awareness

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Media shines light on girls forced into prostitution

March 6, 2010 in Uncategorized by April | No comments

Area residents are getting more informed thanks to recent broadcasts highlighting sex trafficking of minors within the United States.  Two recent reports to watch or listen to on the web:

-FOX News Phoenix (Channel 10) just recently did a major piece on the issue.  Their story focused on a Phoenix girl who was sold by a friend to a pimp at age 16.  It talked about the complete control she was under and how she was forced to have sex at various people’s apartments while the pimp took the payment.  It’s progress to see the local media starting to expose the epidemic in our city.  The report is worth seeing.
Watch here

It also highlighted Street Light, a local ministry that is getting ready to open the doors of a new aftercare facility that can house 50 girls.  It is a revolutionary endeavor made possible by several Valley churches, including CCV (Christ Church of the Valley.)

– KJZZ, 91.5 NPR radio did an interview with Linda Smith of Shared Hope International.  She talked about the problem of child sex trafficking in Phoenix and among other things, the state laws which are insufficient in protecting children from being prostituted and in prosecuting the perpetrators.  See the entry  below for more information on the HB2699.

Listen to broadcast here

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Ignorence is Bliss

February 16, 2009 in Uncategorized by April | 3 comments

Sex trafficking.  Just the word can make us uncomfortable.  It’s hard to hear about, read about, think about and, even more jarring, to see it on video.  

It’s like witnessing a car accident.  We don’t want to look because it might be too awful to see or because we don’t want to be inconvenienced for some random stranger or we’re in a hurry or we’re going some place nice and don’t want to get our clothes dirty.  There are lots of reasons not to stop the car and get involved but some really compelling ones too.  First and formost we might be able to help.  We might be able to assist with physical or emotional needs.  We might be able to call for an ambulance.  Or maybe they won’t need us at all.  Regardless they’ll know that one person cared enough to be inconvenienced, one person wanted to be sure they were okay.  And we’ll know that we didn’t just sit back and let someone suffer.  

If it is very hard for us to know about it.  Imagine how hard it is for the girl who is sexually assaulted 15 times a night.

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