Diaspora

In the Bible, there is this idea that one day God will gather all of his scattered people together in one place where they belong forever. When Israel was captured by Babylon and the Jews were taken away in exile, that began what is called the "Diaspora" which is essentially the scattering of a people all over the Earth. It was considered a great tragedy that the people of God should be so separated from each other, and so displaced all over the planet. And from Moses, to the Prophets, to Jesus himself, the great gathering of God's people has been a deeply held hope. 

I'm telling this story because there have been many big changes in our office in the past couple of months. Three of our year long volunteers finished their terms and returned to the U.S. That's been tough because these people, including my boss and room mate, were dearly loved by us and were some of my closest friends here. So we have been adapting to the changes in our office and in work responsibilities. 

Meanwhile, I've been hearing about all sorts of cool things my friends and family back home are up to. Many of them are leaving Chico for their dream jobs, or to be with loved ones, some are getting married, some are staying put. And all that is cool! I'm glad you guys are all doing cool stuff. But boy it's been sad thinking that my favorite people are scattered all over the state and the country and the world. I mean, I'm out here missing weddings and barbecues and all sorts of good times. And that's a bummer.

I've been really blessed in the people department. We have dinners and weddings out here too (Not so much barbecues though. Beef's not so big here.) Wherever I've been in life, God has given me cool folks to be with. As a result, I have people I love alllll over the place. From Asia to the middle east, from Cincinnati to San Francisco, nor cal to so cal. I was looking over the list of folks who have donated money for me to be here yesterday, and I have a lot of generous people who care about me and who care about the poor! I am a rich man! And I have no reason to believe that God will stop the flow of good people into my life.

All that being said, mostly I've been wishing lately that all the people I love were in one place. 

But hey, you know what? I get to be out here working with awesome people, and I can talk to my loved ones whenever I want. That's pretty great. And what's even better, is that God is using us to get these girls back home to the people they love and the people who love them. God is going into those dark places and gathering up those girls and putting em back where they belong. And some of them are even helping us find and rescue other girls who need to go back home. It's an honor and a privilege to be here doing this, and I love doing it.

So I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you this. My office offered me the opportunity to extend my position here by another year, and I accepted. I'll come home in September for a couple months and then I'll come back out to South Asia for another year. There are a number of reasons why I made this decision. But ultimately it's because I love and believe in the work we get to do out here, I think God has put me in this place to contribute what I can while I'm here, and I think that I am getting closer to him by being here. Being away from home is awful, and I can't wait to come back for a bit. But if by being scattered for a time I can help some kids go home for good? Well, I'll take that.

Until then, I'll look forward to the day when we're all back where we belong together.

"And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you."
- Deuteronomy 30:1-4

Take care out there everybody.

-Greg

Chinatown

I recently saw the movie, "Chinatown" starring Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes, a private investigator in 1930's Los Angeles. It's a great noir mystery with an excellent soundtrack, and Jack Nicholson is in it so that's a good enough reason to see it right there. In the movie, Gittes gets wrapped up in an investigation of an illegal business scheme revolving around water rights in southern California. As the case unfolds, it becomes apparent that the entire city is at the mercy of big business interests, a corrupt municipal system, and dirty cops.

Gittes, himself an ex police officer, used to work in the notorious Chinatown district of L.A. Throughout the movie, we learn that Jake became disgusted with the corruption he encountered there, and presumably left the force to become a private investigator. In fact, corruption among law enforcement is so pervasive in this part of L.A., that "Chinatown" becomes a byword for lawlessness and miscarriage of justice.

In one of the best lines in movie history, Jake's partner Walsh laments the intractable police dishonesty by saying,

"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."

The powerful are too powerful. The rich are too rich. This has been going on for far longer than you've been a part of it. There's nothing you can do. Forget it. It's Chinatown.

Anyone familiar with the developing world will be familiar with the pervasive corruption, bureaucracy and inefficiency of public services - particularly the police. But the problem for development agencies is, if you want to build up law enforcement in a country by strengthening the police, how will you prevent them from using their new power to abuse those they were meant to protect? In practice this is a legitimate concern. Many top level development agencies actually had prohibitions about giving aid to public law enforcement until very recently for this reason. Across parts of Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and other areas, law enforcement exists as little more than armed gangs that extort the poor in their communities. Giving them aid money just seemed dangerous and counter productive to many NGO's. It's a problem that often seems too entrenched, too dangerous, too big to tackle.

