Committed to living slave-free

http://americanslavemaster.blogspot.com/2010/01/im-responsible.html

The link above is the first entry to a blog I recently came across thanks to contributing participants of NYCUP's LoGOFF challenge. It's an old entry, but that's what makes it great! She's still writing through her journey in trying to live slave-free. 

Recently, I made a decision to join NYCUP in their challenge to live slave-free for a year (12/15/2011 to 12/15/2012). Technically, LoGOFF is meant to challenge us to live "Local, Organic, Green, Fair, and Free (of slaves)," but in documenting my own adventures with this, I want to focus more on living slave-free because most of us don't think about how we, as consumers, contribute to the industry involved in modern-day slavery. If you have doubts about your role in all of this, I suggest checking out http://slaveryfootprint.org/. 

I was never fond of shopping (except for groceries) because I, personally, don't think it is very fun. But when I had to shop for interview clothes and work clothes and new shoes to replace my hole-y ones, I went for what was cheapest. It's how I was raised. I am an expert at finding good bargains. This lifestyle was challenged the more I learned about human trafficking and soon, I hesitated to shop for clothing at all. It was easy to not shop in college because of all the free t-shirts and nobody cared how you dressed in a technical school. Now that I'm working and attending weddings, I'm finding myself needing to build up my wardrobe again and possibly falling into the temptation to look for what's cheapest. 

I am really grateful for God's timing and that He presented to me this challenge of faith to be a more intentional consumer. So far, my biggest concerns that I hope to reconcile are my natural tendencies to drift to what is convenient and inexpensive; and my cynicism in the fair trade market and certifications. I am also grateful for God's mercy and grace because I know I will fail many times, but I pray that this year, I will learn to be a better steward over the resources God has blessed me with.

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I probably won't be documenting primarily on living slave-free and fair trade because that is more restricting than I originally thought it would be.