A GivStory By Derri Smith | Not For Sale Tennessee

 Beyond my worst nightmares …

At 55, I am no stranger to suffering. I was regularly abused by my pastor father. I’ve walked intimately with loved ones through the trauma of rape, abuse, illness and divorce. But nothing in my past prepared me for what I encountered when I picked up a copy of  Not For Sale by David Batstone. I entered a world beyond my worst nightmares, where six year olds tout their sex trade skills to potential “customers”; thirteen year olds are sold in pairs to be raped at will and ten year old boys are made to club neighbors to death as initiation into forced “military” duty.

Only this wasn’t a nightmare, soon to be followed by a good morning. These stories are real and not just a few isolated cases of unspeakable horror; they are the plight of millions of children throughout the world. Commerce in human beings is, I learned, the second largest and fastest growing crime on the planet, affecting 27 million lives.

 In my own backyard?!

Desperation borne of such knowledge launched a quest to educate myself.  I was shocked to discover that slavery thrives right here in my own Music City (Nashville) and in surrounding small towns, suburbs and rural areas. Awareness widened , and my eyes with it, as I discovered that my purchases drive the demand for slave labor around the world. I begged God to show me no more, because the pain was intolerable, unless He would give me something to DO about it.

He did.

Ordinary people + amazing God

He took this very ordinary woman with nothing more to offer than a broken heart and willingness to take action, and started opening doors, intersecting me with people I could learn from. I sense, each step of the way, His anger and pain over weak, vulnerable people exploited, used like commodities and forced to do things against their wills; His agony over each injustice to a person lovingly formed by His own hands, and His eagerness to mobilize His people to end this travesty.

Less than a year ago, my answer to the burning question “What can I do?”, was to become the Tennessee State Director for Not for Sale Campaign. I now equip, mobilize and/or partner with dedicated activists from all walks of life to deploy innovative, effective solutions to end slavery locally, nationally and internationally.

Now Teachers - enlighten “Johns” who don’t realize that the services they buy are sometimes provided by unwilling slaves.

Students - canvas business districts, placing posters that provide a hotline to report human trafficking and tips for recognizing victims.

Homemakers and Business People - sell items made by rescued slaves.

Artists - lend their craft to raise awareness and funds to aid a survivor.

Older Women - scour the web for clues to local human trafficking activity

That’s just a snapshot of the panorama of activity in this organic enterprise.

There’s a place for everyone in the movement to end slavery. Let’s work together to find yours.

http://www.notforsaletn.org/

A few months ago we did a post about Not For Sales’s Slavery Map . If you didn’t get a chance to read it, you might want to check it out after you watch this video by Not For Sale Campaign .

Want to learn more about Human Trafficking? Not For Sale Campaign is hosting a global forum on Human Trafficking in Carlsbad, California October 8-9. They are giving a way a free audio book copy of Not For Sale, the book that began the movement if you register TODAY! Register at www.globalforumonhumantrafficking.org

The United States of America  is often referred to as  the “free world,” but not everyone here has their freedom. In fact, the U.S. is a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually.  Not For Sale, an organization formed to combat trafficking, has created an online tool that will help bring awareness to this harsh reality. Slavery still exists, and it’s happening in our own backyards. Not For Sale created an interactive map that exists to record and display instances of human trafficking not only in the U.S., but across the globe. This interactive map is helping to create awareness around an issue that many Americans believe is non-existent in their country.  Is human trafficking happening in your backyard? Go to the Slavery Map and find out.

“Every captive is a person; every survivor has a story. It’s time to show the world that slaves exist among us. Restaurants and fields, construction sites and brothels, suburbs and cities: all are home to victims of trafficking in the United States and abroad. Twenty-seven million slaves in the world, and we want to find them. Slavery Map exists to record and display instances of human trafficking across the globe. Whether you find them hidden in your hometown or covered in The New York Times, report the incidents onto this map for people everywhere to see. If you encounter a current situation of bondage, do not enter the information here. Please immediately call the US national trafficking hotline number so that the proper law enforcement and service providers can be alerted: 1-888-3737-888.”

http://www.slaverymap.org/