Their story...



...is as individual and personal as the children themselves. It’s the story of sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, their families, their parents. It’s the story of the girl next door, and the one on the other side of the world. It’s about people just like us.

Their story is our story.

As most stories do, the beginnings have a hundred different roots. How a child becomes a commodity on the sex market is a complicated tale. It has many settings, diverse characters, varied locations and lasting repercussions.



Sometimes it begins with the making of an orphan. Left alone without the protection of a family, a 4 year old Ugandan boy can easily be exploited by pimps and pedophiles, brothel owners and con men.

Another story begins with the rape of a girl by a stranger, friend, or family member. In many cultures, there is considered to be no restoration from this tragic injustice. A Cambodian girl at age 6 would then be considered stained, only deemed useful as a sex object in the local karaoke bar.

A 15 year old Russian girl can be sold by her parents to a pimp unknowingly, thinking she is going to receive an education, training, a better life. They find out they’ve been deceived and she’s been trafficked, but it’s too late.

A boy from El Salvador can be given over to a life of prostitution at 10 years of age by an uncle. The reasoning: a life of emotional and mental pain is better than starvation and homelessness.

An American teenager, with lonely days and empty pockets, takes a stranger at the mall up on his offer...and the cycle of slavery begins.

Whatever the reason, wherever the path, the end is the same. A childhood is destroyed. A child is destroyed. Dreams for a bright future are taken away and pain becomes their companion. With no one to speak for them...they become silent.


Facts:

This is a true story. And it becomes the biography of 2 children every minute (JFCI); approximately 10 million children worldwide every year (ECPAT).

They’re absorbed into an illegal network which generates $28 billion a year from commercial sexual exploitation (ILO).

Human trafficking is the second most profitable crime in the world.

It is a global emergency.

To redeem their stories, there must be a reaction to this injustice.

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Our reaction...

...is to respond to God’s heart for this injustice. A reaction, not a movement, will sustain long-term change with this issue. A movement fades and loses momentum, but God’s heart of compassion never ceases. Therefore, we must always react to His heart.

Being a voice -

If we don’t act on behalf of the silent, who will?

The brothel owner won’t...he’s making too much money from the sale of his fresh new commodity.

The mourning aunt won’t...her husband has the final word and his blows are shattering when he is questioned.

The police won’t... the bribe is too sweet and the money so desired.

The deceived parents will weep over the lack of justice in their nation and never raise their voice. It would be futile.

The tourist will look the other way...he’s just here for a vacation, not to get involved.

We must speak!


As Christians, it is our duty to confront the injustices in this world, yet in a nation that blazes bright red as a hot spot for human trafficking, we are deathly silent. Perhaps it is denial. Perhaps it is ignorance. But neither are excuses, and it is our silence that silences the cries of a child in pain and chains. Our silence aides the captors and abusers. Our silence is the greatest weapon used by Darkness to shun the Light . Our silence places the money in the hands of a pimp at the expense of the purity and childhood of an innocent.

Maybe we believe that because we live in America that it is far away from us. That we are worlds apart. What do I have in common with a Cambodian boy? How can I relate to an Ecuadorian girl? But we are wrong. The United States of America is principally a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children (50%), are trafficked to the U.S. annually.

It is so simple as individuals to become distracted - we have school, friends, jobs, significant others, and families. I know that by the end of a semester, I struggle to see beyond the stack of looming papers and finals glaring squarely at me, and when looking around, I see that I am not alone.

I believe we have our priorities horribly skewed. We see from the broad scope narrowed to the individual - to us. A giant magnifying glass focused upon ourselves. Perhaps, as believers and as fellow human beings, we need to take the focus from ourselves and place it upon the world - place the microscope upon the enslaved, upon the abused, upon the sick, upon the destitute . . . upon the lost. To place the pressure and focus upon the perpetrators of these crimes in an outcry of protest. Perhaps it is time for us to join together and empty ourselves and pour the light throbbing in our souls upon a world clouded in the darkness of apathy and inaction . . . silence . . . the greatest weapon of mass destruction.

Perhaps we are silent because it makes us uncomfortable. Perhaps it brings reality to our doorstep, but like an unwanted salesman, we shoo it away or pretend not to be home. But . . . maybe we need to be uncomfortable. After all, when you are sitting in a chair and become bothered by an ache or itch, you shift and adjust to remove the problem. . . well, maybe we, as Christians, as humans, need to stop ignoring the pricking uncomfortability and begin to act. To move. To stop pretending, ignoring . . . to speak.

They can't speak. They can't call to you. I've never met them - these silent. But I imagine that if they were given one word to say, they would beg, "Help."


In order to be a beautiful voice for these children, there must be many voices raised. We have not been able to have a say in their beginning, but we can have a say in how their story will end.

"We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called Home." (TWLOHA)


There must be involvement.

Your involvement.

What will be her ending?
What will be his ending?


They're waiting for our answer . . . to be a voice for the silent.


“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who are perishing. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”
–Proverbs 31:8-9