Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

This weekend is a weekend of prayer. Tomorrow is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. According to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) a n estimated 27 million people are trafficked globally on an annual basis. NCR reports some amazing data. Did you know human trafficking is growing in the crime industry, second in scope only to the drug trade and equal to arms? Revenue from human trafficking is estimated at more than $32 billion annually.  Can you imagine 27 million people being abducted and forced to do what their captors wish? Can you imagine it happening to someone you love? It might be hard to think about, but it does happen every day. People are taken; people are enslaved; people aren’t free. For Northwest Florida locals, tomorrow is the Not My Child Human Trafficking Awareness event at the Pelican Beach Resort Conference Center in Destin. It’s an event to prevent sexual exploitation on the Emerald Coast. Here are more events across the nation. Last Janu...

Today I’m going to pray. Today I’m going to pray that slaves are freed. I have a lot going on today. I’m still captain of a Relay team, still helping with my son’s boy scout troop, still working a part-time job and taking three master’s level classes. I’m also planning a move and working on my mother’s estate. But right now, I’m going to join the Global Prayer Gathering (GPG) sponsored by the International Justice Mission (IJM). The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. The GPG is going on today through Sunday. Sometimes we feel like there’s nothing we can do to help others. We may not have the money or a lot of time. But we can pray. The Global Prayer Gathering is bringing together friends and IJM staff from around the world to engage in the work of justice through prayer. They say, “Through storytelling, worship and reflection, we will celebr...

I’m reading a book called Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.   It’s about women the world around being stolen, raped, trafficked and abused.   It’s also about their successes getting free from their captors, getting an education and turning their situations around. It’s a very inspiring book. The United Nations International Labour Organization reports that a t least 12.3 million people around the world are slaves.   Other nonprofit groups like Free the Slaves say that there are 27 million slaves in the world. Last Friday was the United Nations International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, marking the date in 1949 when the UN adopted a resolution for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The UN explains the different types of slavery like this. “Forced labour takes different forms, including debt bondage, trafficking and other forms of modern slavery. The victims are the most vulnerable...