Record Live Podcast

Nightcare_ protecting children in red light districts
Intro: [00:00:00] Hi there everyone. I'm Jarrod. And I'm Zanita. We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church faith and living well. We believe as followers of Jesus faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we'd put into practice. Let's go live.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And we are back with another episode of Record Live. Unfortunately, Zanita cannot join us today. She's on leave at the moment, but I am joined by Bruna and Bruna. You work for Asian Aid, an organization called Asian Aid. Can you just tell us, , your role there, and a bit of your background?
Bruna Tawake: Hi J. Nice to be here.
So [00:01:00] yeah, I work at Asian Aid as the head of marketing, communications and support and engagement. It's a bit of a mouth mouthful. , A small team, but a really passionate, capable team. I've been here just over a year and a half now. , But I've had a long relationship with Asian Aid as a supporter , and other.
Is one of those, you know, it's been around for a long time, a supporting ministry of the Seventh Adventist Church. If I had to capture what Asian aid does, I would say at Asian Aid, would believe that every child matters to God, made in his image. , Uniquely created, with a lot of potential. But the problem is.
A lot of children are robbed of their ability to reach their best, whether it is because of where they're born or their circumstances of their lives, or the scarcity of opportunities. So I guess we champion, the God potential of every child, and we do that in partnership with compassionate general people that also support, also believe [00:02:00] children.
Every child deserves an opportunity and we provide safety and education and essential healthcare and. Sustainable livelihood, opportunities to children, their parents, their schools, their communities. And we've done so since 1966, so
Jarrod Stackelroth: Wow. Yeah. We're all. Yeah. Before we get into the specifics of the night care, this is a new program that you're getting into and we'd love to chat to you about that today.
Can you just tell us what that looks like? Helping children reach their God potential in what region? Like is this all the children of the world? Do you have specific. Areas that you work in more, , regularly. Are there certain programs that you are more frequently taking part of?
What does Asian aid's actual day-to-day work look like? I.
Bruna Tawake: Yeah, good question. We, we work mainly in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, and we've just standard Cambodia, and that's the mm-hmm. [00:03:00] Project we're gonna talk about now. So how do we help kids reach their God-given potential by providing them with opportunities to go to school?
I. , So, supporting them with school fees, with materials, training their teachers, , and we say that as a, , a kid goes to school and we almost take it for granted where we are, , in our context. But a kid that doesn't go to school. It's more prone to early marriage and, child labor and exploitation outside of what they become when they're older as con contributing members of society.
And then we also know that if a child is not healthy, they can't reach their potential. So, we provide free healthcare, , through schools. We provide health, education, hygiene, education to kids and their parents. And then we also know that if a child is not adequately supported by their support networks.
You know, their communities, their parents, and , they can reach that potential either. So we provide livelihood opportunities for [00:04:00] moms. Here is a training course on agriculture, how to grow, a garden in your home. Here's a sewing machine and training. So that you can start a home business.
And the more we support the parents, the more we're indirectly and directly supporting the children. And having done this for almost 60 years, we now can look back and just go Here is the ripple effects of that positive impact because there is thousands of stories of kids who've, through the help of Asian aid supporters, are now contributing members of society.
They're leaders, in their own fields and they. They're giving back into their own communities. So it's going back to that whole notion of there is this period in time where a child, if they're resourced the right way, this is a long-term investment into the future.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I. Hmm. Now just something you mentioned, there about the supportive ministry of the Adventist Church.
So this Asian aid as a, an organization, it's not run by the Seventh Day Adventist [00:05:00] Church, but many of the people that work there are Adventists and many of the supporters are Adventists and they have this, it's a unique sort of, . Role as an independent supporting ministry. So that's not run by the church, but they're supportive of and supported by the church in many senses.
Maybe you can tell us a little bit about what that sort of status means for an organization like yours.
Bruna Tawake: Yeah, look, it's important. I'll park the status first for a second. I think what value supportive ministries bring, , to, to the Adventist ecosystem, church ecosystem is that we're giving opportunities to people and I, I feel like as Adventist, we're very generous, compassionate people.
