{"id":25962,"date":"2014-11-27T11:18:53","date_gmt":"2014-11-27T19:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldvision.org\/?p=25962"},"modified":"2019-05-30T13:35:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T20:35:24","slug":"give-thanks-thanksgiving-black-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldvision.org\/blog\/give-thanks-thanksgiving-black-friday","title":{"rendered":"Give thanks: Thanksgiving and Black Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><div class=\"post-summary\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-post-summary field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p><em>For Thanksgiving and the day after, Black Friday, World Vision U.S. president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to Bangladesh.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He shared his Thanksgiving meal with Dipshikha, who teaches the children of brothel workers at a World Vision Child-Friendly Space in Bangladesh. <\/em><em>Rich also met Reshma, who will be bought and sold a dozen times on Black Friday as a sex worker.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *<\/p>\n<h2>Thanksgiving<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>After rearing a house full of children, Rene&eacute; and I are empty nesters. Sometimes I wander into my children&rsquo;s quiet bedrooms just so that I can miss them. But on Thanksgiving, our house will be alive with children and grandchildren. There will be noise, laughter, some squealing and maybe a few meltdowns, all leading up to Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Thanksgiving at the Stearns house is both vegan, for my daughter Sarah and her family, and carnivorous, for the rest of us. Rene&eacute; sets the table with a reminder of my former life as CEO of Lenox &mdash; the china we have collected over the years. She makes the turkey and, since 2005, a delicious dish called <a title=\"Amaretto Sweet Potatoes | Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/165788830008889462\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">amaretto sweet potatoes<\/a>, courtesy of World Vision videographer&nbsp;<a title=\"Tom Costanza | World Vision Blog\" href=\"http:\/\/worldvision.org\/author\/tom_costanza\">Tom Costanza<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Thanksgiving is simply wonderful.<\/p>\n<p>But this year, as I preside over a family so fortunate, I know I will be thinking of a different dinner that Rene&eacute; and I are thankful for &mdash; one that took place a few weeks ago at Dipshikha&rsquo;s home in Jessore,&nbsp;<a title=\"Bangladesh Facts | World Vision\" href=\"\/our-impact\/country-profiles\/bangladesh?&amp;campaign=108929222\">Bangladesh<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Rene&eacute; and I were in Bangladesh to see World Vision&rsquo;s <a title=\"Our Impact: Child Protection | World Vision\" href=\"\/our-impact\/child-protection?&amp;campaign=108929222\">child protection<\/a> work. Staff, who reminded us of angels, teach the children of sex workers &mdash; boys and girls who live in the brothels with their mothers, who would have no chance at education if not for World Vision&rsquo;s Child-Friendly Spaces.<\/p>\n<p>We visited one Child-Friendly Space on an island made of mud. It was hellish. But World Vision provided a bright spot amid the desolation. Dozens of children of sex workers filled a brightly decorated room capped with a sturdy tin roof where they are taught the alphabet, math, songs, and how to draw by former sex workers who now can call themselves teachers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25965\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25965\" style=\"width: 622px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25965 size-full lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/email\/met3\/spacer.gif\" alt=\"For Thanksgiving and the day after, Black Friday, World Vision president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to Bangladesh, where he shared his first Thanksgiving meal with a teacher of the children of brothel workers. \" width=\"622\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Thanksgiving-in-text-1.jpg 622w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Thanksgiving-in-text-1-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Thanksgiving-in-text-1-360x240.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Thanksgiving-in-text-1.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25965\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&copy;World Vision<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Five days a week, Dipshikha Roy teaches the children of sex workers at the Hat Khola brothel &mdash; 18 squirrely, noisy boys and girls who love the daily respite from life across the street in the brothel.<\/p>\n<p>After a visit to a Child-Friendly Space, we went to dinner at Dipshikha&rsquo;s house. Dipshikha, a young widow, lives with her mother and father-in-law and her beautiful daughter, Chitra.<\/p>\n<p>The family lives simply on Dipshikha&rsquo;s basic salary. In fact, Dipshikha does not have a table, so Rene&eacute; and I sat on her bed to eat our dinner.<\/p>\n<p>The food kept coming. No turkey of course, but curry, rice, and cucumbers and carrots cut beautifully into shapes that would have fit right in at the Waldorf Astoria.<\/p>\n<p>The neighbors came to watch us eating on Dipshikha&rsquo;s bed. When Dipshikha lamented that she had no table, Rene&eacute; told her that this is how we eat with big groups in the United States. We always put our plates on our laps.<\/p>\n<p>Dipshikha&rsquo;s daughter, Chitra, presented me with a beautiful gift &mdash; a pencil drawing she&rsquo;d made of Jesus on the cross, surrounded by cut flowers. &ldquo; I saw his picture on the Internet,&rdquo; she says. What a precious gift from a precious girl.<\/p>\n<p>Rene&eacute; and I will remember the feast at Dipshikha&rsquo;s home as we welcome our family for Thanksgiving. Because of World Vision, our family is much bigger than five children, their spouses, and three grandchildren. Our family includes more than 45,000 World Vision staff and the million people with whom we partner around the world.<\/p>\n<p>It is the same for all of you. You are part of my family as well. Joined together, our families cover nearly 100 countries around the world. I am thankful every day for each of you. World Vision&rsquo;s most valuable commodity is people &mdash; our staff and our supporters. Without you, there is no us. Without you, we cannot reach out and touch the poor. We cannot live out Jesus&rsquo; commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>This&nbsp;Thanksgiving, whether you are sitting at a table, balancing a plate on your knees in the living room, or even sitting on a bed, let&rsquo;s give thanks for one another and for women like Dipshikha.<\/p>\n<p>They are the servants of God who connect us with those whom Jesus loved the most.<\/p>\n<h2>Black Friday<\/h2>\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>I love the day after Thanksgiving &mdash; for me, it marks the beginning of the <a href=\"http:\/\/worldvision.org\/tags\/christmas\">Christmas season<\/a> and a reminder of the coming of our Savior. Of course, we also know this day as Black Friday, representing the start of a mad rush of buying and selling. I think most of us are disturbed on some level by the commercialization of Christmas. But after getting back from Bangladesh, I can&rsquo;t help but think of something much worse: the commercialization of human beings.