| I've been given a wonderful opportunity to review a Band of Sisters by award-winning author, Cathy Gohlke, but health and life keep getting in my way. While she waits for my review, I offered her the opportunity to share a little about her wonderful story with us. |
So, without further ado, here's the scoop: (Or as I prefer to say...Dish...as in Dishin' It Out. :)
1. What motivated you
to write Band of Sisters?
I’ve always been fascinated by the
abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement. But I was horrified to learn that there are more than twice
as many men, women and children enslaved today than at the height of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade. This
book was born of a passion to end modern-day slavery, and most of all, to ask,
“What can I do to help in a need so desperate?”
2. Why did you choose NYC 1910-1911
to tell this story? And how does
human trafficking in that era compare to human trafficking today?
I was inspired by an article I’d
read about Alma Mathews. Alma was
a small but determined woman who, armed with her umbrella and a hefty douse of
fury, stood against dangerous men bent on exploiting immigrant women as they
entered the U.S. through Castle Gardens, in old New York City. Alma ushered young women to her home,
prepared them for employment, and helped them begin a safe new life in the city. It became a full time ministry
involving many—all in the early days of the settlement house movement.
But my editor suggested that I set
the story later, when immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island. As I researched that possibility, I found
that the problem of exploitation and human trafficking had not only grown
during those years, but that the strikes of NYC shirtwaist factory workers had
made public the desperate need for women to make a living wage in safe
circumstances. Necessary elements
for the story and high drama were all a matter of public record—everything from
the passing of the Mann Act to address the fear of white slavery to the
Triangle Waist Factory fire.
Even
though our technology, transportation, communication, etc., is different from
the story’s era, many countries today are no further in providing rights and
safeguards for women than the U.S. was in 1910. Some are further behind.
Many
of the same ruses are used by traffickers to lure women into their snare now as
they were then: better paying jobs
for themselves and/or money for their families, flirtation, pretense of
emotional caring and support, marriage, offers specifically for modeling jobs,
offers for education, appeals for help of various kinds, plays on sympathies,
etc.
In some cases, after having sex
with someone they trusted, or after being drugged and forced into having sex,
women or children are/were blackmailed.
Fearful that their families will not believe them or will accuse them of
promiscuity and reject them, they are afraid and feel compelled to sneak out
and “service” men when called.
Some are sold to traffickers or users by members of their own family, or
by someone they trust.
Once
trapped—sometimes after being unwittingly drugged and/or blackmailed—women are
often transported far from their home (crossing borders to other states or
countries). Held against
their will through abuse, enforced poverty, lack of ID, lack of language
skills, lack of visas or passports, they may simply not know who to trust or
where to go for help in the country in which they find themselves. Isolation, threats to their person or
their family, repeated brain washing that they are dirty, worthless, unwanted,
unloved, and good for nothing but sex with paying customers are all tools that
traffickers use to intimidate and control their victims.
Fear
of what will happen if they try to escape, fear that they have ruined their
lives and will have no other way to live, fear for themselves and loved ones,
resulting health problems, feelings of hopelessness and a constantly reinforced
sense of self-worthlessness all form formidable prisons for victims of
trafficking. Even if it seems they
can physically escape, they may not be able to break the emotional or mental
chains that bind them.
All those things happened then, and
they continue to happen to victims today.
3. What research did you do?
My
research began with human trafficking today and the fight to abolish modern-day
slavery through books, the internet, and through organizations and individuals
that are helping in various ways—raising awareness, rescuing, restoring and
healing victims, tracking down and prosecuting predators, education of men and
boys re. the human rights and intrinsic worth of women, safe houses, etc., and
those who fundraise to assist organizations or individuals who are already
doing these things.