There are a lot of good causes, a lot of, great ministries. That, that are run by the church or supporting ministries of the church is this, the more opportunities we give to ourselves and to people within our church communities to serve, to raise awareness of needs of [00:06:00] others, the more we're living out our faith.
, So you know this the supportive ministry status, it's another opportunity for people to. To just go, well, here is something that really touches me. This is something that God's put in my heart and I'm gonna, so I guess that's where Asian aid started within, the church ecosystem, within the Adventist church ecosystem.
And a lot of the work that we do in India, Nepal and Bangladesh supports the Adventist school system in those countries. , So, you know, hmm. Trains, the teachers there supports the infrastructure in those schools, ensures that children can go into the Adventist school system in these countries and learn more than just life skills.
Learn about Jesus too. So I guess that's the importance of , and we value being a supporting ministry of the, for that, for that reason. And having this opportunity to chat with you today as a supporting ministry , is a good one.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Awesome. So you mentioned you've only recently gone into Cambodia, [00:07:00] started more work in that space and one of those new initiatives that, you've actually sent me a story.
It's gonna be in the June seven issue of Adventist record. And so that's part of the reason we're having this conversation , just to find out more, a little bit about that story. So that will be available soon, but I guess, . You've called the initiative , or Asian aid? , Is talking about this thing called night care.
Now I've heard of daycare, like I've got a kid who's, only two and he's in daycare right now. But what is night Care?
Bruna Tawake: Yeah, night care is exactly like daycare, but it happens at night when, where the little ones that we're helping through this program are at higher risk of abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
So night care. Mm-hmm. Is is centers. The program is made up of centers in Cambodia where mothers who are caught in the red light, districts of Cambodia trapped in it. These are children and we're talking [00:08:00] babies and toddlers. So it's from baby to five or six years of age. Who's alternatives if there was no night care would be pretty heartbreaking.
So if. There is no night care. A mom that's working during the night has only got three very limited alternatives when it comes to her baby or toddler. She can take the child with her to work. And we've heard horror stories around children being drugged and put under beds and in cupboards to stay quiet.
They can leave the child alone at night, but that means the toddler is roaming the streets and at high risk of trafficking and being hurt. Or they can leave the child with neighbors or family, but we know there is such. Stigma attached, social stigma attached, to prostitution and red light districts, that stigma is actually follows on, outside of the mother into the child.
So when they leave them with other [00:09:00] people, the child is neglected and abused anyway, so pretty poor. How to look after these children. And really what happens, to these little ones is that they're experiencing really horrors. No child ever should at that age. So I guess that's what, and when we looked at the issue, although there are a number of services, a number of charities that, provide services to the moms, that are also caught in this industry, there's little to no help available for their little ones.
So I think that's where care, came about. It provides the safety blanket, if you like. It does more than provides safety blanket.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's it's very sobering to think about with kids that age myself, like leaving them overnight. At home by themselves. You know, even to just, , if the house was safe and locked up, probably they might sleep through, nothing might happen.
But if they wake up with nightmares or, are [00:10:00] trying to, I don't know, go into the kitchen to find something to eat or something, they could get into knives or hot. Hot things or all sorts of, like, it's just horrific to think about, that is the only option available, to some of these people now.
What about people that might say, well, you're enabling, say sex work or prostitution you're in. And that's what we're talking about here. You know, some of these women are involved in some of those industries. , Potentially, you're right. , There's drugs around, , there's, , it's not an area we want children, but at the same time, is this just making it easier or, well, I'll dump my children at night care and then I'll go and.
You know, do this at night. What would you say to someone who might have some of those concerns?
Bruna Tawake: Yeah. What I would say is that the red light districts of Cambodia are star, if you like. I. Reminder of system, gender inequality of poverty and exploitation. [00:11:00] And instead of me addressing the question directly, I'll give you some stories.
How about I, I tell you a couple of stories of moms whose kids are coming to, to night care and I won't give them names, for safety reasons. But here is one mom who. Imagine when she was a teen, she would go for days without food. So the opportunity of actually getting a job moving out of rural Cambodia and coming into mainstream Cambodia and getting a job was very attractive.
And she thought she was coming in to actually work in a garment factory, when in reality she ended up in a brothel. Fast forward a few years, but she now has a little one and it's next to impossible to get out of that. And I'll give you the example of another mom and I just, I'm talking about somebody in their early twenties here, where has experienced every hardship imaginable to the point of a forced marriage.
