The philosopher Ken Wilber once wrote, “Civilization is a race to tame testosterone.”
Evidently the sex drive (metaphorically reduced to the hormone testosterone) of men in general knows few bounds. It exhibits itself in aggressiveness, abuse, and overly sexual behavior. I wrote yesterday about two TV series exploring the theme of men coming to an understanding of the changing role of women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
That struggle is not over. It’s even worse than the persistent belief among some that the woman’s place is in the kitchen and bedroom. Abuse is abundant in the USA, as well as throughout the world.
I knew about Bangkok, Thailand as a vacation destination for Japanese men seeking sexual pleasure many years ago. Probably men from many other countries, as well. It persists even today. Let me tell you the story of a coffee farmer in the highlands of Thailand named Abonzo. Like coffee farmers around the world, the family was unable to escape poverty and pay living wages to its employees given the economics of how coffee is purchased and distributed. The farm workers were so poor that many often sold daughters they could not afford to feed to brothels in Bangkok. Then a coffee roaster in Ohio learned about the family and purchased coffee from the Abonzo family farm directly paying a fair price. The last I had heard, they had brought 70 women back from Bangkok to work at the farm reunited with their families.
You can buy direct trade (direct from the farm) coffee from Hemisphere Coffee Roasters. I don’t see Thailand on the list right now. I buy Cafe Diego–I met Diego Chavarria from Nicaragua once and heard his story–plus we like the coffee. It is so much better than the usual stuff you get. And you support many people.
Another way you can help make a big difference in a person’s life is to support a women’s shelter. We send donations monthly to the Tijuana Christian Mission. The main mission supports two orphanages for children who often are the victims of neglect and abuse. There is also a shelter, Women With Purpose, you can reach out and donate at Women With Purpose, PO Box 85, National City, CA 91951. I’ve visited the shelter some years ago and done some painting to spruce it up. Tijuana is a sex destination for American men. I’ve also gone through that area of town. (Not as a “tourist”!) The shelter sometimes helps women who got out of that or most often are victims of abuse at home.
Only about 10 miles from where I lived in Ohio quietly existed a sex slave “business” serving long-haul truck drivers and others. You can support women in many ways. But we need to reach out to the men, too, and as Wilber put it–race to tame testosterone.
The Bible challenges us often in its pages to care for the widow and orphan. There are many ways to do it. You can help from wherever you are in the world.
Faith Venture 
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