Articles of this issue
Author: Jojo Poon Martha (obscured) spent her early years with her mother who worked as a sex worker in the red-light district of Mumbai, India. “At the age of 16, my mother met a guy when she was in Nepal. He said he could refer her to work at better places in the cities, and she ended up being sold to work at the red-light district in Mumbai.” With the help of a generous woman from her hometown, Martha was spared from having to suffer the same fate as her mother’s. “Every one of us could fall prey to human traffickers with a tiny change of situation,” as expressed time and again by the frontline workers serving sex…
Author: Roger Seth The Bible was written thousands of years ago but it has much to say about what we might see as a modern problem: human trafficking. We will look specifically at the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, chapters 37–50. Make sure you are familiar with the story before reading this reflection or discussing it with a group. Sold by relatives Like so many victims of trafficking today, Joseph was sold by his own family. The fact that the Midianite caravan was ready to buy a slave to sell in Egypt (Genesis 37:26–28) tells us that the trade in people was already happening in the region at that time. Today, we are told, trafficking happens…
Barla (obscured), 12, was a student in Pastor Thomas’ tutorial class. She missed classes a few times, and Pastor Thomas started searching for her to no avail. He feared for the worst that she might be caught by traffickers, so he filed a case at the police station. The investigators soon found out that Barla’s parents had sold her to a pimp at the price of less than HK$16. This is the story of one of the trafficked children told by CEDAR’s partner, EFIC@R, located in northern India where human trafficking is prevalent. EFIC@R started serving in the Jharkhand State, Orissa State, and West Bengal in 2012, establishing support networks with local churches to protect vulnerable children and…
Author: Tsun Wan Yan It appears that Hong Kong has nothing to do with human trafficking, and our government did not sign the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In Persons. In fact, Hong Kong is a port and destination of sold human commodities, and it has been placed on the Tier 2 watch list (same ranking as Afghanistan, Cuba, and Tunisia) for two consecutive years in the Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. Department of State. The ranking describes a country that is experiencing a significant increase in human trafficking victims, and that no tangible measures were established by the authorities. The Hong Kong government denies it has a human trafficking problem, but the Erwiana abuse case in…
Author: Jojo Poon When we said we should respond to the grand problem of human trafficking, we often think of serving the victimised. However, the experience of frontline workers reminds us that the traffickers, though evil, also possess God’s image and are as deprived of care and love as the victims. In March, Harmony Baptist Church, a long-time force in serving minorities and human trafficking victims in Hong Kong, hosted a seminar featuring Kevin Pettit, a counseling tutor, who shared about ways to walk alongside those who are struggling with sins and those who have been hurt deeply by others’ sins. Walking with “Sinners” To serve those who are struggling with sins, we need to first understand how…