When she was a teen to an abusive drug addicted husband, had the courage to escape that relationship. For a whole month. She told the NANS in the [00:12:00] night care center, she tried to escape and she was found every time and abused every time to the point that her husband then sold her to the LO local brothel for less than 500 Australian dollars.
And again, she now has her two children and she's trapped in it. The Red Light District of Cambodia full of stories of moms like these. Research shows that the women that work in the prostitution sex, industry in Cambodia are doing that either out of absolute economic necessity to provide for their children, or they've been trafficked into it.
Without forced into it, without willing to do so. When you think that 18% of Cambodians live below their national poverty line, not our poverty line, their national poverty line, sex work is one of the only viable option for some people for some women, especially rural women that are moving [00:13:00] into,
places like, in, into some of the cities in Cambodia. So I just wanna park that there to just say, we're recognizing the reality is devastating and heartbreaking. We're putting that aside. What we're doing with night care is saying we are acknowledging the reality of the lack of opportunities that exist and what night care does outside of giving a child a little one, the opportunity to sleep well overnight and be safe.
It's also little by little breaking the cycle of trauma so that in a few years time, the girl that was born in the red light districts doesn't think the only job she can do is what her mom was doing. So it's providing an alternative to, so I guess I don't. To some extent, I don't wanna judge the situation, in Cambodia because the reasons and the situation is beyond complex to, to be honest.
All we are doing is acknowledging that [00:14:00] reality and providing help to potentially some of the most vulnerable, invisible children that exist in Cambodia today.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And, and what you're talking about is slavery in some of those senses. Like they, they are forced, as you said, with no choice and they can't escape.
And so it would be fairly callous of us to write off their children then as not having any worth because the mothers are trapped in that cycle. It's heartbreaking, the sort of,
Bruna Tawake: it's. The, the social stigma, even if you could escape, the potential to actually find other employment, the potential to be able to provide for your child to actually make do outside of it, there's such social stigma attached to it.
I don't wanna make it sound like it's a hopeless, hopeless situation. Nobody can leave, but it would be very difficult to actually break free of it.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Mm. I'm, I'm curious as to how this [00:15:00] opportunity came about because you mentioned there are services and there is help for the mothers, for example.
There are other potentially NGOs in, in Cambodia working with all different demographics, but like, it seems like this is maybe a hole in the. The service industry that Asian aid , has discovered, are there other people doing similar things, perhaps in other countries or something, or is this just a sort of a chance thing that Asian Aid has stumbled across and, and found this really important ministry?
Bruna Tawake: No, we're, we're actually in partnership with, , an aid organization in the states called Saving Moses. So I guess they were also, like, they became aware of the issue. They, they were mainly with babies and toddlers. And mm-hmm. We had obviously because of our. Internal knowledge around how to work with children.
It made sense for us to enter into this partnership, especially when we saw the need that existed in [00:16:00] Cambodia and other countries. The need is there in Nepal. The need is there in India as well. There is such a need that if there were more resources, a lot more could be done, in that space.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Who are the staff, the nannies that are looking after these, young, babies and toddlers and stuff.
How do you find people that are willing to do that? You said there's some stigma attached with. That industry. Are these young sort of teachers in training? Are they, nannies , and babysitters that are willing to work in this space? How do you identify and find people that are able to do , this, for you?
Bruna Tawake: Some are, are teachers in training, some are people, some are women that have experienced hardship themselves. , So one of the nannies in one of the centers, , you know, she lost her husband, was left to be the sole provider. Worked a couple of jobs, then found out, advertised their advertised jobs.
For night care centers, find out about the need for a night care. , And she had that hard connection with, with [00:17:00] the role in the sense that I know what hardship looks like. I know what it feels like for a child who's, whose mom has to be the sole provider. And we talk about that , and we need to think of that outside of our own context in countries where, mm-hmm.
A mom is the sole provider. It's just completely different dynamics in that space. And she saw this as an opportunity. A lot of the nanny of there see it as an opportunity to give back, to nurture. We do quite a bit of training in trauma care, for example. So yeah, a center might have.
