July 13, 2005

Human Sex Trade in Moldova

Heather Manning, a member of the Mission to Moldova blog, has written a post this morning about human trafficking in Moldova.

Manning writes:

There are many different methods used to capture girls. Some are tricked by the promise of work in other country, many are sold by friends or family members, and some are kidnapped in the night. 26% of the girls sold into prostitution are sold by a friend, 31 % by an aquaintance, 37% by a stranger, and 1% by a family member. MSNBC did an investigation on this problem, talking to the girls who were sold into this horrible life. Please use caution in sharing this with your children. The realities of life for these girls is painful, but I do encourage you to read because this is the life that many of the girls we work with are facing.

Words alone can't be used to describe the harsh reality that these girls face if they are trafficked into prostitution (essentially it's slavery). As I've said before, 7 out of 10 girls who are in an orphanage in Moldova end up being forced into this form of slavery.

Part of our mission while over there next week is to talk to these girls and educate them. Even if our efforts save just one girl from getting caught in this web, we will have accomplished something...but let's hope we can do much more.

Go read the entire post, and also visit the MSNBC website on human trafficking.

Update: The Falesti Team (who are visiting a different orphanage...mainly for younger children) have just posted their first blog update from Moldova.

Comments:

Please Note! Failure to abide by the following may result in your comments being edited or deleted: Remain on topic. Foul language and/or personal attacks are not permitted. Excessive links (more than three per thread) must be approved first. If you do include a link in your comment, make sure it is a short link (go to tinyurl.com if it is too long). Try to keep comments to 125 words or less. Thank you.

Nashville, Tn World Relief has just recieved its first grant to assist victims of human trafficking that are coming into the Nashville Area.Who in our Community is assisting them. They could use the help.
2ndly: As much as I am greatful to the young men and women who are partaking to the group to
Moldava. I think it is imperative that they be
described as a Christian Group. My only issue with them is this: Are they trying to convert them too?
jane

Posted by: Jane at July 13, 2005 04:15 PM

would there be a problem with showing God's love to them? they are after all a christian group and we all know that christians can be some of the best humanitarians in the world.

Posted by: Bob at July 13, 2005 05:12 PM

Moldova is 98% Eastern Orthodox so they don't need to witnessed to...or do they? Do Eastern Orthodox need to be witnessed to or are they sufficiently Christian?

Posted by: A. C. Kleinheider at July 13, 2005 05:52 PM

Thank you for going and being pro active and doing something about this horrific crime of human trafficking.

You're doing the right thing.
Thank you, Blake. Be safe.
Hugs,
Sharon

Posted by: Sharon Cobb at July 14, 2005 02:32 AM