human trafficking – ignorance is NOT bliss

This semester I had the amazing opportunity of taking a class entitled “Global Issues of Children at Risk” from Dr. Jini Roby. If I could make one class required for every student on every university campus in the world it would be this one. (And if every one of those classes could be taught by Dr. Roby, even better!) Dr. Roby's knowledge base is incredible...it includes child welfare, adoption policy and practice, orphan care, human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, child soldiers and refugees. One thing that I've come to a greater understanding of (among all of the horrible injustices that are taking place among innocent children in our world, and in our own society, today) is the issue of human trafficking and child sex tourism.

Through the course of this semester, I've gained an increasing desire to do something about it, to figure out my part in all of this. But I've often wondered HOW. I realize that I know so little regarding this subject, compared to someone like Dr. Roby. However, I think that the first thing I have the capacity of doing is letting others know WHAT human trafficking is...sharing what I have learned. I interact with educated individuals everyday -- family members, close friends, neighbors, even strangers. If I had a second wish in regards to this topic, it would be that more of these educated individuals knew WHAT human trafficking was and had some comprehension as to how bad and how prevalent it is in their own United States as well as in the global community.

I was in the same position as many of these educated individuals before taking this class. I would not have been able to adequately describe what human trafficking entailed and how bad it is today. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that an estimated 1.2 million women and girls enter the global commercial sex market every year through human trafficking (with 35% estimated to be under the age of 18). I wouldn't have been able to tell you that $34 billion is spent on human trafficking every year and that it's the third most serious illegal trade after drugs and weapons. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States every year. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that the number of U.S. citizens trafficked WITHIN the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. And the thing is...I'm still learning. And my desire to help others understand is still growing.

I was sitting in my living room, finishing a paper for Dr. Roby’s class, when some neighbors came by. After asking me what I was studying for, and after telling them, they proceeded to ask me questions…like what kinds of issues we studied in this class, etc. When I mentioned “human trafficking” both of these individuals looked at me like “huh?” The dialogue:

neighbor: what is human trafficking?
me: individuals are sold into slavery. modern day slavery.
neighbor: they’re sold?
me: Yes.
neighbor: to do what?
me: to do whatever the traffickers want them to – sex slaves, labor slaves, whatever it may be.
neighbor: hmm. I’ve never heard of that before.
me: you should Google "human trafficking" sometime
neighbor: it sounds depressing
me: well, yeah, it's extremely depressing. but you can choose to ignore it and it won't be depressing and nothing gets done. or, you can choose to acknowledge it and realize how horrible it is, and do something about it...in whatever way that may be.

I realize that we often choose to not educate ourselves on issues like these because they ARE depressing. They do hurt. They are sad. But, where does that get us? I'm afraid it doesn't get us anywhere.

"Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is impotence; it is fear; it is cruelty; it is all the things that make for unhappiness."

~Ingrid Holtby

check out some some links...I know we are all afraid of our potential and what we can do to help with big issues like these, but the first thing we can do is educate ourselves and then let the opportunities take us from there.

FACTS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
HUMAN TRAFFICKING.ORG
CHILD SEX TOURISM