20 kids, might have five or six s that are employed by, by the center to look after the kids and the ongoing training is there. , As I said, the need is there for even more of it, but it's usually people, it's usually people that are connecting with it because they themselves have experienced hardship.
They themselves have experienced some. Stigma, associated, they have moved, from a [00:18:00] rural area. So there is an understanding of the situation, by the nature specialty it sounds like.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yeah. It sounds like it's a very meaningful sort of thing for them to take part in. Moving a little bit and maybe it answers our question about, there's a lot in the Bible about the vulnerable, you know, the widows and the orphans and, and the least of these,
how do you see this, this role, even if it's not an evangelistic program? You know, we're not necessarily teaching these kids, , Sabbath school lessons and trying to convert them into Good Seventh Day Adventist like. It's just literally, in some cases, sort of saving their lives, protecting them from abuse, saving them from being drugged and shoved under a bed.
Like those are important. But can you give us from your perspective, I guess the faith reason, the Christian reason behind why would Asian aid want to be involved in such a [00:19:00] ministry?
Bruna Tawake: Yeah. By the way, they do have met time, as part of the routine. They do age appropriate reading and songs, and they say their grace before their meal.
So, but I think outside of that, I can get quite simplistic in my take on, I think the Bible is. Full of references around compassion and generosity. I think if we were to boil down, like we're asked to love God with all of our heart and all of our mind, and then to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and when we look at the example of Jesus, there are so many.
How many in how many settings do we see Jesus during this earthly ministry looking for the most vulnerable and siding with it? Spending time and then saying, follow me. And I feel sometimes in our relationship with God, we are in a privileged position. I feel like we receive a lot. God gives a lot, he gives love and he grace and forgiveness he gives his son.
We are in the, on the [00:20:00] receiving and that's why I find Mic six eight a little bit interesting because we are required to do something. For people that have been on that receiving end in Micah six, eight. What does the Lord require of you? But to act justly, to love mercy, to walk homely with your God, I feel like we need to pay attention to that 'cause as receiving people here is a bit of a requirement, and this is.
Simple one. It's just choose righteousness in all the things that you do in your life. That's to, but then to love Mercy is to show compassion and generosity towards people. And it's more than just being nice. It's actually go elevates suffering. It doesn't have to be to little ones in Cambodia.
It can be to people who can pass for, and I think what happens, and there's a lot of research that backs this up when we live our lives in reference to other people. So when there're, when we are other focused, great stuff happens from us, for us. We tend to be living our lives in the best [00:21:00] possible way for our own wellbeing.
I think it does things to our faith living out in this way where we are a bit out focused. So even in that request in Micah six, eight, God is doing us a favor again because God is saying. Go and do something. But in so doing, you will see that your faith is strengthened and your overall wellbeing, is gonna improve as well, and it's gonna enhance.
I think it's just looking for those opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Mm.
Jarrod Stackelroth: To
Bruna Tawake: whoever.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Whoever, everyone. Yeah. The, especially the vulnerable. I'm reminded as you're speaking of the passage in Matthew that talks about, the sheep and the goats. And it's like when I was hungry, when I was naked, when I was, thirsty, when I was in jail, you visited me.
. Or you didn't like. These are the, this is the dividing line between, what we do and how we treat, the vulnerable people. We've got a [00:22:00] comment from one of our viewers, joy Butler has, , said, Proverbs says, we are to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. Praise God for Asian Aid.
You're a great advocate and speaker. Thank you. Thanks Joy. Yeah, these. Children. And often in our world, children don't have a voice, especially babies, toddlers, they can't even talk yet some of them. And they're given this safety, it's such a gift. Just so for some of us, we might be like, well, we can't get to Cambodia.
We can't. Serve in a center, but what can we do, Bruno? What should we be doing as Christ followers with this requirement that you've pointed out in Micah six, eight, well, how does that look in our comfortable Australian or New Zealand or even the South Pacific? It's fairly comfortable.
It's fairly far [00:23:00] removed from the back alleys of a Cambodian sort of city. How do we. Live out our Christianity. Do you think day by day?
Bruna Tawake: I think one of the most important things we can do, is to maybe, I feel like God puts in our heart something, as I say, it doesn't have to be night care for little ones in Cambodia.
