When you think of human trafficking, you may think of girls locked in a shady hotel room or being transported in a dark, dingy tractor-trailer. But many of those working in the booming sex industries of Thailand and India are trapped in an invisible cage — a life devoid of choice.
These girls are taught from a young age that they need to be the breadwinners for their families. And for those who can’t afford an education, that often means a life in the sex industry.
But today, on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, you can help stop this cycle of cultural slavery by rescuing a child. For $35 a month, you will become a child’s sponsor and provide essentials like healthy food and medical care plus an education, so he or she have another choice outside the sex industry.
As you walk through communities in Thailand and India where the sex industry is prevalent, you see young girls — some not even teenagers yet — standing on the street corners or near bars. This should not be the case.
Children should not be for sale.
But when their culture tells them this is normal, that it’s their duty, they feel they have no other choice.
And girls aren’t the only victims of the sex industry. Boys suffer, too.
If a boy’s mother is a sex worker, she often has to bring clients to her one-room home. Having strangers in the house puts him in danger of being exploited. Plus, like the girls, he will slowly come to believe the sex industry is normal, making it more likely that he will become an abuser himself someday.
“If we focus on only reaching the girls and leave the boys, then this sex slavery will continue for many more generations,” our partner said.
But you can help break this cycle.
For just over $1 a day, you can help keep a child away from the dangers of the sex industry by providing essentials like a safe place to live, nutritious meals, medical care, education, and more.
And because you can write letters and send photos, you can show your sponsored child how much you love him or her, too!
All it takes is $35 a month to help rescue a child and break the chains of cultural slavery for one child.
And what better day to rescue a child from the sex industry than on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day?