Here's a copy of my most recent writing for Adventures in Missions. If you want to read it in its original location, click here.
Today's post is from one of our staff writers, Stephanie Bernotas. Stephanie did the World Race in 2011 on W Squad and is currently working in the Marketing Department. She's passionate about storytelling and using media to be the voice for the voiceless.
"You did a good job. It'll stop hurting soon."
He said to the little girl as she hid her crying face under one of her fists, just minutes after the man had paid to rape her.
Her "caretaker" laughed as the man emotionlessly drove away on his motorcycle.
I don't even know her name.
Everything in me wanted to grab the girl and run – but I knew it was more complicated than that. I felt a pain so deep that to feel it fully would paralyze me, so I let numbness cover up my wounds. But numbness is not okay.
When a little girl is being sold for sex, it is simply. Not. Okay.
And us doing nothing about it is equally. Not. Okay.
Photo courtesy of End It Movement
But statistics numb our brain. When we hear 27 million people are trafficked in the world today or $32 billion dollars is earned in the sex industry every year – those numbers mean little to our ears, and even less to our hearts.
It's the children I've met all around the world – the faces I know – the names I've called – they are the ones who have wrecked me.
A child should never be abandoned. A child should never be sold.
I saw that little girl in Thailand almost nine months ago. Since that day, almost 200,000 more children have been sold into the slave trade. Five more have entered the slave trade in the ten minutes it will take you to read this blog post.
A sea of 200,000 faces. Overwhelming.
Instead of trying to wrap your head around that, just imagine the face of one little girl, hiding her tears behind her fist, crying in the night of Thailand.
But hers isn't the only face I want you to see – I want you to see Maleah's face, too. I learned about Maleah (name changed to protect her real identity) last week at Passion 2013.
Maleah was sold as a sex slave at age four. She was repeatedly raped for five years.
But someone fought for her. And now that she's been rescued, she is slowly learning to trust her caretakers, not steal food, and be a little girl again.
At Passion 2013, 60,000 of us were each handed a paper face, with individual stories of those who had been rescued from slavery and were learning to see the goodness of God. We held their photos over our own faces as we worshipped the Lord. We lent them our voices. We gave them our tears.
Photo courtesy of Passion Conferences
-Chris Tomlin
We sang songs of God's war cry and declaration to free the captives. Songs about the freedom we have received from Christ as he saved us from the slavery of sin and the captivity of Satan.
The pain and abandonment I felt for the anonymous girl on a dark street corner in Thailand became more real than ever. The image of God rose up before me. I have to do something.
We are called to free the captives. To plead their cause.
Just as we have been freed, we want children like Maleah to be free.
Passion has started a movement to end slavery in our world today called End It Movement. Are you in it to end it?
Will you fight hard for the captives as the Lord fought hard for you? Will you fight until they can sing that the God of angel armies is always by their side? And will they be able to sing that truth because you acted in the image of the Almighty and brought freedom?
It is for freedom that we are set free.
My name is Stephanie, and I'm in it to end it.
If you'd like to be involved, check out End It Movement. We are in it to end it and are shining a light on slavery. Keep spreading awareness, and then on April 9th we will show the world that trafficking is simply not okay with us. Let's end this thing.
Steph, there is perhaps no greater cause than this. It sickens me to hear of the magnitude of this abuse of God’s children. Thank you for bringing it to light. My heart goes out to these young vctims. May the power of the Holy Spirt be with all who choose to help overcome this great injustice.
People do not know the extent of slavery and endenturement, even in Lancaster, PA the Amish(not all, fortunately very few!!)have people in ‘warehouses’ making pillow covers and quilt pieces that tourists to that area think that they are getting the ‘real thing’ when they buy ‘Amish’ crafts. Thailand is unbelievable. I will make a MUCH greater effort in prayer and spreading the message……. these are God’s little ones!! It’s VERY hard to read, but thank you Steph for making us aware!! Susan