This is an article I wrote for our local newspaper. Their paper that day was full up with other great things, so this never made it to the light of day. Here it is, just a few months old but still very much up-to-date.
It
was a chilly Friday night at the Italian Centre in Thunder Bay, so
the meatballs and spaghetti on the menu were very comforting.
However, the guest speaker, Andy Matheson of Oasis, spoke on a very
disturbing subject.
The
dinner was presented by Nu-Vision Ministry of Canada and First
Baptist Church, as part of a weekend entitled 'Til We All Have
Voices: Poverty, Complicity and Advocacy in An Unjust World'.
Andy
told me with a grin that he and his wife Joan had travelled from the
UK to tell stories. Although he described human suffering, he did so
cheerfully, focussing on the people helped by Oasis, the charitable
trust of which he is International Director. His aim in coming was to
get us to try on the shoes of the poor.
He
described living in Mumbai, India, years ago and trying to help
street kids. He and his wife were gripped by the wrongness of it all,
and opened a business where street kids learned a trade while
spending time with people who cared for them. The first step kids had
to take was learning to trust an adult.
Andy
stresses that poverty is not primarily an economic situation, but a
breakdown of relationships and a lack of life choices. Most of us can
obtain healthcare, job training and access to a law court. Among the
poorest people are those traffiked into modern forms of slavery, who
have none of these freedoms.
In a
video he showed Indian staff of Oasis in Bangalore, rescuing girls in
their early teens who had been sold, often by their own relatives,
into the huge prostitution industry in Mumbai.
Bringing
it much closer to home, he then exposed the ugly underbelly of the
chocolate industry. A little under half of our chocolate comes from
plantations in Ivory Coast, often tended by traffiked people. They
are not free to leave, not paid, but are physically abused if they
resist. Many are in their early teens and have been forced away from
their family with false promises. Oasis has engaged with the
management of the largest chocolate producers, and carried out
awareness campaigns and lobbying. As a result, Mars and Cadbury have
agreed to market Fairtrade chocolate brands. Nestlé is still
discussing the idea. Hersheys has apparently not shown interest.
Andy
showed how anyone can help to build a world where everyone is treated
fairly. It includes advocating for the poor, and what we choose to
buy, but it's much more about building relationships with those
nearby who have fewer choices than us. As a Christian, Andy believes
that every person is created in God's likeness and therefore has
great worth. Find Andy's book, 'In His Image: Understanding and
Embracing the Poor', at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle formats.
Oasis contributes to the
'Stop The Traffik' campaign, and both have
their own websites.
