Child labour

Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking.

Modern day slavery and human trafficking. When we think of slavery, we usually think of the past, not today's society. However, modern day slavery and human trafficking remains a shockingly present, if not hidden, part of our global world. In fact, according to the extensive research done by the Polaris Project on modern day slavery and human trafficking, "actual statistics are often unavailable and sometimes may be contradictory due to the covert nature of the crime, the invisibility of victims and high levels of under-reporting." As I researched slavery in modern day, and sought to compare statistics, my heart felt stabbed by the amount of human trafficking that occurs; even at its lowest estimate, the numbers are high. With this article, I set forth the definition and general global impact of modern day slavery and human trafficking in hopes as to bring awareness to the problem.

Abuse of others is considered human trafficking when an individual uses another for forced labor, prostitution, debt bondage, slavery, forced marriages, and child transfer for various exploitive purposes. Trafficking often involves recruitment or transferring of the human beings through such means as abduction or fraud. Modern day slavery involves the practice of forced labor and/or confinement. Both modern day slavery and human trafficking takes an unwilling individual and thrusts them into inhumane and often horrific conditions.

The most shocking statistic comes in the fact that an estimated 27 million human beings are trapped in modern day slavery. In Europe, human trafficking is the second largest global organized crime today, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In fact, there occurs one sale every 47 seconds, according to the same statistics. The nature of slavery occurring from human trafficking varies from country to country but on average, 70-90 percent of females trafficked end up in the commercial sex industry, while most males endure forced labor and abusive slavery. Many of these are young children; those that aren't should be considered "children" still, averaging between the ages of 12 to 14.

Modern day slavery and human trafficking is just coming to the forefront of awareness in today's world because, as mentioned at the onset, the crime is generally hidden. Those trafficking keep actions highly secretive, are often seductive individuals, and threaten victims with death which in turn causes the trafficked to hesitate to cry for help. However, the greatest reason that the mass amount of slavery in modern day has been hidden for so long is that money speaks, or, in this case, it gives the incentive to keep quiet. The total yearly profits generated by human trafficking as an industry comes to 32 billion dollars! And, $15.5 billion of this total is made in industrialized countries – countries that should be leading by example and respecting all humanity. I have to agree with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she says that human trafficking and modern day slavery "is an affront to our basic values and our fundamental belief that all people everywhere deserve to live and work in safety and dignity."
Especially as a Christian, we are called to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute" (Proverbs 31:8). Those stuck in modern day slavery are being denied their God given right to speak out, and the trafficking is leaving in its wake lives destitute and hearts broken. The first step to speaking out comes in being informed, then partnering with others taking action. Ceitci Demirkova Ministries interacts with children and families touched by the various forms of slavery and human trafficking, especially in Bulgaria and Uganda, highly impacted areas of this crime against human beings created by God. In fact, Changing a Generation may be rescuing a child every day, for the programs are providing food, education, and hope, which helps keep families from selling their children into slavery, and children from agreeing to any "opportunity" in a desperate attempt for survival.

Speech Lessons and Skills for Improving your Communication and Life.

Speech lessons and skills for improving your communication and life. There are many books available that offer speech lessons and skills for improving your communication and life. However, it remains interesting to me that the Bible rarely counts among those referenced for improving communication skills and life. After all, if we want to maximize the potential of our speech skills, I think we can learn lessons from the God who used speech to bring the universe and life about in the very beginning! Perhaps we can't create physical universes with our words, but I believe we can gather speech lessons and skills for improving your communication and life from the scriptures, which allows you to impact the spiritual realm.

Before we move to highlighting the practical steps of learning speech lessons and skills for improving your communication and life from the Bible, I would like to point out the important connection between the heart and effective communication. Proverbs 4:23-4 speaks of the heart being the wellspring of life, and I believe that is because "the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart" (Matthew 15:18). The most effective lessons to improving communication, and hence life, are those which also focus on the condition of the heart, because otherwise words just become empty adornments on your lips, and do not create impact or change in life. Once we understand that surrendering our heart to the purification and purposes of Jesus remains the first step, we can implement the practical speech lessons and skills for improving your communication and life.

