Strategic Partners

Note from editor: Each month, we highlight a partnership, ministry, or topic on the Prov Blog. During the month of August, join us as we hear real stories about social justice, and learn how you can play a part in seeking Kingdom Justice in the world, leading up to Freedom Sunday on September 24th. 

I first encountered human trafficking in the Middle East, and I still was not sure if what I saw was human trafficking for many months.

An all-too-common practice in the Middle East is to hire East Asian woman as house maids. The women live with the their employers, and often the families that hire them become their whole lives. Some of the best families treat their maid like another family member, allowing them to eat at the table, celebrate birthdays, and enjoy going shopping. But even in the nicest of homes they are the only one cleaning, cooking, and caring for the home. The worst of the homes, the family takes the passport from the maid, claiming that it is for their own safety. The families themselves believe these women are incapable of taking care of themselves, and need to be in bondage to survive. They don’t have a room, are not acknowledged by name, and forced to work beyond their capacity, with no end in sight.

My only encounter with this nameless East Asian woman was in the home of a wealthy family in the Middle East. She was on the floor sleeping on a thin cot too small for her, in the corner of a dark kitchen. No one acknowledged her, but rather brushed off her presence. I looked at her and did all I could at the time, I prayed.

This specific instance was surrounded by debate about what was willful employment and what was bondage, and this girl was caught in between. Disagreement over what was ‘good’ for the house maid and what was dangerous was deeply discussed in social circles. To her employers freedom was dangerous, but to her the home was her prison in which she wasn’t even allowing her to live. But the young maid was suffering whether or not we knew her whole story, or the reasons for her slavery.

Human trafficking is defined internationally as recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for labor or commercial sex acts through force, fraud or coercion. This is exactly what Middle Eastern society lives with every day, and this is exactly what is around us in the US and most of the world. Most attention for human trafficking is sex slavery, which is indeed a horrid crime. But the most prevalent form of human trafficking around the world is through labor trafficking. It is in the US, not only through the use of forced labor, but purchasing goods made through forced labor around the world.

This East Asian maid opened my eyes to the horrors that can come out of poverty and desperation for money - she could have been bought, sold, or even willfully put herself into slavery. She has a story, and it is similar to so many others whose lives are no longer their own. Who are unsafe, uncared for, and hopeless. Individuals in factories, producing goods for cheap exports are facing similar horrors every day.

With every purchase there is a story, behind every good is an assembly line of people that may be forced labor or child labor. They have stories, faces, and souls for which Christ died. We cannot know everyone’s stories, every face, or every reason human trafficking takes place. But we can do our part to prevent trafficking, and to share Christ’s love with those who have been harmed by it.

Some tangible ways to act:

1. Pray for human trafficking victims. Christ knows their faces, names, and stories. We can lift them up to our Creator and Redeemer, asking for them to be saved, both from earthly bondage but also from the bondage of sin into salvation and complete freedom.
2. Know what you’re buying, and where they are made. Demand brings supply,and if we make a stand for goods free from the slave trade, companies will listen. This site, among others, shows who made our goods, and how https://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods/
3. Go and serve! Much of the needs revolve around prevention and rehabilitation. TEAM has many opportunities to go serve around the world, to serve vulnerable women, create stable economies, and bring education. You can finds specific ways to serve here https://team.org/ministry-areas/social-justice

Note from editor: Each month, we highlight a partnership, ministry, or topic on the Prov Blog. During the month of August, join us as we hear real stories about social justice, and learn how you can play a part in seeking Kingdom Justice in the world, leading up to Freedom Sunday on September 24th. 

45 million– That’s a hard number to wrap my mind around. I can imagine 100, 1,000 or even 10,000, but beyond that– I have a difficult time relating to large numbers. Typically, I ignore them, but not this time. Why is 45,000,000 important? It represents the number of people who are enslaved today in the 21st century. Today, International Justice Mission (IJM) estimates that there are more than 45 million people suffering from slavery today. That’s more than at any other time in human history. What? How can that be? Often when I read statistics like these I am emotionally moved. I might bring up the facts in a dinner conversation or post an article on my Facebook page. Yet, within a few days, I move those nameless millions of people to the back of my mind. I mean really, what can I do about it,
anyway?

But this time my attention kept being drawn to the problem of slavery in our world through IJM's concept of Freedom Sunday. Freedom Sunday is an invitation for the church to set aside one day to learn about slavery and partnering with IJM to end it. One day to learn about slavery seemed reasonable to me; I could do that! As I started exploring IJMs materials about Freedom Sunday the concept of a tipping point: the critical point in a situation, process or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place came forward. I was reminded that in 1786 William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson began moving a nation toward a tipping point with a simple diagram of a slave ship. These men understood that “many small actions conducted in great faith can overpower even the most formidable odds.” Today the International Justice Mission believes we are closer than ever in reaching the tipping point that will end slavery in the world. Imagine, Providence,
lending our voices to that cause. Join me on Freedom Sunday, September 24th and learn how

Join me on Freedom Sunday, September 24th and learn how we can play a role in ending modern-day slavery.

Editor's note: Each month, we focus on one of our partnerships as a ministry highlight. July's posts on Neema are coming to an end, but you can follow the Neema Project blog at neemaproject.org/blog. 

ELLY:  "I thank God for giving me a second chance.  The first part of my life was very bad, I did not think I would have another chance, but God has given me one.  I thank God for bringing me to this place.  I did not know how to pray, read the Bible, or preach.  I now know the word of God and I can stand and preach."

PAMELA:  "I had nothing to do at home and now I have been given purpose.  God has done many things in my life and I now recognize more of God."  

 

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BILHA:  "Before I came to Neema I did not know Jesus.  But now I know Jesus and he makes me feel confident.  At Neema I got saved and learned to preach.  I can even share something with my friends.  At Neema I learned skills and I am happy because I am now earning money and I am an example to other Neema girls."

 

 

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ELIZABETH:  When I sat at home, I did not know about God or how to pray.  Now I know how to pray and I know that God knows me.  My heart was hard when I stay home.  Now my heart is FREE!"

 

 

 

At Neema, we value partnership, fostering relationships for the purpose of community building.  Neema is a stronger organization because of our partnership with Providence.  By coming alongside one another, we strengthen each other to love and care for those we serve.  This is evident in the strong and lasting relationships that develop between those supporting Neema girls or investing their time in traveling to Kenya, spending time fostering relationships with the staff and girls at Neema.  Together we are impacting one another to love Jesus and love others.   

This week as a Providence team is in Kitale, we are seeing and hearing first hand how the Lord is at work, transforming hearts for His glory.  At the heart of Neema's work is discipleship, cultivating Christ-centered mentoring for the purpose of personal and community transformation.  On Sunday, 21 Neema girls made the decision to make a public profession of their faith by being baptized. Leaders from a local Kenyan church joined together with leaders from Providence to baptize these young women.  The team and the Neema family stood together to celebrate each one of these precious lives as they took this step in their journey with Christ.  

Together, we have an opportunity to spur one another on in our faith and love for Christ and others.  Together, we celebrate the life transformation that comes from being made whole from the inside out.  Whether it is Bilha in Kenya or Brooke in West Chester, we are all made in His image and we all have an opportunity to be deeply impacted by our relationships with Christ and one another.  

Thank you for continuing to partner with Neema, as we seek to share the greatest story ever told to some pretty incredible vulnerable young women, for the glory of God.