Heartland Church Community Forum: Stand Against Trafficking

Take A Stand. Join Us.

Over 27 million people are currently victims of human trafficking. Men, women, boys, and girls are being used as sex slaves and labor slaves all over the world, including Indiana.

Stand Against Trafficking (StAT) is a coalition of Indiana citizens networking to abolish human trafficking through Awareness, Education, Response, Prevention, and Resources.

Bring a group and join us for a Community Forum.

TIME:Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

PLACE:Heartland Church Auditorium in Fishers (I-69 & 96th)

A Local Victim’s Story

Mary (not her real name) grew up in an Indianapolis home under the discipline of strict parents. During high school she began to rebel, leading her to the wrong crowd of friends. She met a man much older than her during her senior year. Soon after, he raped her. A pregnancy resulted, and she married her attacker.

Now that her husband “owned” her, it wasn’t long before other men were invited over to party, drugs and alcohol involved. Mary’s husband began to profit from his wife by forcing her to perform sex acts with other men in exchange for money.

For the next ten years, Mary was traumatized by her forced lifestyle, which included brutal and painful sexual episodes. She developed severe mental disorders, and during that time her husband took her son and disappeared. However, Mary was later reunited with her son.

Later, Mary had another child by another man, and for a period of time she was cut off from both children, incapable of caring for them. Today, Mary is undergoing therapy and attempting to make a new life for herself and her children. However, she continues to struggle with the evils from her past.

Human trafficking is a tragic and prevalent injustice that human aid organizations claim involves over 27 million people from all corners of society both locally and internationally. According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of State, 12 million men, women, and children become victims of human trafficking (modern day slavery) each year, forced into sexual slavery, labor, and domestic servitude.Some become soldiers in national wars, are forced into begging networks, or are bought and sold for their body parts.

Born in the abolitionist movement of the 19th Century, The Wesleyan Church, a protestant evangelical denomination with world headquarters in Fishers, Indiana, is revisiting its heritage in committing to a denomination-wide effort to abolish human trafficking.

The Wesleyan Church will take part in a September 9, 2009, community information forum at Heartland Church in Fishers, which will be followed by a September 10-12, 2009, abolish human trafficking training staffed by professionals from World Hope International. General Director of Wesleyan Women, Stand Against Trafficking (StAT), and “Hands of Hope” coordinator Martha Blackburn says the training will equip men and women with skills to help prevent trafficking and care for its victims.