Activists participate in a rally in late September to protect the Affordable Care Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (CNS/Aaron P. Bernstein, Reuters)
January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the United States. Since 2010, January has been dedicated to raising awareness and preventing the devastating realities of human trafficking.
This month, we asked our panelists: What does your community do to address the issue of trafficking and exploitation, particularly of vulnerable women and children?
Their responses, rooted in their congregational charisms, offer hope, healing and advocacy to those affected by this profound injustice.
Anthonia O. Uche, a Nigerian, is a member of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus. With a strong academic background in education, languages, refugee studies and psycho-spiritual counseling, she lives and works in Nigeria. Her diverse ministry experience includes roles as a French teacher, school administrator at both primary and secondary levels, and university lecturer. Currently, she serves as a counselor at Veritas University in Abuja. She is also involved in parish ministry and women's rights advocacy, and has served on a provincial leadership team within her congregation.
One morning, Ada (not her real name), a cleaner at a private health facility in Uyo, Nigeria, announced her imminent resignation to her co-workers. Euphoric, she shared that she had been offered a higher-paying job as a caterer in a neighboring country. A widow in her 30s with only a basic education and four children, the prospect of earning her annual salary each month at the new job, along with other promised benefits, seemed too good to turn down.
However, her more savvy friends suspected a trap linked to human trafficking — a global scourge involving the exploitation of vulnerable individuals for profit. Human traffickers, often operating through faceless cartels, use deception to lure victims into dangerous situations, where they are stripped of their rights and subjected to forced labor, sexual exploitation, and other abuses. Thanks to her friends' vigilance, Ada avoided a potentially horrific fate.
