“The idea that some lives matter less than others is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
JUSTICE AND MERCY IN HARD PLACES.
The hardest places in the world are located in fragile states and borderlands.
2.1 billion people—one in four on earth—live in places marked by high or extreme fragility. In these hardest places, war, violence, and persecution are uprooting lives, deepening hunger, and concentrating poverty on a massive scale. Borderlands are the geographical zones or transition areas located at or near the boundary between two countries, cultures, or distinct regions. These areas feature intense cultural exchange, power asymmetries, and injustice.
Most victims of cross-border trafficking originate from areas with high instability, especially fragile states in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. 80 percent of international human trafficking cases cross official border entry points. Traffickers actively target areas with conflict and weak rule of law in areas prone to poverty, climate, and conflict pressures.
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We are pursuing justice and. mercy in fragile states through We Give Together and One Million Thumbprints. We Give Together accompanies local ministries in fragile states — the Sahel, Horn of Africa, and Middle East — where faith and compassionate action are woven together in partnership with the local faith communities. We Give Together offers three promises — capital, capacity, and community — in the spirit of accompaniment and humility.
One Million Thumbprints supports local partners helping to ensure survival for women and girls experiencing violence in war zones through emergency relief in the form of immediate food, clothing, and shelter. Because sexual violence is weaponized against women during war, emergency relief also includes rape or sexual violence treatment, trauma assistance and medical support. Our partners also train women leaders within their communities in conflict resolution skills and trauma care as a means of stabilizing their community and preventing future violence against the vulnerable. -
We are accompanying our neighbors in the borderlands through Rooted and Rising, a trauma-informed curriculum for strengthening individual and community resilience in former refugee, or New American, communities. It is evidence-based, grounded in neuroscience, and designed to be culturally adaptable across diverse contexts.
Through facilitator certification and organizational training, the curriculum team is training and equipping their communities with practical tools to turn stories of displacement into narratives of strength and flourishing.
We are also convening Love Thy Neighbor gatherings to feature people and organizations within and alongside borderland communities who are doing amazing things.
In an age when compassion is under assault, what kind of people do we want to be in this world? Justice and mercy without humility can be dangerous. Through our Love The Neighbor initiative, we have been convening virtual and in person gatherings in pursuit of the threefold virtues of justice, love and humility. Check out our values page to learn about our why and our people page to learn about our who.