Saturday evening at Synergy2011, we are breaking with tradition. If you have read Sheryl WuDunn’s book, Half the Sky, you will understand why.
Half the Sky describes a crisis that is destroying the lives of millions of women and girls and labels what is happening as “the paramount moral challenge” of the twenty-first century. In response, the Synergy video shown at Lausanne made this bold assertion:
Last weekend, the Super Bowl brought a disturbing reminder that sex trafficking is a local problem—rampant in our own cities and at heightened levels during major sporting events. According to statistics, thousands of foreign women and girls are trafficked into the U.S. every year. That doesn’t account for thousands of young American girls who are lured into the clutches of pimps and a life of forced prostitution.
Here’s a fact: while Synergy2011 is happening—on the streets of Orlando just blocks away from us—women and girls will be trafficked.
How can we keep Sheryl’s message to ourselves?! We have an opportunity to sound the alarm and to raise awareness in the local community. So on Saturday night, we are flinging open the doors and inviting in the community. The DeMoss Group, a public relations firm, is graciously promoting this important event.
Of course we hope people will want to come for the full conference. But please join us in praying that many will come to hear Sheryl’s message and that God’s people in Orlando will mobilize. Please invite anyone you know in the Central Florida region to come.
For details, go to www.synergytoday.org/wudunn.html
Carolyn Custis James 
Great idea. I know more locals I want to invite! Praying and looking forward to this conference!
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Thanks Karen. I think it's going to be incredible and am glad you're coming!
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Nice article, thanks.
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I wish I coud have made the trip to be there this evening. I'd have liked the opportunity to ask Mrs. Kristof how she squares the praise she and her husbnd had for Mao's revolution with actions like this:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/chinese-woman-taken-to-labor-camp-for-protesting-one-child-policy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
Where the current regime has taken a mother of three girls to an undisclosed labor camp after previously releasing her due to her poor health.
How could she and her husband have been filled with such admiration for Mao that they name their book and foundation after one of his sayings? The current regime and its brutal one-child policy are the fruit of his rule.
Kamilla
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I'm sure you'll be relieved to know that neither Sheryl nor her husband are fans of Mao. It appears they are wise enough to sort the baby from the bathwater. Your critique caricatures their position.
CJ
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Carolyn,
Perhaps, then, you could give me the page numbers from the book where they criticize Mao? I hardly think it is a caricature of their position to note that they name both their book and their foundation after his motto.
Kamilla
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I'm not at all surprised that Mrs. James doesn't care to respond – mostly because she can't really respond. The Kristofs never actually criticize Mao in their book. They only come within a mile of saying anything negative about him twice. Once, when they briefly mention the brutality of the 1949 revolution, but then they immediately turn around and praise the same revolution for its emancipation of women, bringing them into the factories and the offices of the Communist Party (207). The second time occurs when they mention the Chinese “predilection for aborting female fetuses: (208). In neither case do they link the brutalities mentioned to Mao nor do they actually offer any criticism of the policies or the man.
So if the Kristofs are NOT fans of Mao, I'm left wondering what an actual fan of Mao would look like.
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