NGU Skyliner

Kyra Alexander
Staff Writer

“We thought slavery was abolished in the 19th century . . . we were wrong.”

This breathtaking quote is from a YouTube video on the A-21 Campaign, a movement working towards abolishing injustice in the 21st century. February is black history month, where we celebrate how far our country has come out of the bondage of slavery. But we should remember that not all people are free. In other parts of the world, women and children, as young as two years old, are sold into sex trafficking, and are slaves for the rest of their lives. In this decade, human trafficking has become the number one crime worldwide.

For a few Sundays at New Spring church, from the home church of Anderson and broadcasted to Greenville, Columbia and Florence, a guest speaker has come in from Sydney, Australia to discuss this issue.

Christine Caine, founder of the campaign, was on vacation in Europe when she looked around the airport and saw the faces of women and girls of all ages. When she asked about the pictures, she was informed that these individuals had been captured to be used as sex slaves in a human trafficking network.

“Human trafficking is growing faster than weapons and drugs,” Caine explained. “1, 838 women and children are sold for sex every day; that’s one sale every 47 seconds. These girls are forced to serve as many as 40 men a day.”

Ever since this realization of this critical issue, Caine and her husband have devoted their lives to traveling the world to tell other countries about this crisis.

“In the A-21 campaign, our goal is to rescue, restore, and rebuild the lives of young women in human trafficking,” Caine said. “99% of these victims are not rescued. If we can help rescue the life of just one girl, it was totally worth it.”

Caine told of one girl helped by the A-21 campaign named Maria. She was sixteen and from a poor family in Keeve. Maria was looking for a job to earn money for her family and saw an ad for waitressing in Turkey. When she arrived at her hosts, she handed in her passport and documentation, which was not unusual. She then decided to go back to her room to rest. Soon after, four men dressed in police officer uniforms burst into her room and gang raped her.

This harrowing experience was Maria’s initiation into the sex slave industry. From there, she was forcibly taken to Greece. She was violated, hurt, alone with no documentation, and trapped without hope. When A-21 came in and rescued her, they gave her freedom and comfort. Today, she is working toward a new life and a new love in Jesus Christ.

“We are committed to the abolition of human trafficking by rescuing girls in sex slavery and bringing them freedom, justice, and hope,” Caine commented. “There are 200,000 people trapped in Greece today; the time to act is now.”

Karla Neves, senior theatre, attends and volunteers at the Greenville campus of New Spring.

“Sex trafficking is something you don’t think could happen today, but unfortunately it is an epidemic that is spreading,” said Neves. “We the church have the power to do something, and it’s time we stepped up.”

Neves is passionate about bringing sex slavery to an end and hopes to get involved with A-21.

Becca Carter, junior intercultural studies, another attendee of the Greenville campus of New Spring, had a comment about the catastrophe.

“We need to raise awareness about this issue,” Carter said. “It will take our time, our treasure and the expense of our spiritual gifts, but we are called to do this.”

For more information on Christine Caine, the A-21 Campaign, or how to get involved; contact New Spring at www.newspring.cc or www.thea21campaign.org.

Tags: Spring 2010

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