The history of land is significant and we were meeting in the Old City not far from the Topkapi Palace, the political and symbolic centre of the Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries. The palace Harem consisted of four hundred rooms where the Sultan lived with his wives, children and female slaves. The majority of the women of the Harem lived dangerously short lives at risk of disease and death from the bitter Istanbul winters. Those kept as a Harem in the ‘Cage’, where possible successors to the throne were incarcerated, suffered even more. They never left the Cage unless they got pregnant at which point they were immediately drowned. The Sultans who lived there often became deranged, including the aptly named ‘Ibrahim the Mad.’

To this day Istanbul remains a centre of trafficking, particularly for girls from Russia and the ‘Stans’. Many of the girls go there to work as a waitress or a dancer, only to end up being prostituted – the job offers simply an entrapment.

The emphasis of the gathering was unexpected, although, because of our values as a community, affirming. We have been involved for a number of years in working with survivors of extreme abuse. In doing so we have encouraged the ‘healers’ to be prepared to face up to their own pain.

The healing model taught in the gathering was drawn from the Beatitudes. It was about being poor in spirit- recognizing our need of Jesus and being prepared to be real, so that we could then mourn and receive His comfort. It was about being meek – willing to forgive both our self and others.

How could we ever encourage those who had experienced the most unimaginable pain and terrible of betrayals to risk stepping into healing and the unknown, if we were unwilling to do the same?

We arrived in Chisinau to a city centre awash with expensive cars, smart restaurants and designer shops. It was very different to the semi- derelict Soviet concrete apartment blocks where we were told we might be accommodation available. We were kindly warned to be cautious because there was no lighting in the stairwell and to beware of syringes and aggressively placed razor blades!

For all of that, despite a lack of connections and no knowledge of Russian and or Moldovan/ Romanian, we were led into an amazing series of divine appointments. We were very grateful for phrasebooks, English speakers and for our shamelessness in mime!

We met some wonderful people including…Amnesty International activists who helped us understand issues of corruption between denominational churches and the State.… A Christian – who connected us with people helping teenagers, at the vulnerable point, when they leave the huge orphanage system.…The beautiful young girl we met as a result of this was one of the fortunate ones. She was receiving practical and emotional support to make the transition into a new life and, as such, was less likely to be preyed upon by traffickers. One of the few things the State gives young people as they leave the orphanage system is a passport. We learnt from others that street kids are often targeted by those engaged in the illegal trade in body parts. This makes it necessary to visit teenage prisoners. They are less likely to be ‘disappeared’ if someone cares about them.

The number of posters advertising a better life and/or education in the West also struck us. These were frequently positioned outside government buildings or the expensive offices of well-dressed people. These were the same people who drove smart cars and who were jumpy, even threatening, if any interest was shown in what appeared to be their business in organized crime.

Our time in Moldova was like tentatively undoing a Babushka doll. As, layer-by-layer, we searched in this precious nation for understanding of the issues, their roots, and pointers to a different way.

FLAME

The ‘Flame’ blog stream is one strand in the unfolding journey of how, as a community, we are attempting to engage with the issue of sex trafficking. One inspiration for this is a young woman called Naomi*  who lived with our family for a year or so. She provoked us with her unyielding determination to work amongst those caught in prostitution in the brothels of India. Naomi is one of the most understated yet bravest people I know. It has been a fight for her to end up doing what she has longed to do. Hopefully you will read more of her journey in a future blog.

The research I undertook for ‘The Kingfisher Flame’ has also fed into this focus and since its recent publication I have been freer to follow things through. In January this year a friend invited me to go with her to a gathering in Istanbul on developing ministries to the survivors of trafficking. A group working in Moldova had initiated the meeting and that, in particular, sparked me, as in September 2007 I had set off with another mad friend on a week’s ‘wild wandering’. We were sent out in pairs or small teams to follow the Holy Spirit wherever He might want us to go.

We were drawn to Moldova because we wanted to follow the Father’s Heart to the poorest of the poor and in 2007 Moldova was ranked as the poorest nation in Europe. (In 2012 that is still the case with a per capita income of $3,383.) In particular, we suspected that the level of poverty left young women vulnerable to being trafficked. We also knew that teenagers leaving the orphanage system could be at risk of the same.

