Beyond Awareness

I read an article recently about human trafficking that echoes something I've been sensing recently. Let me back up. Seven years ago when I first got started in anti-human trafficking about 80% of the people I chatted with didn't know what it was. Most of my time was spent raising awareness; helping people understand the term, talking about the gravity and broadness of the injustice.

Job well done I have to say. Now almost 80% of people I talk to know about trafficking... or at least they know it happens in Asia and maybe Eastern Europe. 50% have no idea that it happens in the US... or they may have watched something on TV about domestic trafficking but they don't really understand it or believe it.

But still, they know it happens and that's a huge success. Seven years well spent. But now we have another problem. This article summarizes it quite nicely. (http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/2712/)

What always surprises me is the crush of people who feel called to tackle the issue but get stalled, almost stunned, in a push for the kind of public awareness, posters, concerts, and parades. New abolitionists always tell me they want to do something real. They want to get their hands dirty—but, I often find, not too dirty.

I'm not sure if the issue is that people don't want to get too dirty. It's more like they don't believe that the dirty work really makes a difference. And what is this dirty work? The article goes on:

It is a peculiar disappointment to watch their faces deflate when I suggest that what would really help human trafficking survivors are loving foster parents, faithful friends, and honest employers who offer good wages and health insurance. Unfortunately, nobody gets paid very well for any of that work. Nobody gets famous for it, either.

But after watching myself and so many other people blunder through friendships with human trafficking survivors, I'm fairly convinced that what survivors need—whether they are pimped-out runaways or Filipino hotel workers abused at a South Dakota Comfort Inn—is faithful, healing families and friendships, in which we offer the kind of love we are able to give only when we confront the issues of integrity and addiction that plague our private hearts.

So the dirty stuff is actually the simple stuff.... it's about relationships and loving people. But in a strange way it's actually pretty hard. It's easy for us to love the people who are in our lives, to give fair wages and to be honest. It's much more difficult to go "out there" and find the hurting and needy people who need support and relationships. And honestly, not all of us are cut out to be foster parents, help out in a local shelter, volunteer at a feeding center. THAT'S OK! Seriously. We can't all have the same strengths.

The real question for us anti-trafficking people is how to get people engaging their individual strengths in a way that will make a difference. It's a big challenge. Everyone needs to answer the question for themselves but often they don't even know how to start the conversation. I hear things like this a lot "I'm an artist... what can I do beyond raising awareness?"  Start an art group for free at your home or community center geared toward disadvantaged children.

There are a million creative ways to engage beyond just raising awareness... but it takes a bit more thinking and a lot more initiative. That's what makes it harder. And yet it's really not that hard.

Oh the conundrum.