The first of the lessons to improving communication and life comes in the fact that we are told we are not to live feeding our mouth on just bread, but we also are to feast on the words and truths that come from the mouth of God. Not only are we to allow our speech to communicate praise to God, but also we are to approach our interactions with others as an opportunity to implement truth. This does not mean we have to preach each time we open up our mouth, but that we allow the Biblical principles of love, truth, faithfulness, self-control, and the list continues, to saturate our communication skills.

This brings us to the next of our speech lessons and skills to improving your communication and life found in the Bible – keeping flattery out of our skills-set. Proverbs 26:28 reminds that a flattering tongue "works ruin." Often, people resort to flattery to persuade others or get in their good graces. Perhaps using flattery in communication improves life temporarily, but eventually leads to discrediting the flatterer and causing his/her words to turn lies.

Finally, the last of our speech lessons and skills to improving your communication and life which is scriptural comes in the form of wisdom. The Bible talks endlessly about a life which uses wisdom in communication. A wise man is to use his lips to promote instruction, and a wise woman should allow life-giving wisdom to govern her responses in life (Proverbs 10,16). Wisdom means we pause before allow speech to come forth, we pray, we reflect. We are quick to listen, and slow to communicate frivolously.

To guard your heart from corruption, to make truth and love the base of all communication, to keep flattery from your lips, and to listen and instruct with wisdom are all speech lessons and skills you can gather from the Bible that will improve your communication and life. For your personal studies on this subject, see the following scriptures: Psalm 19:14, 71:8, 141:3; Proverbs 4:24, 10:11, 26:28; Ecclesiastes 5:2; Isaiah 51:16, 59:21; Matthew 4:4, 12:24, 15:18; Luke 6:45.

Mission Trip to Bulgaria

Mission trip to Bulgaria. What, a mission trip to Bulgaria? Africa, South America, even Russia remain common destinations to go on a mission, but who thinks of Bulgaria? Yet, the country cries out for people with loving hearts to make their mission trip to this place that is shrouded in the pain of brokenness and abandonment. In our last article, we spoke of donating used items to charity to help children in Bulgaria, but perhaps God inspires you to do more. On a mission trip to Bulgaria, you would find children wasting away, literally, for attention and the loving touch of Jesus.

In 2007, BBC released a documentary entitled Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children, which gives us an example of the need for mission trips to make Bulgaria their next destination. Keep in mind, as you read on, that Bulgaria is not a third world country, it is a part of the European union! In the BBC documentary, the host made her own “mission” trip to Bulgaria to cover a social care home, housing seventy-five children, in the village of Moniligo. Of all the European countries, Bulgaria has the highest number of physically and mentally disabled individuals warehoused in institutes; one in fifty children are institutionalized in such social care homes. Most of the children enter the homes at the abandonment of their parents because of minor afflictions, such as being blind, deaf, or, perhaps mildly autistic. The conditions of the facility in the film are horrendous, but the conditions of the children are worse. The documentary gives heart-wrenching accounts of neglect and abuse, for it seems the mission of the institute simply remains to house the children until they’re old enough to make the trip to a different home, or they die. Not only are the limbs of the children gnarled like sticks from malnourishment, but most of them are never taught to talk and receive no therapy or special care for their disabilities. There are no organized activities or field trips outside, there is no one to hold the children in a loving embrace, and most the staff refuses to even make eye contact with the children. Without stimulation or education, children with the potential to live a relatively normal life, despite their disease or disability, are left to rock the day away, muttering unintelligible noises and waiting for the next spoonful of gooey porridge to shove into their mouths. Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children shows us why making a mission trip to Bulgaria is needed, for Jesus inspires His followers to love and care for little children because it is His heart.



We must not forget that, when everyone else pushed the children away in the Bible, Jesus reached out and took the children in His arms and blessed them. Today, we are Jesus’ arms, and our mission is to embrace the children others push away – to embrace children like those orphaned and abandoned in Bulgaria. James 1:27 claims this is what makes our religion real, or pure and faultless: “to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” If looking after children in need makes our faith faultless, it can never be “wrong” to make a mission trip to Bulgaria. The next step is to seek information on such a trip, and perhaps make the ministry to Bulgaria’s abandoned Children our next mission.

