Just as there is nothing normal about human trafficking, there's nothing normal about life for its survivors. They leave behind constant fear and degradation, only to enter a life where rejection and scapegoating are all too common. They need help finding homes, developing new skills and learning to trust people again. The supportive reunions we might expect often don't happen, as families are sometimes not willing or ready to welcome survivors home.
It is too simple to dismiss human trafficking as something that could never happen to us. That's simply untrue, especially for adolescents, no matter where they live in the world. Impressionable minds are easily lured, tricked or coerced. The threat of physical harm is a huge factor. Tragic as they are, stories of teens trapped in trafficking are effective as cautionary tales that keep students alert to the threat of slavery in their lives.
There is a stunning sequence of dehumanizing factors in the story this lesson explores. A teen girl is forced into sexual slavery, slowly buying back her own freedom over many years while also supporting her family back home – all with money made through sex. Finally making a break from trafficking after 12 years, she faces rejection from members of the very family she supported.
Encourage students to connect with the tragedies of the woman's life, but not without finding hope in the sisters' efforts to thwart trafficking.
Begin by saying: "It's been two centuries since the publication of "Rip Van Winkle," the story of a man who slept for 20 years and woke up to a very different world. Imagine how things would be if you were away from your normal life for, say, a dozen years."
Let's discuss four questions:
- What would you most miss, or regret missing out on, in the next 12 years of your life?
- In what ways do you imagine the world will be different 12 years from now?
- Considering each member of our group/class, what would we miss most about them if they're away from us for a dozen years (get at least one response regarding each person)?
- What would be most challenging about returning after 12 years away from your normal life?
There are millions of people around the world who have been separated from their normal lives with no sense of whether they'll ever return. Human trafficking victims aren't lucky enough to take a 20-year nap. Instead, they are living a nightmare. Those blessed to escape their captors quickly discover that their problems are far from over.
- What obstacles might a person experience as they try to return to life after human trafficking?
- Which of the following superpowers would you most like to have to help trafficking victims?
- Turning back time to before they fell into slavery
- Scrubbing their minds of the pain of trafficking and the distrust it causes
- Giving them homes, jobs, money and other things they need to survive
- Opening the hearts and minds of people who could welcome and help them
Lord, you alone are the most high.
We alone can do little.
You alone give wisdom and compassion, energy and connection – gifts freely given to freely share.
We alone can do little, but together we can do so much.
You alone can open our hearts and minds to the needs of others, so that we might be your hands and feet.
Together, through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us work to prevent human trafficking and bring healing and wholeness to your people.
Amen.
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