The Freedom Project

Our friends Troy and Alisa were here teaching in our Discipleship Training School this last week. They are apart of an organization called The Freedom Project.  I don't know very much about human trafficking but I want to become more aware. As I've started learning more about human trafficking, I'm starting to learn that it's right here in our cities. 

With an estimated 27 million people in the world living in some form of bondage, human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world. Slaves make bricks in India, they work on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast, they are forced to beg on the streets of Europe, their organs are sold on the black market in Asia and they are tricked or forced into prostitution all over the world.

Human trafficking is slavery.

Slavery is not a new concept. Modern technology and communication has transformed the old idea of slavery into a dangerous and illusive force called human trafficking. Human trafficking involves the buying and selling of human beings into some kind of forced work for little or no pay.

Human traffickers:

• buy and sell people over the internet
• they pose as boyfriends or as business owners with quality jobs to offer
• they may personally know their victims or are a friend of a friend
• they might simply be a normal person who have been given an unethical opportunity to make a bit of money by selling someone

Trapped by the lies of their traffickers and by their seemingly hopeless circumstances, trafficking victims feel like they can’t escape. They bitterly resign themselves to do the work they are being forced to do.

Victims of human trafficking come from all over the world. In Eastern Europe, young women look to Western Europe and North America for job opportunities. Going to a new country makes them vulnerable, especially if they don’t speak the language or they don’t know the person who is getting them the job. Many Eastern European women end up as prostitutes in the international sex trade, stocking brothels in Amsterdam and New York or working in rundown massage parlors in the United Kingdom.

The fight against human trafficking is a fight for human freedom. It is a fight to give all people everywhere the freedom of choice, the freedom to not live in constant fear, the freedom to pursue their own dreams and live as the sole owner of their life. Everyone should have the freedom to not be bought and sold.

That is why we are the Freedom Project,
because we believe that freedom should exist for everyone.

So reading this you start to feel like what can I do. I'm only one person. I possibly can't bring change. Well luckily my friends over at The Freedom Project have come up with some answers.

If you only have

1 minute:
-PRAY for victims of human trafficking and for a generation to be mobilized to stand against injustice

1 hour:
-RESEARCH trafficking on the web and arm yourself with knowledge
-TALK to a friend about trafficking and challenge them to action
-WATCH a documentary on trafficking or if you have more time rent the movie Human Trafficking

1 day:
-VOLUNTEER your day to a local organization that helps stop human trafficking
-DONATE a day's wages to an anti-trafficking organization like International Justice Mission or The Freedom Project
-ATTEND a public awareness event that focuses on human trafficking.

1 month:
-ORGANIZE a fundraiser to benefit victims of trafficking. For idea's check out www.stopthetraffik.org
-TAKE a short-term trip overseas to actively prevent human trafficking or assist victims.
-PLAN a rally to raise awareness in your community, school, or work place.
-CHALLENGE lawmakers to prosecute traffickers and protect victims.

1 year:
-WORK full time with an anti-trafficking organizatioin.
-BECOME an activist against human trafficking in your city.
-EDUCATE yourself by taking a class on injustice.
-CREATIVELY use your gifts and talents to be a voice for trafficking victims.

1 lifetime:
HELP stop
-poverty
-poor education
-disease
-starvation
-economic hopelessness
-political corruption
-oppression

all of which contribute to the global epidemic of human trafficking.