By Chris Berridge, on behalf of Kingsland Justice

Hello Kingsland! It is my sincere privilege to be guest writer for your “Kingsland Justice” weblog. As a partner in the field, I take great joy in being able to share the amazing works that God is doing here in Kolkata. And with your support, I might add!

As many of you are well aware of, I am sure, there is an unbelievable amount of injustice going on all around the world. I do not think I need to regale you with tales of woe: infants starving in the slums, HIV/AIDS continuing to ravage rural communities, little boys given guns and told to fire upon their neighbors, generations of families working 18 hour days in rice mills to pay off an unrelenting debt. Of twelve-year-old girls taken from their homes, promised jobs in the city and instead taken to brothels, where they are raped for money, all day, all night.

Because you have been burdened with knowledge of the plight of your fellow men and women, and of children, maybe not much older than yours, you are faced with a choice. The choice comes to all who know of such things.

You can turn a blind eye. You can just ignore it, tell yourself that “it’s not my problem” and go on your way. It’s pretty easy to do. I know I’ve certainly done it.

But you can choose to confront injustice. You can choose to take a stance against the marginalization, the victimization of millions.

I continuously thank God that churches like Kingsland have chosen the latter. To know that you take your time, your resources and your love and send all of it to people you have never met is so encouraging.

But forget about people like me who are working in the field. You know who really cares about your decision? Those twelve-year-old girls. How do I know? They told me so.

There are well over one hundred girls at Affection* aftercare home. Most of the girls here have been rescued out of the commercial sex trade, with all too many of their stories echoing the aforementioned scenario. They are girls of all ages, all former victims of some sort of injustice, but more importantly, they are all survivors. Each girl, in her own way, has found a way to endure, to persevere despite her circumstance. Their courage in the face of horrific injustices is unparalleled. But, regardless of their determination, there are still basic necessities each must have to survive. They need a safe shelter, food, clean water and a place to rest their heads at night. Additionally, because they are survivors of intensely traumatic events, they need professional counseling and therapy. The provision of all these essentials is critical to the restoration of each girl.

The aftercare home is a place where these needs are met. It gives them a chance to live a life that was once taken from them, a life that they deserve to live.

Around two weeks ago, 30 recent high school graduates from Kingsland came to Kolkata for a service trip. I was amazed at the amount of young people who were willing to take time from their summers to come and serve complete strangers. They served all over the city, including Affection.*

I met with a small group of young women a day after their weekend spent with the girls at Affection. Despite being exhausted from a long service trip, their faces lit up with joy as they recounted their experience with their new friends. They made bracelets and all sorts of crafts, they danced, they drew beautiful henna on their hands and arms. And although they did not speak the same language and they grew up worlds apart, they thrived in one another’s company. They connected at one the most fundamental of levels, they were able to be little girls, together.

“The simplest things brought them so much joy. It was amazing to have such an opportunity,” said one of the Kingsland women. “We loved being there and hope to come back soon. I know they want us back, they told us!”

When I took a look around Affection* after the Kingsland women’s visit, the place was abuzz with happy girls running everywhere, some dancing, some playing in the square. I was astonished by the even greater amount of joy I saw on their faces than usual. I was quickly brought to the place where all the crafts from the weekend were stored. The girls held up all sorts of beaded “lizards” and bracelets, they showed me their henna. All of them were so excited because of the time they had with the women from Kingsland. Because of security reasons, I cannot show you their faces, but trust me when I say, the most radiant of suns on a hot Texas day could not compare to the brilliance of their smiles.

You are making a difference. These girls need a place like Affection.* They need more places like it. They need bigger places like it, because the need is so great. God is moving here, and I am so grateful that you are choosing to be a part of His movement.

by Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

Just before boarding my flight from Kolkata to Dubai last Thursday, I picked up a copy of the July 12 issue of The Gulf Times and read a disturbing story entitled: Women Protest Over Afghan Execution. The story reported the public execution of a 22 year-old woman for alleged adultery. This latest episode of violence against women in Afghanistan took place in a village about 100-kilometers outside of Kabul, the capital of this Islamic nation. The execution of this woman named Najiba was captured on video. The disturbing video shows the young woman seated on the ground while a group of Taliban militants prayed before pronouncing her sentence and shooting her in the back several times at close range — all this as dozens of men cheered from the adjacent hillside. Najiba’s execution sparked both local and international outrage, calling for Karzai’s government to bring the culprits to justice.

