Human trafficking came closer to home for some friends of mine this week. I have their permission to share that story with you. But I think I need to tell my story first, so you understand the significance of my friends' experience and will be able to better connect to it.
In the spring of 2010 I was urged by one of my daughters to read "NOT for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It" by David Batstone. The urging came with the warning: "Mom, it will change your life." And it did.
I learned that "27 million slaves exist in our world today. Girls and boys, women and men of all ages are forced to toil in the rug loom sheds of Nepal, sell their bodies in the brothels of Rome, break rocks in the quarries of Pakistan, and fight wars in the jungles of Africa." The stories were heartbreaking and haunting. At the same time , I learned about men, women and young people involved in rescue and aftercare : ordinary people using their gifts and passion where God had placed them.
At the time I read "NOT for Sale", I was at a change point in my life and was asking God: "What next?" Reading "NOT for Sale" prompted me to begin to read more about human trafficking and slavery. I researched on the internet what our government was doing about this travesty; I learned about the many organizations who are involved in raising awareness, rescue and restoration, and bringing perpetrators to justice. And I began asking God, "Is this something you want me to get involved in? Or is this just my emotions?"
It was a few weeks later that I met a pastor and his wife from SE Asia. Pastor "Tom" and "Susan"* had opened an orphanage for girls a few years earlier as the result of a devastating natural disaster that had come through their country. As Pastor Tom told about the orphanage and showed a few pictures, my heart was instantly captured.
A few days after we met, I asked Pastor Tom about human trafficking in his country. "Oh, yes, it is very bad," he replied. Then his eyes lit up as he continued, "But, for the girls at the orphanage, we got there (to the villages devastated by the natural disaster) before the traffickers!" -- and I knew I had my mission!
The result has been "Beads to Bless!", handmade jewelry and home decor, with 100% of the profits going to the orphanage. A secondary mission of B2B is to use, as much as possible, only fair trade beads.
Well, this has gotten longer than a blog should be - so in a few days I will post a more recent part of this saga, and how human trafficking is coming "closer to home."
*Names changed for personal security reasons
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