Are GMO’s Really That Evil?
Location: Thailand
Camera info: Canon Rebel 350D • lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO 800 • f 11 • 1/30 sec
A cursory Google search will return pages upon pages of arguments for organic produce and fears against GMO’s (genetically modified organisms). Why is that? Most debates in the public sector have had equal representation of both sides of the argument, but in this one, only one side is well heard. For the sake of discourse, I thought I would write this blog from the other side.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against organics or the people who encourage others to grow them. One of the great things about living in the USA is our freedom of choice, including being able to choose what we eat. This blog, however, is about other places around the world.
GMO’s were originally developed with the world’s good in mind. Scientists saw problems such as famine in Africa, malnutrition in Asia, and children dying of preventable causes in many areas, and they wanted to do something about it. Using what they knew best, they began to develop agricultural solutions to these problems. For example, the poor in Asia eat rice as their staple diet, but often do not have access to other essential nutrients needed for healthy development. To improve their overall health, scientists spent years working on “golden rice” – a crop with additional vitamin A. Meanwhile, in Africa, strong weeds or a drought could cost a family their entire crop for the year. So they dealt with both a lack of food and a lack of income. Some even had to sell off children they couldn’t feed. As a result, several crops were developed to be more resistant to weeds, insects, and drought. There are many more examples.
Much of the concern has been over the health risks of GMO’s. Does playing with the genetic code cause cancers or other health issues? Thousands of other scientists have worked to answer these questions, and many regulations have been put in place. While there are occasional mistakes that aren’t foreseen, most testing will find any problems long before a product makes it to the market.
Regulations also limit the amount of work that can go into this research in the first place. For example, those who work with the genetic code of plants are limited to only changing certain amino acids in a strand of DNA. In nature, entire sections of DNA can be moved, cut out, or duplicated, causing major changes. It’s like the difference between people of different nationalities. Naturally, they have different hair and skin colors, different bone structures, and even different susceptibility to health issues. Using this comparison, a GMO would be like changing people’s eye colors.
Some companies have become known for shady business practices, but not all operate that way. Some people are allergic to certain food additives, but that doesn’t mean they are bad for everyone. The excuse “I won’t eat anything I can’t pronounce” often forgets the fact that any substance on earth can have a long complicated scientific name, and that certain natural ingredients are extremely toxic. The point is: proper balance is needed. We need to evaluate things one at a time based on their own merit, not paint the entire thing with a broad brush.
Are you particular about where your food comes from? What are your eating habits?
Dirt, Band-Aids, Paint & Prayer
Location: Mexico
Camera info: Canon Rebel 350D • lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO 200 • f 5.6 • 1/320 sec
The cliche says “A picture is worth 1000 words,” but sometimes a few extra are helpful. 🙂 This was one of my favorite pictures from the Mexico building trip, because I think it summed everything up perfectly. (If you missed the earlier story, I wrote about it here and here.) In the picture are four things that remind me of the trip: dirt, band-aids, paint, and prayer.
The dirt is probably self-explanatory. We were in Mexico, and it was everywhere!!! When the team first arrived, some had a difficult time adjusting to the mess after leaving the comfort of America. All that was forgotten, however, when we caught one of the local kids trying to drink out of one of the construction wash barrels because that was the cleanest water they had. Ick. A large tank of clean water was quickly added to the project.
My friend had a very good reason why her fingers were covered in band-aids. She had been working on stucco all day. The mixture we used included sand, cement, water, and lime. The last ingredient is hard on skin, so we usually wore cloves to work with it. However, my friend noticed there were gaps in the stucco near the roof, where the angle was too small for gloves to fit. After several failed attempts with a trowel, she gave up and took off the gloves to fix it with her fingertips. We didn’t want gaps that would let in breezes in the winter. The mixture chewed up her fingers quite a bit after several hours of work, but she was happy that the kids would stay warm and dry.
Paint was the finishing touch on the houses, along with a numbered plaque. It was our pay of personalizing each building and making it look more cozy. The inside walls were unfinished, but outside, we went crazy! My team’s building had blue window and door frames. The large building used wood and chicken wire under the stucco to create an embossed cross on the outside wall.
Finally, but most importantly, we prayed for the kids, the families, and the other work teams. It was the faith of the host family that led them to care for all the homeless children, and it was faith that led the three work teams to help build the orphanage. God brought us all together at one time to make a miracle for those kids, and we needed to take time and thank Him.
Do you have a picture that tells a story you love to share? Let us know… and don’t forget to include a link!
India’s Temple Children
Location: India
Camera info: Canon Rebel 350D • lens 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO 100 • f 2.8 • 1/140 sec
As our tour group neared a Hindu temple in southern India, we were met by this little boy dressed as one of the Hindu gods. He was more than willing to strike a pose and let us take pictures – for a small fee. After all, entertaining the visitors was his full-time job.
