Awareness at Home

A simple visit to a website like dosomethingnow.com will quickly show you there are a number of issues plaguing our world to get involved in making a difference.  I’ve always found it difficult to fully endorse one thing because I feel like I’m ignoring others.  However, God has continued to lead me to the issue of human trafficking over the past couple of years as a primary focus.

I first became aware of this issue in 2007 at a Passion Conference in Atlanta, GA.  One of the breakout session options during this conference was a screening of the movie Traffic.  Due to the overwhelming response of students for this choice, I was unable to get in to see the movie that day, but it allowed me the opportunity to discover what was going on.

Things really picked up over time regarding the relationship of human trafficking and me.  In 2009, I checked out LifeChurch.tv’s Church Online one night to see what it was about, and their guest speaker for the service I was watching was Christine Caine of The A21 Campaign.   That year, I also began getting into the show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which would regularly address sex slavery.  The following year, I saw the movie Taken, which was focused around the abduction of a girl who was sold into slavery (and Liam Neeson taking out the trash!).

It was unsettling to me that females (and sometimes males) of all ages were being forced against their will to participate in rings of sexual slavery.  Learning that this is going on around the world is disheartening.  Knowing that it’s happening in places as close to me as Atlanta, GA (in hotels, at that) is sickening.  Hearing that places down the road from me are involved via local migrant workers is alarming.   I’ve been thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the cause of ending this injustice at the 2011 Passion Conference.

Now, I see others being rallied to do the same where I live and where I went to school.  There is an organization called I’m Aware that operates in Augusta, GA (along with Charlotte, NC and California).  The organization wants to both raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking and equip people to do their part in putting a stop to it.  Similarly, Augusta State University is home to a new student-led organization this Fall called Jaguars Against Trafficking (JAT).  This orgranization is led by someone who became passionate about the cause during a church/ministry internship in 2008, and is awakening others to the issue and letting them know what they can do about it at my alma mater.

I sat in a small group with the leaders of both of these organizations this past Tuesday night, and I became rekindled on the issue all over again.  No one deserves to go through these injustices.  No one.

Seeing awareness like this happen where I live has been amazing.  Churches, ministries, schools, businesses, and individuals around me are taking action.  What God does next, I can’t wait to see!  What He has me do next, I can’t wait to find out.

Whether you live near Augusta, GA or not, are “religious” or not, I encourage you to check out both I’m Aware and Jaguars Against Trafficking.  Great things are happening!