"3...2...1...egggghhhhhh!!! He made it! The crowd goes wild, Grant Hill and the Pistons pull off the upset of the Lakers as time expires!" On the slanted and cracked driveway of Marylane Dr, I played out this scenario many-a-time, dressed in a teal windsuit on a 8-foot hoop with wasp nests in the back. #33 (Grant Hill) was about the coolest person in the world to me. (Mind you, this is before I learned to throw a pigskin...). Sometimes, we feel like we're playing in an all-star game with Grant Hill. Like we were the ones who drew the lucky cereal box that let us play on his team.
Guatemala is beautiful, but it's got its issues. In some neighborhoods, 1 in 4 adolescent girls are victims of sexual violence. It often goes undiscovered--that's the kind of thing most people cover up. That gets hard when girls 14, 12, or 11 years old become pregnant, and 90% of such pregnancies involved relatives. Fighting this gets hard when a) in 2012, of 2,000 reported under-14 pregnancy cases only 8 resulted in convictions, b) much of this happens in the poor, rural pueblos where 1) discipline happens within the community (not by federal court) and 2) males dominate the patriarchal power systems of those communities and women have very low status (even though their work is invaluable to the communities). and c) when the government and police are underfunded, years behind scheduling trials, are also patriarchal and don't have eyes and ears out for sex crimes...nor are they trained in what to look for and how to handle it.
In 8th grade I learned about International Justice Mission (IJM) for the first time and since then have followed their work from a distance. It's intense. It's dangerous. It's the kingdom of God (And AJ likes those things especially). It's caring. It's rescue. It's justice. (And Alaina likes those things especially). On Friday, we visited IJM's headquarters here in Guatemala City. We've made fast friends with a group of interns and fellows who work there in data collection, monitoring of victims' progress toward recovery, training of new police units, human resources, and working with lawyers and judges. We joined the staff of 50 brown, black, and white folks in (daily) morning prayer session (which is so necessary and genuine in the work they do), walked around the office to see everything from human resources, pictures of offenders on a wall, to play rooms for kids to get back to real life and trust again. This is the moment when I feel like I'm alley-ooping to Grant Hill. Our friends (most of them our age or younger) are here engaging in what we see as some of the most difficult and meaningful work in the world. It's focused (Guatemala's focus is child sex crimes). It's large-scale (they go to the judges and police where the power is, not just little non-profits). It's holistic (they do after-care for the victims and bring justice to the oppressor...it's not the spineless Christianity that ignores the corrupt systems, while keeping a heart for the oppressed). It changes lives for real. IJM has been well-researched, has rescued over 300 (and counting) victims from sexual violence, and convicted over 200 offenders in its 10 years of existence in Guatemala. We're so proud to be friends with these all-stars. We can read Psalm 10 with a new spirit and conviction:
(verse 9) "[The oppressor] lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.
He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”
Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.
The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror."
Of course, when we get to hang out with the IJM folks, they're just people. They're really smart, with great hearts, but they also don't like certain foods, laugh, have insecurities, are sinners, and are dreaming about what their lives could be like. We love getting to be hopeful humans with them. Brothers and sisters and Christ, and we truly hope the best for them as people and hope the best for the people they work with and for daily at IJM.
Here's a couple links about IJM Guatemala. If they're in Spanish, you should be able to let Google translate it for you at the top. Or plug it into Google Translate at your own risk.
Teen Pregnancy in Guatemala
IJM Fact Sheet
Prensa Libre (the newspaper)
Guatemala is beautiful, but it's got its issues. In some neighborhoods, 1 in 4 adolescent girls are victims of sexual violence. It often goes undiscovered--that's the kind of thing most people cover up. That gets hard when girls 14, 12, or 11 years old become pregnant, and 90% of such pregnancies involved relatives. Fighting this gets hard when a) in 2012, of 2,000 reported under-14 pregnancy cases only 8 resulted in convictions, b) much of this happens in the poor, rural pueblos where 1) discipline happens within the community (not by federal court) and 2) males dominate the patriarchal power systems of those communities and women have very low status (even though their work is invaluable to the communities). and c) when the government and police are underfunded, years behind scheduling trials, are also patriarchal and don't have eyes and ears out for sex crimes...nor are they trained in what to look for and how to handle it.
In 8th grade I learned about International Justice Mission (IJM) for the first time and since then have followed their work from a distance. It's intense. It's dangerous. It's the kingdom of God (And AJ likes those things especially). It's caring. It's rescue. It's justice. (And Alaina likes those things especially). On Friday, we visited IJM's headquarters here in Guatemala City. We've made fast friends with a group of interns and fellows who work there in data collection, monitoring of victims' progress toward recovery, training of new police units, human resources, and working with lawyers and judges. We joined the staff of 50 brown, black, and white folks in (daily) morning prayer session (which is so necessary and genuine in the work they do), walked around the office to see everything from human resources, pictures of offenders on a wall, to play rooms for kids to get back to real life and trust again. This is the moment when I feel like I'm alley-ooping to Grant Hill. Our friends (most of them our age or younger) are here engaging in what we see as some of the most difficult and meaningful work in the world. It's focused (Guatemala's focus is child sex crimes). It's large-scale (they go to the judges and police where the power is, not just little non-profits). It's holistic (they do after-care for the victims and bring justice to the oppressor...it's not the spineless Christianity that ignores the corrupt systems, while keeping a heart for the oppressed). It changes lives for real. IJM has been well-researched, has rescued over 300 (and counting) victims from sexual violence, and convicted over 200 offenders in its 10 years of existence in Guatemala. We're so proud to be friends with these all-stars. We can read Psalm 10 with a new spirit and conviction:
(verse 9) "[The oppressor] lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.
He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”
Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.
The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror."
Of course, when we get to hang out with the IJM folks, they're just people. They're really smart, with great hearts, but they also don't like certain foods, laugh, have insecurities, are sinners, and are dreaming about what their lives could be like. We love getting to be hopeful humans with them. Brothers and sisters and Christ, and we truly hope the best for them as people and hope the best for the people they work with and for daily at IJM.
Here's a couple links about IJM Guatemala. If they're in Spanish, you should be able to let Google translate it for you at the top. Or plug it into Google Translate at your own risk.
Teen Pregnancy in Guatemala
IJM Fact Sheet
Prensa Libre (the newspaper)