I just returned from visiting three cities across India in ten days with a team from my church community here in San Diego in partnership with Justice Ventures International, on whose board I serve. Putting into words all that we saw and experienced is extraordinarily difficult — in each city we visited, each day felt packed with a week, and the overall impression was a sort of “everything all at once.”

In this series of posts, I’ll share a bit about what we did, but more importantly, highlight people and organizations on the ground who refuse to be overwhelmed by the evil of slavery and human trafficking but, rather, hold fast to hope and continue to fight on behalf of those being crushed under the weight of sin.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”


Stop the Trafficking

India has the highest rate of internal human trafficking — the movement of persons from one place to another by force or deception for the purpose of exploiting the victims. Trafficking victims are exploited sexually, enslaved, and forced into bonded labor. I veer between rage and breaking down when I consider that two hundred girls and women are forced into the sex trade in India every single day.


Fight the Good Fight

This kind of sin & brokenness might be enough to shut most people down, but God is faithful to raise up people to join Him in the hard work of redemption. Organizations like Courage Homes and Freeset incarnate the hope we have in Christ, even in the darkest times, and live out the truth that God has not given up on the world.

May God give us courage to join Christ’s work of redemption — both near and far away — under the guidance, strength, and leadership of the Holy Spirit.