The movie Sound of Freedom is opening eyes to the hard issues of trafficking and abuse that our AFFEO partners deal with every day.
Several of our AFFEO partners spearhead efforts that (1) prevent trafficking wherever possible, (2) help victims heal, and (3) aid these children in reuniting with loved ones.
In Ghana, where children are “disappearing” more and more, traffickers target vulnerable families who struggle with too many mouths to feed. For example, they recently approached a man who had just lost his wife and was left with five children. When a “friendly visitor” arrived, offering to take Abam (the youngest son) away to ensure he had an education, the dad naively jumped at the opportunity.
But there was no educational opportunity for Abam. Along with about 2,000 other children in Ghana, Abam was sent to a life of hard labor. These young ones are put on boats and required to fish all day and night … or work the cocoa plantations with similar brutal hours and conditions. They are trapped in a cycle of abuse, their childhood and innocence stolen.
Kingsley, AFFEO‘s partner in Ghana, is working from virtually every angle to stop these traffickers. He supports at-risk families by
- working through local churches to identify and educate parents who could fall prey to traffickers’ schemes.
- coordinating with rescue organizations who are actually retrieving these children. He ensures that the trafficked children receive trauma care upon their return.
- supporting reunification and healing efforts … a challenging task when the child feels betrayed, and the parents feel deep guilt.
In Ukraine, Romania and India, AFFEO partners also work to counter trafficking — especially among teens who have “aged-out” of orphanages and are extremely vulnerable. Our partners focus on parent and teen education to prevent trafficking, while also working closely with law enforcement to provide trauma therapy for victims and assist with legal paperwork and processes to prosecute the traffickers, getting them off the streets.
Won’t you pray with us that God, through our partners, would protect children from those who seek to steal, abuse, and break them? Please join us in praying that…
…our partners would have many opportunities to educate vulnerable parents and teens who could unknowingly fall victim to traffickers schemes.
…God would provide wisdom, ingenuity, courage and opportunity for those who are retrieving children from trafficking — that the Lord would enable them to retrieve many, many young lives from their abhorrent conditions.
…our partners would lend supernatural strength and assistance to children who’ve been through the unimaginable by providing trauma care and healing.
…our partners in Ghana, Ukraine, Romania and India would have the financial resources they need to help break the trafficking cycle in their respective countries.
Thank you so much for lifting up these servants who are helping the most vulnerable!