A21 Campaign MARCH 2011 UPDATE

This last month we saw an HISTORIC victory in Greece as another trafficker was convicted!! This time, the penalty given was unprecedented!Here is a brief snapshot into the courtroom…

As Katrina* approached the witness stand, her heart was beating like never before. This was the moment she had been anxiously waiting for, and it was going to take all of her courage to testify. With tears in her eyes, she stood face to face with her trafficker. All of the horrible memories began to flood her mind, but she pressed through the pain and began to speak every shocking detail of what she had endured at the hands of her trafficker. She said to the judges, "I am here to say to everyone, I am not a prostitute as they call me. I am a girl who came to Greece for a better life, and they raped my body and my soul. They exploited me."

As the trial proceeded, witness after witness were called in against Katrina,* and seven lawyers spoke in the defense of her trafficker. Many false accusations were made against her, and they did all they could to instill fear through methods of intimidation, threats, and embarrassment. One of our lawyers had the privilege of representing Katrina* in court, and was able to shed light in a very dark situation.

When the judges retreated to form their final decision, Katrina* sat in anticipation, unsure if her abuser would be imprisoned or walk free. When the judges entered the room after 1.5 hours of deliberation, there was a death-like silence in the atmosphere. Then the Chair of Court read aloud the court's final decision.

Katrina's* trafficker was found GUILTY of trafficking in persons, prostituting, and repeated rape. He was sentenced to 15.5 years in prison, and a € 108,000 Euro fine ($150,000.00 USD)! Thanks to Katrina's brave testimony, and the determination of our lawyer, one more trafficker has been taken off the street.

This conviction is unprecedented in Greece, and will serve as an example for many future cases.

It is our hope that Katrina's story will be one of many victorious endings for the millions of girls who are currently trapped in a living nightmare of sex trafficking. In order to make this dream a reality, we believe that it is going to take all of us playing our individual part to truly end this injustice.

This is one of the reasons why we have created a resource to equip both students and adults to make a difference. The A21 Abolition Pack is a great tool for people who want to take action to see human trafficking abolished. These packs include a leadership and events manual, two A21 promotional videos, and PDF versions of our brochure and prayer guide. If you are interested in ordering this resource, or A21 merchandise, please visit our webstore.

Thank you so much for your passionate pursuit of justice and generous support. As we continue to take steps to expand our efforts on the ground throughout Eastern Europe, we recognize that all of our efforts would not be possible without individuals around the globe taking action to see girls, like Katrina,* walk in FREEDOM.

Do you have a facebook account? The A21 Campaign is excited to announce that we are going to be launching an A21 Fan page on the 21^st of March! This is going to be a great tool to spread awareness about human trafficking and will be a place where you can post your ideas and photos, comment on our discussion board, and will be an interactive way to stay connected to the cause. In the meantime, be sure to stay connected through the A21 Facebook Cause and Twitter.

Heart for the House

"The Love of God cannot be measured but can be demonstrated" - Biju Thampy (Founder of Vision Rescue), Hillsong Offering Testimony.
This is such an awesome thought and completely true statement!
We were in a class with Aran Puddle (a staff and worship pastor at Hillsong). He was saying how we are only capable of describing God metaphorically. When we say something like "let your glory be revealed like the light of the sun"it is a metaphor. We as humans have only human terms or metaphorical words that can describe God. I thought about this one congregational song we sing here at church and the line goes like this, "And His glory appears like the light from the sun".  I then had a conversation in my head. "If God created light and everything in this world then how can "His glory" be like the light from the sun... that makes no sense. That almost sounds like we are degrading God or undermining who He truly is. But then I understood what Aran Puddle was talking about. It is not wrong theology or a lack of creativity and truth in the songwriting. It is because we are only capable of metaphorically giving a small glimpse about His majesty and about His awesome, gorgeous, pure and beautiful character.
I think that is pretty cool that we at least have those metaphors and those words to sing than being completely wordless when we come to worship. What do you think?
So instead of measuring how much love can be in this song or this church, lets start demonstrating, shall we?
Let's not be critics but admirers and supporters of what The Church is doing and is capable of doing in Him, through Him, for Him!
Along the same lines, we need to be a reflection of His love for and to His kids, His church, His love, His bride!
We as His kids can demonstrate what is in His heart for His people. We can show what it is like to live in His will. In His love. In His joy. In His peace.
We can be the stepping stone, the stretched out hand, the rope, the pillar that others can hold onto.
I am so impacted by what Biju Thampy is doing in India to help the kids of the streets of Mumbai. He explained how these kids dream to be able to live in the slums someday because they live on the streets. He said and I'm sort of paraphrasing "Lets not get these kids to the slums but get the slums out of them." Their dream and expectation is to get to the slums. Why not help, educate and release them to be bigger than they ever expected or imagined?
We have the chance to be a part of young people's dreams and projects like this and I believe in it completely and its potential.
The way to do it is to get connected to your local church and be a part of their dream and vision to impact and change the world! And if you feel like your church can do more, then become a part of their team and create ideas on how to get the resources and how to go about doing what is in His heart and your heart for those souls out there.
If you want to be a part of Biju Thampy's vision for kids of Mumbai you can go to Vision Rescue's official page.
Spread the word!