Afghanistan is a very dangerous place for women. According to the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission, there has been a sharp increase of violence against women in the past year. Earlier this month a woman and two of her children were beheaded in eastern Afghanistan by her own husband. This was just one more in a series of so-called honor killings. And, what makes Najiba’s execution even more abominable is the revelation by Basir Salangi, the governor of Parwan Province. According to Salangi, two Taliban commanders were sexually involved with Najiba, either through rape or romantically. These two men decided to settle their dispute by torturing and killing the young woman. The double-standard is evident. The honor is not. Is it any wonder why Afghanistan is a dangerous place for women? The hypocritical and self-righteous Taliban have once again demonstrated what the world would look like with the absence of grace. When power is not tempered by grace, things can get ugly in a hurry.

The Bible speaks of an occasion when some religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus — a woman caught in the very act of adultery (John 8:1-12). The man, of course, was nowhere to be found. The religious leaders reminded Jesus that the law allowed for the stoning of such a woman. Jesus invited any among the woman’s accusers who was himself without sin to cast the first stone. That’s all it took to remind these hyper-pious men that their lives were as covered by the filth of sin as that of the woman they had publicly humiliated. And then, after the woman’s accusers had all left, Jesus forgave the woman and told her to change her ways. This simple act of grace gave this woman an opportunity to make a new start. And who among us has not longed for a new start?

The answer to making Afghanistan a safer place for woman and children goes much deeper than anything that Karzai’s government can do. What is broken or missing is a fundamental respect for the sanctity of human life and the capacity to exercise mercy and grace — all of which are not a part of the Taliban worldview. Without the presence of grace and love to temper power, we can expect to read more stories about woman and children who are the victims of hypocritical and brutal men who have no regard for the value of life and who are unwilling to come to terms with their own sinfulness. The Taliban and others like them have turned Afghanistan into an ugly and unsafe place. And there is certainly no honor in that. May Najiba's executioners be brought to justice.

by Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

The death of Fakhra Younus last month reignited international outcry concerning the plight of Pakistani women who are the victims of an unbelievably brutal practice — acid attacks on women. Younus, a once beautiful woman, was allegedly attacked by her then-husband Bilal Khar, in May 2000. The attack left Younus horribly disfigured. Her caretaker reported that she often feared that Younus would die in the night because she could not breathe. “We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left,” she said, “because the rest was all melted together.” After the attack, the Italian government offered Younus asylum, paid for her treatment, and provided money for her to live. Younus endured more than three dozen surgeries and hoped to one day return to Pakistan to reopen her case and fight for justice. However, on March 17, the horribly disfigured Younus decided life was no longer worth living and jumped to her death from her sixth-story apartment. She was laid to rest in Karachi, Pakistan on March 25.

The story of Fakhra Younus is only one among the thousands of similar stories that emerge from Pakistan annually. According to The Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization, more than 8,500 acid attacks and other forms of violence against women were reported n Pakistan in 2011. This foundation also reported an increase of 37.5 percent in the number of acid throwing incidents in the country. Acid is a weapon of choice for revenge against women by their husbands, by suitors whose marriage proposals or sexual advances are rejected, or in cases of unmet demands for dowry. In many cases, the attackers often appear to operate with impunity and are not brought to justice. In the case of Bilal Khar, Younus’ ex-husband, many believe the he used his powerful political connections to escape accountability.

Time will tell what impact the outcry over Younus’ death will have on the Pakistani government to do more to prevent acid attacks and other forms of inhumane acts of violence and brutality against women. The Pakistani government should be embarrassed that Younus was embraced by and found help in the arms of the Italians rather than in their own arms. The Aurat Foundation reported that Younus believed that “the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy” and that she “was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her.” These beliefs became the breeding ground for the despair that eventually led Younus to take her own life. However, just because Younus did not see justice in her lifetime does not mean that justice will not be served. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Impunity is a temporary condition.

On a deeper level, the kind of violent attacks that women in Pakistan, and in other places around the world, suffer are the result of an impoverished or nonexistent understanding of the sanctity of human life. It is unquestionably dangerous to be a woman in certain geographical contexts. A 2011 poll conducted by TrustLaw, a Thomas Reuters Foundation Service, identified Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India, and Somalia as the most dangerous places for women. Shame on these countries! Fakhra Younus did not deserve to have acid poured on her face and she did not deserve to die. Tehmina Durrani, the woman who cared for Younus following the attack, said of Younus, “Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed.” My prayer is that something good will bloom and that her death will not be in vain. Perhaps Younus’ blood mingled with the blood of other victims will become the seed of justice that will blossom in places where the powerful treat the weak with indignity. Time will tell.