Something that we feel passionate about. Let's get educated on that. I think, let's just find out. It doesn't have to lead to an action straight away. I think sometimes just being more aware of the needs that exist around us, because not everything. I think, there's almost this default, like I can donate money and that.
We'll do something, an aid agency, a supporting ministry, some, somebody will do something with my money and that is great. That's absolutely needed and necessary, but it's not the only thing I think we live, especially I'll talk about where I live in Australia, there's [00:24:00] plenty of local organizations that are looking for volunteers.
So let's raise awareness first about issues that might be. In our community, and we might not have money, but we might have a bit more time. So let's volunteer. I think the lived experience we have with need, whatever that looks like, whether it is a mental knowledge, I'm raising awareness, whether it is a physical presence, I'm ongoing and providing a service.
I'm volunteering for an hour or two. All of those, it's almost like a puzzle piece. Eventually you will find yourself part of somebody else's story, whether it is through your praying, whether it is through your knowledge, whether it is your time, whether it is through the money that you donate, and once we become part of the story of somebody else, the benefit is mutual.
We get just as much out of that and the opportunity that we have to live out our faith rather than talk about our faith in that way, that's a pretty precious [00:25:00] opportunity.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Hmm. Yeah. I think, so often we, I. We are quite happy to receive, but not necessarily to give. That's my experience, in my own faith journey.
It's like, , it's easy enough to receive, oh, I'm feeling flat this week. I'm burnt out. I need a word on Sabbath, I need a good spiritual uplift , and I'm looking to be fed. But, just in your own words, what sort of do you think that act of giving. Does to your faith.
Bruna Tawake: It strengthens it.
It's proof. It provides proof. The people that volunteer, the people that donate, the people, that now are invested through their knowledge and through their sharing. We've got all social media platform. There is a variety of things we can do to, as Joy was saying in our comment to speak for those who cannot speak.
The more we do that, it's a little bit like a muscle, I think service. It's a bit [00:26:00] like a muscle, like, the more you use it, the stronger it gets and it becomes your proof point. For the blessings we've received. It's okay for us to be fed, like we need that, for our own. But if. We don't share it, then we run the risk of never having our own stories around what God did in that situation through somebody.
Mm-hmm. And the connections that happened, the bigger story that God creates when people are willing to. Do their little part. It's a collective, it becomes a collective effort that becomes higher return on investment, if you like. But each of us are doing our part in it. I think we get proof points, we get stronger in our faith.
Jarrod Stackelroth: That's amazing. And that speaks to what we talk about here on record Live a lot. It's about our faith in our church and our culture and how those things interact. And what you're saying is, acting in, well, this is my paraphrase [00:27:00] of understanding what you're saying. When we work with God and for God on, in a sense service in, living out the faith that we hold, it actually strengthens our faith and it can help other people.
So there's a. A double benefit there. And I think that's a really good point to take with us. What's something we can do this week, Bruna, as a last thing? What's one thing we can do this week in our lives? I.
Bruna Tawake: I think we could potentially focus on service and giving and compassion even if we simply just for this week asked ourselves and maybe jotted down how have I been compassionate?
And it could be to our own family. It doesn't matter to who. Like, how have I been compassionate this week? And looking at that and maybe just giving incremental, giving some, something, a challenge to ourselves to maybe be, do incrementally better next week in whatever it is. Because I think all of us are [00:28:00] showing compassion in our corner of the world, in the way we go about living our lives is just maybe, I don't know, zeroing on it a little bit and becoming a little bit more aware of our own compassion and then seeing.
Where that conversation, where that awareness leads us for the following week and the week after.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Awesome. Well, we've run out of time today. I'm gonna share your website with our listeners. We've got Asian aid. Au slash night care should be there on the screen. If people follow that, they can find out more information about this night care program.
The record article is coming out in June 17. They can also read that to get a bit more information there. But in the meantime, Bruna, thank you so much for joining us this week. , Thank you for the work that Asian Aid is doing there. And yeah, may God bless our viewers and yourself. Brina as we go about trying to do good and trying to be more compassionate in our lives.
Bruna Tawake: Thanks, Jared, [00:29:00] appreciate having a chat with you. Thanks so much.