HERE’S WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
Last night, as over 70,000 people cheered for their favorite team in Houston’s NRG Stadium and 100 million more tuned to the live broadcast of the Super Bowl, a special task force — including volunteers, police officers and even taxi drivers — swept Houston’s busy streets and airports looking for signs of human trafficking.
They were searching for girls under 18, who seemed scared or nervous, were ill-dressed, and whose actions were controlled by someone else. Whether you knew it or not, in the 21st century, human trafficking is not only real, but also a thriving industry. According to the FBI, it is “believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world.”
One organization is taking the fight against human trafficking to the very heart of the sex industry. This past January, World Help Vice President Noel Yeatts travelled to Pattaya, Thailand to dedicate a home to help women break free of the sex industry. The home will provide women with a safe place to live, a fully-funded education, and meals — all in the environment of a loving community.
“Freedom begins with the power of choice,” said Yeatts. “And there is no greater catalyst to freedom than education. If these women are given the opportunity to learn — something they have been deprived of most of their lives — they’ll find that the door to a hope-filled future. We rescue them by providing opportunity for them.”
You can read about Noe’s trip to Thailand here, where she shares the incredible story of how a young women found freedom from the sex industry and became a believer.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN PRAY
One of the first passages of the Old Testament Jesus read in Luke was about freedom. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” read Jesus from the scroll of Isaiah to the assembled crowd in Nazareth’s synagogue. By reading this specific portion of Scripture at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was announcing what his work was about: setting the oppressed free.
From the streets of Pattaya, Thailand, to the brick kilns in India and Bangladesh, and even the local massage places in your neighborhood, men, women, and children live without freedom. Modern slavery is still a problem today. Pray for those living under oppression today — that they might find freedom and hope. Pray also for the NGOs and the law enforcement working toward rescuing people trapped in bonded labor and the sex industry.
HERE’S THE GOOD YOU CAN DO TODAY
Consider supporting World Help’s work in Thailand to free women from the sex industry. Once opened, the home will help women find a new life, away from the streets. They will be able to begin afresh, and choose what kind of life they want to live.
