News

By Kirsten Holmberg - Volunteer Contributing Writer

1.2 million children are trafficked around the world each year. 1.2 million. That’s approximately the same number of people as the entire population of Dallas, TX.

Every resident of Dallas has a name. So, too, does each of the victimized children that have been forced to leave their homes and families, subjected to the horrors of slavery in the sex trade. They each carry a name given to him or her by parents and known intimately by God in heaven.

Meet Jar.

Jar is now eighteen, of the age when adulthood begins to appear on the horizon with promise and hope. But for the last three years of her life, Jar hasn’t had much of a childhood. She was forced into prostitution by her aunt who collected all the money and kept her trapped in the brothel. Destiny Rescue learned of Jar through another rescued girl from the same brothel. She, too, has a name: Mon.

Mon advocated for the friend she left behind, telling the DR team about Jar. She pleaded for Jar to have the same opportunity for a new life, as she herself was now enjoying. Members of the DR team met with Jar, explaining what they were prepared to do on her behalf to extract her from a life of sexual enslavement.

She jumped at the chance and asked if she could leave right away. Taking no clothing or personal items with her, she threw off her old life and readily embraced a new one without so much as a second thought. Jar hid herself in the car to avoid being seen by her oppressors and her aunt.

“Thank you, thank you,” was all she could say as the wheels rolled toward a hopeful future.

If the population of Dallas was sold into slavery, there would be a national outcry. Petitions would circulate, elected officials would be contacted. Protesters would unify against the injustice. Despite not knowing each of them personally, we wouldn’t allow this to happen on our watch. And if our nieces, nephews, sisters and brothers were among those affected, our fight would be personal. We wouldn’t rest until they were restored.

Jar, and the staggering number of others like her, relies on us to rally on her behalf. Though we may not know them personally, they each have a name. Each is loved by her Creator. Each is my neighbor as a citizen of the world and God’s child. Like the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable, we bear the responsibility and privilege of caring for her lovingly, even at personal cost.

While we may not be the cause of the pain inflicted on the lives of those subjected to human trafficking, we cannot allow ourselves to turn a blind eye, passively permitting this atrocity to continue. Instead, we must sound the battle cry and with it shake the foundations of our world until the only echoes we hear in reply are the whispers of those rescued saying, “thank you, thank you” as the hope of a new future rises on the horizon before them.