Donate Used Items to Charity to Help Kids in Bulgaria.

Donate used items to charity to help kids in Bulgaria. I have an excess of slightly used items sitting around my house which I would love to donate to charity to help kids in need in Bulgaria. It’s a great thought, but how does one donate used items to charity to help kids in Bulgaria? After all, shipping items to the country, just as shipping items to Ghana, is not a good option because of theft and inadequate postal services. Money is the best thing to donate to get kids the items they need because it can be safely wired, but in times like these, I don’t have extra money. My heart cries out, however, that there must be a way to donate and bless kids with the excess of things we have in this country, for I would rather give to charity than throw away my used items. As I was thinking and praying about this, God began giving me a few ideas of innovative ways to gain a return for these items go help His children. The following gives several ways to donate used items to charity to help kids in Bulgaria.


Donate used items by recycling and use the money for charity! With the recent push to “go green,” what better way to join the movement than to make the good of the environment translate into helping the poor and orphaned kids in Bulgaria? Search online for recycling centers that pay for glass or metal, and announce that you are collecting in your church and neighborhood. Also, look at sites like http://www.cash4cartridgesusa.com to donate old ink-cartridges, and http://www.yourenew.com/ to recycle electronics for cash. It doesn’t cost you anything, and it gives you that extra money you’re always wishing was around to help charities reach kids in places like Bulgaria.

Secondly, a good way to donate used items to charity to help kids in Bulgaria, through getting a return for them monetarily, is to hold a garage sale. Determine before-hand that all the proceeds you make will go towards charity, and promote your sale thus. This will draw more people to come, as well as encourage further spending. People often become willing to spend more if they know that all the cost is going to help kids in need.

Finally, get cash to give to charity to help kids in need by donating used items to places like the Goodwill. True, most second-hand stores do not give money for the things you bring in, but they will give you a receipt you can file and get a tax-rebate from. If you track the taxes that these donations saved you, and use the money you would have had to pay as an offering to help kids in Bulgaria, it’s similar to getting money for those used items to donate to charity. Also, look into high-end second hand stores that actually pay for slightly used, quality clothing. In Seattle area, there’s a place called Plato’s Closet that gives cash for brand-named clothing.

Now that you have a way to get money out of those used items, you can give the aid to the Bulgarian children Changing a Generation supports that you thought was not financially possible for you previously. With a little innovation, it’s easy to donate used items to charity to help kids in Bulgaria, and in Africa, and it doesn’t cost you anything!

Writing Journals to Draw Closer to God.

Writing Journals to Draw Closer to God. When you’re writing journals, it doesn’t always have to be an exploration of self-discovery; you can approach the practice a different way by writing journals to draw closer to God. My most powerful journals are those I am writing to God as I seek to draw closer in relationship with Him. As my journal writing expands to involve God within it, I find I’m drawn closer to God because it allows His words and truth to come onto the page and into my heart. When I am writing journals to draw closer to God I experience His love and inspiration in my life at a level that the “self,” without God’s word, cannot experience.

Why not just pray to draw closer to God instead of spending time writing journals? Words are powerful. God created the world through words. In a way, He was writing the world into being in Genesis when “God said…and there was.” Words can invoke the creative inspiration of God! God also gave us words, in the Bible, as a way to draw closer to Him. When we think carefully about it, the Gospels are like an account of the disciples writing journals about the events that happened: they wrote out details and discoveries, and they also ended up writing what God had to say, through Jesus and what we call “divine” inspiration. They discovered more than “self,” they invited God into their writing, and the writing became a venue for us to draw closer to God’s love and heart today.

When we speak about the unique power of writing journals to draw closer to God, we cannot forget that Jesus himself was called “The Word.” In John Chapter One, we find Jesus called The Word. In the Jewish, not only does this reference mean Jesus, but also the “word” of God, by which He created the world and governs it, and the written word – the Bible. Which is why writing journals – actually making it a practice to write words on paper – can be a great venue to draw our hearts closer to God: God uses both spoken on written words to reach humanity, and when we use both venues to reach him, we find a deeper level of intimacy.

