Spotlights
Finding a Home for Oklahoma's Orphans
In Oklahoma, a movement is gaining momentum among churches. As of January of 2011, there were 8,308 children in Oklahoma who because of abuse, neglect or abandonment needed adoptive homes. And with more than 6,000 churches statewide, an Oklahoma-based ministry called the 111Project works to pair at least one family from each church to commit to adopt at least one child through the Department of Human Services. Read more...
Changing the Demand
When most people find out modern slavery is still a fact of life around the world, they initially feel disbelief, followed by anger—especially upon hearing stats like the fact that every two minutes, a child is being prepared for sexual exploitation. When Andrew Hanson found out about modern slavery, he was shocked and angry. Instead of letting these feelings build within him, he channeled them and started a nonprofit organization called MATTOO (Men Against the Trafficking of Others). Read more...
Spotlight: Surfers Not Street Children
Nobody knows exactly how many children are living on the streets right now. UNICEF has estimated 100 million, but we can’t know for certain. We do know, however, that there are thousands and thousands of children and young people who call the street their home. Read more...
Freedom 4/24
Thailand is known as “the land of smiles.” A word commonly heard among locals used to describe how someone is doing is “sabai,” which means “chill,” relaxed, at peace. However, the 300,000 women who are forced to work as prostitutes in one of Thailand’s 60,000 sexual service centers do not know such peace. Night after night, women’s bodies are leased to bar-goers for what is typically $24 U.S. per night. The sex enterprise brings in $27 billion a year, and that number is growing daily. Read more...
GEMS
In 1998, Rachel Lloyd first came to New York City with a missions team from the U.K. As a former victim of commercial sexual exploitation, she worked with adult prostitutes in the city, helping them exit “the life” and begin a new one. But Lloyd noticed some younger girls showing up in the same programs as the women, teen victims for whom there were no specific shelters; a group of girls that, not so long ago, 21-year-old Lloyd had been a part of. She had $30, a computer and just enough room in her home to start a small outreach program, but that was all Lloyd needed to found what is now known as GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. Read more...
Stephanie Fisk // Adventures in Missions
How do you end global slavery? You could write letters to your senator, quit buying from irresponsible corporations, donate some money to an organization ... or you could do what Stephanie Fisk did, and go for a bicycle ride. Read more...
Justin Dillon // Call + Response
While Justin Dillon was touring with his band in Russia in 2004, his interpreter told him about offers she’d had to travel west for a job, Dillon looked into the “opportunities” and discovered they were fake jobs used to lure girls into sex trafficking. It was an incident that left Dillon reeling. He couldn’t let it go. Read more...
Love146
For about 27 million people in the world today (which is more than the entire population of Australia), enslavement is an everyday reality. It is even estimated that two children are sold into slavery every minute. The covert industry of forced labor and prostitution was virtually unheard of until recent years when investigations slowly uncovered the startling facts—that human trafficking is estimated to be the second largest income-generating syndicate in the world. A multi-billion dollar "business." Read more...
Most Commented