So I’ve been working about 3 weeks now, and I figure I might as well give an
account for what God has enabled us to accomplish.  The main focus of our
work has been on planning Freedom Week, an annual gathering of abolitionist
organizations in New York City to raise awareness about modern-day slavery
and trafficking in New York City.  The first thing I had to do was put
together a list of organizations that could potentially be involved with
Freedom Week.  Next, we drafted an invitation letter, and after some
wordsmithing, sent it out to various organizations.  And now we wait for
them to get back to us.  In the meantime, we’re taking care of marketing
details and advertising Freedom Week and other business-y things that I
don’t quite understand.

A typical day as an abolitionist starts like any other day.  I eat breakfast
and then ride the 4 train all the way from the Bronx to the lower end of
Manhattan, where we start the workday off with a Bible study.  It’s a really
great way to start the day and I hope to continue this habit of daily
Scripture study when I go back to school in the fall.  For the rest of the
day, we do a whole variety of tasks.  After some emails, drafts, more
emails, research, adding instances of slavery to Slavery Map, a few more
emails, attending Freedom Week planning meetings, and sneaking out for
chicken and rice, it’s time for us to take the 4 train back up to the NYCUP
house.  There, we have a different event each night.

The issue of modern-day slavery has even rendered the United Nations
hopeless, declaring that the problem is simply too large.  That’s either
weak on the UN, or it shows that slavery is bigger than we think it
is.  Regardless
of which way it is, the truth is that God is still in control and He already
has plans in motion to fight this injustice.  Researching modern-day slavery
is emotionally heavy stuff.  The stories of the survivors are
heart-wrenching.  In each account of this appalling injustice, it’s like you
can feel the weight of God’s tears.  I’ve read stories about parents selling
*their own children* to traffickers.  Other children in Uganda are abducted
and forced to be soldiers in the LRA, where one of the rites of passage
through which they’re forced is murder.  We may have passed laws against
slavery, but it still exists and is worse now than it ever has been.

If you decide to research more into this, let me encourage you to pray
beforehand for God’s peace and hope.  Without these, it’s easy to be
discouraged and give in to despair.  Remember the words of Christ in John
16:33. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In
this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the
world.” (NIV)

The abolitionist movement is exciting.  Many have risen to the call to fight
slavery in all of its forms.  World Vision, for example, has shelters for
former child soldiers where they go to school, play, dance, and have the
childhood that was originally denied to them.  Love146 rescues girls from
brothels all over the world and provides them with what they desperately
want: a way home.  Each chapter of the book *Not For Sale* tells a story of
people trapped in slavery but then being rescued by organizations such as
these. These movements weren’t necessarily started by Presidents or people
who have a degree in Abolition from some fancy university.  Instead, they
are ordinary people who have stood up against extraordinary injustice.