I’ve been asking the Lord to show me something that breaks His heart so that it can break mine, and yesterday He showed me that slavery still exists.
My team participated in the A21 march in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 20th. The 100+ participants all wore shirts saying “Slavery Still Exists Today” in Bulgarian, carried signs with different statistics, and walked silently in a straight line through the city center to represent the voiceless victims of human trafficking. Make sure to scroll down to watch a quick video with pictures and footage from the walk.
A21 was founded by Christian author, activist, and speaker, Christine Caine. It was developed in 2008 when Caine said she was looking at the missing people list at the airport in Thessaloniki, Greece and a young girl with the same name as her daughter appeared in a picture. It was the first time she stopped looking at the pictures and really saw the people exploited by human trafficking. The organization now reaches, rescues, and restores people who are vulnerable to this crime and people who have been a part of this industry.
We learned that Bulgaria is 1 of the top 5 countries in the world exploiting people and forcing them in to the sex trafficking industry. Over 40 million people have been forced in to this industry, but only 1% will be rescued. It is common for girls as young as 3 to work as exotic dancers or prostitutes to support their families.
These people are promised a better life with more money or sometimes their captor will gain their trust through a relationship and then they are sold in to slavery. When I say “these people”, it could very well be your daughter, sister, or best friend. It reminded me of a year ago when I received a message on Instagram from a man in the UK telling me that he would fly me out to meet him for a job. As an adult, I rolled my eyes and deleted the message, but I thought about myself at 16 and how I would have thought this was a cool opportunity.
Learning about human trafficking gave me a righteous anger and made me want to turn in to Liam Neeson’s character in Taken and hunt down the people who are doing this. None of us can do this, of course, but here’s what we can do:
- Visit the A21 website to learn more about human trafficking
- Learn the warning signs of someone who is being kept in the industry against their will
- Report an incident to local authorities if you sense something suspicious
- Get involved with a human trafficking organization in your area
Imagine how those numbers would decrease if more people were aware of situations happening right in front of them and reported more incidents. What will you do to raise awareness about this issue?