When it came to law enforcement working on behalf of the poor, aid agencies were saying, in essence "Forget it, it's Chinatown."

But the problem is, no matter how much support is given to the poor, it won't effectively change anything until they are protected from exploitation. It doesn't matter how many wells you dig or how many micro loans you lend if a gang can come steal, rape, and destroy any advantage gained thereby.

That's what we are trying to change at IJM. The goal of our organization is to rescue thousands, protect millions, and prove that justice for the poor is possible. We want to prove that justice systems can change. By rescuing victims, and ensuring that traffickers are publicly brought to justice, we can prevent the cases of bonded labour, child prostitution, and human trafficking that exist on such a horrific scale. This can only be done by making local law enforcement function correctly. We want to transform malfunctioning justice systems to work for the poor, rather than against them, one case at a time.

I'm basically summarizing the premise of Gary Haugen's book, The Locust Effect. Gary Haugen is the founder of International Justice Mission, and his book explains in greater detail what we do at IJM and what I've alluded to here. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in helping the poor.

In "Chinatown" the bad guys and dirty cops of Los Angeles in the 1930's seemed too powerful and too entrenched to ever allow true justice to be done. There's not a lot of hope in the movie that things will ever be different. But the thing is, in real life, police in L.A. now are actually pretty good. L.A.P.D. isn't perfect for sure, but they are one of the most respected law enforcement organizations in the world today. They are well trained, well equipped, and generally relied upon in order to prevent rampant crime. In "The Locust Effect," Gary Haugen explains that at one time in history, police corruption in the U.S. was so bad, it was actually comparable to the law enforcement we see in Peru, Bangladesh, and many other countries in the developing world - but things got better. It took a long time and it was a big fight, but eventually, police became essentially reliable, helpful, and good at preventing and solving crime in the United States.

And if it could happen then, it can happen now.

IJM and organizations like it are proving that this kind of change is possible in the developing world. Malfunctioning law enforcement systems can be reformed. Justice is possible for the poor. And that's pretty exciting.

JVSTICE

Hey there friends,

I found this picture on the internet awhile back and something about it struck me. I printed it out and put it up next to my computer at work, along with pictures of friends back home, old students I had, and postcards from Chico and Paradise.

Lady Justice is an excellent symbol. There's a lot to say about her. This picture in particular is so grave, even a little spooky. The old Roman like font gives the pursuit of justice and right law a sense of timelessness. The circular frame and her sure pose underscores the law as the essence of stability in civic life. She's clearly strong, and powerful, wielding a double edged sword - for the law governs the poor and the wealthy alike. She's impartial, being blind and carrying even scales to show that she judges in fairness.

But there are some subtle things about this picture that I think are telling. She wears black robes, imparting to the viewer that the matters of law, of right and wrong, are serious indeed. Matters of life and death even. And that while injustice anywhere is a threat and tragedy, the writing suggests that there is something lost in the pursuit as well. The inscription has this sort of sad threatening caveat, that justice must always be sought, ceaselessly, tirelessly, at the expense of all else - until it is either attained like some mythical treasure at the end of the rainbow, or until liberty is killed on the altar. The archaic use of the word "end", here meaning the goal or objective of government, calls to mind the modern sense of the word, suggesting that government and civil society might simply cease. Perhaps most tellingly, justice is always portrayed as a young woman, symbolizing purity - but also fragility. And while she is impartial, you can't deny that she is in fact blind, and bears the consequences of that serious handicap.

Justice is fragile. Maybe that's obvious in life. "Nobody said the world was fair." But it seems like this is a lesson I've been learning in a new way.

The past few months have been more difficult to handle. The grime of the work has been getting under my skin here and there. I've heard some pretty gross stories and seen a few pretty vile things since I've been here. Stories of abuse and hopelessness. Girls being sent as a sort of sacrifice to the brothels on behalf of a whole village. Sisters pimping sisters. I work with a lot of social workers who see the long term trauma of the girls we work with, and if you are familiar with that kind of work in the states, I'm sure you know how tragic and grinding it can get. I've watched folks who had the power and the means to end injustice, abuse, and rape of young girls turn and walk away, for the sake of a few dollars or to save their own skin.

