I’m no longer frustrated by the fact that we only have a handful of girls in our still less than a year old after care facility.  I was at first.  We were very hopeful about an active anti-trafficking police force in North Sulawesi and the way that they immediately engaged us.  A lot of factors, bigger than us and them both, have them not as active as either of us had hoped.  Early police intervention efforts in Papua on behalf of North Sulawesi girls did bear fruit but were riddled with failure at the same time.  The quick discovery and severe part of the difficulty was that most of the brothels employing underage girls were owned by their law enforcement counterparts which made actual police action all but impossible until other resources come into the picture.

It seems that police and even the courts are a huge part of the problem, which has me thankful that we only have a handful for now.  Our partners and allies in the government that might otherwise be generating more rescues are joined with us in a pitched battle against the police and the court of a city a couple of hours to the south of us. The court is systematically criminalizing victims and letting the traffickers walk.  They are operating with complete disregard for the law and worse, the human rights of the girls who are the victims of the traffickers.  Two of these girls are clients of ours.  We’ve learned that all others that did not have the resources of our shelter are now serving prison sentences.

Our staff and legal counsel have fought and toiled for these girls.  As they have, they have also fought for those that sit in the jail cells.  With every legal move that is made, new illegal maneuvers are made by the police and court.  We have been forced to enlist the help of protective agencies from Jakarta.  There is ongoing work with the criminal divisions and internal affairs with the police at the state levels.  Police have been arrested.  Even so, strategies have had to continue to be developed with the expectation that the arrest threats could become next day realities.  We again find ourselves wonderfully served by the staffs of our US Senators offices as they assist us.

As we continue to beat back the illegal efforts of an insistently corrupt entity, we now take the fight to the high court in Jakarta.  This week Compassion First will sponsor a judicial review of the law before the Constitutional Court of Indonesia and how it is being applied.  It is an expensive and extensive endeavor but, if successful, it will change everything.  The game will not be over for traffickers, but it will be more difficult because their corruptible loophole will be gone.  It should, however, be over for those in authority committing unconscionable acts against victims. And when it is over, we hope to scour the jails and fill our center with survivors.

We set ourselves to a mission of going where others had not.  That means that we would be doing the groundbreaking work which is at times back-breaking and difficult. As well, it can be frustrating to answer the question of why we have so few clients when in fact, our staff has all the work they can handle and more.  It seems that even though we’ve only been operational for a few months, the expectations are pretty high and so they should be.  It may be true that we only have a handful of girls.  At the same time, it is true that we are serving a nation of girls.

A quick glance at the Drudge Report a couple of days ago shows completely unrelated and absolutely contrasting cultural experiences and realities where Islam is concerned.

A fairly prominently placed center column story announces that the new French full veil/burka ban for Muslim women is now in force.

Read the full story here.

I have to say that I meet this story with serious mixed feelings.  On one hand, I feel significant sense of loss for the sake of those whose religious liberties are being taken away.  It doesn’t seem right that a government could tell a citizen body what kind of religious garb they can and cannot wear, at least within margin of that which is harmless. At the same time, I really struggle with the full veil, but that’s a personal struggle not a state struggle.

My issue isn’t with Islam either.  Rather, it is the required covering of the female form and person, especially in such a complete manner.  Without a personal understanding for a culture that I’m not a part of, the notion of a complete hiding of the most ultimately beautiful reflection of the image of God and the pinnacle of creation is hard to appreciate.  It does seem oppressive from my very subjective point of view.  As well, on the surface, it is hard not to perceive the whole institution of the burka as oppressive on the part of both religion as well as men. I will be curious to see how this plays out.

I do find a certain amount of irony when I consider the location that I most often see the full burka including eye and hand covering.  It is at the Ciputra Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.  It seems to be a hot spot for middle-eastern business dealings in Indonesia.  The Ciputra is a full-service hotel attached to a giant mall where you have access to all of the excesses of the west including no less than twelve donut shops and a movie theater.  The hotel is also plentifully adorned with vibrantly colorful sculptures and paintings of buxom women who can barely be contained by their clothing.  This artists work is in every single room of the hotel and every public space.  The sculptures are giant and alive.  Trust that these are not pornographic or inappropriate pieces, at least in my opinion; they are a celebration of women in all of their roles but, no doubt, a display of the female form.  As the men gather for their meetings with each other, the fully covered women that accompany them sit over to the side in proximity to sculptures and paintings that celebrate being significantly less covered.  It just doesn’t fit.

My preference for a state is that they would stay out of religious matters.  The French decision is terribly difficult.  At the same time, whether I agree or not, I think I understand the decision.  On the other hand, my preference for religion is that women would be celebrated in every way.  Please allow me the disclaimer that when one devoutly adheres to a religion that has clothing requirements, that the men may very well have their own significant requirements.  The greater point for me is whether a woman is choosing these things for herself or is subject to a man’s decision about what they wear.

The second article was buried in the third column and lasted only a day on Drudge and generates no such conflict.  Every part of it is disturbing and heartbreaking. It is the story of a woman being publicly caned by government and Sharia officials for having an extra-marital affair.  After the public beating she was transported to the hospital.  The story could have been incomplete but there is no report of a man also begin caned for participating in the same affair.

Read the article here.

Sharia law is illegal in Indonesia, but clearly it is still enforced in some pockets and even at a state level as it is in Aceh. While a reality in those places, it is not reflective of the whole of Islamic Indonesia.  By and large, Muslims in Indonesia are moderate as are the adherents of the four other major faiths officially recognized by the state. To say that they are moderate is not to say that they are not devout; many are.  At a street level, you have the faiths of Indonesia mixing in the market place. It is when the religions make their way into the halls of power at government levels that it becomes complicated and even violent.  And, while it may be a generalization, I think its true, it seems that women tend to be the ones that pay the price.

We put Chika on a plane to go home on Sunday night.  I have to say, while relieved that she is now in perfect health and that she returns to a staff that desperately needs her, I was not at all happy to see her go.

The needs in Indonesia actually pushed up her return date.  Ideally, she would have been here for another month-and-a-half, we would have done more speaking and she would have gotten more core counseling material under her belt before returning.  Things have progressed in such a way in Indonesia, however, that she was desperately needed back.

Six weeks post-op, it was hard to say when she would be able to return.  She still had a little bit of background noise going on in her heart as well as some blood pressure and arrhythmia issues.  I’m not sure that we ever informed her that if the arrhythmia issues didn’t resolve that they would be resolved with the paddles.  I’m glad for her sake that things cleared up.  When we checked in with Dr. Phillips last week, Chikes was perfectly healthy.  There wasn’t a whisper in her heartbeat.  She was even cleared for coffee.  That’s about as good as it gets, I think.

I got a good chuckle from Chika’s first Facebook posting after her return home.  She indicated that she was having trouble adjusting to the heat and the food of her hometown.  I simply responded by posting, “American.”

Before Chika came, I sent her a message asking her to promise me that she would not let America change her.  I don’t really recall what my specific concern was other than there are the normal pitfalls of potential expectations and   where big gifts are concerned.  That said, Chika has changed and the change is of her own doing—and definitely not suggesting that she needed any big changes—she is changed for the better.  She returns to Indonesia knowing that she has received the gift of her future for which she is committed to investing into the future of others for the balance of her life.

Thank you Providence.  Thank you Senator Starr.  Thank you Senator Wyden.  Thank you Dr. and Mrs. Moshofsky.  Thank you Dr. Phillips, Thank you Dr. Swanson.  Thank you Sister Lynda.  Thank you Christine Meliza.  Thank you all.