End It Movement

I know not everyone is able to stand for 27 hours, but the good news is that there are more ways to raise awareness about human trafficking! Besides Stand For Freedom, one of my favorites is the End It Movement (http://enditmovement.com/). Their mission? To end it.

Here are some statistics about modern slavery that I got from End It Movement's website:
- 27 MILLION slaves worldwide.
- $90 is the average amount paid for a person.
- 161 countries affected by human trafficking (this includes sources, transit centers, and destinations).
- 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. annually.
- 14 year old is the average age of those 17,500 people.
- 80% of human trafficking victims are women.
- 32 BILLION dollars is the amount of money made in the slavery industry every year. That's   $32,000,000,000 made by people who think they have the right to buy, sell, exploit and 
  control another human being.
- In 60 seconds, 4 children are sold into slavery. That is 2,880 a day.
- 14 cities in the U.S. rank among the top hub cities for child-involved prostitution.
- 200,000 slaves exist in the United States today.
- 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year.
- $0 is how much is costs to raise awareness.

This is their mission statement:

"SLAVERY IS WRONG.

YOU KNOW IT. WE KNOW IT. AS A COUNTRY, WE'VE OFFICIALLY KNOWN IT SINCE 1863. BUT HERE'S SOMETHING YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW -- SLAVERY STILL EXISTS. WE WANT EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE 27 MILLION MEN, women and children, JUST LIKE THEM, LIVING IN THE SHADOWS. IN BROTHELS. IN FACTORIES. IN QUARRIES. WORKING AS SLAVES. IN 161 COUNTRIES. INCLUDING OUR OWN. WE ARE HERE TO SHINE A LIGHT ON SLAVERY. NO MORE BONDAGE. NO MORE SEX TRAFFICKING. NO MORE CHILD LABORERS. NO MORE, STARTING NOW."

I Stand

Last year I participated in Stand For Freedom, a movement sponsored by the International Justice Mission (IJM). In Stand For Freedom, participants stand for 27 hours straight on behalf of the 27 million people in slavery. Yes, it was hard. I played soccer around midnight till 2 AM trying not to fall asleep, which resulted in a very swollen foot from playing so long in the cold. Then in school I was falling asleep standing up (which was a new experience). And I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I cannot imagine not having the freedom to sit down when my legs get tired. Nor can I imagine the hopelessness those men, women, and children feel as they face each day with the knowledge that their livelihoods have been stolen by another human being. Standing for 27 hours is nothing compared to what those 27 million people go through each and every day. It was truly a humbling experience for me and made me thankful for things I had always taken for granted. Such as being able to sit down when I want to, sleep when I want to, and going home to my family at the end of the day. The thing many people don't realize is that the standing doesn't really end after those 27 hours. Physically, yes, I sat down and when I got home I proceeded to sleep for sixteen hours. Mentally and spiritually, though, I continued to stand for freedom. There's a reason it's called Stand For Freedom and not I Stood For Freedom. And that reason is that the standing never stops.

I am passionate about raising awareness of human trafficking, both nationally and on a global scale. I would like to have a career working to rescue and protect the women and children who have their lives stolen from them in the human trafficking industry. The other day, during a conversation regarding my interest for working in the anti-human trafficking movement, my best friend asked me, "What is your goal? What exactly do you want to achieve in your career?" I pondered that for a minute or so before responding, "I want to work to end human trafficking on a global scale. I want to rescue these women and children and give them their lives back, give them their families back, and help bring them back into society as free people. Basically, I want to help them." That is why I Stand.