THE FLIPPING OF PANCAKES

It was hot in front of the stove, and nervousness dripped from my forehead. “It's okay,” said my leader, “drunk kids are the best people to learn how to make pancakes for, because they really don't care if they're messed up.” I armed myself with an apron, a spatula, a box of pancake shakers and a teachable attitude. I was determined to learn how to make those sheets of cakey goodness! All I had to do was add water up to the line, add an optional tablespoon of sugar, shake, pour and then wait for the bubbles. Butter is the key to making a pancake slightly crisp on the outside. You've really got to lay it on thick.
With these kids, it was pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner because they sort of forgot to eat if we didn't feed them. The whole thing was one big party to them. All high school graduates in Australia come to Surfer's Paradise to celebrate. They were there to escape the oppression of parental instruction and embrace adulthood. I was shaking the batter when one of them asked my age. I was seventeen. They didn't believe me because Americans look older to them. The truth was, we were both embracing our adulthood rather prematurely.
I just wanted to be useful, but I was completely at a loss most of the time I was working with them. I wanted to share Jesus, but I didn't know how to communicate in their language: lost, worldly and drunk-speak. I was scared. So, I made pancakes. It was something that taught me the ministry of presence. It got me in the door, and as I would flip the hot pancakes, sometimes I would get up the courage to ask a question or tell a story. But most importantly, they would feel the love. The warm, tasty love.
There is something about a pancake that makes people want to open their doors. You can show up at someone's door with a pie and she's appreciative. You could offer to take a person out for a coffee, and that would make her happy. But if you really want to get to somebody, if you really want someone to feel the love, go with pancakes. They have that homemade touch that coffee doesn't have; they bring that feeling of someone caring enough to take the time to make them. The best part is you can make pancakes right there, in someone's kitchen so he or she can be a part of the action. A pancake is different from a pie too because it is slightly more nourishing, but more importantly it's sloppy. It's messy. A proper pancake is not perfectly round, not smooth and placid like McDonald's commercials would have you believe. It is crinkled on the edges and splotchy in color and shaped like a lake. Whether you're a drunk teenager or just a normal adult, it's easier to sit down to an imperfect meal and feel like you're allowed to be imperfect.
While living in Spokane, Washington, I bought a three-pound bag of just-add-water pancake mix and a quart of syrup so I could go door-to-door and meet my fellow college students. College students are slightly less hungry than drunk high schoolers, but somewhat poorer and therefore quite willing to sit down to a few pancakes. All I had to do was add a hand-squished banana (done to Jack Johnson's pancake-making classic, of course), and I had a recipe for ministry. I was still scared. All I had was the ability to make wonderful pancakes and myself, and I never knew if those were enough.
At the beginning of my first semester of college, I went into one apartment and made pancakes (this time laced with the perfect trace of cinnamon), chatted with the girls and left. I never became really good friends with any of those girls, but when I would see them, they would ask if I could come and make pancakes again.
I had this longing to be useful in some way, I wished I could be someone who people would want to come into their house and be with them. The fact is, I only came as an attachment to the pancakes, which were the true draw when I knocked on a door. Slowly I learned that in the kingdom of God, it never really matters why people let you into their lives, as long as they do. Because once you're in, you make food or just sit and listen and God uses it. I know that to be true. After all, He used me. And I am a pancake. I am crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and very much imperfect.

THE BODY AND THE SELF

I was sitting in a coffee shop watching a snowfall. It was one of those fluffy, angelic snowfalls with the huge flakes that looks like it belongs in a movie. The round, crystallized droplets fall on the dirty city and make everything fresh. I don't know what it was about that snow but it connected me to the physicality of myself, tied my inner workings to my location and identity. I had this revelation-of-sorts that I was Danica and I was alive. It sounds silly to write on a blog and reflect on, but I think the truth is that we often don't take the time, or feel the need to connect with the physical self and enjoy our own presence or action.
I've been reading a book called "Eve's Revenge" by Lilian Barger which talks about how disconnected from our bodies we've become. Especially as women, we've been conditioned to think of body as bad, and we teach ourselves to let our minds and emotions float free of the physical. We forget that God created our bodies, our selves, and said it was good. We forget that He uses the physical things to connect us to others and Himself. In her book, Barger talked about how Mary is seen by some as the perpetual virgin because we like to disconnect the body from spirituality, but in reality Mary's body was the vessel which the Lord used to carry out His ultimate redemptive plan. Mary's connection to her body, her pregnancy, allowed her to be fully engaged in the miracle taking place in her life and in herself.
I think we spend most of our time complaining about our bodies, whether it's how large or small they are, or the things that pain us, or the functions they naturally engage in. When was the last time you enjoyed the things that your body can do? That you walked to class and marveled at the creation of your walking? That you woke up from sleeping and thought "God Himself is revealed in this action"? That you gave someone a hug and stood aghast at how the motion of your arms could minister to a soul?
God has given us senses and motion to empower us for His work. When we occupy our bodies, we become available for that work, no longer fearful of physicality.

