{"id":651,"date":"2010-07-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/07\/the-pride-and-the-shame.html"},"modified":"2010-07-13T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-13T06:00:00","slug":"the-pride-and-the-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/07\/the-pride-and-the-shame.html","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Reflections: Why is the world evil?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the 2010 World
\nCup is over
\nand Spain has taken the top prize, I wanted to reflect a little bit on
\nmy experience. These thoughts were recorded on June 25, 2010…<\/i>
<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

On the one hand, South
\nAfricans have
\nso much pride in the fact that they are hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
\nEven though their team did not make it out of the first round of
\ncompetition, every South African brims with pride in their team. They
\nare known as, “Bafana Bafana,” a term of endearment that translates as
\n“The Boys.”<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

As
\nour team was walking through the slums of Cape Town, “The Boys” scored
\nin their match against France. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The
\nplace erupted. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

People
\nran from their houses, blowing vuvuzelas and dancing with us in the
\nstreet. Here we are, this group of Americans caught up in an all-out
\ncelebration for “Bafana Bafana.”  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

However,
\nin my conversations with several South Africans, it became clear to me
\nthat there is a feeling of shame due to their reputation in the world
\nmedia. South Africa gets negative attention for their high rates of
\ncrime, their persistent poverty, and their high HIV infection rate.
\nThese labels, they believe, have kept many fans away because it is “too
\ndangerous to go to a third world country with so much crime, poverty,
\nand disease”. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Some
\nSouth Africans feel this bad reputation has unjustly kept many away from
\nthe matches.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

But
\nthe facts remain.<\/a> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Sex
\ntraffickers, pimps, and brothel owners have shown up in droves. Their
\npresence is not simply just about giving fans a good time. It’s also
\nabout child prostitution and trafficking.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Whether
\nyou and I want to believe it – whether South Africans want to admit it,
\nthe facts are all pointing to the same story. As I’ve mentioned before,
\nnearly
\n40,000 prostitutes have poured into the cities hosting the games<\/a><\/span>.
\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

While
\nsome may have migrated by choice, many women and young children have been
\nforced. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

To hurt and abuse the
\ndefenseless – especially
\nthe young – is the darkest, most shameful thing I can fathom. <\/span>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Four-year-olds are
\nkidnapped
\nto work as sex slaves. Women, boys, and
\nchildren are trafficked from all over Africa, Russia, and China. <\/span>Brothels
\nhave been put up like fruit stands.<\/span> This
\nis big business and the police can’t keep up with the volume. 
<\/font><\/p>\n

At the very same time that South
\nAfricans are cheering for “Their Boys” on the soccer field, there are
\ncountless other boys–and girls–who are being systematically raped and
\nabused in brothels in South Africa, India, and around the world.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

South Africa’s pride
\nand
\nshame are intertwined in an uneasy alliance. With one comes the other.
\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Our entire world is
\nnow
\nfilled with 27 million
\nslaves<\/a><\/span>–more than at any other time in history. 2 million
\nchildren are trapped in the commercial sex trade. They are raped 10, 15,
\n40 times each day. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The
\nglobal sex
\ntrade is a big malevolent violence machine that rages throughout the
\nworld, not just South Africa.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

These statistics can
\nbe
\noverwhelming and sickening.  But why is our world like this? Why does
\nevil persist? <\/span>Leave your comment….<\/i>
<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that the 2010 World Cup is over and Spain has taken the top prize, I wanted to reflect a little bit on my experience. These thoughts were recorded on June 25, 2010… On the one hand, South Africans have so much pride in the fact that they are hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,3,9,5,148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-orphans","category-sex-trafficking","category-the-poor","category-the-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld Cup Reflections: Why is the world evil? - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/07\/the-pride-and-the-shame.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup Reflections: Why is the world evil? - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now that the 2010 World Cup is over and Spain has taken the top prize, I wanted to reflect a little bit on my experience. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}