The school had keept it quite hush hush what the exact thing we would do was. Some people tried to get me to feel intimidated saying things that made me think we would be having to do something scary. Where others comforted me and said "Don't worry, they just have you making bags." As I got on the bus, I really had no idea what I was in for. I took comfort in thinking, "Bag making, I can do that!". I knew we were heading to Crossroads. I had been there before, years ago, volunteering with my church, and that work seemed easy enough.
Let's just say I wasn't prepared for what they had planned for us. It was an eye opener.
After a short message on what Crossroads was all about and how it was establish (Find out more about them here) we were led into a room that had no windows, and barely any thing in it. I did notice that there were these shanties in the corners of the room and barbed wire on the walls.
We were then told that we would be experiencing a simulation on what it was like to live in the slums. (If you want some interesting statistics about slums in the world click here) Still thinking it was no big deal, making light of it, I got ready. We were put into groups or families and given a stack of paper that we were supposed to make paper bags out of. I might skip over all the details on how the simulation was and focus on the parts I thought was best. We only had one stack of free paper, if we needed more after that we would have to buy it. We had to make and sell as many paper bags as we could in the allotted time, but things would not be easy for us. The money we would make would be used for things like Food, Water, Rent (this is the first thing I found surprising, rent, this might make me sound uneducated, but it never occurred to me that people in the slums had to pay rent) Medicine, and other random fees that would be placed on us at any given time.
The simulation started. It was intense. It seemed like people came out of nowhere and started yelling at us "Do you love your family?", "You're not good enough!", "If you don't do more your family will die!". They also made the room hot and had pipped in some loud noises and music into the room to make it difficult to concentrate. We had to work as a team to sell the bags. But the prices they would give us wouldn't always be the same every time. Sometimes they would just tare up the bags and say they would rubbish and we would have to start all over again. After the first round, my team didn't have enough money for rent, or water, or food. One of our team members had to barter their possessions inorder to not be kicked out of the slums to go live under the bridge (I'll talk about that area more). Then it was time again... to start all the crazy. We tried to make enough bags, there was pressure, things got tense, and once again we were short... This time I had to give some of my possessions up, as well as my team mates to get by. We were basically out of possessions by that time... and we were running out of paper to make bags, which means we needed more money to get more paper to make more bags, Let's say I was feeling a little hopeless. I thought there is no way we are going to make it through this simulation.
By the final stage we as a small group, were trying to figure out ways to make ends meat. There was NO way making bags could keep us afloat. And that was the point of the simulation, to get us to a point of hopelessness, because then the rules changed a little. Now, we could also perform services to make a "quick" buck. We could "sell" our kidney (in the simulation, they simulate also the odds of infection and death), or "sell" what they called "hugs" some of the men would come over and ask for a "hug" in return for some money. These were really last resorts. One was risky operation and one was simulating prostitution.
When the last round started, we were already behind. One of our team members decided to sell his kidney, which helped get us money, but there were complications* and he was no longer able to fold, thankfully he was still alive. He kinda just did this without really asking the group because he knew that it would get us more money. Then the men started walking around and asking a couple of our girl team mates for "hugs". And this part is where it really became real for me. One of the men asked my friend for a hug, I knew what the "hug" was supposed to represent, and I thought she did too, but she was more open to the hug than I thought she would be. I yanked her down by her belt and said we shouldn't do it and that it wasn't worth it. She said that we needed the money or we would die* (simulation death not real death). I got really upset about that. Even though it was a simulation, it became real to me right then and there. We got the money, we had enough from the kidney and the hugs to send her to school and have enough left over for food, rent, and water. I was so thankful it was over.
But it stayed with me. It was over, but it's not over for them. Day in, day out, they live in the slums. They struggle day by day to get enough money to eat, drink, to stay alive. For me it was over, for them, ongoing. I was so blessed to be out of there, but they, ,, what hope do they have? To be so desperate that you are driven to prostitution, to selling organs, to doing anything that insures you're survival?
As a new mom things can get a little more emotional for me a lot quicker than before. I thought, what if this was my real life, and that my team mate was my daughter and had to make that choice, what if even after our struggle of me trying to stop her, she still did it? And I started to cry.
I feel like I forget all too easily, maybe it is living in Hong Kong, or maybe it is our culture... but I feel we sometimes forget too easily.
It was just a simulation, I get to leave that all behind, which I did, we had lunch, we had coffe afterwards... which cost more than what they make in a day. . . What can I do?
Right now, there is only one thing I can do. Which is pray. Prayer is a powerful thing. Prayer is a wonderful thing. Right now I can pray. I know God uses prayer and He does incredible things, scary at times, but wonderful things all the same.
So as I reach out to you, whoever you are reading this, I would like to reach out in prayer and ask that you pray with me. Pray for the people of this Earth. Just Pray.
-Blessings
I Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers,intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.
