modern day slavery

A Holiday with A Cause

/ Kelly Roy-Williams / Leave a comment

I love this time of year, Thanksgiving with a lot of great food, family and friends and the beginning of the Christmas season.  Maybe Black Friday is your thing or maybe Cyber Monday (both of which are now becoming weeks instead of days), whatever way you enjoy your holiday shopping I would love to share a few “slave-free” options.  With an estimated 20 million people enslaved globally today, it’s easy to say that human trafficking and modern day slavery are an epidemic hitting our society as a whole…and hitting us hard.  Many of our items that we purchase on a regular basis and especially during the holidays, such as clothing, coffee and chocolate are made with slave labor (including child labor).  These are precious people who are trafficked and/or exploited into harvesting materials and making these items for retail.  We can take a stand against slavery, do something about it and still buy our loved ones beautiful gifts.  When you are out shopping look for labels that read,”Fair Trade,” or you can also check out below just some of the websites that are out there.  There is no better time to start doing something for our fellow man than now.  Anne Frank once said, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and happy shopping!

*Fair trade coffee and chocolate can be found at local grocery stores.

*Girl Set Free

*Thistle Farms

*Freeset USA

*iSanctuary/ Purpose Jewelry

MORE INFORMATION ON LABOR TRAFFICKING AND FORCED LABOR
https://polarisproject.org/labor-trafficking

 

a broken heart.

/ Kelly Roy-Williams / 3 Comments

Today my heart feels broken.

Broken for the forgotten.

Broken for the hurting.

Broken for the abandoned.

Broken for the children who are currently being targeted by traffickers and no one knows it.

Broken for the people who go about life and do not know what is happening to the children within their zip codes.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month and my prayer is that the community in my state…in my nation awakens to this issue and decides to be apart of a solution.

There are so many who are working to fight trafficking in the United States and globally, but we need more.  We need more people to have their hearts broken for these enslaved souls and take a stand to say, “Not in my community!”  As this month goes along I ask that you would educate yourself on this epidemic, share the knowledge (because knowledge is meant to be shared) and decide how you can help end human trafficking in your community.  There are thousands of broken hearts and souls trapped in slavery today in the United States and they need your heart to help end it.

WHAT CAN I DO?

**Educate yourself on this issue.  Then share the information.

Some great websites include sharedhope.org, polarisproject.org, exoduscry.org, you can also check out the “Love Doesn’t Exploit” page of this website for some information.

Books to read: The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores, Renting Lacy by Linda Smith, Made in the USA by Alisa Jordheim

**Decide to do something…anything…just refuse to do nothing

You can play a part, no matter how big or how small it is all important!  You can give financially (or raise money) to an organization that is fighting trafficking, you can volunteer your time at an organization or outreach, you can host a speaker at your church, library, coffee house, etc.  There are many things that can be done to help victims.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, but let’s not let it end there.  Your heart is needed.

Until every heart is free.