Every wondered if slaves live in your neighborhood?
Ever wondered if you there were slaves living in your neighborhood?
Probably not.
But there could be. There are after all, thousands upon thousands living in the United States.
Yesterday I went to a luncheon with John and Kimberly Quinley, founders of Step Ahead a not for profit working to combat human trafficking in Thailand and Janell Rardon, International Speaker and Author of Rock Solid Families.
I was surprised to find that today there are more slaves than at the height of the African slave trade. There is an estimated 100,000 in the United States. There are no laws to protect children in slavery, particularly girls enslaved in the sex slave trade forced into prostitution here in the state of Virginia. Have we really learned nothing from our nation's history?
So what if a girl is found to be taken from her home in another country? Send her back to her family is the logical response...accept that is where she was taken in the first place, most likely sold by her own family.
Step Ahead works to educate families about Human Trafficking and Child Prostitution. They also work to combat the poverty that brings about a parent's desperation to sell a child in the first place.
There is so much I could share, so much I know, even details I wouldn't even dream of writing about in an open forum like this, little eyes that haunt me, stories I've heard that are etched deeper than the Grand Canyon into my heart.
My heart is moved. My feet will follow.
Probably not.
But there could be. There are after all, thousands upon thousands living in the United States.
Yesterday I went to a luncheon with John and Kimberly Quinley, founders of Step Ahead a not for profit working to combat human trafficking in Thailand and Janell Rardon, International Speaker and Author of Rock Solid Families.
I was surprised to find that today there are more slaves than at the height of the African slave trade. There is an estimated 100,000 in the United States. There are no laws to protect children in slavery, particularly girls enslaved in the sex slave trade forced into prostitution here in the state of Virginia. Have we really learned nothing from our nation's history?
So what if a girl is found to be taken from her home in another country? Send her back to her family is the logical response...accept that is where she was taken in the first place, most likely sold by her own family.
Step Ahead works to educate families about Human Trafficking and Child Prostitution. They also work to combat the poverty that brings about a parent's desperation to sell a child in the first place.
There is so much I could share, so much I know, even details I wouldn't even dream of writing about in an open forum like this, little eyes that haunt me, stories I've heard that are etched deeper than the Grand Canyon into my heart.
My heart is moved. My feet will follow.
Comments