The New York Times - Teenage Runaways

The New York Times has done a two article series on teenage runaways and how they end up trafficked. Both articles are very well written and the second one offers the hint of part of the solution.

Recession Drives Surge in Youth Runaways


For Runaways, Sex Buys Survival



Proverbs 31:8-9

Trafficking in Seattle

It does happen on the street where you live. Every. single. day.

West Seattle Pimp tells of Selling girls with a Dream


Proverbs 31:8-9

A Load of Garbage

Paula Guest is one of the people I have been privileged to meet as I have become more involved in the fight against human trafficking. It is an honor to be able to call this woman a friend. She has a heart for justice and God has asked her to do tremendous things in the battle against trafficking. When Scharme Hettinga started Frontline for Justice at Northshore Baptist Church, I know Paula never saw herself as the lead in that ministry but that is exactly where God has placed her.

Below is a post Paula wrote for the Northshore Baptist Womens' Ministry blog. She shared it with me and gave me permission to post it here. I hope to share more of what Paula writes, and more about Paula and those she serves, as she pours out her heart. It is not a very long read but it is vivid. I pray it touches you as it has touched me.

A Load of Garbage

What is your life worth? What about the life of your child??

In 2004 while on a mission trip to Nicaragua, our team was visiting the village of 3,000 people who live and die, in the dump. It was indeed, "The Gates of Hell." Smoke rising. Buzzards circling. Cattle wandering. Stench permeating. And through the haze of the smoke, people were seen standing out on the heaps, poking and prodding. Searching for something of value.

As we walked down the street, preparing to escape into the safety of our air conditioned, smoke free, stench free van, a young girl met us with a huge smile. "How are you?" I asked in my rudimentary Spanish. "Very well," she replied. Our guide explained as we drove away, that this young girl, that very morning, had been diagnosed with AIDS.

Her parents had sold her to the garbage truck drivers so that the 'best' garbage would be dropped in their 'area.' Her life traded for a load of garbage. And she had three younger sisters.

What is your life worth? What about the life of your child??

At that moment, God reached down and broke my heart in a way that cannot be mended. In my safe little world it had never occurred to me that such an evil could exist. It was no longer possible to simply 'change the channel and go about having supper.'

And so I found myself in Poipet, Cambodia in an AIDS hospice, holding the hands of dying women and praying for them. Sitting in a bar in Bangkok, talking to young women with a number attached to their bikini bottom. We had 'bought' their time. Sex travelers were buying a lot more.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Another Battlefront

A friend of mine sent a copy of a blog post today. When I hit the link to check out the writer, I found a blog full of heavy stories. Stories of young women in Romania being trafficked, the hope they have and the hope they don't have.

She's worth the time you'll need to read about her and if you feel lead, please don't hesitate to find out about contributing to the House of Treasure. Iana sounds like an amazing person.

Kimberly Smith Blog

Proverbs 31:8-9

SweatFree Communities

This arrived in my in-box today. If you have a minute, please vote

Your vote for SweatFree Communities for a human rights award can also bring justice to workers in China. Both are within reach and you can make it happen if you vote by October 5. We just need your attention for one minute.

In May an investigation commissioned by the Milwaukee Clean Clothes Campaign revealed severe labor violations in a factory in China that supplies a major police uniform brand seeking a Milwaukee contract. Thanks to its sweatfree policy, the City requires not just legal minimum wages for workers but non-poverty wages that are almost twice as high. However, the investigation showed that some workers earn less than even the legal minimum.

Now the company has disclosed payroll information for 20 workers they say would make the Milwaukee police uniforms, indicating that they are paid nearly twice what other workers receive. Workers in China are often coached to lie to auditors and sometimes factories keep double books. The only way to find out whether the company is telling the truth is to talk to the workers and earn their trust. That takes time and costs money.

We are not asking you for money. We are asking for your vote. SweatFree Communities has a very good chance to win Global Exchange's Human Rights Hero competition which carries a $1,000 prize. Currently we're third in the competition and we need your help to push us over the top.

If we win, we will use the award to fund an independent investigation of the company's wage claims. Whatever the result, the investigation will be a win for workers. Either this company has done what no other has ever done before: doubling wages to qualify for a sweatfree contract and thereby proving they can make a profit AND pay workers a living wage. That should be celebrated as a first step to decent wages in the global economy. Or we will have the evidence to eliminate an undeserving bidder from the competition for public contracts.

Vote SFC. Help bring justice to workers.

Thank you,
Bjorn Claeson
Executive Director

PS. Remember to vote by October 5. After you vote, make sure to click the link in the automated email that you'll receive to confirm your vote.

Use facebook to spread the word - post this note in your profile:

I voted for SweatFree Communities as my Human Rights Hero. Want to help stop sweatshops? Vote by October 5th: http://economy.myhumanrightsheroes.org/entries#7333

PPS. Planning to attend the National SweatFree Summit (Nov. 6-8 in Washington D.C.)? Please register soon! Need a travel scholarship? Contact us for more info.Proverbs 31:8-9

So True

Sarah added this quote at the bottom of the agenda for last night's WWCAHT meeting. So true...

Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of a man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself.

~Abraham Lincoln

Perhaps trafficking wouldn't be an issue if we took traffickers and instead of putting them in prison right away we made them live the life of a slave for a few monhts...

Proverbs 31:8-9

Today in History

*On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.*

(from today's New York Times online)

If only that worked world-wide and there weren't any slaves... anywhere... ever again. It is what we work toward, strive for and pray over constantly. One thing I learned this weekend - where governments step in and actually enforce the laws they have, trafficking drops dramatically. The specific example given was in Cambodia. Since enforcing their laws regarding trafficking, child slavery, etc., trafficking in children has dropped 70%. Seventy percent. For every 100 children who would have been trafficked today - 70 of them are safe.

Those who are continuing the battle against this evil got out of bed this morning determined to make it 100 out of 100. You can help. Don't hesitate to ask me how.

Proverbs 31:8-9