THE WOMEN WHO INSPIRE ME

Today in one of my favorite classes, we discussed the papers all of us had written on women who inspire and encourage us... there were so many wonderful examples. Listening to everyone discuss these wonderful women it made me want to write a couple more papers on a few of them. So begins a blog series on women who inspire me. I have so many women among my friends and family who encourage me, but the more I learn about some of these other women leaders, pioneers, writers, missionaries, I realize how much they also have to teach us. So, in this short series I will write about a few women that have made a difference in my world. Also, for some reason, a good list of such women is a rare find on the internet, so I want to provide that resource for you. Please feel free to comment on this post and add to the list some of the women, past and present, who inspire you.

THE LIST:
Arthur, Kay
Aylward, Gladys
Bevere, Lisa
Blandina
Booth, Catherine
Briscoe, Jill
Carmichael, Amy
Clare of Assisi
Crosby, Fanny
DeMoss, Nancy Leigh
Dryer, Emma
Eldredge, Stasi
Elliot, Elizabeth
Graham, Ruth Bell
Greene, Betty
Guyon, Madame Jeanne
Higgs, Liz Curtis
Judson, Ann
Julian of Norwich
Lotz, Anne Graham
Luther, Kathryn 

McPherson, Aimee Semple
Meyer, Joyce
Moon, Lottie
Moore, Beth
Mother Teresa
Palmer, Pheobe
Perpetua
Pullinger, Jackie
Scudder, Ida
Shirer, Priscilla
Slessor, Mary
Smith, Hannah Whitehall
Sumner, Sarah
Swindoll, Luci
Tada, Joni Erickson
Ten Boom, Corrie 

Teresa of Avila
Truth, Sojourner 

Walsh, Sheila

Wesley, Susanna

THE BIKINI OR THE HIJAB?

Have you ever been told that if you didn't look the way men wanted you to, you would be alone forever? For some women this means dressing with hints of scandal, for the men in their circles want to be able to see or imagine the curves of her body. For other women, this means distancing themselves from fashion by the wearing of clothes that distract from their figures. The men who surround them demand that shoulders not be shown, or that underwear does not accidentally peek above the waist of a skirt or pants.
Well, that's true isn't it? You might say, “The men that I know don't want to go out with a tramp.” or “The men I talk to aren't interested in a prude.” So, we choose our clothing carefully. It is a part of being a woman. But where does modesty fit into all of this? As Christian women, we are often told that modesty is this sense of covering up that Christian men require of us. But if that is the case, how does modesty apply to women surrounded by men who depict the proper clothing choice as less than austere? Does a woman's modesty really have anything to do with men at all?
In 1 Timothy, Paul writes, “Likewise, the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control.” In this passage, modesty means “with a sense of honor”. What does Paul mean when he wants women to dress with a sense of honor? Who are they honoring? I'd like to suggest that our clothing choices must be honoring to God, ourselves, and finally, others.
In all of life, our focus should be to honor God. If God convicts you on a particular outfit, honor Him by making a choice that pleases Him.
Next, a woman should honor herself. Modesty says something positive about a woman, and it is a message that the world wants to snuff out as soon as possible. It says, “I want people to see what I wear and say that I am confident, self-controlled and worthy of being pursued”. There is a level of pride that comes across with being modest, as if to say, “I think I'm worth waiting for and worth concealing!” I think this is tremendous. This is absolutely a reflection of self-worth. It's not conceit that should propel a woman to be modest, but a recognition of the truth of her value. And that's a sense of honor for who you truly are: a child of God!
Then, when it comes to honoring others we should remember that our clothes set an example for other women. Would we want our sister, daughter, best friend to dress as we do?
When it comes to honoring men, we must remember women are the protectors of their own sexuality and modesty is their thickest armor. Instead of inviting men to take what they want, it invites men to consider an idea. It is the idea that a woman's sexuality is valuable. It is the idea that a woman does not wish to give it until someone actually earns it. Therefore, modesty invites a man to earn it. This honors the redeemed part of a man, his ability to resist physical desires, which every Christian man is capable of doing in the power of the Holy Spirit. When you honor a man with your modesty, you are saying, “I recognize that you can be a true, godly man. If you are interested in me, I am giving you the opportunity to value me the way God would want you to.”
Modesty is about honor. Honor God, honor yourself and honor others. When you have your heart in this position, you might actually enjoy getting dressed!

THE NEEDS: SEX TRAFFICKING

Need #1: Prevention of Slavery/Sex Trafficking of Women

Sex trafficking is one of the largest industries in the world and affects women drastically. “Victims number from 700,000 to 4 million annually. Police statistics indicate that less than 0.5 percent of these are male...every nation in the world is involved (Meroff 174).”

Many women are kidnapped and forced into labour or prostitution. Some women are deceived into thinking that a legitimate paying job awaits them in a new location. Also, a father, uncle or stranger might sell a young girl to brothel. Once there, she is told she has to work off her “debt”. Girls are beat and threatened until they comply.

The story of Srey Rath, who traveled from Cambodia to Thailand to work as a dishwasher, took a dark turn when she was turned over to gangsters who operated a karaoke bar/brothel. Rath and the girls who were with her were told that they had to work off a debt for the money the gangsters had paid for them. Rath was beaten and forced to take drugs. She was told that if she did not obey, she would be killed. She was required to smile at customers, be naked at all times to make it difficult for her to run away, and work fifteen hour days, seven days a week. The girls were not allowed to keep any money or ask a customer to use a condom.

Rath was able to escape from the brothel and when she arrived at the Thai border, she was sold into another brothel by a policeman. She eventually escaped from there and made it home safely (Kristoff xi- xvii). Many other women are not so fortunate. Brothels often use drug addictions to lure the girls back to them should they escape, or hold babies the girls give birth to as hostages.

The girls in the brothels are also at high risk for HIV AIDS because their sexual intercourse is unprotected and often forced. “Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic (IJM).”

Help On The Way:

International Justice Mission (IJM) is an organization which lives by Isaiah 1:17: “Seek justice, protect the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow”. God's heart is that these needs be met and IJM works to meet the need of preventing slavery and sex trafficking. Gary Haugen, a United States lawyer, founded the organization in 1997 as a way to provide authoritative intervention in the cases of individual women in the sex trafficking industry (IJM). The mission is one of the leading organizations working against this huge problem, but there are many others who cropping up to do their share in the fight against slavery.

Apne Aap is one of these. The name means “self help” in Hindi. “Apne Aap prevents sex trafficking by building the capacity of girls, women and children in red-light areas and slums to get access to education, livelihoods other than prostitution, and safe housing by organizing themselves in small co-operatives (Apne Aap).” The organization works across India to assist women coming out of prostitution or to prevent sex trafficking through education and support.

There are even smaller movements that work to discourage the sex-trafficking practice. My father works for a military contracting company that will not hire anyone unless they sign a statement saying that they will not endorse sex trafficking in any way. This means that their employees can not participate in it, nor endorse it with their money when traveling on business.

Final Thoughts:

These needs cannot be ignored. They are so prevalent in our world today that one only needs to step outside their door to meet marginalized women longing to tell their stories of how they are being affected by these five issues and more. This is not even the beginning of the suffering that is not being spoken by women across America, and the immense trials of women who are silenced across the world. These needs are not being ignored, by a great deal of concerned people, both in the Christian and secular worlds. Awareness is being raised through publication of statistics and stories and organization of people who are willing to help make the change. However, there is so much more that needs to be done. People need to be made aware of the issues and the solutions. Please feel free to use the information on this blog to help inform others. If you want to learn more, I recommend "Half The Sky" by Kristoff and WuDunn. Many of the stories I used are from this recent, well-researched, and powerful book. And don't forget to pray for these women, and that above all, they will receive the strength and hope that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

What Do You Think?

Works Cited:

Apne Aap, www.apneaap.org

International Justice Mission, www.ijm.org

Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl Wudunn. Half the Sky. New York: Knopf, 2009.

Meroff, Deborah. True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for Christ's Sake. City: Authentic Media, 2004.

THE NEEDS: MATERNAL MORTALITY

Need #2: Prevention of Maternal Mortality

Women are extremely likely to die in childbirth when faced with the reality of birth complications, lack of hospitals, untrained midwives, and lack of concern for their health while pregnant. A woman in a developing country is more likely to have large amounts of children which means she is constantly in danger. “The immediate cause of death may be eclampsia, hemorrhage, malaria, abortion complications, obstructed labor or sepsis (Kristoff 109).” The most likely cause is of maternal mortality is hemorrhaging, but abortion complications and obstructed labor follow close behind (Meroff 13).

If a woman does not die in obstructed labor, she will have a fistula after the birth. A fistula develops when a woman is in obstructed labor for a few days or more. In developed countries, this is prevented by a cesarean section, but in areas where no medical attention is available, a hole is created between a woman's vagina and her bladder. This can also occur if an object is forced into the woman, such as a bayonet or stick. The woman is then unable to have children and her feces and blood leak through the hole and down her legs, causing a foul stench. Because of this, the woman is often abandoned by her husband or family (Fistula Foundation).

Girls who are married extremely young are at greater risk because their bodies are not formed well enough to give birth. “Because their bodies (bone structure, pelvis, reproductive organs) are not yet fully developed, girls ages 14 and younger run a very high risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth compared with older adolescents (IWHC).”

With all of these complications, you would think that women in the developing world would be more wary about getting pregnant. Most women, however, are uneducated about birth control and family planning. Even if they are, their husbands may refuse to use condoms. Many women also do not have a choice about whether they will have sexual intercourse.

Help On The Way:

Many organizations and programs have formed to prevent maternal mortality as well. Consider the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Somaliland, built by a Somali woman to assist other women in giving birth as well as post-natal care and fistula surgery (Kristoff 123-130). An awareness is being raised by organizations like the Fistula Foundation as well. Though only ten years old, the organization has a mission to provide care for fistulas worldwide (Fistula Foundation). The biggest way that anyone can help with maternal mortality rates is to provide medical care. In close second is the importance of educating women on protecting themselves by marrying later in life and having fewer babies, if possible. The White Ribbon Alliance, an international coalition (whiteribbonalliance.org), works primarily on that side of preventing maternal mortality.

What Do You Think?

Works Cited:

Fistula Foundation, www.fistulafoundation.org

International Women's Health Coalition, www.iwhc.org

Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl Wudunn. Half the Sky. New York: Knopf, 2009.

Meroff, Deborah. True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for Christ's Sake. City: Authentic Media, 2004.

White Ribbon Alliance, whiteribbonalliance.org

THE NEEDS: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Need #3: Prevention of Domestic Violence against Women

The belief in male superiority in a vast number of cultures often leads to violence towards the weaker sex. “Between one quarter and one half of women have been abused by a partner. Only 44 countries specifically protect women against domestic violence (Meroff 51).” Women are often, hit, kicked, cut, burned with acid, raped or killed by their husbands, fathers and sometimes even a mother or in-law. They are beaten primarily because they do not do exactly as ordered by their husband or father. Sometimes, in primarily Muslim countries, a husband will attack his wife if she does not have dinner ready, or refuses to have sex (Meroff 53).

Zoya Najabi, from Kabul, Afghanistan, was married off to a sixteen year old boy when she was just twelve. Since that time, Zoya was consistently beaten for faulty housework by her husband and her in-laws. They would tie her to a bucket and dunk her into the well, leaving her half-drowned and freezing. The worst of it came when Zoya inadvertently kicked her mother-in-law during one of these punishments. Her husband flogged her with an electric cable until she was unconscious. Through all of this, Zoya remained staunchly tied to her misogynistic culture. She said in an interview, “I should not have been beaten because I was always obedient and did what my husband said. But if the wife is truly disobedient, then of course the husband has to beat her” (Kristof 68-69).

Oftentimes, cases and cultures like this leave a woman feeling helpless and hopeless, and the majority of cases of domestic violence go unreported to the police. In some cases, this is because spousal violence is not a criminal act by law, such as in Swaziland or Uganda (Meroff 52). The situation is even worse in some places, such as Pakistan. Shershah Syed, a doctor in Karachi, mentioned, “When I treat rape victims, I tell the girls not to go to the police... because if a girl goes to the police, the police will rape her (Kristof 84).”

In many countries, girls are also victim to ritual genital mutilation. This is a cultural practice which is regarding as typical when “coming of age” in Africa and much of the Middle East. The young girl is held down while a knife of piece of glass is used for the circumcision. In these cultures, a girl is considered unclean and will not be married off until she is operated on. The consequences of this often include: Infections, obstruction of menstrual flow, infertility, increased risk of HIV-AIDS, psychological trauma or kidney damage. Many women also report that on their wedding nights their husbands had to use a knife or piece of glass in order to cut a wider opening for sexual intercourse (Meroff 76-78).

Help On The Way:

Unfortunately, the issue of domestic violence is more difficult to fight with organization and programs. There are some that exist, such as the The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, both organizations fighting domestic violence in the United States. Prevention of violence is a very personal matter and women need to be taught that they do not have to put up with abusive relationships. This is easier said than done, especially in developing countries where everything is working against a woman who wants to escape a violent home. That is why shelters exist in developing countries, and others are slowly appearing worldwide.

What Do You Think?

Works Cited:

Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl Wudunn. Half the Sky. New York: Knopf, 2009.

Meroff, Deborah. True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for Christ's Sake. City: Authentic Media, 2004.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, www.ncadv.org

National Domestic Violence Hotline, www.ndvh.org