Late one afternoon, Elias*, a monitor for Love Justice Sierra Leone, packed up to head home after his shift when he noticed a young girl traveling through with an uneasy expression.
He knew something was off right away. Like our other monitors, Elias encounters similar moments every day in the field as he works to prevent human trafficking.
As we observe Human Trafficking Prevention Month this January, stories like this offer a window into how this crime commonly happens and how it can be stopped.
Kadie*, a 17-year-old, was on her way to a small port in a neighboring country to meet a 40-year-old fisherman for the first time in person. The pair had only communicated by Facebook Messenger, and the man promised to propose after they met in person.
Kadie had no money and didn’t speak the language where she was traveling to. On top of that, the fisherman had convinced her to keep the journey a secret from her family.
Elias, instead of heading home for the day, chose to stop and investigate. He called the fisherman directly, and the man dodged questions before hanging up the phone, further confirming suspicions. Elias counseled Kadie about the dangers of human trafficking and helped her return home safely.
Kadie’s story is one of over 100,000 instances where our team intervened to stop someone from being trafficked, but there’s a much larger network supporting our frontline efforts. Learning, awareness, prayer, advocating, fundraising, and generous giving all pave the way for our monitors to do what they do best.
Throughout this month, we’re sharing weekly action steps to help you be part of preventing human trafficking.
Week 1 (Jan 4–10): Learn
An estimated 50 million people are currently trapped in human trafficking situations around the globe. Often, these people were tricked or coerced into fake jobs, fake relationships, or other so-called “amazing opportunities” that lured them into exploitation. A trafficker saw their need and used it against them.
Our teams stand watch in transit areas along common trafficking routes, and they work preventatively to stop trafficking as it is happening, but before the person is exploited. As locals, our monitors know the dialects and cultural customs of their city and country, and they know how to spot when something is out of the ordinary. They are trained to notice the red flags of human trafficking and to intervene effectively to get the individual home safely and the trafficker turned over to police.
Altogether, they’ve intercepted over 100,000 people to stop them from being trafficked before it was too late. We’ve even seen the prevalence of trafficking drop in the countries we work in.
Would you notice if someone in your own city was being trafficked? Take a moment to review some of the red flags, and listen to this podcast with a survivor to learn the red flags she noticed as a flight attendant in one particular instance.
If you think you or someone you know is in danger of being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline (U.S.) at 1-888-373-7888.
Week 2 (Jan 11–17): Pray
As a Christian organization, we believe in the power of prayer. We’ve seen impact explode following multiple periods of dedicated prayer and fasting.
During this week, we’ll be publishing a prayer guide from our spiritual director to help guide you in praying for justice. If you like to pray, feel free to gather your family, friends, or church small group together for a time of prayer. You can also sign up for our prayer updates to stay up to date on current prayer needs, or do this Bible study on justice.
Week 3 (Jan 18–24): Advocate
Awareness is the first step to anything changing. A story or statistic touches your heart, and you can’t let it go. It’s what happened to many of the people on staff with us and many of our regular supporters.
Help us get the word out this week by posting on your social media (you can even host your own online fundraiser through this easy platform) or starting a conversation with someone. This could come up naturally in the context of job searching, traveling, or online dating. Here are some potential conversation starters:
Week 4: (Jan 25–31): Give
Every interception our teams carry out to protect a life from human trafficking only happens because of the generosity of supporters.
It only costs us $112 to stop one person from entering a potential lifetime of slavery.
In this final week of Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we’ll invite you to give to directly impact someone’s life.
Let’s go!
Each week’s focus is designed to give you different options for getting involved. Ready to take the next step this month?
Every action has the power to make a big difference in someone’s life. Get started with us this week by simply learning more. Click the link below to explore 10 common myths about human trafficking.
*All data and statistics current at the date and time of publishing. Names changed and some specific locations excluded for privacy and security purposes.