Children in Servitude

by Monica Klepac, The Cry

At a busy intersection in Galaţi, a dozen Dacias (Romanian built cars) are stopped, waiting on a red light. Kids swarm from the sidewalk, slipping between the cars, tapping on windows and waving their squeegees and soap in front of the windshield. In a few minutes the light changes, and a few cars scoot off with cleaner windows while a few kids scamper to the sidewalk with more coins in their pockets.

The sun beams on the city park in Rio. Business people briskly walk with briefcases in hand and cell phones on their ears. Trailing behind is a raggedy boy calling out, offering a shoeshine. Back and forth, the executives parade past the boy with his beaten box and stained cloth. A few find the time to sit, drop some change in his hand and continue their cell phone conversations while the boy vigorously rubs their wingtips.

The street in Kolkata is a moving mixture of bright colored saris and men’s white shirts against the backdrop of gray–brown buildings. She stands against a building, just back enough to be out of the way and leaning just forward enough to see who walks by. She looks down at the calluses on her 15-year-old feet and thinks of the road they have traveled from her village in Nepal. The rumble in her stomach reminds her of why she is there, and she looks in the crowd for a man’s face, any man, anyone that will pay her a few rupees to do the thing she hates to do – that which will help her hunger go away for a while.

These stories are fictional, yet they are happening to real children at this moment in areas all around the world. Every day children are forced into servitude and the statistics cannot be overlooked.
■ UNICEF estimates that there are 100-200 million child laborers in both industrialized and developing countries today (Viva Network).
■ World Vision reports that almost 10 million children work in the sex industry, including areas such as child prostitution, sex tourism and pornography.
■ The fundamental human right to education is denied to as many as 130 million children, the majority of which are girls (Viva Network).

Jesus' TeachingJudith Gundry-Volf gives new insight into Jesus’ teaching on children in her chapter in The Child in Christian Thought. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record an incident when the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest among them. Jesus responds to their self-centeredness with the remark, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all, and servant of all.” He then takes a child into his arms and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” The word used for welcoming, or receiving children is dechomai, which in the New Testament is used especially for hospitality to guests. When Jesus held up children as an example of the kingdom, He gave us the mandate to serve them, not to enslave them. Gundry-Volf explains, “Thus to be great in the reign of God, disciples have to love and serve children.”

The place of children at the time of Jesus’ teaching was the lowest rank in society, so to take a child into His arms and declare the child to be the greatest was truly counter-cultural. Gundry-Volf further points out that then, as today, women held most of the caregiving responsibilities. Women were also a marginalized group, so as Jesus embraced a child, He showed that even the highest in society (men) are called to serve children. Though society often devalues children, it meanwhile romanticizes the time of childhood. Since the Romantics, we have tended to idealize childhood as a season of innocence. Unfortunately, having a starry-eyed view of childhood has not translated into commitments to love and serve children. As it was in Jesus’ time – as it continues to be in many of the places where WMF serves – children are second-class citizens. They are seen as strong legs and arms rather than as human beings. Whether they are in a factory or a brothel, these children have been denied their childhood for the sake of greed and lust. According to the Viva Network, India has the most child laborers in the world – the government puts estimates at 18 million. And in Latin America, an estimated 15-20 percent of children work. As we live and work among these children, we celebrate service, yet we oppose servitude.

It is easy to point fingers at the problems of injustices against children in other countries; however, even in materially wealthy, developed countries, we do not actively seek to serve our children. The United States lags behind many materially poor nations in certain areas of protecting children’s rights. According to Human Rights Watch, “Every recognized country in the world, except for the United States and the collapsed state of Somalia, has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, pledging to uphold its protections for children. Today the convention stands as the single most widely ratified treaty in existence.... Only six countries in the world – Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Yemen – were known to have executed juvenile offenders (people convicted of acts committed before the age of eighteen) in the 1990s, in violation of international legal standards. The United States has executed nine juvenile offenders in this decade, more than the reported total for any other nation in the world” (1995 Human Rights Watch Report, http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Us.htm ). Though our children may receive a higher standard of living, are we really serving them as we should?

I believe the epidemic of child servitude is a symptom of our unwillingness to serve children. Many of us want to have them around, like an agreeable pet, but we do not want to give of ourselves to serve them. Oh yes, we will give them things: toys, TV’s, cars, video games – anything that will keep them quiet and out of our hair. But to give of ourselves to them our time, our energy, our attention – those things that are truly precious to us – we would rather keep that for ourselves. Although we love to see their round, smiling faces, our society often regards children as a burden, not a blessing. From the womb to death row, children are seen as expendable when they inconvenience individuals or society.

Our Response As Christians, we struggle to live under the reign of God, while the world is dominated by forces of darkness. Like the disciples, we ask the questions that reflect the world’s values. Who will be first? How can I move up in the world? Who is ahead of me? Who is winning? It is in these questions that the children are lost. They become units of humanity that can easily be used for a more efficient, productive society. Yet Jesus shows us another way of living with the radical statement, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” He turns the world’s systems of power on its head and points us to the child, not so children can be used and abused for profit, but so the child can be nurtured, protected and served.

In order to serve children with pure hearts, our attitude should be as Johann Christoph Arnold so accurately names it – reverence. In his book, Endangered, Arnold defines the spirit of reverence as, “the spirit that welcomes children and opposes at all costs anything that despises and rejects them. Reverence is more than just love. It includes appreciation for the qualities children possess (which we ourselves have lost), readiness to discover their value and the humility to learn from them. Reverence is the willingness to accept childhood for its own sake and children for who they really are.”

As much as we revere the image of God in children, we will serve them. As I have explored the issue of child exploitation, I have sought out Christ-centered responses. Below are some ideas for serving children, not just our children, but all children. Like Jesus, we will be turning the world’s paradigms upside down, as we lay down our selfish concerns and gather the children in our arms. May our eyes be open to see His kingdom come and His will be done as we serve the children.
Monica and Joel Klepac serve in Galaţi, Romania, where they are the parents of the WMF boy’s home. They have a one son, Simeon. Monica was an elementary school teacher before moving to Romania, and she continues to use her teaching gifts as she serves the children.

Source: http://www.wordmadeflesh.org/, The Cry: An Advocacy Journal of WMF, vol. 11, no. 2 (Summer 2005)