Broken Heart

Walking along Buchtel, my feet were developing slight blisters from my new shoes, my armpits were perspiring mildly, I was squinting against the bright light of the gorgeous sunset, and tears were filling my eyes as I choked back the tears and sobs that had rapidly hit. My voice quivered as I talked to my mom, I had to pause for a few moments to regain composure before I could continue the conversation. What, you may now very well be wondering, could have caused this distress? Perhaps you think it references a boy, some boy that broke my heart, since that is the title of this particular blog post. No. No boys. 

The broken sobs came as I told my mom about two small girls I had seen in a documentary (called Call and Response - http://www.callandresponse.com/). Two young, probably seven year old, girls had been filmed, probably by someone undercover. They were slaves of the sex industry, I can't remember the country. The little girls were marketing themselves, repeatedly telling the men (who were filming. I suppose they were pretending to be customers?) that they were good at the "yum yum," in other words, oral sex. Seven year old girls. Selling themselves, marketing themselves, offering these men oral sex in exchange for money. 

You can't help but cry. My eyes filled up with tears countless times as I watched this film earlier this afternoon. 

This past week has been eye-opening. Though I still don't know a lot, I know more than I did about the sex-slave trade, and human trafficking in general.

Did you know that today there are three times the number of slaves as there were when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation way back then? Did you even know there were still slaves today? Did you know slavery was never actually abolished, instead all the slaves were emancipated? Did you, did you know? 

Well, now I know. I know that all over the world women, men, and now especially, children, are forced to sell themselves for sex sometimes up to twenty times a night. Girls are sold by their own families, raped multiple times, and then forced into prostitution. Some are kidnapped, raped, and then, after being told that they're now unclean and a disgrace and no longer wanted/accepted by their families, forced into prostitution. This even happens to THREE YEAR OLDS. Three year olds. And many of them are addicted to drugs, like meth, so they don't want to leave because of their addiction. In some countries they've been taught that the police are the bad guys. In other countries, the police are the bad guys, coming into the brothels for free services. In some brothels, girls are actually chained up. They're slaves. There was a brothel that burned down, girls inside were chained up and died in the fire. 

There are so many stories, so many hurts, so many tears, so many scars and fears and injustices. There are so many slaves. Not just sex slaves. People will go to other countries to work, have their visa ripped up, and are forced into slavery. There's a difference between child-labor and child-slavery, and there's a lot of both. Three times the number of slaves as there were when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Three times. I know I said it earlier, but I"m saying it again. I think that's astounding. Shocking that this is happening. Why haven't we stopped it? Why haven't other countries stopped it? Why isn't something being done? 

Somethings are being done, but more needs to happen. We shouldn't be ignoring this, or think the problem is just "too big," or decide to worry about other things. If people react and work for change, change will come. After learned a lot this week about human trafficking, aka modern day slavery, I want to be part of that change. My first thoughts were, "Well when I graduate I'll get involved in an organization like International Justice Missions and start working to raise awareness for human rights and help work to stop things like this." Then I realized, why wait? I mean there's not TONS I can do now as an 18-year-old freshman in college, but I can do something. And something's what I plan to do. I feel like this is something I"m being called to. I always learn about things like this and want to help, so I sign up for the emails, make a few donations, and talk about it periodically. But I don't really DO anything. I want to now. We don't have a long time on earth, and the time we've been given should be spent loving, serving, and making a difference. Giving our lives, losing our live. "If you find your life, you will lose it. But anyone who loses his life for My sake, will find it, and life eternal..." or something like that. Jesus speaking, folks. Listen up.