Exploiting human trafficking

Times Reporter

 

The plights of human trafficking and exploitation are not just an international problem, which is something the Hope Community Covenant Church is hoping to shed light on with their conference ‘Justice Tapestry.’

There will be a number of visual works and performances throughout the conference by various artists, which runs from Aug. 27 – 28. The events subtitle is, “Shedding Light on the Atrocities of Human Trafficking and Exploitation – Seeking God’s Heart and Our Response.” 

The conference is designed to bring together southern Albertans who are concerned for justice, and to empower them to both stand against injustice, and care for the victims. 

Mark Wollenberg with the International Justice Mission Canada (IJM) will deliver the keynote address. 

“Today, most of us live without the knowledge that there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world. Most people do not know that there are more slaves in the world today than the 1800’s, when slaves were ripped out of Africa in the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” said Wollenberg in a press release. 

“These are people who are forced to work in cocoa and coffee plantations, brick kilns and rice mills, or in brothels and they have no option to leave. They are literally owned by someone else who sees them as a source of revenue for themselves. After drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest illegal enterprise in the world today.”

Wollenberg continued on to say there are people today who need an advocate, someone to raise their voice on behalf of those who are voiceless. 

In February Andrew Kooman’s play, “She has a Name’ was shown at the EPCOR Centre in Calgary, delivering a haunting tale of prostitute called Number 18, a 15-year-old girl forced to work in a brothel in Bangkok. The performance gripped the hearts of those who had a chance to see it, and brought to light many of the real day-to-day struggles these young girls face, and the challenges to those trying to rescue them.  

“I attended the conference on trafficking that Raise Their Voice organized in Red Deer as a follow-up to She Has A Name with several friends from my hometown of Strathmore. It was such a meaningful event that we decided we needed to inform and challenge our community to stand up against slavery of all kinds by hosting a similar conference in Strathmore,” said Stephen Waldschmidt, director of ‘She has a Name.’

Other presenters at the conference will include Kooman, Waldschmidt, Amie Gosselin of Hager International, an aftercare and reintegration organization for victims of sex trafficking and representatives from Edmonton’s Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation, Advocacy for Victims of Abuse, Opportunity International, Ten Thousand Villages, and several local artists.

The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Aug.27 at Hope Church, and there will be a final gathering at 10 a.m. on Aug. 28. Registration fees are $35 for those who register before Aug. 10, $40 by Aug. 24 or $45 at the door. For more information email justicetapestry2011@gmail.com or visit www.hope-community.ca.