IMI Kirken Student og Unge Voksne

Siden jeg (Bianca) er på vei tilbake til Stavanger finnes det bare ett spørsmål som flyr rundt i hodet mitt: Hvordan kan jeg fortsetter å leve mitt liv som vanlig etter jeg har hørt om at det finnes 27 millioner (27.000.000!!!) folk som er fanget over hele verden . Istedenfor å fortelle hva jeg er opplevd på Passion, i den dypeste detail som frivillig, eller fokusere på konferansen (dette er definitivt Gaute sin del), jeg vil liste tre historier om folk som blir offer av menneskehandel nedenfor.

 Meet her: In her home country, she took care of a wealthy woman’s house. They got along so well that the woman asked her to go to the U.S. and work for her relatives, who are from this same country. But she said no. She didn’t want to leave her kids. Her boss persisted, but she kept refusing. Then, the woman offered to put her daughters in boarding school. “Boarding school back home is very important, especially for girls,” she says. “So I said, ‘That sounds good, putting my children in boarding school, and then coming to visit them — oh, that’s a good idea.’ ” So the family organized her documents and brought her all the way to Seattle. But things were bad. Her duties far exceeded those of the job back home. She took care of a 2-year-old and a baby and all of the family’s meals — cooking, cleaning, gardening and more. “I was responsible for everything, except only their body they washed by themselves. But I was responsible for everything,” she says. She worked almost 100 hours a week. The couple paid her $70 a month and insisted that she talk to no one. “Why did these people do this to me?” she says. “It really make me sad when I remember this story.” But, eventually, this woman did get away and contacted an immigration attorney. Charges were brought against the couple she worked for, and she was able to recover her proper wages. That’s a rare good outcome for these kinds of cases. (taken from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128873444 )

Meet Manola: Standing at the window of the third-story apartment in Beirut, all Manola Rajaonarison could see outside were gigantic apartment blocks. In her hand, she held a piece of paper with her father’s telephone number written on it. This was her lifeline. She tried to stay calm; despite the heat she was trembling uncontrollably. Nervously she kept looking at the kitchen door—she knew that she risked a beating and maybe worse if her employers caught her doing what she was about to do. But they were still sitting at the table, eating lunch. She only had a few minutes. Frantically she sought out a window on the third floor of the building next door and finally spotted Niri, mostly hidden by the curtain. Like Manola, Niri was from Madagascar. She too worked as a housekeeper in Lebanon. Unlike Manola, however, she was never beaten, had not been raped, nor was she isolated. Niri read the telephone number off the piece of paper Manola held up, and wrote it down. She made the call as Manola was tearing the paper into tiny bits. It’s now eight months later. Manola is back in Madagascar—finally back home. The hut her father lives in is about as big as a one-car garage. It is in Ambohibary, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital Antananarivo. Manola’s plane landed in late March. It was a charter that the government was pressured into organizing by an aid organization, and there were 85 other women on board, all of whom, like Manola, had been abused. Presently, there are 7,000 women from Madagascar working as household help in Lebanon. In March 2009, a military coup in Madagascar saw the percentage of poor people (those living on less than $1 a day) rise from 67% to 76%. Even after a major political crisis, an increase that high is pretty much unheard of, anywhere. At the time, there was a sharp rise in demand for workers in Lebanon following the cessation of a labor cooperation agreement between the Philippines and Lebanon after reports that Filipinos working in Lebanon had been abused. But girls like Manola didn’t know about such agreements, and, for many of them, going to Lebanon would also end badly. (taken from http://www.worldcrunch.com/human-trafficking-middle-east-manola-s-story/3343)

Meet Kid: While in a chat room he made friends with “Ray” who came from a similar situation so they shared their troubles and soon became good friends. One day, a frustrated “Ray” said he was running away and asked “Kit” to come with him. Unhappy with his home life, Kit readily agreed and they arrange to meet at a train station. At the station they decided to head for the seaside as there would be a good chance they’d both be able to find work there. On board the train, “Ray” bought them both a drink. That was the last thing “Kit” remembered about the journey. When he woke up he was locked in a small room with several other terrified young boys all shackled by the feet and hands. A man entered the room carrying a big stick and started beating them. Shouting, he told them that they had to earn $40,000 before they’d be set free. To pay off their debt they’d have to work in a club entertaining clients and dancing in the bar. The man warned them that if they tried to escape they’d be severely beaten and their debt would increase. “Kit” was forced into sex work a few months before the police raided the club and rescued the abused boys. Not wanting to go back home the police eventually found him a place in a shelter for boys. (Taken from http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/sex-trafficking-stories.aspx )

Menneskehandel er en organized industry som berører alle nasjoner. Når statistikk kan virke ufattelig er det viktig å huske at hvert enkelt tall representerer et liv til et offer. Menneskehandel er den nest største globale organisert kriminalitet i dag, og genererer om lag 31.6 milliarder dollar hvert år. Spesifikt genererer menneskehandel for seksuell utnyttelse 27.8 milliarder USD per år:

• Det er 1.39 million ofre for kommersiell seksuell slaveri worldwide

• Over 25 prosent av sex trafikkerte ofre blir trafikkert fra Sør og Øst Europa

• 90% av ofrene trafikkert til EU medlemslandene vil ende opp i sex industri

• Tragisk, er bare 1-2 prosent av ofrene reddet, og bare 1 i 100 000 europeere er involvert i menneskehandel er dømt

Jeg interesserte meg for en stund for menneskehandel, men Gud brukte denne tid I Atlanta for å knuse hjertet mitt for ofrenes skrik. Han avslørt Hans utrolig trofast kjærlighet for meg og alle hans barn og en gang til gi meg en sult og tillit til rettferdighet og frihet. Jeg vet ikke hvordan Gud brukte meg, men jeg vet er han forberede meg.

Hvis du vil gjør noen ting men vet ikke helt hva eller hvordan du skal begynne eller har spørsmål eller om menneskehandel eller Passion- spør Gaute eller meg!

Jeg reiste til Passion for å være der som frivillig, min hovedoppgave var studentenes bønne team – KNEEL – men har opplevd mye mer en dette. Det har vært så langt min beste ferie. Neste år med 80.000 andere studenter igjen!

Referanser fra statistikk

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2009, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, Available: http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2009, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, Available: http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf

Rombola, M., 2009, ‘The Causes of the High Rate of Sex Trafficking from Central and Eastern European Nations to Western Europe,” Unpublished Research Report Submitted to The University of Sydney.

Varouhakis, M., 2002, July 26, “Trafficked Women Are Victims,” Global Outlook, Centre for Research on Globalisation.

United Nations, 2009, “UN Agency Calls for Better Monitoring to Combat Human Trafficking in Europe,” in UN News Centre