Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day, something two years ago I had never heard of but now consumes my life.
I remember in high school when I got a VW Jetta and at that time, I had never seen one before. It didn’t take long before I saw them every single time I went out on the road.
Maybe you’ve recently discovered a new band and suddenly you hear their music every time you turn on the radio or notice them playing in the soundtrack of a movie.
Welcome to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or “frequency illusion” which is when a concept or thing you just found out about suddenly seems to crop up everywhere. source
For me, that is exactly what happened when I learned about sex trafficking and unfortunately, now that I know about it, I do see it happening everywhere.
Do you know what sex trafficking or sex slavery is?
95% of the people I talk to have never even heard of it before or don’t know what it is, if they have heard of it.
Let me be frank: girls and boys are being sold for sex and it’s happening in every state and most likely is happening where you live.
Sorry to be graphic but just to help you understand that this means they are being raped, sometimes 20 to 30 times a DAY. Some of them are still living at home and their parents have no idea.
How people are trafficked: force, fraud or intimidation.
Most victims are preyed upon sometimes for over a year. When I went to a workshop given by Thorn (yes, that’s Ashton Kutcher’s organization), they shared that most of the victims know their trafficker before being trafficked. That means that the majority of them are not being kidnapped like in the movie Taken. Their trafficker or pimp is a predator that grooms the child (often through social media), gets them to trust them and then tricks them into having sex with strangers.
-In the U.S. human trafficking is a $9.5 BILLION industry.
-A pimp can make $100-250k per year, having 4 to 6 girls
-The average age of girls and boys being trafficked is 11 to 14 years old.
-Kids in the foster care system are targeted by traffickers.
-Only 1-2% of trafficking victims are ever rescued.
-Some of these kids are trafficked by their friends.
What if you were one conversation away from preventing sex trafficking?
We have a Home Awareness Program where we ask you to invite three or more people over to have a conversation about sex trafficking. We give you everything you need in our Hospitality Toolkit which includes: a step-by-step guide-book, video of a roundtable discussion and stories to share. So you literally do not have to even know what it is or be an expert, you just have to be willing to be a host.
Why do this?
Every expert in this field that we have talked to has told us that the very best way to prevent sex trafficking is through awareness which is exactly what our Home Awareness Program is all about.
The reason we use hospitality is because Lydia, in the Book of Acts (16:14-15), used hospitality to show her faithfulness. It’s a biblical mandate that most of us struggle with because we make it about entertaining instead of just opening up our home for conversation and refreshment.
We make it SUPER easy for you to make a difference in your community.
I promise you, even the most introverted person can do this.
We need more prevention and awareness which brings me back to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.
The more people that talk about this, the better. For each one of you reading this blog post, if you take a minute to get informed about what sex trafficking or sex slavery is, I am certain that you’ll discover that it’s going on in your city and maybe even in your kid’s schools.
Would you be interested in helping us by signing up for our Beta Home Awareness group?
The goal is for you to invite 3 or more friends over to discuss this and then those friends invite 3 or more people over to their house and so on and so on…..until we end this.
We could end sex trafficking but we have to step outside of our comfort zone and talk about it. Will you help us do that?
Featured Image: Andrik Langfield Petrides
I am stunned that so many people you talk to have never heard of human trafficking! That’s crazy to me! And I like the idea of your Beta Groups! That’s a cool idea!
This is such an important conversation to have. And amen to this: The reason we use hospitality is because Lydia, in the Book of Acts (16:14-15), used hospitality to show her faithfulness. It’s a biblical mandate that most of us struggle with because we make it about entertaining instead of just opening up our home for conversation and refreshment.
Thanks, Kristin! And I was someone that didn’t even know what it was really just two years ago–I guess I just didn’t understand what “Human Trafficking or Sex Trafficking” actually meant.
Thanks so much, Jordan!
I was not aware of any of this or how it actually comes about. Certainly didn’t know how big it has become.
What a great topic to be discussing! I love the idea of a beta group to help spread awareness! So many people don’t understand! I’m passionate about this topic myself, and I always get fired up over it. Where I live (and many other places) they are becoming so sneaky to get new children into the sex trade…like getting recruiters to pose as teens in high schools etc. It is a scary world out there but the more awareness there is, the better! Thanks for sharing and doing your part!
Even though it’s a hard topic to discuss, I completely agree that communication is key! We have to do EVERYTHING we can to raise awareness.
I worry about this all the time since I have young children. Thank you for bringing more awareness to this issue.
Whenever I think about big issues like this, I almost always get immediately frustrated that no matter what we do, is it really doing to be enough to END it. That might be the realist in me….
BUT, I always, always hear Andy Stanley’s words from a few years ago anytime I start down that line of though…
“Do for one what you wish you would do for everyone.”
The point, you DO, do something.
This post is so amazing. Conversations like these need to take place! This is a topic very dear to my heart, and I love the openness here on your site to talk about it. Thanks for sharing.
http://abeautifulheart07.blogspot.com/2018/01/soundtrack-of-my-life.html
THANK YOU for choosing not to be quiet about this issue and even better, giving tools to FIGHT this awfulness! It all starts with awareness.
What a great post. Thank you for spreading awareness. I was inspired by my church to do my part this Valentine’s day by donating all my blog & handlettering profits for the month of Feb to an organization that works to bring hope to so many women that don’t know their worth. Because EVERY woman deserves to know that SHE is LOVED!
This is absolutely heartbreaking. Thank you for raising awareness on this.
Yes! I love your heart and passion behind this. This is an injustice and we have to fight back. Keep educating those around you! I am shocked most people don’t know (or don’t choose to see). It feels like such an overwhelming issue in a dark world but we can be the light and we can make a difference!
What an eye opening post . I’m so glad that we have someone like you who is raising awareness on a situation that isn’t really spoken about. God Has definitely Used you to stand up and be the voice to the voiceless.
Thanks, America! 🙂