And that kind of stuff takes it's toll. I've seen myself get unreasonably angry and upset. Or withdrawn for no good reason. It seems that the lesson I learn most often here Is that I simply don't have the internal resources to be a patient, compassionate, loving person on my own. My deepest desire is to love those around me well, and yet I sometimes find myself feeling bitter, frustrated, and cold. Relying on my own willpower get's to be exhausting, and I really depend on the prayer of you guys at home and the love and of my friends and coworkers.

That being said, I've seen some incredible acts of grace and forgiveness here, and I am seeing God at work in this country and in myself. The phrase, "God's strength is made perfect in our weakness" has been on my mind all the time recently, and I've been trying to learn that mystery. I'm not sure what it means, or what to do about it. But it seems to be a key to getting by in this work. I think it has something to do with facing our failure and death before God and others with humility and honestly . By looking deeply at our weakness, holding it at arm’s length, knowing it, examining it in detail, raising it up for others to see, and finally, with mourning and a contrite heart, giving it to God. It’s not simple, or brief, but I am grateful for the people that God has given me here and those back home who love and support me.

I've seen some great things. Girls made to smile from a simple joke or dance in the midst of total depravity by a kind heart. Unbelievable changes as victims grow healthy and whole after years of enslavement. Law enforcement and IJM staff travelling incredible distances and working long hours for the sake of a girls life. I've seen a young girl who was sold for sex, comforting the weeping child of her captors.

This verse is from Isaiah 42:1-4. It's been helpful to remember that while I get tired, while we get discouraged, when we are battered around like bruised reeds, Christ won't falter until the end, until justice is obtained on the Earth.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
    or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4     he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Thanks guys for reading and checking in. I've gotten some serious donations since I last wrote, and I thank you guys for that. I'm not sure if I'll be in the black or not yet, but I'm getting pretty close. Thanks for your love and prayers.

-Greg

Black December

I think we can all agree by now that Black Friday is a pretty horrible thing, and I'm grateful that I was able to avoid it this year by being in a country devoid of Best Buys, Walmarts, etc.

The origin of black Friday is a point of minor historical interest. I'm sure many of you know this already, but the name "Black Friday" comes from an accounting quirk. Traditionally, retail businesses would consider the day after Thanksgiving the first day of the year in which the revenue they had taken in should be greater than the costs of running the business. By the day after Thanksgiving, the business should have taken in more money than it spent for the year. In their ledgers, debts would be written in red and credits in black. So on Black Friday, the total balance for the business should have gone from being written in red ink to black ink. Thus the name "Black Friday."

Why am I telling you this? Well, some of you may have noticed my digital begging bowl of a progress bar on the right of your screen. As you can see, it is not full. It creeps forward a bit now and then, and I am extremely grateful for the generous ways that many of you have chosen to support me in this.

Today I worked out my budget for the year and tallied up how much money I had left versus what my expenses looked like for the rest of my time here. Unfortunately, I am in the red.  As it stands, I don't have enough donations to meet my monthly expenses for the year. Nor have I factored in unexpected expenses like travel, repairs, or emergencies.

I don't live in squalor here, I am quite comfortable actually. I share an apartment with another American. We have electricity and hot water. I have a cell phone. And no matter what, I won't starve. I have some savings and people behind me and I will survive. I am confident that God will provide enough.

That being said, I do my best to live frugally here. I take the bus to and from work. I make most of my meals at home, or eat street food which is pretty affordable. Most of my expenses have come from things stateside, like health insurance, vaccinations, and plane tickets.

As we've gotten closer to Christmas, and I've gotten a better idea of what my expenses are like here, I've oscillated between frantically asking people to give me money and trusting that God would provide enough to survive the winter.

So I guess I'm trying to take a middle road here by humbly asking that you consider donating to help me live here in South Asia and continue my work with International Justice Mission. This office is doing good work out here, we are seeing girls being rescued and restored to healthy life, and I really love what I do and the people I'm with.

What I'd like for Christmas is to be in the black by the end of year. If you feel like you want to donate toward the cause of Justice, and help me out in the process, you can click the "Click Here To Make A Donation" link on the right of your screen, or just go here and pick my name from the list. That money goes to my food, rent, medical expenses, and everything else in my life as it is my only source of income. If you give anything, I will write you a letter and mail it to you, and it will probably have a cool stamp on it, and maybe a drawing or joke or a rhyme inside. I'll also say a prayer for you and will remember that you care about me and about justice in the developing world. (Not that you don't care about me if you don't give me money, or that I won't pray for you, good grief.)

