Today was split into two, we were able to visit a lady with a lot of know-how! We sepnt two hours examing our inner conciences with a social justice advocate this morning. From 'what am i doing' to 'actually what should we be doing as christians in terms of overseas development? mission sometimes causes more harm than good'. This was particualy challenging because this week we have been looking at ourselves, not apraising others, but ourselves.
*How do i contribute to inequalities and injustices- in every part of my life- in suttle ways or more obvious ones?
*What is my motive for the things i do? are my priorities right?
*What are my core values--- actually are they right? are they in line with the truth?
Phew! Yip its hard, and i know for myself this is a continual learning, sobering experience. I dont get it right, the worlds problems are huge and often overwhelming. But the one truth i do know is that we were made to live here and to all lead a full and good life. I believe that things are so unjust that they are worth fighting for. If I can have a good life, others are entitled to it too. Ahhhh reflecting- not always pretty!
We bbqed and had a cool hang out time with some young people and the youth services team. Very inspiring stuff! More and more it is the connections between people that are at the heart of the ministries we visit. Maybe all of the above is why Jesus said that one of the two most important things in this life is to love each other.
Well that was quite a spiritual reflection... it just seems that way!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Day Two: Emerging ourselves in... a Hangi!
As we have mentioned we have only been eating rice, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But on this fine Wellington day we got real food and not only that but it was a hangi. As we headed off to Ngatiawa, out in the bush at Waikanae we started to feel a little nervous about the day ahead. We, the little fuelees, were embarking on an experience we were never going to forget. Being that only one person from our team was part maori none of us really had any idea how to make a hangi or how to hongi.
The day started off with a powhiri which helped ease our nerves. We were to spend the day immersing ourselves in the lives of the Porirua Alternative School. At first it seemed we were going to have a hard day breaking down the barriers between us and them. Culturally we were very much out of our comfort zones. But as the day progressed girls making stuffing, boys chopping wood we got talking to some of the teens and I can safely say that everyone in the fuel team learnt something from these teens. We were there to serve and help them with the hangi but we walked away feeling like they had taught us something about their experiences of life. Theirs very much different from our own. The hangi building and all the hard work helped us to come together as a community for that day. And to top it all off the boys got to be boys by jumping off cliffs into the stream. You didn't see any girls trying to take on this challenge!
At the end of the day as we drove back to Tawa in our beautiful green machine, which might I add none of those teens wanted to be seen near it, us fuelees felt a sense of insight into a world that we may never have got a glimpse of. Each of the teens from the Alt School came from backgrounds that we had never experienced. We felt like this day had taught some great life lessons. Not only through talking with these teens and getting to know them but also we now know how to make good stuffing and build a hangi.
The day started off with a powhiri which helped ease our nerves. We were to spend the day immersing ourselves in the lives of the Porirua Alternative School. At first it seemed we were going to have a hard day breaking down the barriers between us and them. Culturally we were very much out of our comfort zones. But as the day progressed girls making stuffing, boys chopping wood we got talking to some of the teens and I can safely say that everyone in the fuel team learnt something from these teens. We were there to serve and help them with the hangi but we walked away feeling like they had taught us something about their experiences of life. Theirs very much different from our own. The hangi building and all the hard work helped us to come together as a community for that day. And to top it all off the boys got to be boys by jumping off cliffs into the stream. You didn't see any girls trying to take on this challenge!
At the end of the day as we drove back to Tawa in our beautiful green machine, which might I add none of those teens wanted to be seen near it, us fuelees felt a sense of insight into a world that we may never have got a glimpse of. Each of the teens from the Alt School came from backgrounds that we had never experienced. We felt like this day had taught some great life lessons. Not only through talking with these teens and getting to know them but also we now know how to make good stuffing and build a hangi.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Emerging ourselves in... Rice!
