National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Last year January 11^th was recognized as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, and the month of January was recognized as National Human Trafficking and Slavery Prevention month.  Last year, I started off my blog with some great information about trafficking which you can read here.  Will you click over and read, and then come back to this post?  There are some great links with some practical steps you can take to help end human trafficking.

It’s 2011, and a new year, and still trafficking and slavery are huge concerns.  People are being bough and sold for less than $100 and there have been documented cases below $30—for a HUMAN BEING!!!  I get angry and sad when I think about it.  This isn’t the way this world was meant to be,  and there are an estimated 27 million people in our world today who are suffering in slavery.  Many of them are trafficked to another country where they don’t even speak the language.

The majority of the individuals who are trafficked are women and small children.  They are sold, enslaved, and forced to work for next to nothing. 

I’m writing this post for much the same reason as I did last year.  I believe that the first step to combating a problem like this is greater awareness that the problem exists.  I feel like most of us live life believing that slavery died with the American Civil War, but today the problem is worse than any point in history.

There may be people trafficked in your own town.  As I mentioned in a blog post last year, my friend Charles Lee gives 11 tips for ways you can take an active role in combating slavery and trafficking.

If you’ve got a few minutes, read up on the issue a little more, and then, start a conversation with someone about the issue.  Talk to a classmate, a coworker, a family member or a friend.  Resolve to do something beyond reading.  Invest some of your time and resources into supporting organizations that fight human trafficking.  Report suspicious activity to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. 

May we never tire of fighting injustice.  As Martin Luther King once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Beamerfoto, One Voice, Amsterdam, and Justice

My friend and current roommate Ricky Beamer is an excellent photographer. He has travelled to many different parts of the world, and captured some really quality images during his journeys. The image above was taken while we were serving in Amsterdam on a short term mission trip. As I was looking at some of Ricky's photos on his site, I looked at an album of images from our Amsterdam trip and it brought back many memories.

I wore a "One Voice To End Slavery" hoodie virtually every day. About a month prior to our trip, I had met one of the cofounders of JustOne. During a presentation he gave, I learned some alarming statistics about trafficking, slavery, and how the sex industry as well as the chocolate industry were linked to both of these issues.

I think in some ways I've always been an advocate of sorts, and so I figured that a simple way I could help combat these issues involved both changing habits, and also letting others know. So I bought a hoodie as a conversation piece, and proceeded to wear it nearly everywhere I went. Among the places I went--Amsterdam.

On the day that this photo was taken, our team was working with a group from YWAM in the heart of the Red Light District. We were standing on a bridge, but in every direction on the street there are women in windows waiting for "customers". It's estimated that 90% of these women are in these windows against their will and that approximately 75% have been trafficked to Amsterdam.

As we walked from YWAM's headquarters at a place called De Cleft to spend time talking to people on the bridge we walked along a narrow street. On either side of this street (which felt more like an alley) there were windows. We probably passed by 25-30 windows with crimson lights providing a border and communicating to passersby that the people behind the windows were prostitutes.

It's one thing to hear about an issue, but it's another thing to come face to face with injustice. To my right as we walked down this street, my fiancée Jamie was an emotional wreck. She was trying to get her mind around the idea that someone would think it was ok to sell another human being for sex. Being in the middle of it all, stirs the heart and mind to think about issues of justice, if one takes the time to let the gravity of the situation sink in.

Sometimes I think we go on auto-pilot because we can't deal with the gravity of the situation, or because we don't care. As visibly stirred as Jamie was, there were other people walking along the street oblivious to the women behind the glass, or worse yet, there were people ogling and mocking these women who would work to seduce a new customer whenever eye contact could be made.

May you have eyes to see, and a heart and mind that will fully engage with the world around you. As you see injustice, may you be stirred to do something about it. And may you bring hope into this earth where we live.

Sex And Chocolate

If you choose to watch the video above, I have to warn you that it's content is EXTREMELY disturbing. And sadly, the story depicted in this video is not uncommon in the world today. I don't want to discourage you from watching the video, but I do want to warn you that it is not pleasant. I've never left this disclaimer on my blog before, but if you are under eighteen, you may want to ask your parent or guardian to watch the video first and then get their permission. At I'm trusting on your honor to do so. The content isn't crass or distasteful, but it is highly disturbing. The video is about 20 minutes long, and was nominated for an academy award. It was produced by Florida State University.

Friday night, this video was shown at sozo café in Morgantown as part of our series of events Another World Is Possible. It left people speechless, and caught up in trying to process what they had just seen. The speaker who showed the video told the group that he wished he could say that the story being told was uncommon to re-assure folks that this was not the norm, but unfortunately this story is all too common. The event was called "Sex and Chocolate" because both of these industries have strong ties to human trafficking and slavery.

Friday night was one of our most packed nights for an event. We had a speaker by the name of Charles Lee come and share with folks about the issues of slavery and human trafficking. The numbers are staggering. Over 27 million PEOPLE are ENSLAVED in the world today. This is more than at any other point in human history. 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. Most of these are women and children who are forced into the sex industry. The numbers are staggering. And there is a very real possibility that there are slaves being held against their will EVEN IN YOUR TOWN! Charles Lee Created a website called One Voice To End Slavery. You should check it out and learn how you can spot potentially trafficked or enslaved individuals in the businesses around your town.

Of course the root cause of this issue is the darkness of the human heart. And the root solution is for individuals to be reconciled to God. But there are also some ways of making strides to reduce the frequency of slavery and trafficking. It starts by being aware of the issue. Once your eyes have been opened, there's really no turning back. Then you have to take action. You have to do something.

Here are some ways to fight it.

Learn how to protect yourself and others by educating yourself and others on the issue.
Contribute to organizations that are fighting slavery, trafficking, and extreme poverty.
Did you know that many children are sold by their parents because they don't have enough money to feed the rest of their family?
Research the products you buy. Charles shared that many well-knownchocolate companies are buying cocoa that was harvested by slaves. Maybe you could write letters to those companies to change their practices. Buy fairly traded products when you can.
Jump into the foray, and use your talents to enter the frontlines with a qualified non-profit who is doing excellent work.

Here are a few groups that might be of interest to you--I've blogged about them before, and I'll probably blog about them again.

International Justice Mission--they work to bring perpetrators to justice
One Voice To End Slavery--awareness group training folks to take action.
Nuru International--wholistic sustainable solutions to extreme poverty

Whatever you do, don't merely do nothing. Take action. Take a stand. Change the world.