Vulnerable women – easy prey!

So my holiday to Cuba opened my eyes to the plight of women in vulnerable situations.

I’m no historian and don’t know all there is to know about Cuban culture, but Cuban life can be difficult.  It can be hard.

Cuba is run as a communist country.  The people have little freedom and are expected to conform to the laws of the land.  I guess we all have to abide by the law of the land to a certain degree but for Cubans, this makes opportunities a little more complicated.  The education system in Cuba is amazing.  The country provides state of the art education and continues right through to university level.  So most Cubans you meet will have studied to degree level or further.  Unfortunately, due to the way the country is run, people are no better off in pursuing the job that accompanies their qualifications.

You see, our friend, is a qualified engineer.  His job, you would think, would be working for an engineering company?  His certificate of engineering is displayed proudly in the family home.  But no, our friend is a manager in a hotel. 

In fact, most people opt to work in the tourism industry because they can earn more money.

It is quite surreal when a qualified doctor could be the man cooking your breakfast, or a scientific researcher could be cleaning your room.

You see, the government wants everyone to be equal.  They hand out rations for every Cuban to receive flour, oil, sugar and some other things.  No one goes without, but also no one has any means of getting any more. 

Until recently, leaving Cuba has also been restricted (opportunities are appearing now for people to find work in other countries).  So whether you’re a doctor or a cleaner, you get an equal measure of essentials.  But Cuba has a BIG source of income from tourists.  Cubans being the bright and intelligent people that they are, have seen this as an amazing opportunity.  Qualified professionals turned to working in tourism to access tips and ‘gifts’ from the tourists.  In the past we have taken toys for the children, school equipment, sweets, toiletries, etc. 

Most Cubans are very hard working people, but some young girls have become prey!

Within just our hotel, during the fortnight we were there I saw so many young girls being taken advantage of.  Now cast your minds back to little Aniella.  She will one day be a beautiful young lady.  Imagine her beauty in a young girl late teens or early twenties.  No matter how hard she works at school/university her life choices are limited.

Or are they?

You see there are quite a lot of men suddenly descending on Cuba.

Men seeking out Cuba’s beautiful women.

These men will give these vulnerable young girls all the material needs they desire.  They open up a world of opportunities for these young women.

But at what cost?

The young girls are escorting these men for the time of their vacation.  They live life to the full in a 5* hotel.  They are dined lavishly and showered with gifts.

But these young girls are being pimped.

These young girls are in such a vulnerable position. 

These young girls are being used.

These young girls are becoming prostitutes.

The Cuban people are aware of this growing trend.    And it struck me as sad when one of our Cuban friends had lost all sympathy for these girls, thinking they had chosen an easy way of getting the good things out of life.

But is this a good way of getting something out of life?  Should these girls need to prostitute their bodies to get the material things they desire?

Who is there to raise awareness for these vulnerable young women?  Who is there to raise awareness to the Cuban government that this is happening RIGHT NOW?  Who is there to shout from the rooftops that these girls are being taken advantage of?  Who is there to ask the outside world to help?

Mercy for Mamas on Mother's Day

While in Uganda I met a lady called Melissa.  We only met briefly but I feel I know her so well through her blog.  Her adoption story of her little girl Mercy was a little out of the ordinary and she spent many months in Uganda waiting for little Mercy's VISA so they could fly home.

Now back in the USA, Melissa has set up a fundraising blog in honour of Mercy's birth mom, who sadly died during Mercy's birth.  You can read all about Melissa and her new work, called Mercy for Mama's at http://www.mercyformamas.com/ 

This new initiative buys a simple care package that saves lives.  The video below is taken off Melissa's blog and explains everything much better than I ever could.  The cost of each care package is $7 (roughly £5).  The mama kit contains things we take for granted, but it saves birth mom's lives and helps deliver new borns into our world safely.  It is such a precious gift to these women.

I know you may never meet these women, but from giving £5, you KNOW you helped bring a new baby into the world safely.  What a wonderful gift and privilege to us who can give.

So, this Mothering Sunday, why not spend £5 in honour of your Mum, Grandmother, or any other special lady in your life, and buy a mama kit?  What a wonderful legacy to know you brought a baby safely into the world.  And for such little cost.

You can donate directly through the site, or if you'd like to send your's along with mine, and see me, feel free to pass me for £5 and you have my word that it will go to the cause and buy a mama kit for a very needy mama in Uganda.

Happy Mothering Sunday all you Mum's out there!

Cuban Princess

Someone asked me last week who the family was we talked about while on our Cuban holiday.  They are a wonderful family that we met on previous holidays in the country.  While my parents were there one year, they made such a good friendship with the couple, they were then asked if they would become their first born child's Godparents.  Such an honour for them.

And so meet our little Cuban Princess - my parents God-Daughter: Aniella

New friends!

With little sister

Isn't she beautiful?

No language barrier could stop these girls having fun together!

And so this is the first post about the topic of Vulnerable Girls across the world.  The link may not be very clear at the moment, but as we delve into the topic, I want you to keep little Aniella and her sister, Annaly, in your thoughts. 

I named a day......will you?

As part of the above campaign, I named today as a day to raise the issue of children dying from malnutrition in our world!

In our land of plenty this seems an unthinable thought.  I mean, our supermarket shelves are over stocked, as our cupboards often are.  There are times when food is simply wasted of thrown away, because we bought more than we needed. 

And yet, so many children literally starve to death, or suffer the implications for the rest of their days of malnutrition.

Look at the facts!

Save the Children have also made a film about malnutrition affecting so many children in the world.  Check it out here!

So if the smallest action you can make, is naming a day to bring this issue into the limelight, then please do! 

When will your day be?

International Women's Day

On 8th March I received a text from a friend in Uganda.  It said how he was preparing a meal for his mother, for all she had done and in honour of International Women's Day.

I later heard the same thing mentioned on the radio. 

What a wondeful idea I thought!

Little did I know that the concept had been around for years.

So after googling it and learning a lot, it brought my thoughts back to something I wanted to blog about for a while.  In fact, something my eyes were opened too on our Cuban holiday. 

Something that exlores the vulnerability of women around the world. 

So over the next week or so I am going to explore this theme in this blog. 

To have enough is to give enough

So how many of us, if we're honest, have days where we say that we've done enough?

Enough for the day?

Enough for ourselves?

Enough for each other?

In these moments I think we must be measuring ourselves by our own worldly limits and certainly not by God's standards!

Surely we can NEVER do enough to advocate for the orphan and widow. 
To stand up for the most vulnerable in society.
To putting our faith into action.
To serving a God who laid down His own life for us and the wrongs we do.

But yet I still hear it in the most unlikely places. 

People, who deem themselves to be Christians, saying they have a calling to serve God, but yet fail to walk the walk.  Those who fail to go that extra mile for not just another human being but for God!  Those who become lazy in their faith journey.

Simply talking the talk is NOT good enough.

God ALWAYS asks for MORE!  God asks for ACTIONS!

And yet, when we feel like we've done enough, it's in these testing times, where God enocurages us to go further, that our faith grows and our trust in Him develops stronger.

'And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work.'

2 Corinthians 9:8

In our good works, God will fill us with His grace!

We live such comfortable lives, with little stresses or worries, and yet the suffering continues for so many. 

Children are still left without families.  Slum families will struggle to stay safe, warm and fed tonight.  A woman is raped.  A child abducted to become a child soldier.  Someone spends a night on the streets, homeless.  A widow mourns.

The list could go on.....but you know the realities as well as I do.

Somewhere, someone is in need of love, in need of comfort and ultimately in need of action.

It may be in another part of the world, but it could also be on your doorstep.

And still we fail to try.  Or we worry about the little thing that we can do will fail to meet the needs of this person. 

God has given us comfortable lives to help those without this comfort! 

Our love multiplies with every need we see!  So why then should we fail to act upon it?

Throughout our adoption journey so many comments were made to me about how good it was of me to adopt.  So much emphasis on meeting a need.  And yet the need is still there.  Not for Lutaaya, and a need was met in her life, but this isn't ALL God has called me to do.

The calling to adopt was the strongest I have ever felt.  There has been a period of quietness and contemplation since we arrived home from Uganda in 2010. 

But yet God Calls......

Maybe quieter.....

Maybe a different message.....

But still there!  Still alive.

God hasn't sent me a message saying, 'Well done on adopting Lutaaya Natasha, now go and enjoy your time together and forget about anything else for the rest of your days for you heard and followed Me.'  Instead He gets me thinking, 'so what now God?'  'What next?'

And that's my call to work out.  But what's yours?  What has God filled your heart to do tonight, tomorrow?  I'd love to hear your stories, so feel free to post them in the comments part. Let's see what mountain's God is moving, or the little actions that mean the world to someone. 

Whatever it is, lets's act!

Surely it's better to do SOMETHING for someone else, rather than NOTHING! 

How things have changed....

Just over a year ago my little girl had never had a pet!

When she came into our home, she had to meet our cat, Gypsy.  I can hand on heart say, she was NOT impressed!

But oh how things have changed.....

What a difference a year makes!