I tend to think slavery ended with Abraham Lincoln. Wouldn’t it be nice if that were true? The fact of the matter is that there are more slaves today than any time in history. Today we call it human trafficking, but it is still slavery.
My time here in West Africa has me thinking more about slavery. And I’m not talking about the ancient history of the men and women shipped from here to my country that caused the atrocities leading to the Civil War. Yes, my thoughts on this day have ranged from confusion to pure rage. All this slavery stuff was supposed to be a thing of the past, wasn’t it? Can it be that we haven’t made that much progress on this isssue?
Let me tell you three events that led to my ranting today. I mentioned a couple of days ago the story I was told about the rebels who were trying to attack our orphanage in Croezerville during the war to steal children. If they had been successful, our children would have become child soldiers involuntarily. They would have been forced to become little terrorists and perhaps murderers. Once they became slaved child soldiers, there would usually be only one way out–death. And if they did happen to get out alive, the psychological effects would be so great that the children would probably never get over it.
Next, there was a ship the other day on the Atlantic Ocean near here that was boarded by some officials only to find that the ship was being worked by African slaves. It was like the pictures in the old movies telling the history of slave trade. Didn’t wars happen a long time ago to stop this stuff? How can this be?
But here is the one today that has just irked me more than anything. I can’t tell you her name, but it is what happened. A 51-year old guy named Boakai Kparka went through a forced traditional marriage with a 14-year old girl and then repeatedly raped her. How did this happen? She was sold as a sex slave to this man. Who would sell an innocent girl like this? Her parents. How much did they get for her? About $20. Oh, and a couple of dresses were thrown in too. Her parents names are Momo Barley and Ma Hawa (I don’t want to protect the guilty).
People should not be for sale. Period. That’s all I’ve got to say.
I clicked that I “liked” this blog, but really I hate it. I hate that we ever have had slaves, and that we still do. I hate that humans, made in God’s image, use each other and abuse each other. Instead of becoming servants of others, as Jesus, God on earth, did, we lord over people and decide we are better because of our skin color, race, gender or pay check.
I pray for those children and women being trafficked, that God will protect them. As for their slave traders, I pray that they will come to the realization that what they are doing is terribly, terribly wrong, as did John Newton, composer of “Amazing Grace.” It’s what we ALL need… Amazing Grace.
It makes me physically ill to think humans would put other humans into slavery. It makes me even more physically ill to think that parents would do this to their own child–for such a small amount. I don’t understand it–it grieves me–and I know it grieves our Lord. I have prayed for the victims (and will continue to do so) but I will now also pray for the ones doing the trafficking. Thank you Barbie for the reminder that through prayer and God’s convicting, they can change.
My prayer for you on this journey has been that God would show you many things–I will continue to pray
blessings
elaine
yet we call ourselves civilized
Barbie, good reference to John Newton. Wouldn’t it be great if John Newton’s type of experience with The Living God became multiplied across the face of the Earth and slavery was banished for good? Rhetorical a question that it was, it makes me look for Yeshua’s return all the more. This world does not reflect the Father’s love. It does not have the love of the Father. It seeks to enslave us all. But there is a day coming when Righteousness will take His seat upon the throne and reign in the intended manner. Then no longer will the things that Milton is reporting on exist. I hate it too Milt, and God bless you for not being silent about it.
When we try to answer the question of how slavery can exist in the modern world, we are reminded of how sin was brought into the world by people who put their own desires above the well-being of others; selfishness won out. And when people put their own selfish desires at the forefront, everything else – and everyone else – becomes nothing more than a means to a selfish end. This is my struggle with my own children: Is it possible to teach them to stop being selfish? Is it a matter of education, or must they undergo some traumatic event in order to understand the need for empathy?