If you've already donated. Thank you thank you thank you. Especially in these past few months, your donations have been a boost of confidence for me. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks everybody for your thoughts and prayers. Stay sane out there.

Love,
-Greg

Travel, Trench Work, and Thanksgiving

Hello friends and well wishers,

First, some photos:

A breached brick barge.

Photo credits due to a couple skilled co-workers.

Hello faithful readers. I hope you enjoy these photographs. I've been very lucky to travel a little with some co-workers recently. These pictures are from that.

You'll be pleased to know that the weather here has become very pleasant. We are all enjoying a very moderate tropical autumn.

The holidays feel remote. A friend asked me if I had plans for Thanksgiving, and I was completely unaware that it was this week. November is already old and Christmas will be here soon without warning because there will be no snow or rain or noticeable drop in temperature. I wear a t shirt everyday and sleep under a ceiling fan. The air is choked with the caw of birds and car horns. The sun sets by 5:30.

I get up early here. I make breakfast and take the bus to work. I have a routine I can depend on. I like this. Maybe I'm boring but I'm grateful for the stability in a chaotic place. The initial excitement of being here has cooled into a more mellow and sustainable enthusiasm. I feel more steady.

It seems that autumn goes quickly everywhere in the world. Everyone buckles down at the same time. We collectively gather momentum and rhythm. Everyone is looking forward. To Christmas break, or the end of the harvest, or the new year. It comes with a kind of tunnel vision, and its hard to notice the weeks pass. I guess that's a price you pay for routine, and steady work. You don't notice things growing older.

We work hard here. Generally, It feels really good. We also sing and eat a lot. So that's pretty rad!

Sometimes our work is intensely frustrating, and upsetting, and emotionally draining. There are locked doors everywhere. There are dead ends everywhere. Sometimes, it feels like we are just a few folks trying to stop kids from being prostituted. Other times, it feels like that's all everybody wants, and yet we still can't make it happen for some reason or another. Emotions weigh on you in ways you don't expect. Our job is a weird mix of CSI and The Office. There are insane time lines, risks, tough decisions. Then there are pranks and youtube videos and coffee breaks.

We had a win recently. We'd been trying to rescue this particular girl once already, and that had failed. She's very young and we didn't want to let her go. We planned to go back with a new strategy, and by God's grace, she was rescued. It feels completely surreal. It's not what you expect, going from slavery to freedom.

On the one hand, it's very abrupt. Almost anti climatically. You prepare for weeks and months and sometimes years for a case. Tension builds all day as you get ready. You open a door and she is there, and then she's free. Just like that. Slave one minute. Free the next.

On the other hand, that moment is just a small first step on a long road to recovery. Most girls have suffered extreme psychological trauma during their confinement, and that takes a lot of time and resources to heal from. Girls often have to struggle to overcome social stigma and learn practical job skills that will allow them to survive in a different profession. From a legal standpoint, a case can drag on for years and years before perpetrators are brought to justice.

I really admire the long term staff here, because this is a job that requires a lot of patience, and constant reliance on God to do the work. This Thanksgiving I just want to say I'm thankful for all of my friends and family back home, I depend on you more than you probably realize here. I'm also thankful for my friends and coworkers here in the office. They've really been a blessing making me feel welcome and involved here. I hope you all are well and delighted. Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,
-Greg

Sweaty in South Asia

Points of interest from the first two weeks:

- Rode a rickshaw

- Made some friends

I also became addicted to pasta.

- Got pooped on by a bird

- Ate some spicy food that was prepared near the street

- Crushed a clay cup on my forehead

- Got a haircut

- Didn't get giardia yet

- Saw two monkeys

- Saw some cows on the median

- Saw a naked kid playing near the freeway onramp

- Biggest dang spider I've ever seen

Made this son of a gun into a big ol' spider sandwich.

- Got caught in several thunderstorms, repeatedly

- Sweat 4 metric tons

Yep, that's all sweat.

- Saw some crazy buildings like these

I'd say things are going pretty well! I'm in an apartment here with one of the other interns as a roommate, and the office here has been very friendly and welcoming. I've been having a lot of fun and getting to know the work. There is a lot for me to do and plenty of projects that I will be tackling here in the future. 

