Modern Day Slavery

I always assumed it still existed, but had no idea as to the extent of it. It is alive on every continent, and there are more slaves in the world today than ever. Slavery is horrific, and child slavery is so dark and evil it tests the limits of my faith. I started reading about the child sex trade in Vietnam/Cambodia from a book called: The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam. This began to draw my eyes toward adopting from that country, but because of various requirement it did not look like that was going to be an option. But the adoption agency that I had researched had just opened a branch into Haiti. This seemed to fit.


When people ask me how I knew where God was directing us, I tell them that it was and is a comfortable feeling. Like a puzzle piece that fits into place. It was very much the same thing with Konrad. The minute I saw Konrad in the hospital it was as if I had always known him. Sort of like playing hide and seek. I was seeking, and once I found him I said, "Oh, there you are." Nothing earth shattering and no lighting bolt from heaven. It just fits. But I must make it clear that A LOT of prayer goes into it before it happens.

Once my eyes were turned on Haiti I began to look a little closer at what they call "The Pearl of the Caribbean." An orientation opened my eyes to the unbelievable poverty and desperation of so many who live there. Parents line up outside of orphanages to hand there children off to someone who can feed them. They eat these little things called dirt biscuits which is a combination of a tiny little bit of flower, oil and dirt. People say there is no way to describe what you see when you are there. It will change you forever.

Where there is poverty like that, there is slavery. And when parents are desperate to feed their families they will hand over their children to unknown people who promise to care for them and send them to school. The promises are rarely fulfilled, and the children then become slaves and "partners". I am currently reading a book from Benjamin Skinner called A Crime So Monstrous. It is extremely hard to read, but very revealing.

But through all that darkness God still shines. I find it interesting that all four of us (myself, David, Konrad and Saxton) are all studying Exodus. This was not planned in any way. The boys are studying it in their Sunday school classes, David chose it on his own at the beginning of the summer and I joined a bible study at the last minute in another church. The cover of my bible study work book reads: Then, the Lord told him, "I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey."