The following is from Natalie Grant and her Home Foundation.  To sign up for the 31 Days of Freedom, go to The Home Foundation site.

Day 1 of 31Days of Freedom

Romans 8:31 “…If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Today we are asking that you join us in prayer for this campaign. That people’s eyes and ears be opened to the issue, and that 31Days of Freedom would be a tool to that end. Pray for people’s hearts to be moved to give and a spark of awareness would ignite and a passion to see freedom and restoration for women and children enslaved. We pray that the United States will accept the reality that human trafficking happens within our borders and that it must stop!

Natalie Grant shares what 31Days of Freedom means to her. Read her Blog

So what are you doing to help ensure the 100k + people enslaved in the US see the freedom we take for granted?

The other week I was talking with my sister about Chocolate.  We both love our dark chocolate, hers at 60% and mine at 77%.  After reading about how most cacao beans are harvested, whether or not they are organic, it got me thinking.  Why can’t organic=fair trade?  Currently only some chocolate is fair trade regardless of how it’s grown.

And what does fair trade mean?  It means that there is no child labor (the kids get to go to school where they belong) and the adults are paid at least minimum wage.  So why can’t organic=fair trade? Organic uses environmentally friendly farming methods, but how environmentally friendly is it if the labor is forced and/or under paid?  Slave labor does not seem environmentally friendly when the conditions the laborer live in are less than healthy.

So why can’t organic=fair trade? Maybe we should be asking that of the policy makers who set the standard for what it means to be organic.

In the mean time, I’m on a quest to find a good organic 77% Dark Chocolate that’s fair trade (my favorite doesn’t appear to be), the 73% I got today is ok but not as good as the 77% I have been getting.  If anyone has a suggestion for a 77% Dark Chocolate that is organic and Fair Trade  w/nothing added (ie fruits and nuts), let me know (so far the one I had today isn’t it).

This week, in between grad school homework, I was able to finally take some notes on the human trafficking information I have.  It’ll be a process for me to get all of that into a me based blog with cited sources.  This week, the information is from Love146 and a publication they have entitled The Problem and one entitled United States Child Trafficking Facts.  The story behind the name is fascinating and available at love146.org as are the above listed publications.

Here’s the reality on trafficking:

Most countries are involved in trafficking

• Some are the source of the vulnerable children
• Some are a place those children pass through
• Some are the destination for those children

This includes Europe and North America.

Some people who are trafficked are forced into prostitution and pornography.  Others are forced labor in domestic, factory, or agricultural work (and that includes here in the US).  We as US citizens may cry foul on sweatshops overseas, but don’t realize that there are people tricked into coming to the US and put in the same conditions and paid just as bad (which is next to nothing if they are lucky).  In some countries, the children are forced to b soldiers which can include:

• leading troops through mind fields
• prostitution
• forced labor similar to domestic work

Children throughout the world are at risk of becoming the supply because there is a demand (as perverse as that is).  Criminal gangs, pimps,and pornographers seek to profit from this demand by enslaving and abusing children.  The most at risk are those in poverty, lack of education, minority status, gender bias, and homelessness.  That means in most countries the most at risk person is the poor, uneducated, minority female that lives on the streets.  In the US for domestic trafficking that means the girl probably is not white.

Victims are often threaten, beaten, and starved to be conditioned by their captors for the fate that awaits: usually sex with multiple customers everyday.  The victims eventually are ‘broken’ and learn to force smiles for pedophiles, sex tourists, Et al. that frequent their establishments.

The exploitation/abuse can cause severe psychological/physical damage including HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases or conditions.  Abuse includes:

• gang rapes
• forced abortions
• manipulation

Common methods of traffickinginclude:

• physical force (common for child soldiers)
• Coercion (debt relief for family, job, marriage, etc.)
• Physical & Emotional Abuse
• Threats against self and family
• Passport theft

The US has 14,500-17,500 people trafficked into the US.  Even more trafficking victims are taken from people already here. And that information was from 2004, the numbers could be even higher now.  I find that to be absolutely appalling.  Most victims that are from within our borders when trafficked are either runaways or abandoned.

Common themes that lead to child prostitution:

• sexual abuse as a child
• parental neglect
• parental drug abuse
• emotional/physical abuse from a family member
• poverty

And the average age for entry is 11-14 years old (5-8th grade).

If you thought prostitutes were only adults, think again.  The young ones are forced and the adults may have been in it at the same age as the young ones and for all the same reasons.

If you are reading this and are a trafficker, be forewarned that you will be found and brought to justice.  Children are not to be profited from, they are to be embraced, truly loved, and nurtured to follow the one true living God in all of His amazing awesomeness.

For more information on Human Trafficking and other forms of Modern-Day Slavery, go to Love146.org, International Justice Mission, Invisible Children, The Home Foundation.

I’m in grad school currently studying leadership and effective communication.  Some communication styles although effective are not healthy.  As I’m doing research on human trafficking and what that all can entail, I realized on Wednesday night (10 March) during class that some of the strategies mentioned in the book traffickers use on their victims.  In particular we discussed Compliance-Gaining Strategies.  In general these are not all bad.  However, if misused, these can have devastating effects.  For example, one strategy is Supporting Evidence: reasons are given why the target (victim) should comply.  This strategy although good, if ladened with lies, is rather negative and full of deceit.  Other strategies include the use of Coercive and Reward power.  Both are negative and in the world of trafficking full of deceit.  In the non-trafficking world these are not generally full of deceit just not good to use.  It’s interesting to be able to use what I learn in class and be able to apply it to being a voice for the voiceless in some way.

What are you doing to be a voice for the voiceless?

What are you learning that can be applied to what traffickers use and do?