We went to Moldova not knowing anyone, without much money and when, just before leaving, we did meet someone who had connections there, he just laughed and laughed at our lack of plans; that was until he became concerned about our safety. He thought we were totally mad – he was probably right!

* real name has been changed

Here is a link to a very challenging video which illustrates what is being said here (stick with it till the end- it is not what it appears to be!)

Here is a video which illustrates what is being said here (stick with it to the end- it is not what it seems!)

The Kingfisher Flame, a novel by K J Lowe, is out now!

To find out more about this novel, please visit

the Kingfisher Flame website here > .

A lost sister, broken minds;

a journey through the ritual

shadowlands of an ancient evil,

in search of the Flame.

It started the day that

normal went missing.

Until the day of the lost sister,

lost wife, they were

two ordinary families

from Wales and England.

They discovered a

past that spoke in

splintered voices of

torture and abuse…

A picture that crossed

boundaries and unlocked

the stories of strangers…

And a kindness that

walked through walls

and opened the doors

into new dimensions.

Where would it end?

Broadly speaking (and I may be guilty of some cracking broad brush statements as we go!) prior to the Industrial Revolution there was a direct connection between craft and the craftsmen/women, between producers and what they produced whether that be a shoe maker, a baker, a farmer etc. They produced what was needed personally/locally and saw no need to produce more for the sake of it. There were other things they could do with their time and their time was theirs to spend as they chose.

With the progress of science, technology we moved into the realms of increased productivity through mechanisation – and increased profitability for business. In the beginnings of this phase there was a real demand for human labour to keep the ‘factory system’ producing and many of our social systems were geared to providing and motivating that pool of labour to be employed. The goal was full employment to be able to produce all that society needed and to maintain an orderly ‘norm’. People were defined as poor if they were unemployed and punished if they chose not to engage with factory employment. The meaning of and motivation to ‘work’ had changed.

Further changes in the motivation to work, developments in science, technology, business, IT, medicine, media, a few world wars and some shifting values has meant that everyone’s ‘labour’ is no longer needed to produce all that society needs. A person’s life was no longer built around work, having a profession or jobs but around possessions, experiences, consumer choice and having access to those choices and experiences. Money being the key factor in gaining access to those choices and experiences.

Charles Dickens’ novels vividly describe what it looked like and felt like to be poor in the Victorian era. He was a fierce critic of the poverty and the class and economic systems of his day. Interestingly this year there are widespread celebrations of the 200^th birthday of this social commentator. Present day social commentators could include the young people, disaffected adults and opportunists of last year’s August riots in England; until last week the Occupy protest outside St Paul’s; UK Uncut online and in situ demos; along with a plethora of You tube clips, blogs and websites. Not everyone was silent or passively compliant during the Industrial Revolution and there is protest rising across the continents – its ironic that the noise is broadcast by the fruit of technological advances.

The ‘modern’ system birthed out of the Enlightenment changed how work and poverty were defined and experienced, that system has been breaking down for some time.  But how were people drawn, forced, seduced into adopting a different meaning of work in the first place?

These are wild times! Many layers, many places to stand and survey the current landscape. But how did we get here? I’ve just finished Zygmunt Bauman’s book ‘Work, consumerism and the new poor’ and found it provided some helpful perspectives on the journey to here and what may lie ahead.

There are also ‘spiritual’ roots in history – many of the present economic institutions and systems have their origin in Elizabeth I’s reign and it is interesting that in Elizabeth II’s reign we are seeing something of their unravelling – Martin Scott has noted that we are seeing the demise of systems that have been in place for 500 years

I could be described as a novice when it comes to politics but I am struck by the fact that political parties across the spectrum look to economic growth and consumer spending as the way out of economic recession and as indicators of how well we are doing in the UK. We do live in a consumer society and that seems to be part of the problem! I question that it can also be part of the solution.

We face a Eurozone in crisis, Greece in economic and social meltdown.  Stern warnings that we are in desperate times and need some radical solutions. In this blog series I hope to explore these themes and maybe discover some fresh insights and creative solutions.

First off, how did we get here?  In my next post, using Bauman’s book as a historical map I’ll start reflecting on that journey.