Human Trafficking

Last evening Karen Warren shared with us her passion for working to end human trafficking in the world. It was quite an amazing evening and all the students who attended were greatly affected. First, throughout the day we had a table in the hallway sharing information about human trafficking with people and inviting them to the evening's main event. This was successful as our usual attendance for Tuesday Bible studies is about 25, last evening we were around 45.

I can't sum up what Karen said here and I won't try. She has done much research on the issue, has spoke about it to many people, and has lived in Cambodia working in prevention and intervention. Her stories from her time in Cambodia were most eye-opening. She has seen young girls up close who have been forced into the sex trade, she has seen white Europeans and Americans walking the streets in the red-light district seeking out child prostitutes. Many times she had to hold back tears as she shared.

Perhaps most challenging was her calling the students to not just care about human trafficking because it is the cool thing for the moment. The temptation will be to move on to environmentalism, then homelessness in the US, then whatever comes next. She told the students not to care about human trafficking just because she does. Rather, she called them to find what issue they are passionate about and learn about it. Her prayer, and I echo it, is that students would look outside themselves, increasing their view of the world, and overcome evil with love.

She also warned us to be on the lookout for slavery in our own communities. This may seem shocking to many of us, but the fact is that thousands are trafficked through the US each year and that many are held in slavery here right now. Just this past weekend the local newspaper ran an article about massage parlors in the Berks area that serve as fronts for prostitution. That is just scary. But it should cause all of us to be aware.

During the question and answer time I could tell the students were somewhat shocked. My prayer is that the shock won't wear off today or anytime soon, but rather that the students in CSF would work with their peers on campus to actively join the movement to end slavery in our lifetime.

Below are a few websites of organizations dedicated to working to end slavery:

Love 146

International Justice Mission

Free the Slaves

Not for Sale

American Anti-Slavery Group