Brothels and Sex Trafficking Worldwide

Written by Deb P.

Wherever we are, we are always doing networking with other groups. We met a group of 34 people from Pennsylvania, doing a medical mission in a remote village in the state of Piura, Peru. They saw over 1,000 people in their clinic and performed over 40 hernia and cataract surgeries. They told me about how the community they helped and described to me that many young girls are involved in prostitution. How did they get involved in prostitution? The parents forced them into it so that their family could have money for food and shelter. Yes, the families are so desperate for their lack of everything, that they give their girls to a brothel to earn money. I'm sure that their earnings are almost nothing. As parents, we are here to protect our children! I have never walked in their shoes to understand their life.  I can't judge because I have never been in that situation.

It has been many years since I've studied about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up. The needs in the lowest part of the triangle are food, water, warmth, rest. The children of these extremely poor families do not have those needs met. How sad! These families will never experience any level of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs!

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This mission group shared a story about one young, 14-year-old girl, who was pregnant. It looked as though someone beat her in the stomach so that she would have a miscarriage, but she didn't. I'm not sure what was going to happen with this pregnant teenager once she returns home to her family. I can only imagine. 

This story brings up another thought - sex trafficking. When I was in 8th or 9th grade, I had no concerns about my safety.  I would ride my bike, alone, over to my grandparents' home in Franklin, about 8 miles from where we lived in Muskego. Today, nobody should ride their bikes alone. Why? Milwaukee is among the top cities in the USA for sex trafficking. We know that sex trafficking is a major problem all over the world. In Lima, 3-5 young women go missing every day in their capital city. 

I was reading on a site: Human Trafficking

"Human trafficking is considered modern-day slavery, and there are more slaves today than at any other time in history. It is estimated that there are more than 21 million human trafficking victims worldwide."

Please pray for all of the people who are missing and forced into human trafficking...

Prayer for an End to Human Trafficking

Oh God, we didn't see them.
But you did-
The hundreds and thousands of human beings
Trafficked each year to join the millions who are trapped in
modern-day slavery.
Under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plow fields,
harvest crops, work quarries, fill brothels, clean homes and haul water.

Many are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs
and small shoulders for bearing rifles.
Their labor is forced, their bodies beaten, their faces hidden
from those who don't really want to see them.

But you see them all, God of the poor.
You hear their cry and you answer
by opening our eyes, and breaking our hearts
and loosening our tongues to insist:

No más. No more.

Prayer obtained from Catholic Relief Services at:
Prayer to an End to Human Trafficking