Something to think about…
We discussed the heartbreaking issues of pornography, exploitation, and sex trafficking on Sunday. Let me give you a few more sobering statistics today:
- Over 40 million people are held in slavery today. To put that into perspective, 40 million is a greater population than 160 countries in the world. 40 million people enslaved today is more than at any other time in history.
- 1 in 4 Slaves in the world is a child.
- HUMAN TRAFFICKING - Human trafficking generates about $150 billion a year—two-thirds from commercial sexual exploitation.
- A Child goes missing in India every 8 minutes. And nearly 1/2 are never found.
Things were made to be used and people were created to be loved. The problem in our world is that things are loved and people are used. There are thousands of traffickers using their power to enslave the weak and vulnerable. This is such a massive problem, what can we do? That made me think about something Tony Campolo shared. He was involved in developing a ministry that built a network of over eighty-five schools to serve children who have been reduced to a life of slavery.
On one trip when Tony went to visit the schools, he stayed at the Holiday Inn right in the center of Port-au-Prince. One night when he was walking into the entrance of the hotel, he was interrupted by three girls who were probably around fourteen and fifteen years old. One in the middle said, “Mister, for ten dollars you can have me all night long.” He was shocked by what she just said. He turned to the girl next to her and asked, “Can I have you for ten dollars?” She nodded.
He turned to the third girl and asked the same question. She tried to conceal her contempt with a smile. It’s hard to look sexy when your fifteen, from a poor family and you’re hungry. Tony said, “Fine, I’ve got thirty dollars! I’m in room 210 be up there in 30 minutes. I’ll pay you then and I want all three of you for the whole night.”
He rushed up to the room and got on the phone, called down to the front desk and said, “Send every Disney video you have up to room 210. Anything Disney. Send it up to me.” He called down to the restaurant and asked if they made banana splits. He told them he wanted banana splits with extra everything. He wanted them to be huge and delicious.
Within the half hour the videos came, the three girls came, and the banana splits came. He sat the girls on the edge of the bed. They ate the banana splits and watched the videos until about one in the morning. That’s when the last one fell asleep. As he sat in the chair and looked at them, Tony said, “I thought to myself, Nothing’s changed! Nothing’s changed! Tomorrow they will be back on the streets. Tomorrow they will be selling their little bodies for ten dollars a throw, because there will always be ugly men who will destroy the dignity of little girls for ten dollars a night. Nothing’s changed!”
Then the Spirit spoke to him and said, “But for one night, Tony, you let them be little girls again. For one night you let them be kids. You didn’t change their lives, but for one night you gave them back their childhood.” Maybe we can’t solve this huge problem on our own, but we can give value and dignity to people. We can restore hope and trust that God can provide a way out. We can pray and we can support great organizations like the International Justice Mission or Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. We can’t do everything, but we can do something! Find out more at www.ncm.org or www.ijm.org