This week i am in Wellington with a beautiful group of friends-- we have meet all year since Feb to discuss what mission, serving, faith, God, injustice and other curly things mean. Not only what they mean, but also what what they have to do with us. This is, I belive a key thing for us to think about-- Who is God, what is his purposes and plans, what does he think, and then how do i fit into all of this. The bible tells us that Loving God and each other is the main point of life, so then how do we do that?
So back to being in Wellington, we have driven down and are staying at Nathan and Naomis-- they live in a drop in centre/ community prayer house/ and general hub of hospitality. Today, We were luckly to have a sleep in, but soon enough the rice was on the stove-- rice for breakfast? Aha, we have taken to eating rice for meals that we are home for, so instead of meat and veges and yummy cereal- we are eating rice. Though we have our moments of wondering why, we have come to the following conclusions about it.
*We are not in a thrid world country so no, we are not trying to imitate being 'poor'!
*We are surrounded by so manny luxuries, so the act of eating rice, is an act of simplifying our lives a little. We have so much, simple is just better.
*the amount we would spend on really good food, could be spent better else where. So we are donating some of the money we saved from not being to over indugent.
IT is only a week after all, we will go back to eating good food, but maybe we will reflect more on just how much we have, and how sometimes its just not that necessary. In our culture we seem to think that spending heaps is ok, but when we stand outside and look in, we could probably live a little more simply!
We also went marching around Wellington for most of the day with $20, our feet or a bus, and appointments that were ages away from each other and impossible to find! Once again, living the life of someone differnt to myself was eye opening- with no car, finances to sort, doctors appointments for kids to make, and a tight budget- I now have more understanding about lifestyles in New Zealand (the good stuff and the tough stuff!)
Ill be checking in each day with a report-- so keep posted!
So back to being in Wellington, we have driven down and are staying at Nathan and Naomis-- they live in a drop in centre/ community prayer house/ and general hub of hospitality. Today, We were luckly to have a sleep in, but soon enough the rice was on the stove-- rice for breakfast? Aha, we have taken to eating rice for meals that we are home for, so instead of meat and veges and yummy cereal- we are eating rice. Though we have our moments of wondering why, we have come to the following conclusions about it.
*We are not in a thrid world country so no, we are not trying to imitate being 'poor'!
*We are surrounded by so manny luxuries, so the act of eating rice, is an act of simplifying our lives a little. We have so much, simple is just better.
*the amount we would spend on really good food, could be spent better else where. So we are donating some of the money we saved from not being to over indugent.
IT is only a week after all, we will go back to eating good food, but maybe we will reflect more on just how much we have, and how sometimes its just not that necessary. In our culture we seem to think that spending heaps is ok, but when we stand outside and look in, we could probably live a little more simply!
We also went marching around Wellington for most of the day with $20, our feet or a bus, and appointments that were ages away from each other and impossible to find! Once again, living the life of someone differnt to myself was eye opening- with no car, finances to sort, doctors appointments for kids to make, and a tight budget- I now have more understanding about lifestyles in New Zealand (the good stuff and the tough stuff!)
Ill be checking in each day with a report-- so keep posted!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
ooowwwwww!
Our compassionate efforts toward justice guarantee a deepened faith and prayer life. They will lead us to disciplines of the spirit and of the heart. By engaging with suffering, we learn true joy. By touching despair, we discover what it means to embrace hope. By coming to know Christ crucified, we participate in his resurrection. By pouring ourselves out, we gain our lives.
--Joyce Hollyday
--Joyce Hollyday
Friday, November 16, 2007
Gap Takes Steps to Stem Child Labor
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE – Chicago Tribune
SAN FRANCISCO - Gap Inc. is pulling 50 percent of its orders placed with a vendor whose subcontracting led to children sewing some of the retailer's clothes in squalid conditions in India.
The penalties disclosed Wednesday wrapped up the San Francisco-based company's investigation into an embarrassing episode that attracted headlines around the world and renewed concerns about abusive labor practices in overseas factories.
To help address the problem, Gap said it would make a $200,000 grant aimed at improving the working conditions in India and would try to recruit retailers from around the world to participate in a forum next year to address child labor issues.
