You might be a fan of Matt Redman. Or, you might not know who I’m talking about. If you’ve heard a proper British accent singing a worship song that you’ve also heard lots of other Christian artists cover, you’re probably listening to Matt Redman. Anywho. Matt Redman & LZ7 collaborated to create an inspiring song called 27 Million. The song was created to raise awareness of the twenty-seven MILLION (read that number again for me, please) modern day slaves around the world right now.
Perhaps you saw Liam Neeson in the movie Taken and applauded the former Obi Wan Kenobi for kicking butt and taking names in order to rescue his kidnapped daughter from sex traffickers. Or maybe you saw the episode of CSI where Horatio rescued all those girls from Eastern Europe who’d been promised jobs in the US but were really being sold into slavery in the sex industry.
Maybe, like me, you thought of this as a problem ‘over there’ and not here until you heard a news story about a woman who’d been taken from a party in Raleigh, North Carolina, and brought to eastern North Carolina with the promise of a job. She was being held hostage in a trailer off a lesser-travelled highway, and given poker chips to pay for her food and personal necessities, in exchange for performing acts that I don’t want to mention here because I want to keep this blog G-Rated.
We can’t afford to be ignorant to what’s going on around us. And maybe we can’t do everything to solve this problem, but here’s a chance to do something today.
This is the official music video introducing the 27 Million Song. After you get inspired, you can buy it on iTunes — $1.29 on US iTunes here, it’s £0.99 on  UK iTunes here. Proceeds will go to the A21 Campaign, a non-profit engaged in the abolishment of injustice in the 21st Century. They’re making a difference and you can help!
Sure we can’t do everything, but what might be possible if we decided to do something, together?
xCC
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SO ironic that I read this blogpost today after spending the day in training with our local anti trafficking group to speak on this issue. Raising awareness is the key…then getting people to realize that 1 person CAN make a difference by being aware of the possible identifiers and making a call…by choosing to not look the other way or not get involved.
I would love to go to one of the courses David Batstone holds to teach people how to look for signs/alert police. Sounds like the training class was great!
It was a great class. horrifying, disturbing, encouraging…I’ve been considering the Backyard training that Not For Sale is holding in Atlanta in April. Not sure if it will work out, but we will see. I’m actually starting classes at Oral Roberts University here in Tulsa in the fall to pursue a social work degree that will equip me to be able to minister and work with these women. It’s been on my heart a long time, but its interesting to see how God is working it all out.
I’d be happy to share some of the information I’ve learned with you if you are interested…just let me know 🙂
I am going to be in Atlanta for a bit in April…I will look into the dates and see if it’s a possibility. Wow. I would LOVE for you to share any information you feel like taking a moment and typing out! If you wanted to do a guest post and share some information with the readers here, I am sure there are a lot of folks who would love to learn more! Please email me {cedcollie at gmail dot com} if you would like to share more!! I’m excited for what’s ahead of you…wow!
I just looked and I think we’ll be in South Africa when the class happens in Atlanta! I’m bummed!