Monday, June 12, 2017

Day 12: World Day Against Child Labor

In good news, lunch was perhaps my best meal yet, a sort of "vegan pizza roll" creation, but my soup (dinner) again was a fail, totally overseasoned it and the garlic powder found in some of my seasonings was way overpowering. It was the kind of meal where you know you're getting calories but you just don't feel satisfied by it at all. Usually I really look forward to my soups, but between the cabbage fail yesterday and today's garlic overload, I need a big recovery by tomorrow.
Hunger Journal entry: I think I realize where much of the world's strife and crime originates. When you are hungry, you're angry. If we all followed God's commands and actually shared what we're supposed to share, I bet there would be no more war and crime rates would plummet. Bob Marley sang it well in the form of a prayer:

Them belly full but we hungry
A hungry mob is an angry mob
The rain will fall but the dirt stays tough
A pot to cook but the food's not enough
My belly full but me hungry

And you're the cook but food's no 'nough
Lord, lord, lord, lord, (food's no 'nough)

A hungry man is an angry man
Lord, lord...
We have a problem here. Why do we not get this? Our lack of sharing will eventually come back to bite us, because wars, crime, trafficking... it will all just keep raging unless we share in such a way that empowers the poor to break the cycle. Staying tucked away in our little Western bubbles will only last so long. If not our generation, our children's or our grandchildren's will be ravaged by the wars, crimes, and hate that will ensue from the great disparity between these two worlds of the have's and the have-not's. So, we should love, love with a purpose, we should love as if saving the world literally depended on our contribution, because, honestly, I believe it does.
Today my stomach was still bothering me from the rotten cabbage fail yesterday. Just had a hard time getting going today and, hey, Monday... constant interruptions but the kind that have to be taken care of. So fundraising took a back seat yet again for most of the day. Tomorrow I will be back at it and hope to drum up some additional support on the "Heart-Chart" with your help!

On the redemptive front, in a beautiful symbol of shared burden, Becki and Ryan's "7 days on $7" challenge has kicked off, and they rounded up a few new monthly donations for us (if you're on Instagram, follow those links to check out their stories). So we are now just $8/mo away from filling the $36/mo heart! Just follow this link to register your $8/mo gift and we will have the next heart on the "Monthly Donor Heart-Chart" filled!

[Late-breaking note: right at the time of publishing this blog, I saw a notification that we just got the $51/mo heart sponsored! Fantastic news at the end of a hard day! Thank you for the continued support! That allows me to post this updated chart!] 


Today is a U.N. holiday called World Day Against Child Labor. It's actually quite depressing to realize that we need to have such a day of awareness. The following are scenes that should never be. I'm dedicating day 12 to the victims of child labor I've had the sobering chance to meet.

I'd like to ask you to pause today on World Day Against Child Labor to count your blessings and consider all the work that still remains to make our world a safer place for children. These are my photos, many of them shot in Manila at a real place I have visited many times, and sadly these are all too common scenes. It's a living hell where children collect recyclables amidst toxic trash for a few extra pennies a day. Yet, amazingly, thanks to your support and our collective efforts, just a ten-minute walk from this spot sits the Children's Hope Center, a project we launched to help keep kids like these in school and out of the trash dump. Help us sustain this important project by sponsoring a heart or a portion of a heart on our "Montly Donor Heart-Chart." ❤️

Read a recent encouraging story about our Manila Children's Hope Center here.

Just a few child labor images from my library for your awareness and consideration.









Charitable goal explanation. For those of you just tuning in, I'll recap what I'm trying to achieve with the "Monthly Donor Heart-Chart" and my goal of finding 50 new sponsors for these "hearts" which I like to think of as representing lives being transformed and, ultimately, saved.

Why am I seeking monthly donors? The orphan care, child labor response, and human trafficking response programs we've pioneered at Peace Gospel and She Has Hope— while sustained in part by small business enterprise— need charitable support to be fully sustained. The budgets of these programs have fixed, monthly expenses. Thus, while one-time donations are deeply appreciated, it's the monthly donations that give us something to count on and plan with. Therefor, long-term, they're the most powerful.

If you're willing to make a small monthly sacrifice of any amount to help ensure that the following merciful actions are fully funded each month, I would be grateful for your partnership with me in this effort. With your help, our monthly budget enables us to…
  • Provide resident care for 290 orphans in 11 homes in Asia and Africa
  • Operate 4 schools and 4 after-school care programs reaching over 1000 children
  • Serve approx. 50,000 fresh meals to children in our programs
  • Train 100s of girls how to avoid the dangers of human trafficking
  • House, rehabilitate and empower 20 girls recovering from human trafficking

On to what I was able to create with just $1 worth of food today.

Click or tap on image to enlarge...

Breakfast.


Lunch.



Dinner.



Evening Snack.


Take Action!

1) Please consider helping me reach my goal to find 50 new "Sustainers"— donors willing to give a small amount each month toward our work helping vulnerable children and trafficking survivors. Learn more and sign up here!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to the work of Peace Gospel's programs helping orphans, at-risk children of the slums, and human trafficking survivors.


3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!

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