"We are determined to see some good come of this situation," Gap spokesman Bill Chandler said Wednesday.
Gap said it would also partner with the Global March Against Child Labour and other organizations to provide independent monitoring of hand embroidery and beadwork that is typically done in informal settings, not factories. Grants would help establish community centers in India where such work could be performed under better-monitored conditions.
The child labor concerns surfaced last month after the Observer newspaper in London reported children as young as 10 had been sold by their families to an Indian sweatshop. The children said they were sometimes hit with a rubber pipe and forced to work up to 16 hours per day sewing clothes, some of which were destined for Gap's shelves.
After the report was published, Gap terminated its ties with the subcontractor responsible for the sweatshop and promised none of the clothes made there would be sold in its stores. But Gap didn't take any immediate action against the supplier that hired the subcontractor in violation of the company's policies.
Gap's internal investigation concluded that at least one child was seen working on its product in an unauthorized factory in New Delhi.
"What happened here was without the knowledge or approval of Gap Inc. or, we believe, of the vendor," the company said in a summary of its investigation's findings. "Nonetheless, we hold ourselves and our vendor fully accountable."
To punish the vendor, Gap imposed a six-month probation that includes a 50 percent reduction in orders placed with the supplier. Gap declined to identify the penalized supplier, one of the company's roughly 200 vendors in India.
Last year, Gap stopped working with 23 factories that didn't live up to the company's standards. The company, which operates more than 3,000 stores under the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, employs 90 full-time inspectors to check out the conditions at more than 2,000 factories around the world.
SAN FRANCISCO - Gap Inc. is pulling 50 percent of its orders placed with a vendor whose subcontracting led to children sewing some of the retailer's clothes in squalid conditions in India.
The penalties disclosed Wednesday wrapped up the San Francisco-based company's investigation into an embarrassing episode that attracted headlines around the world and renewed concerns about abusive labor practices in overseas factories.
To help address the problem, Gap said it would make a $200,000 grant aimed at improving the working conditions in India and would try to recruit retailers from around the world to participate in a forum next year to address child labor issues.
"We are determined to see some good come of this situation," Gap spokesman Bill Chandler said Wednesday.
Gap said it would also partner with the Global March Against Child Labour and other organizations to provide independent monitoring of hand embroidery and beadwork that is typically done in informal settings, not factories. Grants would help establish community centers in India where such work could be performed under better-monitored conditions.
The child labor concerns surfaced last month after the Observer newspaper in London reported children as young as 10 had been sold by their families to an Indian sweatshop. The children said they were sometimes hit with a rubber pipe and forced to work up to 16 hours per day sewing clothes, some of which were destined for Gap's shelves.
After the report was published, Gap terminated its ties with the subcontractor responsible for the sweatshop and promised none of the clothes made there would be sold in its stores. But Gap didn't take any immediate action against the supplier that hired the subcontractor in violation of the company's policies.
Gap's internal investigation concluded that at least one child was seen working on its product in an unauthorized factory in New Delhi.
"What happened here was without the knowledge or approval of Gap Inc. or, we believe, of the vendor," the company said in a summary of its investigation's findings. "Nonetheless, we hold ourselves and our vendor fully accountable."
To punish the vendor, Gap imposed a six-month probation that includes a 50 percent reduction in orders placed with the supplier. Gap declined to identify the penalized supplier, one of the company's roughly 200 vendors in India.
Last year, Gap stopped working with 23 factories that didn't live up to the company's standards. The company, which operates more than 3,000 stores under the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, employs 90 full-time inspectors to check out the conditions at more than 2,000 factories around the world.
Get Into It!
You can be a part of a net work group, who meets, plans, and does! stuff around fair trade fortnight 08. Keen? leave a comment here or email me amie_baker@nzf.salvationarmy.org
Its a real learning journey and its hands on stuff too..Its a Rad thing to be a part of!
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