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, my wife Rene&eacute; and I met Reshma*, who will be bought and sold a dozen times on Black Friday. Reshma is a sex worker in Jessore, Bangladesh. In her 30s now, she came to the brothel on Hat Khola street (meaning &lsquo;marketplace&rsquo; in Bengali) when she was only 10. For 25 years, she has been paid to have sex all day, every day.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31711\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31711\" style=\"width: 622px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31711 size-full lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/email\/met3\/spacer.gif\" alt=\"For Thanksgiving and the day after, Black Friday, World Vision president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to Bangladesh, where he shared his first Thanksgiving meal with a teacher of the children of brothel workers. \" width=\"622\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-3.jpg 622w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-3-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-3-360x240.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-3.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31711\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rich and Rene&eacute; talk with Reshma. (&copy;2014 World Vision\/photo by Jon Warren)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I loved a boy who brought me here,&rdquo; Reshma told Rene&eacute; and me. The boy, Mustafa, left Reshma at the brothel. After she was initiated into the trade by greedy madams who prey on young girls, she couldn&rsquo;t go home. Her mother had died of a stroke and she was ashamed to go back to her father.<\/p>\n<p>Since Reshma is aging, she doesn&rsquo;t make as much money as the younger sex workers at the brothel. She earns $2.50 per sex act while the younger girls command $6.50. Reshma is paying off a debt she owes to the brothel &mdash; 60,000 Taka, about $800, money she borrowed for three surgeries, including appendicitis and kidney stones. She tries to save $10 a week to put toward the debt. She will be paying off this loan for many years.<\/p>\n<p>Reshma&rsquo;s life is full of darkness.<\/p>\n<p>Two bright spots in Reshma&rsquo;s life are her daughters: Sonali, which means golden, and Rupali, which means silver. The beautiful little girls are 7 and 3. Sonali is aptly named. She has a golden countenance. The little girl seems to glimmer with life and hope.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31710\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31710\" style=\"width: 622px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31710 size-full lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/email\/met3\/spacer.gif\" alt=\"For Thanksgiving and the day after, Black Friday, World Vision president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to Bangladesh, where he shared his first Thanksgiving meal with a teacher of the children of brothel workers. \" width=\"622\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-2.jpg 622w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-2-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-2-360x240.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-2.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31710\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonali at World Vision&rsquo;s Child-Friendly Space. (&copy;2014 World Vision\/photo by Jon Warren)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sonali attends World Vision&rsquo;s Child-Friendly Space across the street from the brothel where her mother works. She is at the top of her class, and Reshma is hoping to see her pride and joy go into a formal school setting. Reshma has hopes and dreams for herself as well. She would like to open a little market, a small grocery store that she can keep neat and tidy, stocked full of things that people would like to buy &mdash; rice, soap, even sweets for children. Not exactly Black Friday fare, but somehow, much more meaningful than the latest iPhone.<\/p>\n<p>Reshma is tired of this life. She told us: &ldquo;When I lie down on the pillow I think, &lsquo;I lost my mom. Now I have children myself. What will I do to care for them?<em>&lsquo;<\/em>&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In this season of Thanksgiving, amid the revelry and the preparation for Christmas, I hope that each of us will think about women like Reshma who are bought and sold every day. Consider <a title=\"Bangladesh Facts | World Vision\" href=\"\/our-impact\/country-profiles\/bangladesh\">how World Vision works in Bangladesh<\/a> and other countries to ensure that their children, like Sonali and Rupali, do not follow in their mothers&rsquo; footsteps.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31709\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31709\" style=\"width: 622px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31709 size-full lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/email\/met3\/spacer.gif\" alt=\"For Thanksgiving and the day after, Black Friday, World Vision president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to Bangladesh, where he shared his first Thanksgiving meal with a teacher of the children of brothel workers. \" width=\"622\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-1.jpg 622w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-1-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-1-360x240.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/wvusstatic.com\/www\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Rich-in-text-1.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31709\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonali twirls in the hallway outside the Child-Friendly Space room. (&copy;2014 World Vision\/photo by Jon Warren)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I urge you to <a href=\"\/child-protection-news-stories\/pray-end-human-trafficking\">say a Black Friday prayer for the countless women and children whom Reshma represents<\/a>, that our Almighty God will deliver them from despair and set them upon a new path to experience life in all its fullness.<\/p>\n<p>Our prayers have such power. There&rsquo;s no better gift.<\/p>\n<p>*<em>Name changed for protection.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>Join us in prayer today for mothers like Reshma, and help bring hope into the life of a child like Sonali and Rupali: <a title=\"Sponsor a child | World Vision\" href=\"\/sponsor-a-child?CL=0201&amp;campaign=108929222\"><strong>sponsor a child in Bangladesh. <\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Thanksgiving and Black Friday World Vision U.S. president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":31708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[686],"country":[90],"filter":[178],"leader":[],"class_list":["post-25962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","country-bangladesh","filter-voices","tags-child-protection","tags-trafficking"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Give thanks: Thanksgiving and Black Friday | World Vision<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For Thanksgiving and Black Friday World Vision U.S. president Rich Stearns reflects on his recent trip to 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