China - Touch Their Poverty!

I have been asked to be a part of a human trafficking assessment team to Mainland China. I will be going with a team of Salvation Army leaders to various project sites within poor communities in China which are at risk for human trafficking. My role on the team will be to see the situation through the eyes of a westerner and give my feedback as to how this problem may best be communicated to the west. My goal for the trip is to "touch their poverty." Or rather I want to be touched by their poverty! I want to feel the discomfort of their living to the point of it breaking my heart.

This is something that The Salvation Army has always been called to do. Last August I was able to read, "Good Morning China!" a book by Lt. Colonel Check-Hung Yee which tells the history of The Salvation Army in China. In an epilogue his daughter says, "As you step back in time and experience God’s transforming work in this generation of brave soldiers, may your heart also leap and be fanned to flame with the bond of love for China’'s 1.3 billion souls.’ As I read this book that is exactly what happened. I found myself with a burning desire to go to China and see the army at work there.

I plan on coming back to the states with a renewed vision and passion for God's calling on my life for the world. I will be leaving next Wednesday and coming back on April 8th. I would love to ask you all to support me and the team. Please pray for us even now as we prepare to go. On my return it is my plan to provide a report of the trip on this blog.

One friend wrote to say the Lord had layed the following verse on his heart regarding this trip:

'You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn-bush will grow a pine tree, and instead of briers, the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign which will not be destroyed.'

Isaiah 55:12

I am raising support to cover the cost of this trip. If you feel that you would like to help support this trip financially or would just like more information please contact me at Jason_Pope@uss.salvationarmy.org.

PS. Below is a copy of some information on China's Trafficking problems.

People’s Republic of China
China is the world's fourth largest country, with a population exceeding one billion two hundred and ninety million (1,290,000,000) and average life expectancy of approximately seventy-two (72) years. Urban unemployment is estimated at ten percent (10%) and substantial unemployment and underemployment exists in rural areas. The poverty rate is ten percent (10%).6

Human trafficking is an acute problem in China ? a problem which has been and will continue to be exacerbated by the country’s one-child policy.7 The common cultural preference of families for boy children has led to a thriving practice of selective abortion of female babies. The result is serious gender disproportion which has left millions of men without potential spouses. To illustrate, approximately one hundred seventeen (117) boys were born for every one hundred (100) girls in 2000, compared with one hundred eight and one-half (108.5) in 1982. In the southern provinces of Hainan and Guangdong, the ratio was one hundred thirty to one hundred (130:100). A natural ratio would be one hundred four to one hundred seven, compared to one hundred (104 to 107:100).8 Thus, the effort to find wives had led to a flourishing traffic in women and girls, internally and from countries such as Burma, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam.9 Police are said to have freed forty-two thousand two hundred and fifteen (42,215) kidnapped women and children in the past two years.10

In March 2004, Li Weixiong, vice-chairman of a committee studying population issues told a government advisory body that a “dramatic rise” in levels of prostitution and the buying and selling of women was “by no means a sensational prediction.” He stated that if the situation continues, by 2020 there could be thirty (30) to forty (40) million men who would stay single all their lives.11 This will create an unprecedented and overwhelming demand for women. In addition to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and brides, there is also traffic of male babies for adoption.12

The U.S. Department of State’s 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report noted, “Chinese women are trafficked to Australia, Burma, Canada, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Europe, and the United States” for purposes of prostitution.13 China is given a Tier 2 ranking in the report, indicating that its government does not comply with the minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 but that it is making significant efforts to come into compliance.14