Did you know that there are more slaves today (right now!) then all the slaves combined in the over 400 years of slave trade in ships from Africa?There are a staggering 27 million slaves today.
80% are women 50% are children
Every minute 2 children are trafficked
The age of the average victim is getting younger and younger. Many victims found in brothels are as young as 5 years old. There has been ones found younger than that. . . .
This vile trade brings in 19 billion a year at low estimates, rivaling the illegal drug trade. It is about greed and money.
This injustice is up to us to stop. We must be God's hands and feet to rescue. Everyone is called to do something. The problem is huge, but our God is bigger and His heart breaks for every person He has created in His image that is abused and destroyed. We all need to seek God to see what our part is to be. Some may be in intercession (including prayer walks), media, political awareness and working for justice in lawmaking. Others may be called to visit brothels to bring God's love and provision, even being part of undercover operations to rescue children. Some people's part is in law enforcement, speaking out, spreading the word, and giving money to fund efforts to free slaves and rehabilitate the abused. The perpetrators need rehabilitation too. I heard it taught by Patricia King recently that everyone who engages in sexual impurity feeds this monster of perversion and abuse around the world.
"For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." Ephesians 6:12
If we just allow ourselves to picture the little children, teens and women we know kidnapped and forced into this prison where many are forced to be abused by 20 men a day, then compassion will well up in us and we will be led to pray and take action.
Three non-profits that I know and trust that work tirelessly in stopping the sex trade and rescuing the abused are Kampuchea Kids, Cambodian Hope Organization (both in Cambodia where many children are kidnapped and brought over the Thai border and viciously treated in brothels in Thailand, Malaysia, and surrounding areas),and trustworthy World Vision. This article from the World Vision website is a personal story of one's girls suffering and rescue.
The statistics I quote above are taken from For Their Tears I Died - Stories of Extreme Suffering and Extravagant Redemption in Human Trafficking and Social Injustice, by Patricia King, Michelle Perry and others.
Go let your light shine in the darkness!
