Dee's Blog
www.takecourage.org
Tue 01/03/2012
No Borders

Twenty-five years ago, I was knee-deep in the trenches.  Speaking truth to a powerful, abusive government deep in the heart of Africa.  My passion was to be a catalyst, making individuals in that system to recognize ways they could address the heartaches of daily existence for the people I had gone to serve.

Malawi was filled with refugees who had fled the war in Mozambique.  The population had an extremely high rate of illiteracy.  Malnutrition was so severe that it was difficult to find a woman who had not lost at least one child due to this disease of poverty.  Alcoholism was draining the economy.  An increasing recognition of the problem of AIDS was just being acknowledged by a government that had never allowed sex education in any form!

Corruption and suppression of truth permeated the fabric of that society, making the problems of our own nation look like a Sunday afternoon picnic!!!

How my heart was torn, along with the heart of my husband, when speaking the truth about a sexually- abusive missionary colleague became so threatening to my co-workers and superiors that we were forced to resign in order to keep our voices!  It has been a long, challenging detour.

Now, after years of speaking to larger audiences, writing, and maintaining a site that has served as a lighthouse to thousands, I am finding myself circling back with increased frequency to international causes--just one of which is the issue of sexual violence in countries where human trafficking is so rampant and laws so much more primitive than most Westerners can even imagine.

The same principles I've written about for years, many that I learned while speaking in the halls of abusive government offices far away, will continue to be my passion as a writer.  Yet, only a small percentage of that writing will be addressing the problems of sexual violence in developing countries, Western civilizations or not.  

My yearning to address the larger purposes of speaking truth to power has been re-awakened.  So I will be introducing readers to organizations and individuals that can help those of us with greater power or economic means to make a difference beyond our own borders.

Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to one who is courageously speaking in Japan.  She just happens to be addressing issues of sexual violence in her native land while having great visions of much more.


Posted by Dee Ann Miller at 12:01 AM CST

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