Several friends and I have been actively working with a ministry to rescue women from prostitution. We've had some interesting encounters, and I asked one of my friends who is really burdened for these women to write a guest post this month. I pray that your heart will be moved to pray as you read her article below.
Many of us go
through our daily lives without a thought of “human trafficking” falling into
our mindset. We go about believing that this is a lifestyle that does not
affect our family, our thinking, our spirituality, and that it does not touch
our day to day living. To describe what exactly human trafficking represents is
to say that it falls into two markets, one is a forced labor what many think of
regarding our past history of slavery in America, while the second is the sexual
exploitation of a human being. According to the UN there are approximately 2.5
million people who are trafficked or sold for both markets and 1.2 million of
those people are children. These 2.5 million souls have been taken from 127
countries and sent into 137 countries to be sold and it does not matter of the
economic or education status of the countries that are doing the exploiting. The
profit made through selling another human being was $ 31.6 BILLION in 2007 while
49 % of that profit was generated from industrialized nations that totaled $
15.5 BILLION. Due to supply and demand, Atlanta is on the rise of becoming the
countries leader for sex trafficking and child prostitution, there is an area
twenty minutes from the capital that has been known since the 90’s to traffic
in young girls who average in age from 13 and 14. The traffickers use the truck
stops from all over the country to go undetected. As of this summer there are
currently 43 missing children in the state of Georgia, and these children are
either runaways or have been kidnapped but all fall prey to the life human
trafficking. But yet still how many of us believe that this is a topic which
simply does not affect our own little world?
The majority of
women in this industry have been sexually and/or physically abused by a family
member, friend, or neighbor before ever arriving onto the streets. Behind every
hardened face, behind every skimpy outfit and stiletto heels, behind every fake
smile, and behind every tear there is a story. A story, that is not of a fairy
tale, but one that has brought them to this point of their lives, that entails
a complete void of faith, hope, love, mercy, and compassion. There was one
pimp/trafficker who once said, “Thank you to all the fathers, stepfathers, and
neighbors who are out there and have gotten your little girls ready for me.” But
yet still how many of us believe that this is a topic which simply does not
affect our own little world? Many of the men, who are the traffickers, have
suffered physical abuse or neglect themselves. There are countless young
children both boys and girls that are being raised by their mothers within
these shady motels, they watch, hear and see firsthand how their mothers are
treated by both men and other women. They see and hear of their mothers’
selling their bodies, engaging in drug and alcohol use to deaden the pain in
order to be able to keep on going to the next man whether it is to pay for the
next high or because there is a quota that must be met or they will be beaten. People
do not envision as a child selling themselves or living in a motel where sex
and drugs are being sold. Some are there due to a series of poor choices in
their lives and others are there not because of choice but that they are being
forced into a world of darkness with a belief that there is no return to
freedom. We must not judge them or despise them; they are human beings whose
soul is loved equally by our God just as He loves you! But yet still how many
of us believe that this is a topic which simply does not affect our own little
world?
It is very hard
and discouraging to be praying and eating with a girl, then five minutes later
she has to rush out to get in her “zone” or for a girl to want prayer for her
salvation but only to climb into a pick up minutes later. A verse that is
always in the forethought of my mind when visiting with these girls is Isaiah
55:8, “For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.” I often am reminded of this verse even
unintentionally, because every time my heart will break over discouraging
news/events relating to these souls. So I must keep my sights on God’s agenda
and not of my own. The only difference between these girls and myself,
is the saving grace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the
unconditional forgiveness of my Heavenly Father.
Dawn
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/labour/Forced_labour/HUMAN_TRAFFICKING_-_THE_FACTS_-_final.pdf
