Made In a Free World

Today, I want to feature "Made In a Free World". I guess you could call it an organization or a ministry, but I like the description of "disruptive network" because of the way they connect individuals, groups, businesses, etc. to disrupt slavery and spread freedom.

Justin Dillon

I heard the founder, Justin Dillon, speak at the Free Austin summit hosted by Allies Against Slavery in October 2013. He is a creative, musical artist that has harnessed some energy and resources to do impressive things in the fight against human trafficking and slave labor.

As a newbie to the world of the modern day abolition movement, it is sometimes confusing to understand the real problem and even more difficult to realize the best solutions. What I appreciate about Made In a Free World is the job they do of breaking down the problem into understandable parts, and then giving people practical steps to make a difference. 

Please consider checking out their additional website resource, Slavery Footprint. Here you can take a survey to find the answer to a most uncomfortable question: How many slaves work for you? I have done this, and I will be the first to confess that I have too many working for me. (I know one is too many, but I have many more than that, and I don't even drink coffee!)

If you are like me, then there is a part of you that would rather not do things like this. It is easier for me to live in denial about some things. It is better to not know. "Ignorance is bliss," they say. But I can guarantee you "they" aren't slaves.

I have come to accept that I won't be able to change the world with just knowledge, but neither will I help it with guilt. So, feeling guilty is not the aim. My hope is to spread awareness. With a growing awareness comes more options. It is what offers us a vision of freedom for more people than have it now. Information alone changes nothing, but nothing changes without information. So, let's just start there.

Happy Easter Choco-holics!

Like me, you might be surprised to know that except for Halloween, Americans actually purchase and consume more chocolate on Easter than any other holiday, including Valentine's Day and Christmas! 

With the celebration of Easter and Passover, there will be A LOT OF EATING CHOCOLATE going on, which brings us to a tragic irony. The Passover that so many people will celebrate in remembrance of the Jewish deliverance from slavery in Egypt under an oppressive Pharaoh will be held in conjunction with more people eating candy made available to us by the hands of forced child labor.

For information and videos from the full CNN series about the relationship between chocolate and child labor, go here. To check out a recent documentary video, click on this link.

In keeping with my "baby steps" theme, next week I will post simple ways to take action to make this Easter season more about freedom and still treat your sweet tooth.

Baby Step: Pray for Freedom

While I will not be attending IJM's Global Prayer Gathering, the fact that it is right around the corner is good timing for a reminder about one of the most important steps any of us can take to promote freedom and justice.



Since we can't all attend great prayer conferences, it helps to have practical ways for us to talk to God about things like this that matter to us. One way you can consistently remember to pray for those in bondage today is to sign up for IJM's prayer updates or download their prayer devotional.

Whether you use a resource or devotional or nothing, the main thing is to simply call out needs to God and listen for his heartbeat. I am "preaching" to myself here because having a superior prayer life is something I could never boast about. Taking time to converse with God is, embarrassingly, a constant work in progress for me. Fortunately, I always find God to be a gentle and forgiving Listener.

2 Corinthians says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." There may be many things in our lives that we wonder if they are a part of God's will. This subject is not one of them. We can be confident that setting people free is as close to the heart of Jesus as anything else we could ever pray about.

Baby Step: Know the Law

Another practical step you can take in understanding what is going on with slavery and human trafficking is to take a few minutes to read the summary of legislation that is now in place regarding these issues.

I tried reading the actual bills that became laws, but that was overwhelming and confusing to me. I prefer getting the highlights that help me make a little more sense of them. 

With that said, the baby step I recommend for today is to take about 3-5 minutes to skim over recent federal legislation as nicely summarized by the Polaris Project. I also suggest making the Polaris Project website one of your bookmarks or favorites. It is a wealth of great information and resources!

Baby Step: Become an "Ally"

I have already mentioned this organization in posts and tweets before, but I want to take a minute to really emphasize and promote a group here in the Austin area, Allies Against Slavery. 

(Note: Their website is currently being updated and should be unveiled this month. For now, I suggest just going to their site and subscribing to their monthly newsletter. That is the "baby step": just subscribe to the newsletter!)

The mission of Allies is to "develop community-based networks that build slave-free cities." I have been to four different events related to Allies, including the Free Austin Summit in October 2013 and a couple of their monthly meetings. Each event has been highly informative and inspiring. 

It is awesome to see the diversity of people that come together simply united by the common passion to end slavery in the world around us.

As someone fairly new to this abolition journey, I am finding that Allies is so beneficial to me, which is why I am so strongly recommending it to others in and around Austin. 

I see it as a practical way to be engaged with this movement.

Allies are connecting resources to real needs. 

They have relationships with local law enforcement. 

They are collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders in the community, including faith-based groups. 

They assist with after-care for survivors of human trafficking as they partner with Refugee Services of Texas (RST).

They are educating people to proactively stop harm to humans. 

Allies is working on growing and organizing their network. Upcoming opportunities soon to be available are "justice parties" (ways to engage small groups in human trafficking awareness) and book clubs. I will share more as I find out about these avenues.

