Trick-or-Treat...not so treaty

Child Exploitation-Human Trafficking- Slave Labor

Not phrases usually associated with Halloween but the ugly Truth.

Want to know more: Death...by chocolate

This Trafficking is prominent in West Africa. A place I have visited. Children 11-14, boys and girls, are being taken illegally over the borders from Mali and Burkina Faso into Ghana and Ivory Coast and forced to work on Cocoa plantations run by large corporations such as Nestle' and Hershey. They are often promised a payment that... is never received.
There is HOPE. People are working across the globe to end this injustice and you can help. Even if you are not on the front lines fighting, you can do your part by: 1. Learning about Fair-Trade (not Free-trade)
2. Check out your local grocery store, independent co-op, or coffee house and
find fair trade chocolate (or any other fair-trade product they sell) and
commit to purchasing these products.
3. Tell Others-Invite retailers who are not selling Fair trade products to learn
more about them and look into stocking them.
This is a fight that can be won. In Europe due to demand by consumers (you and me) most large companies are selling fair-trade chocolate. In America the demand is not there... yet.
It is not a political movement... It is a justice movement.
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18



The symbol to look for on your chocolate, coffee, sugar, vanilla, nuts, and many other goods

It has been a while...

I like blogs. They relate real people with real issues (added bonus when there is humor).
I am immersed fully in school at this point. My travels are long over and the reality of being stuck in 'ordinary' has set in. It's been 6 months since returning home, to Wisconsin, from Youth With A Mission. What have I done?
Hung out with my family (built a cob oven), Cut down trees (irony), Road tripped to Cornerstone music festival (slept in hammock), Reunited with 3 of my roomies from YWAM (Sam and Lydia and Angela), visited the University I was supposed to attend in Virginia (did not go), amazing family reunion (had to leave early), moved to Appleton (unintended), started classes at University Wisconsin Oshkosh ( Environmental Studies), Hiked 4 days in Michigan (with Andrea my new roommate).
The highlights in a nutshell. I ask myself everyday ' is this really my life I am living'. Is it what I had planned... no. Am I adjusted? Working on it. Content? Most days.
Returning back to American life has been hard. Why did no one prepare me? Impossible.
Is my heart still overseas? Yes. It is a good reminder of how blessed I am everyday.
Have I learned a lot? Yes. God is at work. Always.
I struggled to know what my purpose was upon returning. Me. Everything was focused on me. Not God. I started a study called 'Experiencing God' by Henry Blackaby. It has moved me away from, well, myself. Now, my thoughts are truly focused on What are God's plans and purposes.... and How can I be involved?
Where is God at work around you? How can you join Him in that work?


"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2


Also, if you are curious to to see more about what I did on outreach check out this video Anna made:
EDTS Outreach