It's heavy for 27 million people around the world.
Or at least that's the estimated number...who knows? It could be more. About 27 million people are slaves today. Slavery still exists and it's right in our backyards. But we're not doing anything about it. 80% of those slaves are women. 50% of those slaves are children. Most of them are sold for sexual expl
oitation.It's estimated that between 14,500 and 17,000 (it's hard to record them all) people are trafficked into THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA every year. Into a free country. Into our country. Of them, 70% are sold for prostitution or some other type of sexual exploitation. There have been reports of this in all 50 states.
The US has become one of the top 3 destinations for sex traffickers. Out of all the countries in the world enough people are brought into our country as sex workers to make us the 3rd most popular destination country.
Sex trafficking is a sickly profitable business. It's become an $8 billion international business. Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world as of 2008, only had a revenue of $378,799 last year.
But it's not about statistics. It's about lives. It's about individuals, just like you or me, being forced into something they don't want to do. They are worth so much more than $100. They are priceless. They're human beings with families, dreams, and hopes.
A story from North Korea/China:
"Nineteen-year-old So-Young stands at less than five feet tall after being chronically malnourished in North Korea. A refugee, she crossed illegally into China with hopes of a better life, but found instead a nightmare of sexual exploitation. An “employer” offered her approximately $1.40 per day in exchange for work—money that So- Young planned on sending back to her family. Deceived by this empty promise, So-Young spent the next several months being passed between handlers. Just days before she was to be purchased by a forty-year-old Chinese man, So-Young managed to escape with the help of a local pastor. Three years later, she was forcibly repatriated to North Korea where she was imprisoned for six months before escaping once more to China. Traffickers kidnapped her once again, repeatedly raping her prior to her sale. Her new “husband” also raped her multiple times before she was able to escape. So-Young remains in hiding today: “There are many people coming out of North Korea, but they don’t have anywhere to go and no other choice but to go that route [into China].”" Trafficking in Persons Report 2008
UNC news
San Francisco Chronicle
Global 500
1 comment:
I love you Katie. I know, Ive been really thinking about this tonight..its so hard to take in, to process. I know that this is what the Lord wants me to help partake in-to Fight against this horrible epidemic. I know its your heartbeat as well. Keep praying katie, keep giving the burden over to him, keep asking him how he wants to use you. I have no doubt in my mind he is going to use you in soooo many ways. you have a calling, you have purpose. I LOVE YOU.
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