The next meeting is Tuesday, March 18 at Space12.

Baby Step: In Case You Ever Have to Make That Call

Admittedly, this post is not all that romantic for being posted right after Valentine's Day. But hey, just be glad I am not writing about all the forced labor that was probably used to produce most of the chocolate we ate on Valentine's Day!

What I do want to share quickly is one of the "baby steps" anyone can take to help make a difference. Simply enter the National Human Trafficking Hotline phone number into your contacts. That way you will always have it if you ever need it. Then, hope you will never need it.

It only takes a few seconds. Above is a screen shot of my phone. 

The number is 888-373-7888.

One Step at a Time

I have to confess that I am totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem of human trafficking in our world. There are enough statistics and stories to make my head spin. On top of that, the organizations and efforts to fight against it are too numerous to keep up with, as well. How in the world can I know which is most effective? Most efficient? Operating with the most integrity?

In the early stages of learning about the human tragedy of modern day slavery, I have encountered new vocabulary and acronyms, data I don't even know how to process, and places I didn't even know existed. 

It is easy to feel like there is just too much out there. It is easy to throw my hands up and believe I cannot make a difference. I mean, really, this vile practice of enslaving humans is more prevalent now than at any time in our recent history, possibly ever. 

Who am I to change that?

To call this discouraging is the understatement of the century. It is unfathomable that we find ourselves facing this mess.

So I am left confronted with the reality that I don't know the best way to overcome it, which leads to a question. If I don't know the best way to fix a problem, do I ignore the problem? 

Justin Dillon
Founder of "Made in a Free World"

Fortunately, I attended the Free Austin Summit last October and heard Justin Dillon speak. Dillon reminded me (and everyone there) to not get misled into allowing "perfect" to be the enemy of good. Just because I cannot do something perfectly does not prohibit me from doing good, no matter how small.

Thank God! Because I need manageable, realistic steps that I can take. 

A step like writing a blog post. 

A step like attending an Allies meeting.

A step like using an App. (and then telling others about it)

A step like reading an article online. 

A step like exposing my children to this topic.

A step like making a donation.

A step like sharing a hotline number.

A step like buying a Fair Trade product.

And I am writing this because I am betting that there is someone who will read this that is just like me. Someone who does better taking baby steps in the right direction then trying to run as fast as you can in every direction. And I feel like this is a cause in which direction is more important than pace.

Don't get me wrong. If there is any issue that demands a sense of urgency, it is this one! 

Still, I don't want to get so caught up with trying to move so fast that I don't move at all.

So, for now, I will work on little steps. More importantly, I will share those little steps with others because I can't help but think that many of us taking little steps in the same direction is much more powerful than one person trying to take a leap by himself.

It is with this perspective that I invite you to read (even subscribe!) and share these blog posts that are associated with this topic. They usually come out on my blog on the weekends. (Mondays and Wednesdays tend to focus on reform in education and reform in the church, respectively.)

In these weekend posts, I will share some of the simple steps I am learning about.

Maybe we can walk together.

(Be ready for a simple step next week.)

Human Trafficking 101 Resource

Another resource full of information related to modern day slavery and human trafficking (aka. Trafficking in Persons) comes from our own government. There are numerous resources to help you learn about these issues here.

Check out the Human Trafficking Awareness Training. I have gone through this presentation. It is informative, yet basic. Should be required education for all adults.

Learn how you can help.

I'm proud to be an American...where at least I know I'm FREE!

Ten Thousand Villages and Elephant Poop

My daughter and her friend on our trip to Ten Thousand Villages store in Austin earlier this month

Today, I am featuring Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade retailer with stores all over, including Austin. I went there for the first time around New Year's, and the fact that I am sharing about this enjoyable shopping experience is more incredible that you can imagine because I hate shopping! 

But this place is about more than shopping. It is about a cause, which they put front and center. It is about a story, or more precisely, many stories. Stories of real lives affected by their business.

It was not merely a shopping experience, but a learning and giving experience.

Wow! You can get a deal on everything here!

My daughter's favorite part was learning about the paper products that are made from elephant poop! 

Did you know that elephants poop about 16 times a day?! See, that is just one of the life-changing facts we learned while in the store! I tried to move on to more serious lessons, but my middle school daughter was kind of stuck on this one. Okay, me too, a little.

Poop to paper process

The whole world of fair trade markets is still new to me. I am grateful to Allies for inviting Becca to share with ordinary people like me about the concept of fair trade and the mission of organizations like Ten Thousand Villages.

These non-profits alter the lives of individuals and slowly make systemic changes to the international marketplace.
All this work requires countless hours of donated time because stores like this one are completely volunteer-run.


Here is the blurb about Ten Thousand Villages from their website:

Ten Thousand Villages is an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art and sculpture, textiles, serveware and personal accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. One of the world's largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), the company strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries. Ten Thousand Villages accomplishes this by establishing a sustainable market for handmade products in North America, and building long term buying relationships in places where skilled artisan partners lack opportunities for stable income. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed.