Helen Martin’s Blog

["Injustice is when somebody who has more power abuses that power to take
from someone with less power the good things that God intended for them;
their life, their liberty, their dignity; the fruits of their love and their labor."](http://216.128.18.195/IJMvideo/WhatisInjustice.wmv)

*Larry Martin, Senior Vice President of Education, International Justice Mission*

We in the United States have many options as we seek to right the wrongs perpetrated against us. [International Justice Mission](http://www.ijm.org/) is an organization made up of dedicated and fiercely faithful people who have found their purpose in fighting injustice in the other places around the world where those options are not available - either due to ignorance, poverty, or the corruption of those who are in positions of power. IJM is a non-governmental agency that doesn’t just talk about injustice, they actually do something about it; rescuing victims of violence, sex-trafficking, oppression, and slavery.

Their [four-fold purpose](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=216&srcid=178) displays their big-picture approach in addressing victim relief, perpetrator accountability, structural prevention, and victim aftercare; thus effecting all the major factors that allow oppressors to survive and thrive.

IJM will be having a [benefit dinner](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=634&srcid=369) on Tuesday, May 15 at the [Hyatt Regency Minneapolis](http://minneapolis.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp). Those in attendance are sure to hear accounts of courage and persistence in the face of great injustice - unlike anything many have ever heard before.

One such story is detailed in the book [*Terrify No More*](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=238&srcid=178), by [Gary A. Haugen](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=283&srcid=218), IJM’s president, (who will be speaking at the Minneapolis event.) It’s a chronicle of what took place in 2003 when IJM’s “team of professional investigators, lawyers, and other strategic staff members planned to raid a series of nasty and dangerous brothels [in Cambodia] where scores of very young girls were being sold for sex in an open market,” (excerpt from the book.)

These brothels were filled with little girls. Eight year olds; ten year olds; even a five year old. Each girl had been sold, or tricked, or stolen away from her home and brought into a filthy hellhole to be repeatedly raped by Western sex tourists. And if that isn’t sickening enough, if she didn’t perform her horrific duties well, she was beaten. If she didn’t smile afterwards, she was beaten. If the customer happened to be a sadist, she was beaten.

How I wanted to protect myself from the details of what these little girls have suffered. I fully expected that I would learn of these nightmares only to be left to bear the weight of the despair that would follow. But on the very threshold of my education about the realities of these atrocities I was also learning about IJM.

What they do actually works! The slaves are freed; the former victims are moving on to lead happy and productive lives that will enable their children to live free; the perpetrators are punished. And the cultures of the communities that used to lazily mutter, “This is just how it is” are beginning to declare, “No more!”

Instead of despair, I see rays of hope streaming like sunlight, and reflected in the smiles of the young and old who have been awakened from their horrors. I have seen their pictures and read their stories - [slaves freed](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=326&srcid=328) from a rock quarry in South Asia; a [four year old](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=332&srcid=226) rape victim from Kenya, her victimizer finally jailed; and those sweet, [beautiful little girls](http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=406&srcid=405) in Cambodia utterly bereft of hope just the day before being photographed, now bathed in the light of freedom.

And after learning of all this - which I know is only the beginning of what I will be taught - my faith in God’s goodness has actually been enlarged. He can be trusted as I open my heart to the afflicted of the world. As deep as the darkness, His light and love are deeper still.

So to paraphrase Gary Haugen, when I look into the face of oppression and suffering, I can stop asking “Where is God?” and start asking, “Where am I?”

It doesn’t matter how little I have to offer. It isn’t relevant that I can’t stop all of these injustices from taking place. What matters is that I try. That I stand up. That I do what tiny bit I can do. I can be brave. I can risk the trauma of simply knowing about what other human beings have actually experienced, and hand back to some of them what has been taken. Their liberty, their dignity, the fruits of their love and their labor.

I can help bring justice to them, and bring their oppressors to justice.

*My beloved and I are hosting a table at the benefit. If you would like to attend, please mention us as your “hosts” and we can sit together! :-)*