Slavery still exists… even today…
A little while ago, I talked to someone from a wealthy country in Southwest Asia. There are large groups of migrant workers there, coming from all over the region. Many Western expats work there too, often in well-paid jobs, but at the bottom of the labor market, many migrant workers from South Asia are employed. They often work in terrible conditions and have almost no rights.
She works there too. And calling those conditions “terrible” is the understatement of the day. She’s abused, exploited—think of the worst thing you can imagine, and you still won’t understand how bad it really is for her…
In her home culture, however, they see her as a lucky person because she gets to work in that “wonderful” country! But that country is anything but wonderful… and definitely not a blessing…
Her parents have no idea what’s going on, and telling them would be culturally complicated. With the money she sends home, she’s paying for her mother’s medication.
We, as “Westerners,” can easily say: just quit and go home, but for her, in her culture, that’s a much more difficult question.
The remarkable thing is that, through all this terrible suffering, she has actually grown closer to God. From a human perspective, it’s hard for us to fully understand that. So, what now? We talked about how she can tell her parents, because she can’t continue like this. And culturally, her parents have to approve of her coming back home to escape this misery.
Now, she’s going to call her (Christian) parents with good news:
Good news: Over the past year, I’ve gotten closer to God despite all the misery. God is with me, and I’ve never been this close to Him, even though things here are truly awful. From a human perspective, I couldn’t have survived this, but with God’s help, I’m still here. Mom and Dad, will you thank God for His great help?
In our Western eyes, this might seem like a really strange way to approach her parents for an invitation to hear a “come home,” but we hope and pray that, for her, in her culture, this opens the door to a safe return home.
What a world… sometimes you feel so lonely and helpless…
