multiple readers, read aloud over dinner and break times, and the whole group was constantly finding release in the laughter that this book provoked. I cannot tell you if this book is as funny to someone who has never traveled to India, but to us it was affirmation that our thoughts about how crazy this country was were not, well, crazy.
The author (a native Aussie) recounted her tales of living in India for 2 years (following a fiance who was on work assignment in the country) and her constant confrontation with the diversity and chaos that makes this country so wonderful & terrible all at the same time. When we were there, I cried almost every night in our hotel room talking to Andy about the difficulty of this land. I hated it. Yet it still drew me in. By the time we were on the airplane returning to the States, I turned to Andy and confessed: "I hope God never calls me back to this country, but if He did, I would go." Andy was dumbfounded. And here I am, 5 years later, and I feel the stir to return nudging me.

In the opening pages of Holy Cow, the author shares a similar story. She had traveled around India 10 years prior with a girlfriend, and in the preface she describes her final moments at the airport as she left: "I break into a run, push onto the plane and sink into my seat. As we take off I give smog-swirled New Delhi the finger. 'Good-bye and good-riddance, India. I hate you and I'm never, never ever coming back.'" (p.3) And yet she did.

Some passages I found myself near tears with laughter as she paints the "colorful" picture of locals in the midst of everyday Indian life (including burping, drawn-out calls for chaaaaaaaaai, and the uniquely Indian head-wobble which says yes, no, and maybe all wrapped into one). Some passages I was near tears from the pain and inner conflict I felt at her portrait of the poor, the beggars, the sick that pepper every roadside in every city (including modern day lepers, burying the dead by placing them in the river, and passing never-ending slums in the heart of every city).

She explains it well when she writes, that its pointless to try and "figure out" India. "India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes. India defies understanding... My confinement here is different-- I'm trapped by heat and by a never-ending series of juxtapositions... What's more, India's extremes are endlessly confronting." (p. 107). This is so true!

If you (a Westerner) have ever been to India, this book will make you feel normal for all the frustrations and love affairs you had in your mind while there. If you've never been to India-- but want to go-- this book will help you capture a glimpse of the wonderful, terrible confusion that lies ahead. No matter how hard I try, India will not leave my heart. And I would whole-heartedly tell anyone to travel there. Go. See it. Experience it. Love it. Hate it. And go back.

Oh ya, and read this book! It's a perfect travelogue to be your companion to a foreign land.

Orphans & Adoption in an Islamic Context

Check out this recent article on the subject of "Orphans & Adoption in an Islamic Context."

This article is written about a different article on the subject posted from a Middle Eastern news source back in January. To read that article, click here.