IJM is calling on the international community to immediately implement measures to protect vulnerable children from trafficking risks and other forms of abuse in Haiti.
This week, The Atlantic published an article “Island of Lost Children” by former IJM Chennai Communications Fellow Nicolette Grams.
This timely and thoughtful piece in The Atlantic highlights the multitude of dangers brewing for children in Haiti, calls on people to protect the vulnerable, and features IJM’s work and methodology as a solution to such horrors, wherever they may occur.
Please do share this article with others, especially if they are engaged in relief work in Haiti at this time. Questions are rising about the implications of the Haiti earthquake on the vulnerability of women and children - and the implications are indeed grave.
Please do consider this article to be a resource. We will continue to get other helpful resources into your hands as this crisis continues.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001u/haiti-trafficking
This morning, as I was praying through the requests in this week’s Prayer Partner email, I was deeply moved by one story in particular of a widow in Zambia. I cannot even begin to fathom the trauma of having my home stolen from me and my children taken away from me to a shelter as a result of my homelessness—all in the wake of my husband’s death. Compelled to share this with each of you, I’ve copied the story below.
Praise God for the staggering miracle of total restoration he has brought to Melody and her children!
From the Prayer Partner email update:
Give thanks to God for IJM Zambia client Melody Nanga, who recently won her property back through IJM’s legal intervention on her behalf. After going through severe traumatic situations, she now has her house, six rooms to rent and a small shop. She will soon be reunited with her triplets, who had been living in a shelter when Melody was homeless as a result of property seizure. They are returning to her now that she has her home back and a stable source of income.
If you would like to leave a note of encouragement to the Zambia team, simply use the “comment” function below—I know they will receive so much joy from your words.
I find it a humbling honor to be in the presence of Christian leaders from the Majority World (aka, “2/3 World,” or less favorably, “developing world” or “third world"). The contexts from which these leaders faithfully serve with excellence present daily challenges of a magnitude I may never know. The wisdom distilled from their daily discipleship is, to me, “like apples of gold in settings of pure silver.”
Yesterday I was honored to sit and listen to the Bishop (Anglican) of Mukono who is visiting the U.S. from Uganda. Five of us gathered for a small lunch in Larry Martin’s office to eagerly learn. The Bishop has been a champion for the rights of widows and orphans in his nation, and a champion of fighting rampant, pervasive corruption amongst those who hold power. He has been a significant advocate for IJM’s work of restoring property that has been stolen from the vulnerable - with his help, we are continually meeting more and more pastors to train in the knowledge of their community’s legal rights and protections, and these pastors are making an enormous difference in the lives of women and children who otherwise would be left destitute.
The Bishop joined our entire HQ staff for our daily 11:00 prayer time as well. As he rose to greet us, he asked that we pray for three things—will you join us in these prayers?
We just received word of a very difficult case that has opened in Uganda. Below is the information we have thus far from the field - and in addition, we suspect this case may be drawn-out over many months, so please do keep Veronica in continued prayer over the weeks to come (and pray that resolution may come quickly):
International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.
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