The Trafficked...

Her eyes were blue, bold, and beautiful; they twinkled as she spoke. They shone with anticipation as she waited for our translator to relate to me what she just said. "She hopes to go to culinary school, she has always loved cakes and pastries." I wanted to rejoice with Sveta in her dream, but I found myself faking enthusiasm. The more she spoke the less I could doubt my first instinct. In a month, once she turned 18, she had no solid plans outside of this small Russian orphanage. She would be phased out of the system with only her dreams to hold on to. As much as I wanted to believe in the power of her aspirations, I knew she was in danger of being trafficked. Young, naive, orphaned, and beautiful: a stereotypical profile of an endangered girl.  I gave her my email and urged her to write me once she left the orphanage. She said she would try, but she had never used the internet before and did not understand its function. After that day I never heard from Sveta again.

Coming face to face with a statistic is heart breaking. It seemed so comforting to think it was a far off thing, but trafficking victims are not only in distant lands but here in our own backyard. I remember being dumb founded at an Amnesty International candle light walk for the trafficked when they told story after story of San Diego girls who are trafficked weekly. I encountered this first hand at the coffee shop I worked at one late night. Two young girls came in to order a simple cup of coffee. The first thing I noticed was one of the girls' hands shaking as she gave me two dollar bills.  Her hand extended with her money, I noticed scratches and scabs up her bony arm. The other girl hid behind her, I could only see her black matted hair framing her friends face. Her eyes were dark and empty, her face-caked with smeared make-up was skeletal.  Their appearances cried for help, but their lips uttered no words. I tried to talk to them, they seemed scared and hurried out of the shop. Their heels clicked on the hard wood floor as they exited, leaving only that haunting sound in my head. My heart broke. Were these girls victims of sex trafficking?

It is easy to live in bliss through our ignorance, but it is our duty to become educated and make a change to end this social injustice.This great evil hides its ugly face behind establishments that we have grown to trust, only to use our ignorance to feed their own greed for money and power. With January being National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, I urge you all to take time to pray for the countless victims all over the globe as well as educate yourselves on this issue. With millions enslaved across the world it is our duty to speak up and take action for these people. These statics have names, lives, and dreams like young Sveta;  just like you and me.

Keeping with the theme of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Speak Up will be hosting a benefit show for  an organization called Water of Life, that is taking steps to prevent trafficking in Cambodia.  This benefit show will give the chance to aid this non-profit that is changing lives.