Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

the exodus road

5 on Friday: Ways to fight slavery

Thanks to my friends over at The Exodus Road, here are five ways you–yes, YOU–can fight slavery.

  1. Educate Yourself. Take some time to research the issue of modern day slavery. Check out the slavery map on FreetheSlaves.net. It’s a great resource. You may also want to visit CNN’s Freedom Project for resources and current news stories.
  2. Write your elected officials. International Justice Mission does a fantastic job lobbying governments to make changes that support freedom. Stop by their site and sign their latest petition. You can visit them by clicking HERE.
  3. Buy Fair Trade. Since the majority of slavery involves labor, make an effort (and spend the money) to purchase fair trade items as much as possible. This is a practical way you advocate for the oppressed as a consumer. Consider checking out places like TenThousandVillages.com or Yobel Market to shop for gifts, and take a few minutes to see what your Slavery Footprint is. (Lisa adds a shout-out to Imagine Goods, a Lancaster, Pa. based company who’ll be launching a Web site soon with fair-trade items for sale, benefitting at-risk women in Cambodia.)
  4. Socially Share. Commit that every time you see something about slavery or justice, you’ll take the time to share it with your online circle of influence. When you consistently share, you become an advocate for positive social change. “Like” anti-trafficking organizations on Facebook and follow them on Twitter–this will help abolition efforts to remain at the forefront of your attention, too. This is a simple, practical, and free way you can actively become an abolitionist. ER-camera-mirror
  5. Donate to Freedom Efforts. Find a specific organization that fights trafficking and do research on their efforts, their financials, their methods. When you feel good about their work, start by choosing a specific project that connects with you, like financially supporting prevention efforts in the United States with Love146 or helping a national undercover investigator with The Exodus Road buy a covert camera.

A slave's story, part three: Rescue

This is the third of four parts of a fictional account of modern-day slavery. Click to read Anna’s story, part 1 and part 2. Details have been provided by The Exodus Road.

“I can help you.”

Anna shook her head, afraid to believe, to hope. The man in the room with her had paid for her earlier in the evening, and now she was listening as a woman on the other end of his cell phone, a woman who spoke Russian, offered her a way out.

The man was an investigator, she said, and he could help her escape.

Escape?

Anna had given up thinking it was possible. And yet …

She told the woman it was too risky. That she’d be hurt if her owners found out. The woman said she understand her fear, but the man could be trusted. He could bring the police and have the owners arrested. He had evidence. But he needed her to tell him she wanted out.

Anna looked into the man’s eyes. They were trusting eyes, the kind she hadn’t seen in a long time. And like a buried seed in the cold, hard ground of winter, hope began to sprout in her heart. ER-flower-rescue

But just as quickly, she imagined a boot stomping the dirt over the seed, forever squashing her hope.

She shook her head no.

Anna had been a moment away from rescue, but she let the moment pass.

As morning dawned, Anna realized it may have been her only chance to escape the prison that had become her life. If only she could have another chance. She hadn’t thought much about God, figuring He must not exist if men were capable of such evil. Yet she found herself praying, God, if You’re there and You see, please, get me out of here.

That night, the man from the previous night returned, and Anna fought to hide her astonishment. Not knowing whether he would approach her again or not, she tried to think of a way to get a message to him. When her captors were haggling with a customer over a price, Anna reached for a paper and pen, seemingly miraculous in their appearance.

“Please help me.”

The investigator was watching her and found a way to reach her without drawing attention. She slipped him the note, hoping her eyes sent a message also.

The man nodded, Anna’s only assurance that he’d received her message. He left almost immediately, and Anna felt more alone than before.

She didn’t know how long before he’d return, if he’d return.

She’d been fooled by promises too good to be true before.

Was she a fool again?

Weeks later, Anna dreamed of rescue. Of men kicking in the door to their hovel, of handcuffs on the men who owned them, of seeing daylight and tasting freedom. She woke up in the darkness of their living space and began to weep. It was only a dream.

Loud shouts outside the door brought more tears and the girls huddled together in a corner, afraid of what was on the other side. They recognized the word for “police” and Anna’s head lifted slightly. Then the door came crashing in and men were searching the room. Anna saw the investigator and dared to believe.

Her dream was reality.

Rescue had come.

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Anna’s story concludes next month with the fourth and final installment.