The life of a temple child is very difficult. Most of these children are dedicated to the temple deity as infants, in order to bring their families good luck. Never seeing their parents again, they are raised in the temple to serve the local gods, which includes a variety of jobs. The boys, like this one, often serve as bahurupis (“the many-faced“), street entertainers who dress up as the gods and perform for locals and tourists alike. It’s a difficult job, because a convincing actor will go all day without shoes, eating or using the restroom. Many are not allowed to talk, even as passers-by treat them harshly.
Girls often face even more difficult circumstances. In the past, their roles were also entertainers. Indian missionary Amy Carmichael once wrote,
“The duties of the temple girls were to carry the kumbarti (the sacred light); to fan the idol with chamaras (fans); to dance and sing before the god. They were the only women who could read and write, play an instrument, and sing and dance. Their presence was believed to bring good luck to a wedding, and they had power to avert the ‘evil eye.'”
Today, Many infant girls dedicated to the temples are “married” to the temple deity and are considered devadasi (basically a “divine prostitute“). Their job is to provide sexual favors for the priests and male worshipers who frequent the temple. When they get older (around 5-7 yrs old), they are auctioned off to become a child concubine. Many girls are re-sold after they pass puberty, and more than half end up in brothels for the remainder of their lives. This practice was outlawed decades ago, but perpetrators are rarely punished, so it continues today, especially in rural areas. Tradition and poverty are strong motivators in this society.
Poverty can bring people to do all sorts of things they would never consider otherwise. What have the poor in your area done to cope?
India’s Confusing Castes
Location: India
Camera info: Canon Rebel 350D / lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO 1600 • f 10 • 1/32o sec
I might have felt bad about invading this guy’s bedroom for a picture if it wasn’t in the middle of the street. But there he was every day, sleeping on the sidewalk across from our hotel. From what I learned, he was either from the Dalit (“downtrodden”) caste, or a manual laborer that didn’t make enough money to have a home. I first mentioned the caste system in an earlier post, but I wanted to take a closer look at it this week.
The Indian caste system is very complicated, but many have tried to simplify things, like in this infographic. Each major category, or Varna, is divided into many communities or castes, called Jatis or Jats. The four major Varna are Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (administrator/warrior), Vaishya (merchants/businessmen), and Shudra (artisans, farmers, unskilled laborers). The Dalits, also called Harijans (“Children of God”) form a fifth “untouchable” caste. Even the lower classes are divided into subgroups, including the Scheduled Castes (modern Dalits), Scheduled Tribes (jungle tribes or those who reject the caste system), and Other Backward Classes (converts to other religions, criminals, and nomads, among others). Traditionalists consider foreigners untouchable as well since they are outside the caste system. Each caste has certain duties and rights for work, diet, marriage, and other areas. However, in today’s society, these definitions can be very fluid.
The caste system is traditionally a Hindu invention, but other religions in India practice it as well, since it has become so ingrained in the culture. In 1950, the concept of “untouchables” was outlawed by the Constitution of India. However, in some rural areas, it is still practiced heavily and Dalits are persecuted. In other areas, the lower classes are given positive discrimination, allowing them admittance to universities and government jobs even before upper classes can claim them. I wonder if this sleepy guy in the picture knows about that.
If you lived in India, which caste do you think you would belong to? Would you be happy with that place in society?
A Story of Orphans, Part 2
Location: Mexico
Camera info: Canon Rebel 350 D • lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO 200 • f 5.6 • 1/125o sec
What would you do to keep a child out of jail? As described in my last post, my group in Mexico was faced with the situation of an orphanage running out of money and space. What would it take to keep them in business? Enter Casas por Cristo! The Texas-based housing ministry specializes in building homes in Mexico families that can’t afford them. Each home is built in one week by a team of volunteers from various places around the USA. Up until this time, they had never built an orphanage, but they were up for the challenge. So were three teams of workers from Mount Pleasant Christian Church. It’s Extreme Home Makeover, Mexico style!
During one blisteringly hot week in early July, the teams started construction on three houses that would form the orphanage – two bunk houses with a kitchen, and one large empty building for recreation and meetings. The buildings were simple – unfinished drywall inside and stucco outside, but they provided shelter and room for all the kids to live and play. Other people who heard of the project donated materials to build eight furnished bunk-beds, as well as curtains, toys, stuffed animals, kitchen appliances, and a large tank of clean drinking water. The kids were amazed, as many had not been able to sleep in a bed by themselves since they arrived at the orphanage. In fact, at the dedication party, one little girl (I would guess her about 6-7 years old) told us that she had been praying for God to help them, and our work teams were the answer. 🙂
The three buildings and all the workers
The orphanage moved into those buildings in 2008. By now, they have outgrown them, so a new team is forming to go to Mexico this summer and add on some extra houses. They will allow the host family to have their own place (they had been sharing with the kids until now) and provide more room for additional kids. Yay!
There now, wasn’t that a nice ending to this story? 😉
Pictures Around the World 
