Slave

We’ve had the most wonderful weekend full of adventure and culture! I’m obsessed with South Africa! Reality crept back into to the forefront of my mind upon entering the Slavery Museum today. A display defined slavery in very basic terms stating that, “Slavery is a form of domination of one person over another,”. I can’t shake what was exhibited there. Here are the five most sobering facts I either learned or was reminded of today:

1. If my memory serves me correctly, a display in the Slave Museum said emancipation took place in Niger in 2003. 2003? Eight years ago, that’s after 9/11, after we invaded Afghanistan, after I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, after I got my braces off. It went on to say that slavery was still there “illegally”.

2. I saw a model of how they would squeeze hundreds of men, women, and children into a slave ship that would put any sardine can to shame. Every square inch was efficiently utilized. “If a slave at the bottom of the ship breaks his chains, what else is there to do but break his arms and legs before throwing him overboard in the presence of the entire ship? There is of course no privacy; you can just wallow in your own waste, too.” Ubuntu was nowhere in sight.

3. After being bought or sold, slaves would usually be given a new name by their owners. These usually were derived from a certain feature, month, person of the Bible (which disgusts me with irony) or some other origin. This took stripping them of their family and culture to a new level, leaving them with “January”, “Aap” (for Ape), or Moses instead. As someone who has been storing up baby names for a couple of years, this breaks my heart. They had no surname to be proud of, no first name to stand out. Furthermore, does the Lord not call us by name?

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O (insert your name), he who formed you, O (insert your name); ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine’.” Isaiah 43:1

4. Okay, okay, so that’s only history. Or is it? Our breakfast table conversation revealed otherwise. How many would honestly believe that segregation still exists in the United States? Even openly? There are towns where the KKK still runs rampant as well. What’s more, we are no longer dividing ourselves by race, but along every other line imaginable.

5. Finally, human trafficking, namely sex trafficking. It exists everywhere with Atlanta, Georgia being one of the top cities for the trade. Girls usually enter the sex trade around four years old. I cringe at the thought of what my father would do to the man that even glanced at me wrong today, not to mention at four years old. I believe I hadn’t even entered my Winnie the Pooh or softball phases at that point. They are so enslaved by men and fear that they resist rescue. They think no one will love them in a different atmosphere, they are ruined or perhaps they fear the voodoo that has been placed on them and their families. It’s sick. It’s real. It happens today.

Now that I’m sufficiently depressed, I now turn to the only hope. I read Isaiah 61 and I delight in the words that were written long ago but couldn’t be more true or relevant to what I saw today. I’m so thankful for today. I’m so thankful for our staff that is committed to change the status quo. I’m so thankful that men and women have stood up throughout history to better humanity thought promoting equality and freedom. Clearly, there is still work to be done. I think of the people that are on Global Lead and I know the world is about to be rocked! Don’t just go, LEAD!

Sadie Lambert