For historical background I watched
documentaries and read (books, old newspapers, archives) about the growth of
old New York, the social conditions and desperation of the poor and of
immigrants in particular, the disadvantages to those who did not speak English,
the unique problems of women and children—the opportunities for and
difficulties of making a living wage outside of prostitution, the threats made
to women and their families to coerce them into sexual service, of their
economic desperation without a male provider, of their few legal rights, and of
the unfair treatment women received in court. Those studies led me to the development of the sweatshops,
the growth, expansion and revisions of the settlement house movement, the work
of Jacob Riis in making the abject poverty of thousands known to the
public.
Learning of those conditions led to
a special interest in Irish immigrants—their cultural and social strengths and
weaknesses, their views of family, their aptitude for and reception in
different types of employment in America.
My
husband and I made two trips to NYC.
From there we conducted research at Ellis Island, took several tours in
the Tenement Museum, and bought more research books and maps, including more on
the Triangle Waist Factory fire.
Once I knew my storyline, I mapped out locations of the story
and trekked through Manhattan, exploring old sites, especially between Mid-town
Manhattan, through Washington Square and the surrounding NYU area (including
the site of the Triangle fire), the Bowery and the Lower East Side. As I walked, photographed the city,
explored, and talked with residents, the voices of my characters erupted. I gladly followed their lead.
4. Your characters are strongly
influenced by the question asked in Charles Sheldon’s classic, “In His
Steps”—“what would Jesus do?” Why did you choose that book to help tell your
story?
After all my research I knew I had
the historical elements needed.
What I didn’t know was the inner conflict of each character, or the
answer to the all-important question:
“what can I do to help in a need so desperate?”
I found my answer by confronting
the question Sheldon posed in his very popular book of the time, “what would Jesus do?”
If we all truly do what Jesus would
do, slavery will end. Jesus never
exploited men or women—He uplifted them and showed them a path of hope, a new
way of thinking and living. He
never used children, or child labor for ease or gain—He blessed little ones,
demonstrating their great worth.
He never bought or sold babies to fulfill the bride “needs” of a
one-child culture. He never bought
or sold human organs, or fetuses, or body parts. He never lied to immigrants, never enslaved them, never
threatened their families or loved ones or lives if they did not comply with
His demands, never coerced or forced, never shamed or punished a single person
into submission to His will. But
in every way He set a moral compass, employed Divine compassion to the broken
hearted and broken bodied, and held to account any and all who victimized
others.
5. In Band
of Sisters your characters maintain that the answer to human trafficking
is found in the question, “What would Jesus do?” What do you mean by that and how does that question impact
this modern-day crisis?
In recounting the things Jesus
taught, and in thinking about the life He modeled, I realized that He has
already given us the answers. It
is only for us to employ them.
Jesus would:
·
Open His hand and His heart to those society
spurns—not only to receive those who come to Him, but He would go out and
search for and engage them, as when He ate with publicans and sinners, as when
He called Zacchaeus from the tree.
·
He would provide medical help, as when He healed
the woman with the issue of blood, the man born blind, the paraplegic let down
through a roof, and countless others.
·
He would not hesitate to confront the darkest of
the dark in order to free victims—the things and people and forces we’d rather
not see or deal with, as when He drove demons from the young man, and from Mary
Magdalene.
·
He would open His purse strings, even His home
to the needy as when He commanded us to provide for widows and orphans, as when
hounded by Herod, he personally demonstrated the helpless plight and needed
solutions for refugees.
·
He would expect that those who could provide
financially for this ministry and need would do so, just as He accepted gifts
from those able to finance His ministry.
·
He would protect lives and argue for victims
legally—even those who’d made mistakes society deems unforgivable, as He did
for the woman taken in adultery—the woman in danger of being stoned.
·
He would accept the thanks of and stand for
those who looked to Him for answers.
He would maintain relationship with them, even when they were
misunderstood by society, as He did for the woman who anointed His feet.
·
He would hold to account those who victimize
others, as He did when He declared that for anyone who makes one of His little
ones to stumble it would be better if a millstone were hung around their neck
and they were drowned in the depths of the sea.
·
He would raise awareness and educate society to
be on guard against this evil as much as any evil, to be vigilant, to accept
responsibility to change, to train children to love God and care for and
respect one another, just as He taught them everyday of His life.
