Human Trafficking is “an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ, a crime against humanity.”^[1] Pope Francis

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

On Sunday 27 September, 2020 the police rescued 7 girls from buildings in Rustenburg. In Kuruman, on the same day, 4 young women were rescued when a house was raided. Five males suspected of human trafficking were arrested. It was the local community that alerted the police about these situations.

Later, the story of a young lady survivor from Lesotho came to our attention. She had been rescued from a brothel in Johannesburg. In her case it was her client who became the whistle blower when he observed the state she was in and went to the police.

Human Trafficking is on our doorsteps. It is an ugly, inhumane crime affecting our communities.   People who are trafficked are taken by force, separated and isolated from family and friends, conned into dehumanising conditions of work and left without the means and wherewithal to escape their bondage.

We live in a time of increasing economic difficulty. Traffickers are only too aware of this, offering jobs in order to catch their prey.  Sometimes desperate job seekers say “I will take my chances” when being warned about the dangers of certain “too good to be true” job offers.

Those caught in the snare of the traffickers need our help to rescue them. We can help by:

• Educating communities about human trafficking
• Reporting  suspected cases of human trafficking to the police or church officials
• Checking  out the genuineness of job offers, be they local or overseas
• Ensuring that children are registered
• Praying together for the victims of human trafficking and for an end to human trafficking.

Let us go forward with courage and faith knowing that we are not alone in doing this, rather that we are doing the will of God in seeking once again to abolish this form of modern day slavery. We implore the assistance and blessing of Jesus Christ and the prayers of Mary and Joseph, her spouse, the Holy Family of Nazareth with this important work.

Photo credits: Anti Human Trafficking Day 2010 | Thomas Wanhoff | Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)