Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak are joined by Belinda Bauman. She is the founder of One Million Thumbprints and the author of the book, Brave Souls: Experiencing the Audacious Power of Empathy. Belinda shares her powerful story on what true empathy means and how we should be relating it to gender-based violence.
Key Points

Sympathy, apathy, and antipathy can fake their way into looking like passion and compassion.
Empathy is not "with passion" but "in passion", that requires a willingness to decenter one's self and center the other person in order to know and care for them.
When people give their thumbprint, they are encouraging the protection of women, the ability for women to prosper through education and economy, and that their voices be heard at the peace table.

Resources

One Million Thumbprints
Brave Souls
Brave Souls Excerpt

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Transcript
Dave [00:00:00] You're listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 198: Belinda Bauman: How Does Empathy Change Our Work?  

Production Credits [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.  

Dave [00:00:31] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.  

Sandie [00:00:37] And my name is Sandie Morgan.  

Dave [00:00:39] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, one of the skills to make a difference pretty much anywhere is the skill of empathy, right?  

Sandie [00:00:52] That's right.  

Dave [00:00:53] Today, our guest is someone who has not only served the world so well on working against trafficking but also is going to bring us a fantastic perspective on the importance and the power of empathy. I'm so glad to welcome to the show today, Belinda Bauman. She is the founder of One Million Thumbprints, a movement of peacemakers advocating with women in the world's worst conflict zones. Belinda is also the co-founder of and the visionary behind #SilenceIsNotSpiritual, a campaign calling churches to break the silence on violence against women. Belinda is a speaker and contributor to Newsweek's The Daily Beast, Red Tent Living, Huffington Post, and Christianity Today. And she is the author of the book, Brave Souls: Experiencing the Audacious Power of Empathy. Belinda, we're so glad to welcome you to the show.  

Belinda [00:01:46] What an honor to be with you this morning. Thank you.  

Sandie [00:01:50] Belinda, you have been an inspiration to me for several years and I'm always just I think what I love about our conversations is I always feel pushed to the next level in a really positive way. And we can lament some of the horrific things going on in this world but we move towards empathy. You have led in empathy ever since I've known you. So I'm very excited about Brave Souls, I've already read it and could hardly wait for this interview.  

Belinda [00:02:30] I feel the same way about you, Sandie. You've been a guide to me in your pioneering in the area of anti-trafficking for many many years. And I have the best mentors that have pointed the right direction for so many years. And being able to watch you and many of my other sisters lead the way, I count that as one of the greatest joys of my life. So if I can just flip that around on you and say thank you so much for all that you've done.  

Sandie [00:03:02] Thank you. Well, let's dive right in. We want to look at a definition of empathy, but maybe we should start with why you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro?