Roots or Fruits?
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"So, did you take part in any raids or anything?" "Was it weird to be in the brothel?"
"How many girls did you rescue?"
These are the kinds of questions I was asked when I shared that as part of my outreach to Nepal, we’d worked with a group that helps prevent trafficking. During our DTS when we had a guest speaker from Love 146 he shared these are the questions he is most often asked too.
It makes sense.
We know trafficking to be a vile practice where people are moved around and sold against their will or through trickery whether it be for the purpose of domestic servitude, supplying the sex trade, fighting as part of a rebel army or any number of forms of slavery that are happening world-wide. Therefore, it makes sense that anti-trafficking work equals rescue.
What if there was a better option though?
What if we dealt with the problem BEFORE it even begins?
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You see, human trafficking is the FRUIT of a particular problem; a symptom, an effect.
It ISN’T the problem in itself.
So, what if, instead of focusing on rescuing people (which I love, support and would be privileged if I could be part of it some day), we looked at the causes and addressed them?
So instead of rescuing and restoring people, we prevented them ever being taken?
Even then, there are many different routes to take.
Do we address the spiritual issues underlying it? Greed? Lust? Fatherlessness? Control? Political injustices?
These name just a few, and are pretty huge issues alone. And YES, we SHOULD be tackling these through prayer and practical means. But what about a more practical, visible root? Why is it exactly that people are so easily able to be tricked? Because contrary to popular belief, most trafficked people are not actually dramatically kidnapped from under the eyes of watchful and loving parents. Most people are tricked into it one way or another.
Maybe they take the initiative themselves and go voluntarily, thinking they’re going for a domestic job or a school.
Maybe the parent believes they’re sending their child for a ‘respectable’ job in a far away city and money will be sent home each month.
Maybe the parent actually knows they’re selling their child but has no option because without that money, the rest of their family starves.
Whatever the reason, why is it able to happen?
Mostly? Honestly?
Poverty.
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Desperate people resort to desperate measures, including selling a child.
And so, what if we could eliminate that desperation? What if we could do something to stimulate the economy of an area and create jobs? What if we could educate the people living in that place so they were able to get jobs that already exist? What if we could make them aware of the risks posed by these strangers with their intriguing accents and appealing offers of money? What if we could make them aware of THEIR OWN VALUE; so they would believe they were deserving of the education and assistance on offer? Thankfully, we can, and people around the world are!
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Five:14 is one of those ministries and I LOVED being part of what they’re doing in Nepal. They use tourism as a way of creating jobs and improving the economy of an area. They are then able to help people build or upgrade their homes (VERY practical after the earthquake) as a way of housing the tourists they bring. They even use socially aware tourists to help with these projects as part of team building and volunteer trips! They educate people about the risks of exploitation and increase their awareness They establish schools, and work with already-established schools to ensure girls and not just boys are educated as well as teaching English so people are equipped and able to compete for jobs They build relationships with local people and help them find a support structure And SO MUCH MORE!
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One of the highlights of the outreach for me was getting back to my ‘roots’ and teaching in a classroom setting. I taught in two different schools in different places and was able to see how Five:14 has already impacted so many and changed the destiny for those previously trapped in poverty and therefore at risk of exploitation.
I met children whose life and future is already SO different to what it would have been without this intervention. I met people who were beginning to learn they had value and are loved and deserving of respect and honour.
I met people who have found employment and security.
There is a long way to go. Teaching English may not actually seem to be as glamorous as rescuing girls from brothels, but it is one step I was able to be involved with. One part of a puzzle, one part of the body coming together to help bring social justice to the earth. I love that God uses skills and passions we have. I WANT to help bring justice, not just through prayer and petitions, but practical action, but despite bragging to my sister of ninja skills I pretend to have, I'd actually suck at the undercover action stuff. Thankfully, there are other ways.
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Perhaps it's teaching something practical like English or a skill like making jewelry or sewing or something - a way of people being able to make a living. Perhaps it's teaching and raising awareness of the issue (I loved that we got to do that too at a ladies conference where we taught on the importance of education, trafficking, child marriage and finding hope/healing after abuse). Maybe it's fundraising for a ministry or building a home or a school.....whatever it is, there's a way. And it may be less heroic sounding than busting brothels - but it's an essential part of the picture.
I feel privileged to have been a tiny, tiny, tiny part of a MASSIVE bigger picture, and I love I got to do it through doing something that comes so naturally to me. What skills, hobbies and passions do you have that could be part of bringing justice to the earth, or even just helping change life for The One in front of you in your own community?
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