Morocco Bound

After months of planning and emails and phone calls and meetings, I am finally headed to Morocco! I am co-leading a group of junior and senior Bonners from the College of Charleston to work with Cross Cultural Solutions in the capital city, Rabat (yep, like "robot" but with a's). We've had lots of bumps along the way, and at this point, I don't know that anything has truly gone according to plan. Just to mention a couple bumps....One of my participants, sadly, was unable to go, and the student who was going to fill her spot came down with the flu and won't be able to go now. We also thought we would be working with certain issues only to find out, after lots of education around those issues, that we are working with very different issues: special needs and hospitalized children.

Now, as I am looking at my watch, I realize I leave in only a few hours. How did the countdown go from months to a matter of hours?!? I no longer hope for a smooth trip that goes according to plan. I want unexpected surprises, which might be redundant, and I pray for the ability and flexibility to take advantage of opportunities for adventure. Often the best moments in life come from the chaos of disrupted plans.

Hopefully I will be able to blog some while I'm there...we'll see.

Ten days of Moroccan adventures, here I come!

Preaching to the Powers

Recently, my lovely roommate, who is in a public speaking class, gave a speech on human trafficking. It's an issue near to both of our hearts, especially in light of the fast-approaching holidays and the excessive amount of buying and consuming that accompanies them. Because of her five minute time limit, she chose to focus specifically on labor trafficking, and much to her annoyance, someone's iPhone went off several times during her speech. Apparently someone in the class before had left it sitting on a desk. No one could figure out how to unlock it and turn the alert sounds off. Courtney persisted in spite of the interruptions, but was really disheartened because she felt her speech wasn't as good/powerful/impacting as it could have been under ideal circumstances.

I was in our kitchen when she got back from her speech class. She told me what happened with a little half frown hanging on the corner of her mouth. And something occurred to me...

A friend had just a few days prior told me about one of his professors who believed people don't preach to other people but to the powers of the world: powers of oppression, powers of injustice, powers of hope. In this process, people sometimes overhear, but they aren't the intended audience. There are a lot of powers that need to hear people advocating for freedom and justice. And the iPhone going off repeatedly in the middle of Courtney's speech gave me hope that the powers were listening...and responding.

Apple is a huge company that I often feel is quickly taking over the world. I'm writing this on a iPad. There are at least five people I can see in the Starbucks where I'm sitting using iPhones at this very moment. Everyone in America knows the cute little logo. A little over a year ago, I would have told you that Apple is one of my favorite companies: great products, great customer service, great people. Now, though, I'm telling you that Apple is not what I thought. If an iPad were made by workers in the States, fair wage laws would push the price up to nearly $15,000. Instead, we pay a few hundred to add it to our armory of Apple products. It would be cliche if I made some statement about the terrible working conditions for Chinese workers making Apple products. You would probably brush it off and skip down to the next paragraph where I'm sure to start talking about bacon or something less heavy than the human rights issues around cheap labor. I don't even know what it's really like inside a factory where people work long hours in poor conditions for low and unfair wages. I have never lived that life, and, like the majority of Americans, I probably never will. A homeless man in Marion Square Park once told me, "You don't know what it's like. You just don't know." He nailed it. But just because Courtney and I don't know what it is like to be homeless in Charleston or to be an underpaid, unfairly treated factory worker for one of the most successful companies in the world does not mean we cannot be activists and preach to the powers. Here's the thing: the powers of injustice and oppression are even harder at work in Apple factories in China than the Chinese workers are. 

So when Courtney spoke out against the injustice of labor trafficking, the powers responded, using the iPhone as a voice. And as she explained her "defeat" to me, it seemed more and more like a victory, where the powers heard her and responded. I told her this, as she sat at my feet in our little kitchen, next to the sink with too many dishes waiting to be washed and the stove where black beans were cooking patiently. I was just thinking out loud, looking for a bit of meaning in her hours of preparation and in her heart for the issue at hand. The two of us arrived at a beautiful moment of grace, though. And it has given us renewed will to not give in to the great defeat of the world.

Thanks be to God for small miracles,
          for responses to our voices,
          for weapons against defeatism.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
     Have mercy on us.
May the powers of oppression hear:
     the facts,
     the stories,
     the heartbeats.
May they listen and do what we ask.
Oh, the efficacy of our honest hearts' requests!
Lord, teach us justice,
     teach us the way of being free for freedom's sake,
     teach us wisdom in our consuming,
     and grant us a mind set on your kingdom on earth,
          and your kingdom eternal.
Speak out against those who cheat employees of their wages,
Give them voices to call out for themselves,
Give us the courage to be messengers of truth
     for them.
Do not deprive us of your ear, Lord of mercy,
     God of justice.
     So be it.

"'I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty." Malachi 3:5