How do children end up in slavery? Sometimes they are kidnapped by a stranger, sometimes the trafficker/pimp convinces them to run off with him. But, more often than not, they are sold into slavery by a family member. Why would an uncle, brother, father or mother sell a child into slavery? There are several reasons. First of all, it may be that the trafficker has lied to them about what the child will be doing. The trafficker may tell the parents that he will be taking the child to a better place where the child will be able to get an education and do some work (such as being a waitress, housekeeper, etc.). Another reason is that sometimes the family is just so desperately poor, that they feel this is the only way they may be able to survive. Perhaps if they sell this one child, the rest of their family will be able to live. This is often further encouraged by the fact that it is common in some cultures to sell children to traffickers, so it doesn't have the same social stigma as it would have in the West. (To read a bit more, see here, here and here.)
So today, let's pray for those family members who may be considering selling their children.
- Pray that despite their culture, parents would care for their children so much that they would not think of selling them, even to provide food for their family.
- Pray that in some way they would be able to get the money and food that they need so they would have no need to sell their children.
- Pray that the families would have discernment and would be able to see through the traffickers' lies to know what the true situation is.
- Pray for more organizations to treat the underlying cause of families selling their children rather than only rescuing children from slavery.
- Pray for people to advocate for these children, as the families usually have little to no influence in the community and no way to rescue their children once they realize the situation.
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