·
He would advocate for the human dignity and
worth of all people, women included, as He did when He breached society’s laws
by allowing the unclean woman, desperately hoping for healing, to touch Him,
when He reached out to the Samaritan woman, who lived with a man not her
husband, and when He died on a cross in our place.
6. Band of Sisters takes place in
NYC. Do you think human
trafficking is limited to large cities?
No. That is why raising awareness of the crime and education re.
the methods used by traffickers is so important. Small, rural, isolated or poor communities are targets just
as vulnerable as big cities.
Traffickers often enter such communities with bogus offers of better
jobs, modeling opportunities for young people, and offers for education. But those dreams are crushed when
willing applicants are unwittingly sold as sex slaves or used for pornography,
with no way to get back to their homes and families. In some cultures, once a girl has been so abused, she is no
longer welcome to return to her family, thereby compounding the problem and
sense of hopelessness. Education
and understanding is desperately needed on all parts.
7. Issues of sex slavery and human
trafficking are foreign to most of us and uncomfortable to discuss. How can Christians respond?
By
speaking for those who have no voice.
These are among the poor and needy of our day, in many cases the orphans
that Jesus commanded us to care for.
We must remember that the
discomfort is ours, and the desperate need is theirs. Being a Christian, a Christ follower, isn’t easy in a fallen
world. Doing what Jesus did wasn’t
easy or comfortable. He confronted
demons and hypocrites. He stood
against people who cared more about the monetary value of their livestock than
they did about freeing one human being from demonic possession.
Jesus ate with “publicans and
sinners” to the ruin of His reputation.
Just as He is our example in loving one another and in protecting
innocent young children, so He is our example in setting captives free, in
loosening cords that bind, in rescuing women and children from prostitution,
men from slavery.
In
many countries of the world Christians pay with their lives for standing up for
their faith and/or for protecting others.
I’ve heard it said that only in America do we expect it to be easy to be
a Christian. Talking about things
that are uncomfortable to our sensibilities don’t seem so hard in comparison to
the challenges our brothers and sisters in Christ face the world over.
8. Human trafficking and the
abolition of slavery is such a huge problem, let alone rescuing and
restoring its victims. What can I
do to help?
*First, learn all you can through reading and talking with
individuals and organizations who have already joined the fight:
-- Google “human trafficking” to
learn what is happening in the world.
--Contact your local library,
social services, churches or police force and ask what is being done in your
community to raise awareness and prevent human trafficking. They can help you find books,
organizations, and on-line information to educate yourself about:
The crime (what is human
trafficking and where in the world it occurs—you will be astonished)
The
people at risk
The
methods traffickers use to capture and enslave
The tracking down,
arrest and prosecution of predators
The rescue,
restoration, and healing of victims
The fight to
abolish slavery through legal means
The education of men and boys re.
the dignity and worth of women and girls
Organizations and/or Individuals
that are already working to do the above-**See my website at www.cathygohlke.com
for a growing list of these sites.
If you find more, please let me know so I can add them.
*Once you understand what organizations and opportunities
are already in place, determine what you are able and equipped to do. That might include:
Work directly with one of these
organizations, either in this country or in a foreign country
Validate, affirm, encourage and
engage girls or women who are at risk or in the process of healing
Welcome
strangers into your church as part of the church family
Take
a rescued victim into your home or provide housing
Mentor
a victim, or a girl or woman at risk
Help
a woman find safe and gainful employment and/or child care
Help
a woman applying for a job find appropriate clothing
Provide
childcare and/or transportation when needed
Tutor
a student, young or not so young and encourage hopeful options
Invite women or girls for a meal in
your home or take them out for a meal or event, using the opportunity to reaffirm
their worth
Provide assistance for medical
care—practical or financial
Speak up when others make slurring
or disrespectful comments re. women, immigrants, homeless, etc.—attitudes
must change to make change last
Do not patronize stores, hotels,
sporting events or other venues where you believe women or children are
trafficked
Provide legal counsel, assistance
or finances for same for victims
Write or speak out against
trafficking
Hold public figures and men within
your circle of acquaintance accountable for their actions toward women and
children
Be vocal and proactive about the
need to raise a generation of men who will not exploit women and children
Be vocal that the only way
trafficking will stop is to eliminate the demand for supply
Support legislation to stop
trafficking, to prosecute and to re-educate predators
Write
letters of support and concern to elected officials re. human trafficking
Contribute financial support to one
of the organizations that is already in place and helping
Create and/or support films,
documentaries, plays, or various art forms that raise awareness or needed funds
Fundraise for organizations that
are helping
Help
to educate publicly or privately those you know re. all of the above
Work
with others to create new possibilities
Pray—continually
*Most importantly, realize that while you can’t do
everything, we can each do something.