In my journals, I begin by writing as if I’m writing a letter to God or speaking to Him like a friend. Sometimes I address Him directly, other times I just write with Him as the audience to my story or thoughts. As I begin opening up my heart on the page, I discover I draw closer to God because it takes more vulnerability to be honest with written words. The more vulnerable I am, the more God can speak to those fears, doubts, lies, questions, or uncertainties. Often, I find that my journals become a message from God as well, and not just me writing to Him. Whether this happens through Him bringing a scripture verse to mind for me to write down, or from God actually inspiring me to write down words, I find it always draws me closer to His refreshing love. Below is the most recent message God gave me:

“Come to ME so that you never go empty or weary. Do good always. Even when you’re slapped, abused, and crushed, do good back. Give back MY blessings. The one thing I always promise you is an overflow of joy and my light…”

This message in my journals came from God at a time when I desperately needed His inspiration and was having a hard time with persecution, feeling like I wanted to retaliate. These words gave me the life and the reminder I needed to draw closer to God for the strength to persevere. That’s what God’s words do – “the word of God is living and active…it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Because of the power of words and the ultimate power of The Word, combining them together allows God to become active in your thoughts and heart in a whole new, life-giving way. And, it’s not hard to do; start by pulling out a notebook and simply begin writing your journals to draw closer to God!

Find Christian Motivational Speakers.

Find Christian Motivational Speakers. Have you ever tried to find Christian motivational speakers who inspire real change, rather than just provide an hour of feel-good-words with no lasting impact? Whether we’re planning an event and need motivational speakers, or looking to find motivational sermons to listen to, it remains important to remember that not every message deemed “Christian” is infused with the power that alters our perception and brings LIFE to our hearts! So, when seeking to find Christian motivational speakers whose words are full of this power and life, three things should come to question: 1. What is the speaker’s primary purpose behind his or her ministry? 2. Feel out his or her perspective on Redemption and Christianity, and, 3. Weigh not the individual’s schooling first, but the speaker’s primary Teacher. Considering these three things helps us find Christian motivational speakers that truly motivate movement in hearts and lives.

First, Christian motivational speakers should know what their purpose is each time they step up to the microphone. Although the message, the people, and the settings may change, someone motivated by God’s heart never changes their purpose behind speaking. And, no one can motivate others with their words without first being motivated by the heart of God. Personally, I am always impacted to change when I listen to Ceitci Demirkova because her purpose behind each message is the same: “to inspire others to reach the fullness of their destiny in Jesus Christ,” which is to embrace and live out Christ’s salvation!

Secondly, a huge component to find Christian motivational speakers involves finding someone who knows the meaning of true Redemption, and extends that message to others. When the Bible says, “the old has gone, the new has come,” it means just that. Redemption means we are freed completely from the sin that separates us from God, and we are restored to connect intimately with Him. When Christian speakers still cling to the idea that we are imperfect and impure before God, even after accepting our new life through Christ’s sacrifice, then the message they deliver is condemning and not motivational. It brings death and not life, because it’s not the heart of God.

Lastly, and most importantly, so much weight seems to be put on an individual’s accolades or scholarly achievements when seeking a Christian motivational speaker, when we really should consider the speaker’s Teacher first. Surely, education is important, but the ultimate Teacher does not lecture in the classroom. Jesus told us in John 14:26, “the Councilor, the Holy Spirit…will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” Without the Holy Spirit as the primary Mentor and Teacher, every spiritual lesson is void of true life. Romans 8:2 reminds us that it is this Spirit that brings life and sets us free. So, if a speaker does not go first to the Spirit, then no one is going to be set free or motivated to change because his or her words will not carry that living breath of God that MOVES hearts. A heart that’s been schooled in surrendering and listening to The Teacher will bring a motivational message that a theology class alone cannot.

To find motivational speakers does not have to be a science. These three things really come down to one underlying theme: God’s love. If Christian speakers have God’s love, they will carry the purpose of Salvation behind everything they do, they will understand that complete Redemption between us and our Savior is a part of God’s loving plan, and their words will come from the teachings’ of the Spirit, since we cannot learn to love like God without the Holy Spirit moving our hearts in the first place. Remember, no matter whom the Christian motivational speakers are, the final response is always up to the listener: we make a choice to stay stagnant, or to move with the motivation of the Spirit.