What are you leaning that you can use to be a VOICE?

What’s Your Part?

• Get educated?
• Educate others?
• Don’t stop being a voice?
• Speak the Truth in Love?
• Keep Pressing On Til The Job Is Done!!!

I watched the Invisible Children special on Halogen last night (9 April).  It was about their global Rescue day they had back in April 2006.  The Rescue in Chicago took 6 days to end since they could not get a ‘Mogul’ (celebrity/politician) to rescue them.  They finally got Oprah Winfrey to rescue them after they stood outside her studio for hours before she arrived for the day.  She gave them time on her show and had a national spotlight on the child soldiers in Uganda.  That group Kept Pressing On Til The Job Was Done.  They did not give up because they were not getting their Mogul…They persisted on getting the mogul they wanted.  And the group in Chicago had many trials getting their mogul including the weather…what helped them get through was one of the leaders of Invisible Children had the idea that everyone who was rescued would rally with those who were not rescued.  Everyone that could follow with that idea ended up in Chicago since that was the last place to be rescued globally.

So What’s Your Part Again?

answer that question and…

Keep Pressing On Til The Job Is Done and Every Human in Slavery is Rescued!!!!!!

I have started the hard research on human trafficking today.  It will be a slow process as I work on grad school homework that is unrelated.  The most interesting piece of information I found online (don’t remember which advocate site I was at) stated that human trafficking is second only to the drug trade globally.  That means dollar for dollar human trafficking makes more money around the world than any name brand piece of clothing, food or drink in any given year.  That’s not a good statistic for any country let alone the whole earth.  Tonight I was watching my local news and one of the news stories was about our governor urging state law-makers to double the jail term for sex offenders.  That means a first time offender would get 25 yrs instead of the 12 yrs they currently get.  I whole-heartedly support such a bill and have contacted by representative and senator to sponsor and/or otherwise support such a bill.  If one offender is kept off the streets it means there is one or more less victims from a repeat offender.  I hear enough stories on my local news about repeat offenders in this wonder state that I have called home my entire life.  What will you do to make sure my state or your own if you live somewhere else has tough laws that help protect victims and prevent new victims from even having to exist?

Over the last few years I’ve heard some about human trafficking.  I consider myself a newbie in this arena and rightfully so as that some is not a whole lot.  In school we’re taught about slavery that happened in the early years of United States history.  However, I was never taught about the modern-day slavery that is known as human trafficking.  In between the studying I need to do for grad school, I hope to learn more.  Recently at church I re-did my spiritual gifts inventory…part of that process include what I’m passionate about. two things came to mind: ministry and human trafficking.  What the ministry will include, I don’t know.  But if I can be a voice to help end modern-day slavery, I am more than willing to do that and the voice will only increase in whatever ministry God puts me in.

If you want a simple way of serving others…be a voice for someone who has no voice.  Use whatever legal tools you have to get the word out…Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, your friends, family, and church.

I follow some people/organizations that deal first hand with ending modern-day slavery at twitter.com/4himccm/end-human-trafficking.  There are more organizations out there.  Help them be a voice by being a voice with them.

When most people think of traffic, the first thing that comes to mind is cars and busy streets.  I’m the same way.  Unfortunately there is a different type of traffic in our world and it has nothing to do with cars on a busy street.  That doesn’t mean that cars and busy streets aren’t apart of it as they are indirectly.  The type of traffic I’m talking about deals with humans mostly women and children.  Many come from outside the US originally, but there are many more who are born here and raised elsewhere.  In recent years the US has made its citizens aware of humans that are trafficked.  Most of them are exploited into prostitution and related fields while some are exploited with their working conditions of more legitimate jobs.  A stat I heard a few years ago listed Minnesota as #3 in the US for trafficking humans.  That’s not a stat I like to hear about my state.  I don’t know if that has changed, but I hope it has.  During the Super Bowl, over 1,000 young people were brought to Miami for the sole purpose of being trafficked.  It happens all to easily in developing countries- find a person who is destitute and offer them a better life with some conditions that they have to follow or help a poor family by buying the child they have to give up in order to survive.  In the US it tends to happen a couple of ways more often if it’s a child involved…either 1 or both parents/guardians force the child into it or the child is kidnapped.  For the adults it can be the same or there is the same duping that happens in foreign countries.  The other alarming statistic is the number of beds available for the humans rescued from the trafficking.  At one point there were 100 beds in the US.  That averages 2 per state not including DC.  There are thousands more than that trafficked through our country each year.  Thankfully that number is increasing, but it takes organizations and people willing to support those organizations to increase the number of safe places for the people who are trafficked.  There are organizations out there whose purpose is to provide that bed.  They along with other organizations are spreading the word that there is a known issue not just in the US but globally regarding this modern-day slave trade.  If you want to find out more, go to: thehomefoundation.net.  It was started by musician Natalie Grant after she learned more about the issues of human trafficking.   Her foundation partners with many organizations that provide the safe place for those rescued from this horrific tragedy.

The US outlawed slavery over 100 years ago when Abraham Lincoln was president.  The slave trade 150 years later is larger than it was back in his day.  Think of the impact we could have by helping get the word out about human trafficking through this modern-day slavery that is going on.  We are not immune to the affects of this issue.  We never know when our child could be the one taken and forced into the dark world of trafficking.  Be a voice and spread the word about the modern-day slavery known as Human trafficking.

The next few entries are from my sister blog.  I am posting them here just to have them here.  They lay the basis for this blog.

For those familiar with my 4himcamper.wordpress.com blog, this is the sister blog to that.  The content at this point will mostly be the same. It will focus more on Modern-Day Slavery.