Together we will raise a symphony that must be heard.
9. If Band of Sisters was turned
into a movie, which actors do you think would best portray what you imagined
for your main characters? Can you describe a few main physical features that
they have?
Maureen
is striking—tall, slim, with thick, flaming red hair (tendrils escaping), and
green eyes in a thin face.
Victoria Smurfit, who played Hannah Randall in “Berkeley Square” could
play Maureen’s role perfectly.
Joshua is also tall, broad shouldered, with black,
thick curls, dark blue eyes, and the ruddy complexion of a man who’s worked
outdoors all his life. Perhaps
Hugh Dancy could play his role.
Olivia
is lovely with dark upswept hair and brown eyes. She’s intelligent, with a quiet and cultured but determined
air about her. I think Jessica
Brown Findlay, who played Lady Sybil Crawley in Downton Abby, would be perfect.
Curtis
is tall, slim, with dark brown eyes, curling dark hair, and alabaster
skin. Perhaps Jamie Bamber could
fill his role.
10. How
does your faith impact your writing?
My
faith is part and parcel of all I do.
While writing my first novel I learned that I cannot divide the heart
God knit inside me, cannot separate what I write from how I live in response to
Him.
That’s when I began praying, not
just that the Lord would lay on my heart a “story,” but that He would lay on my
heart His “purpose,” and a story to illuminate that purpose. Later I understood that “purpose” is
what is known in writing circles as a “strong moral premise.”
All the characters must respond to
that premise in some way or other.
It is what ties the story together. Faith weaves the moral premise in my life, and as I live out
that faith—as I respond to my Savior—my own life story is written.
11. Are you a plotter or a seat of
the pants writer?
That’s
a great question! My wonderful agent, Natasha Kern, is convinced I’m a
“pantser.” I’ve thought of myself as a “plotter by force.” Over
time, I’ve learned to plot enough to write a synopsis—but it’s like ripping
teeth from their roots. I fear losing the passion for and organic nature
of my story so am hesitant to commit or share details before writing a first
draft. I’d much rather write a story and then severely revise and
edit. But I’ve come to see that that is not always an efficient
process—not for me and not for my agent or editors. The thing that’s
helped me most is Michael Hague’s Six Point Plot Structure as he describes it
in the DVD, The Hero’s Two Journeys, as well as The Moral Premise, by Dr. Stanley Williams.
Now
I write a long and detailed—sometimes rambling—synopsis, then put it away, and
only take it out if I find myself wandering off track. The finished
product is often quite different from my original notes.
12. What spurs your writing?
Writing has become my way of making sense of the world,
of putting into perspective the struggles of humanity and of my own—past and
present—of trying to see the world as God sees it, as He redeems it by pursuing
and claiming one heart at a time. I want to know what gives Him joy, what
breaks His heart—those are the stories that matter, the stories that bring me
continually closer to Him.
Frederick Buechner expressed it
best, “The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s
deep hunger meet.” Finding that place spurs me on.
Cathy's book is published by Tyndale House Publishing and can also be found on Amazon.
I'd like to thank Cathy for being so patient with me, and for sharing her inspirational historical novel with us today.
