“Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.”
Isaiah 1:16-17
My interest for social justice all began back in my college days (ok, so it was just a few years ago)… As a student I was a member of a collegiate ministry on campus called InterVarsity. As a freshman InterVarsity (IV) was new and exciting. There were lots of people to meet, stuff to do, and fun to be had. That was all great, but the thing that kept me around was that IV challenged me in ways that nothing else did. I met people who asked me questions like “how do you think God might want to use you on campus, at home, in your community..?” This was shocking because my former experience with Christians was that of the middle-upper class suburbs where you were a Christian because it meant “the easy life full of wealth and blessings.” InterVarsity was radically different Christian community. People acknowledged that it was hard to be a Christian, that it didn’t always mean the easy life, and the even though it might be hard God is worth serving and he desperately wants to know and be known by you.
Well, fast forward a few semesters to my senior year. Up to this point I had grown a lot in my love for God through IV, but still had a pretty limited idea of how God was at work in the world. I decided that I would take up an offer to discover “God at work in the city.” Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Detroit, it is the 2nd most dangerous city in the US, it has an uncommonly high rate of unemployment, and parts of the city are so crime ridden or ghost town-ish that most refuse to enter. It was at the Detroit Urban Plunge (a week-long training/service trip in inner-city Detroit) that I really encountered the ideas of social justice, racism, and poverty. Through the study of the book of Amos and through hands-on work in the inner-city (soup kitchens, after school children’s programs, construction ministries) God began to show me how he has called people to join him in his work of redemption (redeeming social infrastructures, eliminating poverty, caring for the orphaned, etc).
Along this journey of understanding injustice and God’s response to it, I have sensed God’s call to seek justice and serve the poor in a more tangible way (more tangible than just reading about it and working in a soup kitchen). For this reason, In February 2007 I submitted an application to the Peace Corps. The entire application process took 13 months to complete (I’ve never jumped through so many hoops!), and this past March I receive an official invitation to serve overseas. After much prayer and listening for God’s leading, I accepted this invitation to serve the people of Niger. My primary focus as a volunteer will be community and youth education, and my secondary focus will be English education.
On July 7th, I will begin my 27 month commitment to the Peace Corps. I will spend 2 days in Philadelphia for a brief orientation to the organization, and then will catch a connection flight in Paris and will fly on to Niamey, the capital of Niger. I will spend 9 weeks in language/culture/skills training and will be living with a local family. Upon completion of training I will be placed in a post wherever my skills will be most helpful. From this point on most details are still unknown.
I am looking forward to living in someone else’s shoes and being able to live the reality of poverty and injustice. One of the things I hope to walk away with is a better understanding of my social obligations as a free, white, incredibly rich American woman (to those whom much has been given, much is expected. Right?). I am confident that God will teach me much about myself, poverty, social justice, international politics, culture, redemption, globalization, and living a life of simplicity.
