Trading lives...at what cost

It seems I'm struggling to find the time to blog of late but there's plenty of topics and thoughts flying around in my head as life rolls on. I'll get to sharing them some time I'm sure. In the meantime here's a reflection I wrote after attending a World Vision breakfast that stirred me.


As I sit here eating my eating my organic fair-trade chocolate from Bolivia and drinking my organic fair-trade coffee from Africa I am consciously reminded of the glimmer of hope that is emerging through an unjust industry which still largely dominates the market today. My heart sinks once more and I think of the many thousands of families who are not getting a ‘fair go’ and will not be able to afford to put food on the table tonight.

I attended a World Vision breakfast a couple of weeks ago where Tim Costello and David Batstone were the speakers. The purpose of the breakfast was to launch their new campaign ‘Don’t trade lives’ to compliment a USA campaign called ‘Not for sale’. I have always being a passionate advocate for fair-trade and the abolition of modern day slavery but attending this breakfast just reignited my passion for this cause all over again. It also highlighted for me some disturbing facts with new stories.

We reflected on the celebration of the 200th year since William Wilberforce, the most famous abolitionist, passed the bill in British parliament to finally abolish the slave trade and make it illegal. Yet we recognize today that there are now more people trade as slaves than in the entire history of the slave trade from the Africa's. In fact statistics put the number at 27 million people today are currently in slavery. That statistic has got to blow any one’s mind. More than two thirds of them are under the age of 18. Not only are they people who work in the coffee and coca farms, they are traded for slave labor in many other industries, one of the biggest is the sex industry. Human trafficking generates $31 billion annually and guess who the majority of the customers are? You guessed it, the middle class of the western world.

What brought this issue home to me even more so was hearing the story of slave trading happening right here in Adelaide. Not only are we buying the products from companies who have brought us globalization, but humans are being sold into slavery right here in our city and we don’t even know it. We heard of a restaurant in the CBD who used slaves to service their restaurant and when they weren’t required they were stored in the underground den. Fortunately the federal police discovered that one, but there are many more.

Those of us who attended the breakfast were very stirred to take action to combat this epidemic. I felt confident as I walked away that I was part of a Christian community that would have no problem getting on board with such a cause. The challenge was put to us to raise a ‘generation of justice seekers’ who will not be satisfied with the standards we put up with but would outrageously take the next step to end injustice. It compliments our vision as a church to do justice and love mercy.

So how do we respond? What can we do? The Don’t trade lives campaign has called Australians to 3 commitments.
1) be aware of what you buy and how it gets here. Ask questions.
2) Encourage your workplace to advocate for change in countries where they work. Check the products you buy for your tea room, where do they come from? What are the fair-trade alternatives?
3)Stay informed about human trafficking and take action by visiting www.donttradelives.com.au.

Verity and I go out of our way to buy fair-trade in our grocery shopping. It costs us a little more but if we didn’t, at what cost is it for those who provide the products we buy at bargain prices? You will be disturbed to find out with just a click of a button on the above website.
My prayer is that we will all aspire to be part of a generation of justice seekers. You will see elements of this campaign being promoted throughout winter especially as we hold special awareness events at this church. David Batstone’s book, ‘Not For Sale—The return of the Global Slave Trade and how we can fight it’ will be available in our resource centre shortly.

Shalom Mark