It’s taken me quite sometime to be able to turn my thoughts and experiences into words.
In the beginning I was a bit bogged down by the shadows of what I’d been witnessing while trying to keep my heart, smile and energy consumption afloat for the women and children I crossed paths with. It’s been a wild journey here in India – such a different world.
On Monday we traveled to the Nijoloy shelter home run by the Women’s Interlink Foundation and the experience has been front of mind for me ever since. The girls who live in this particular shelter home are either orphans, victims of sex trafficking who have been rescued, or have been voluntarily signed over by their mothers who work in prostitution themselves and are hopeful of giving their daughters a better life.
"We in the West have a hard time believing that this is really happening, that the forcible exploitation of humans for profit is not only alive and well in the 21st century but worse than ever before… But the instinct of people to buy and sell other people for economic gain did not die with the 13th Amendment. It went underground and metastasized, waiting for conditions to ripen again. Then in the 1990s, slavery exploded into new life, fueled by globalization, the post-Cold-War economic vacuum, the Internet, and rising demand for cheap commercial sex and labor." Corban Addison
“We talked about empowering the youth…. But who really empowered who?”
In this 7 day journey hitting the streets in Los Angeles, we talked about empowering the youth, we met with amazing souls who had lived it first-hand in Watts, in The Projects, witness to the Bloods & the Crips, we met with amazing leaders who had been huge contributors to the success of gangs and major drug deals, and we had met with young teens who grew up in non-affluent neighborhoods who were now using their voice to make a difference.
After 12 months of talking about sex trafficking and working hard to raise awareness and money for these girls, today it became really real.
By day three of this trip, we have met and learned about some of the organizations that we gave money to. Met the courageous and compassionate leaders (mostly women) who are fierce and affecting change.
As I sit on the bus ride home and listen to Michael Franti sing, “Is your love enough, or can you love some more?” I am reminded of my intention this morning. . . “to BE love.”
It is challenging for me to be love when my mind focuses on the violence that these girls have been exposed to. I feel anger towards the men that have violated them, anger towards the governments that do not intervene to end this and anger towards myself for not doing more.
Before going to the Nijuloy Shelter Home today, we made a detour to walk through a nearby village. The streets are filled with people, bicycles, motorcycles, and cars. I have yet to make any sense of the traffic pattern here. Our driver says, “to drive in India you must have three things – good brakes, a good horn, and good luck!”
Proprioception. From Latin meaning “one’s own” and perception, it means knowing where your body is in space even if you can’t see it. Without proprioception, we’d need to watch our feet to make sure we stay upright while walking.
It was this innate sense of inner-knowing that led me to join the Seva Challenge even though I couldn’t see the steps ahead of me.
