A couple months ago I was headed to see a friend in Arizona, and together we ventured to see our friends in California. It was certainly a wonderful beginning to a new year! What is better than being around the people who know and love you the most? Nothing, I tell ya! ;)
As I was sitting in the airport on an extremely long layover--some of you may know how that goes, I began asking myself, "why are you passionate about ending slavery? why is that the issue burning in your heart?"
See, I came to the conclusion that it's so easy to get lost in the process of what matters to us, and what our dreams are, and lose the passion that first burned when you just began the "dream". I think it's so important to get back to the simp[licity of why you do what you do, and why you love what you love.
Thus this is what came out of me when I asked myself, "why?" I hope it inspires you in some form or fashion!
When I was 17, I was in a meeting
and was asked to close my eyes, take a moment and figure out what my dream for
life was. Instantly, what came to mind was to help women who have not been
living life alive due to a life of prostitution, drugs, slavery…etc. Each woman
found in any of the mentioned categories, or even a category not mentioned, are
in my opinion, victims. You can debate with me all you want on that issue, but
I believe from the bottom of my heart that no woman, chooses a life of
prostitution or drugs, and especially not enslavement against their own will.
The issue goes much deeper than “choice”, in fact in my eyes, it begins in the
sess pool of poverty. What are we doing about poverty? I could go on and on
about the issue of poverty alone, but I will save that for a different time. I
will say though, there are absolutely remarkable people, male and female, lying
undiscovered in “poverty” all over the world. They are what I like to call the
unsung heroes, let us discover them.
Alas, back to the issue of
trafficking. That day, I dreamt up a whole vision for women coming out of these
lifestyles. A dream of seeing them restored, believed in, and ultimately given
the opportunity to dream up their own dreams, as I have had the opportunity to
do, as well as you, I suspect. Over the years the dream has ebed and flowed
with different, varied ideas; never taking its eyes off the heart of the issue:
the women and those girls who will become women soon enough. I have not woken up one day since that very
day my heart connected to this issue, an issue bigger than myself, without
thinking about how I am going to make a difference.
In the past 2 years, the issue of
trafficking began to grab my heart. I couldn’t get away from it, everywhere I
looked there was mention of it. I began to hear statistic after statistic of
the gross reality of the situation. It didn’t stop there though, and then came
the stories; stories of people who have been face to face with victims, and
have been helpless to assist them in rescue, as well as victorious stories of
rescue that cause my heart to leap for joy. At the end of the day, human trafficking is an
issue that I cannot get away from, everything I do in my lifetime will be
details in comparison to what I can do to make modern day slavery a thing of
the past, something mentioned in our history books with a triumphant story of
defeat.
The simple statistics of the
matter; that there are 27 million people enslaved in our globe today, 2
children are sold every minute to slave trades, annually 1.2 million children
are trafficked globally, and lastly that ANNUALLY trafficking generates $32
billion, it’s all enough to keep me fighting. And, my hope is that it will
spark movement in you as well, to make a difference, where you are, wherever
that may be…right now.
When asked why I am passionate
about this issue, I don’t need some grand story to tell, all I simply need is
to come face to face with the reality of the situation, to hear and see the
stories told through individuals on the frontline. This is my story, what will yours be? When
confronted with the question, “why”, what will your answer be.
I know it's a bit long, and filled with many grammatical errors, but bear with me--I wrote it on a layover! ;)
Peace. Love. Joy.
