Apr
21
2010
Emily
Books & Resources, Survivor Stories
0
I have already posted a few quotes and thoughts from reading Terrify No More. Well, I’ve finally finished the book and I have a few more quotes I’d like to touch on.
I find there are two common reactions that someone has after learning about human trafficking. One is to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and feel that nothing can be done. The other is to ask, “Where is God in this situation?” There are two quotes from the book which I think address these well.
The first is from Sharon Cohn of IJM:
While there are millions of girls and women victimized every day, our work will always be about the one. The one girl deceived. The one girl kidnapped. The one girl raped. The one girl infected with AIDS. The one girl needing a rescuer. To succumb to the enormity of the problem is to fail the one. And more is required of us…so when weary people say, “So you rescued one; there are millions of others. What’s the point?” I say, “I think Elisabeth [one of the women rescued by IJM] understands the point. Elisabeth is the point.”
While the size of the problem can be overwhelming we must focus on the hope that is possible and remember that each life rescued and each life restored is valuable! I cannot save them all myself, but each one saved is worth all the effort.
On the second reaction Gary Haugen comments, “More and more I find myself asking not, ‘Where is God?’ But, ‘Where are God’s people?’” With all the tremendous resources available to us in the world, there is no reason that we cannot eradicate slavery and restore the lives that have been broken. However, if we sit by and wait for someone else to act then we are missing the point. If we care about the cause we will tell our friends, we will donate money and we will act in whatever way we can. If the public outcry over human trafficking is great enough companies and government will have to act.
On that note, here is an interesting fact: Kevin Bales’ research estimates that the money necessary to rescue and rehabilitate survivors of human trafficking is the amount that America spends on potato chips and pretzels in one year.
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