Stories & Testimonies

Jopai slept along a street in the slums of Cebu City, the Philippines, each night. Her home consisted of an old tarp draped over a discarded metal frame. She shared that space with her mother and siblings—Joy, her sister, and 2 younger brothers. Her mother did all she could to provide for the 5 of them, but although she worked hard all day cleaning fish, she earned only about a dollar a day—barely enough to buy the rice and soup they needed to survive each day. All else was a luxury they couldn’t afford, including the children’s education.

The laws of supply and demand govern the price and sale of everyday items like strawberries and gas for our cars. It also governs the sale of human beings who have been trafficked into a worldwide web of evil that reaches into every corner of the world—including our own suburban neighborhoods. Last June I traveled to the small nation of Latvia with my wife, Karin, who co-directs the Human Trafficking/Slavery Fund with me, to visit a lesser-known corner of that insidious web on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Eastern Europe.

Little Girl for Sale. The message is never quite so blatantly stated, but it is a reality just the same. All around the world, but particularly in developing nations, little girls and boys are up for sale—or available to rent by the hour. Last week I led a short-term team to Mexico City, where we visited missionaries Jason and Nicole (last name withheld for security purposes) whose multi-faceted ministry includes rescuing children from sex trafficking. Mexican children regularly disappear, never to be heard from again, and as I traveled with Jason and Nicole, it became apparent to me why Mexico City is a prime target for traffickers.

The blessed children of Kandal Village Dear Friends, What a blessing it was to meet the children of Kandal Village, Cambodia, this past May! Heaven’s Family has been sponsoring every child in this village for almost two years now, providing after-school programs to teach them […]

“Chantou,” in the business to save her grandchildren Dear Friends, Chantou (not her real name) is a grandmother working to save her youngest daughter, age 14, and her grandchildren by another daughter from the high-risk jobs in the city’s karaoke bars. These relatively good-paying jobs […]