Around 7 years ago I saw the movie Taken for the first time and it introduced an entire new world to me. This world was not a happy world and it was not a fictional world. This world was the world of human trafficking. Every day countless vulnerable men, women, and children all over the world are being exploited in many ways. This very fact breaks my heart because not all of these individuals have Liam Neison as their father who is going to run to their rescue. Not all of these victims have even the slightest bit of hope that they will ever see true love. A simple action movie introduced me to this idea.
Then a few years later a friend introduced me to a non-profit known as Love146 (www.love146.org) which is dedicated to helping prevent, rescue, and provide rehab for victims of human trafficking. I immediately fell in love with this organization, which was not faith-based but many of the workers were followers of Christ. This fact showed me that people of others faiths were more than willing to become involved in this issue. They showed me that slavery is a universal injustice, not just a Christian one. They also showed me hope and gave me a face to this injustice. They talk of a time where they went undercover to a brothel to plan a raid to save the victims. They walked into a dark room that led to a window where one could be shown all the little girls for sale and they noticed that they all had a number attached to them. Not only that, but they noticed that all these girls had lost all their hope and if you looked into their eyes you saw despair alone. All the girls watched cartoons with sorrow filled faces. Then among all this hopelessness they noticed one girl in a red dress among them that still had a flair of hope and fight in her eyes. This girl had not given up yet, and this girl is where they got their name. For the number attached to this hopeful young girl was 146.
Then Spring of my freshmen year I expressed my interest in stopping human trafficking to some friends in my classes. One day one of these friends introduced me to a documentary entitled Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (www.nefariousdocumentary.com) which was put together by the International House of Prayer (IHOP). After much discussion and a viewing of the documentary we felt a need to show it to our campus. This passionate friend went to the professor in charge of the social justice small group and many emails later we had our event set up. It was a Tuesday night on campus without offering a chapel credit. We had over 200 show up that night to watch this documentary of those working to save victims, of traffickers who have found Christ, and all the other redemptive ways that God has worked in human trafficking and continues to work. This showing inspired the neighboring college (Kenyan college) to have a showing of the documentary which spread the word even farther in our small college town.
Then after a long rut of talking about human trafficking but not doing much about it, I got a Facebook invitation for a Women At Risk (www.warinternational.org) event at a local baptist church. I immediately planned out that time in my calendar to attend for this was exactly the kind of event I needed to remind myself of my passions for stopping this injustice. To celebrate the first 2 months of my relationship with my girlfriend we attended this event of shopping for a cause and then hearing the President of WAR speak. Becky McDonald spoke about growing up in Pakistan and experiencing people she knew going through these very issues. Becky showed us how much we need to be involved in stopping this injustice and how hard it can be. She told us a story of Sweetie. A baby who is being raised in a brothel, inside a box, tied to a pole with a red cord. This young girl is being raised to not know what real love is like. Becky shared about her struggle and journey in trying to save this girl. She asked for prayer that we can give Sweetie a new red cord...a red cord like the one outside of Rahab's window...one that shows she is a part of God's family.
Throughout all these events, especially tonight there is one thing I noticed. The amount of men at these events is lacking. At every one of these events women quickly flock to rise up, but there are hardly men. Tonight at the WAR event as I looked around the only men there besides me where 3-4 middle-aged and elderly men with their wives. There was no one in the millennial generation. There were no single guys there. Why is that? Why are guys not stepping up and getting involved in this cause? We need a generation of men to rise up and become involved in stopping this injustice. This tragedy is not a gender issue, it is an issue for all. Male, Female, Transgender. We must all unite and work towards ending this slavery. We have ended one form of slavery before so we can do this again. We just need men to step up and join women in this fight. As a man, I challenge my gender to make ourselves known as those who fight this injustice instead of being viewed as the "bad guys" involved in it.
Become Involved. Pray for Sweetie. MEN RISE UP.
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