I Have 17 Slaves Working For Me

Of all the things that deeply matter to me, being an advocate for the vulnerable is chief among them.  I once gave a bird sips of bottled water when it fell to the side of the road.  Once, I cared for a day old baby squirrel for several hours to rescue it from death by bees.  I have many other animal rescue stories under my belt, to the point of near embarrassment.

But my heart beats wildly, passionately for the most vulnerable women & children of our world.  If you know me at all, then you probably know I’d rather be out gallivanting across the globe doling out snuggles to malnourished kids & hugging or listening to escaped sex slaves than merely writing about it.  For now though, what I have is my voice and I intend to use it.

As a part of my work with The Global Team of 200 I’ll be “donating” at least two posts per month which highlight various causes in which you can join me in doing something, anything that leads to justice.  I hope these posts will inform, encourage & catapult you into cataclysmic action.

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January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Human trafficking is a big, big problem.  More than 55,000 million people are trafficked or performing forced labor across our globe, 26% of which are children with over 32 billion in yearly profits.    Unfortunately, trafficking is able to thrive in places like California, Texas, Florida & New York because of weak legislative policies, loopholes, corruption and lack of enforcement of laws.

I wish that I could give us all a handy little checklist by which we could go about the work to end trafficking.  But, I’m old enough to know catastrophic problems demands a far more complex approach.  Whatever that approach may be, I think we can all agree the world (not just the wealthy, not just Americans) needs to respond to protect OUR globally enslaved people.

OUR globally enslaved people work in dangerous conditions, (think babies mining for diamonds), suffer tremendous physical, emotional and sexual abuse & have no access to education or healthcare.  If we stop to think for one minute what it may be like to live like that for one day I suspect many of us couldn’t handle it.  That’s why it’s imperative we do what we can, while we can.  I’m thankful for organizations like UNICEF who have launched the End Trafficking Project.

What You Can Do

1. Join or start a UNICEF club.

2. Find out how many slaves work for you..  I have 17.  17!  That’s too many.

3. Keep learning.

4. Read this toolkit with 20+ ways to take action.

5.  Give monthly to UNICEF.

6. Host a panel discussion among your career / neighborhood / MOPS, etc. peers

7. Rethink your language. Ex: using the words “pimp” and “prostitute” lightly.

8. Promote & shop products made my survivors.

9. Use fair trade products as often as possible.

10.  Connect online with @EndTraffick, @UNICEFUSA, #ENDTRAFFICKING

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. -Martin Luther King, Jr.