The figures on modern human slavery and trafficking make grim reading.
The International Labour Office and the Walk Free Foundation recently released a report showing that over 40 million people live in slavery. Women and children are affected most. 25% of victims are children – that’s more than 10 million children. 15 million people – a conservative estimate – are living in forced marriages.
Women and girls represent 99 percent of victims of forced sexual exploitation and 84 per cent of victims of forced marriages.
According to Hagar, a charity working with trafficked women, trafficking for sexual exploitation is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. They estimate that a person is sold into slavery every 27 seconds – that means that, by the time you’ve read to the end of this article, about 10 more people somewhere in the world will no longer be free.
When I was first introduced to the hard facts of human slavery a few years ago, the extent of the problem, and the true brutality of many women’s lives, took my breath away. I felt incredulous, angry – and then helpless.
I thought of my three daughters, strong young women who are forging lives for themselves, safe in the knowledge that they are living in a country where their rights are protected, and they are free to make choices about their education, work, and relationships.
And then I thought about Jesus and how his heart must break for these women in bondage today. Jesus was so gentle with women! I thought about how he responded to the woman with the haemorrhage, how he healed her and returned her to her community. I thought about how Jesus healed the little daughter of the Canaanite woman who wasn’t taking no for an answer. And I thought about his loving relationship with his own dear mother.
Jesus wasn’t afraid of strong women. He empowered women to be all that they could be. I remembered how Jesus called a heartbroken Mary Magdalene by name on Easter morning. He knows the name of all the women and girls who are being broken by exploitation and abuse; they are his precious, beloved daughters.
But what can we do?
We are called to be God’s light to the world, his hands and voice in the world. But here I am, one individual, living in the relative safety of Aotearoa, New Zealand: how can I be his hands and voice in the face of such horror? These questions are what propelled me to set up Still Water Scarves, a charity that sells scarves to raise funds for charities helping victims of human trafficking, such as Tear Fund and Hagar.
Our tag lines are “Wearing a prayer” and “Wrapping you in Aroha, transforming lives”.
When you buy one of our scarves as a gift for someone, you will be wrapping them in a prayer and, at the same time, providing money to charities that support trafficked women. ALL our profits are given to these charities. Together, we CAN make a difference, one silk scarf at a time.
We will be visiting the parish to sell our scarves on the weekend of the 29th/30th of October and again on the 6th of November at the Cathedral and the 12th of November at Our Lady of Lourdes. Please come and say hi and let us show you our scarves and tell you more about our story. We would love you join us in this important work.
To read more about Still Water Scarves, visit our website here.
And if you would like to read more about human trafficking and modern slavery, visit the Hagar website: . The International Labour Office (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation report on modern slavery can be found on the Hagar website.