I feel that I am adapting to this country fairly quickly, and I am enjoying it. I have been surprised in many ways by similarities between this city and the city I lived in in Egypt. They are at about the same level of development, and many patterns and systems are similar here. Strange things are the same here, much of which feels very familiar. People eat potato chips with crazy flavors for example. Also, safety isn't really a big deal here, just like Egypt. It's hard to explain, but I feel almost as though I have already been trained to live in a country like this. This has made my first couple weeks much easier. 

Now that I have a better idea of what I do each day, I can give you a more concrete description of the work that I am doing. We work with local police to make arrests and rescue minors who are being trafficked for sex. After the girls are rescued, they are placed in aftercare homes that we work with, where they can receive counseling, job training, and a safe place to stay. Finally our legal team processes the cases through to completion and sees that perpetrators are tried and prosecuted. My job is to support the investigators in a variety of ways. I'm also responsible for other tasks like office security and trainings. 

My team is awesome. We sit together in a small room and have a blast. It's all guys in my department, and there are a lot of jokes and pranks. Someone called us a pirate band and I feel pretty good about that description. 

I feel like the luckiest dude in the world right now. The office feels like a good fit, my boss is great, a real funny guy from the states, and  I get to work with some incredible and dedicated people doing the work of Justice in the world. Thank you all for making it possible for me to do this. I can't say how grateful I am to be here. 

I just wanted to give you an update on things now that I am here and settled. Prayer wise, there is a massive religious festival here in our city this weekend, and the streets are packed with people and idols and altars and snacks and animals and what all sorts of stuff. I'd ask that you pray for... well everything that goes along with that. But primarily because this is a tense time in the city, and that makes things worse for victims of the sex slave trade. There are a lot of visitors from outside of the city, and many traffickers are desperate for money and hoping to capitalize on this time. Please continue to pray for mercy and for deliverance of these girls. 

Thanks everybody, I'll be in touch.

Love,

-Greg

Wrappin' Up

Hey everybody!

Here's an update on things.

Last week I had my orientation week with International Justice Mission in Washington D.C. It was really great! The entire week exceeded my expectations. I was hesitant at first to see whether IJM was an organization I could really get behind, but I was consistently impressed by their professionalism, the quality of their work, and most importantly their commitment to Christ in everything they do. I know that sounds pretty cheesy and soundbite-y, but it's really something they take seriously. IJM offices dedicate half an hour of each workday to personal prayer, and then another half an hour to corporate prayer together later in the day. That's a real thing! An hour a day! One eighth of their working hours! Rather than go through the whole week with you, I'll just put IJM's Mission statement here, which I think sums up pretty clearly what we learned this past week.

"The mission of International Justice Mission is to protect the poor from violence by rescuing victims, bringing the criminals to justice, restoring survivors to safety and strength, and helping local law enforcement build a safe future that lasts."

I don't easily endorse products or organizations, but I feel very confidant in the work that IJM is doing and I am stoked to be a part of an organization like this. The other interns are great. In the main they seem like intelligent, nuanced, humble and mature Christians. I feel a bit out of my league, but I've made some good friends and I look forward to the year ahead.

As for me, I've been staying with some great friends and their kids out here in beautiful Cincinnati, Ohio for the past week before I leave for South Asia on Wednesday. I've got my visa in hand and my bag is packed. I feel well prepared and I'm looking forward to getting to work.

What I'd like from you all: I was told consistently during training week that the office and department that I'll be working in is exceptional. Some of the most amazing people apparently work in my department. Please pray that I would be able to offer them the best service I can and that I would be a blessing to them.

I was also told that the city in which I will be working is one of, if not the hardest deployment out of the cities in which IJM operates. One staff member said that it was one of the few places on Earth in which he "felt tangible evil." I don't take this stuff lightly, and I think we're in for a year of hard work that will sometimes be very dark. Please pray for the continued health and safety of me and the team that I will be serving. As well as the continued deliverance of and mercy towards the poor that we will be working with.

I'll leave you with the prayer of St. Theresa of Avila. It may be a bit cliché but darn it, I like it. Please remember to pray for the poor and pray for each other. Just taking a minute to sit and think about the people you care about makes a big difference. It's tough being a person, let's be cool to one another.

"Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,Yours are the eyes with which he looksCompassion on this world,Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,Yours are the eyes, you are his body.Christ has no body now but yours,No hands, no feet on earth but yours,Yours are the eyes with which he lookscompassion on this world.Christ has no body now on earth but yours."