Human Trafficking, Sex trade, bondage-slavery in the US today

The statement above is true and so extremely shocking that at the age of 12, this is the "average". I was aware of sex trafficking only by recent movies such as "Taken" and its follow up. In my mind it was something that happened sadly to young foreign girls who were either kidnapped or sold by their families out of desperation. Little did my naive mind know that every 30 seconds someone is forced into sexual bondage. Woman, children, boys and girls are taken.

I live in Florida and ran into a man who told me he ran a side business selling soap for a charity. He did not elaborate much but gave me his card and some soap samples to try. I loved his natural soaps and visited his website. What a surprise and eye opener that was. I learned about human trafficking there along with what his simple soap company was trying to be a part of. I also learned that Florida is one of the top 3 destinations in the United States for human trafficking. My beautiful little vacation mecca just got a black eye. Over 49 countries are involved through either being country of origin, transit or destination.

Human trafficking is a 27 million dollar annual business with over 2.5 million alone in the United States. I read recently about the three woman who were found alive after so many years of being missing and their imprisonment. This was a form of sexual bondage.

After drugs, humans are the 2nd most trafficked item in the world.Image that!? With a 7 billion annual business, someone is making and spending a lot of money for this. The traffickers are rarely caught and even fewer are convicted. The people who are paying for this business- buying and using these 'slaves' are also just as much at fault. The US Dept of Justice estimates that over 200,000 American children are at risk for trafficking in the sex slave business each year.

There are few companies trying to help these victims. Less than 2%, that's right less than 2% escape and are helped each year. Companies such as A21 Campaign, The Polaris Project, Mercy Ministries and my friends little company The HopeSoapProject.

Woman and children are recruited through deceptive means such as false ads for workers in low skilled work, waitress jobs and others false means. We thought we abolished slavery in the United States, but apparently it is doing better than ever, it's just gone underground.

Awareness is the first step, you've just read an article about it. Volunteering is another step and getting involved by your support is a third step. Check out the web sites and find out for yourself firsthand. It could be your child, or a neighbors, or a grandchild that is the next victim of this heinous crime. In time it took you to read this article over 10 new victims were trafficked. Please help anyway you can.

Sources:

http://www.thea21campaign.org/

http://www.polarisproject.org/

http://www.thehopesoapproject.com/

http://www.mercyministries.org/