There are many ways to fight the injustice of human trafficking, and when we link arms and pool our resources, we greatly multiply our efforts. This is not a battle meant for one person to fight alone, but as many individuals around the world coming together as ONE, we can join our forces and stand for justice. Together we can make a difference.

Read more at http://www.thea21campaign.org

Did you know…

The most recent estimate is that there are approximately 145 million orphans in the world (UNICEF 2008). For this number, an orphan is defined as a child who has lost one or both parents.

• More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, over 11.6 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.
• In 2007 67.5 million Children in South Asia and East Asia had lost one or both parents due to all causes.
• The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include abandonment (millions of children) as well as sold and/or trafficked children.
• In the US there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care (Based on data submitted by states as of January 16, 2008)
• 130,000 of those children in foster care are waiting and available for adoption. Children waiting to be adopted include children with a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated.
• Approximately 51,000 children are adopted from the foster system each year
• That leaves 79,000 children annually in the US needing an adoptive family.

(statistics courtesy of The Abba Fund Blog)

Do these statistics frustrate you? Do they overwhelm you? Or do they make you feel like there is nothing you can do?

Know that there is hope! GOD has called us all to care for the orphan. As Steven Curtis Chapman said, “If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world. We can each do something, whether it is donating, adopting, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans or supporting families that have taken in orphans.”

Read more at http://the127call.org

There are many organizations helping in various way, Compassion International is one of them. Take action today!

Excerpt from Compassion’s Blog:

Jozue told me that on the day of the quake his wife was getting ready to wash their two little girls. Their water is outside, like a backyard spigot, and when mom went out to get the water one of the girls saw her go out and began to follow. Then the second one followed.

Mom saw the girls coming out of the house and said “Get back inside.”

But the girl said “No!”

“I said go back inside!”

But the girl stomped her foot and insisted, “No!”

That happened a third time and then mom gathered her girls and began to bring them back into the house. And that’s when everything started moving side to side and the house collapsed along with both of their neighbors’ houses.

At that time, Jozue had just left the Compassion office, and the drive, which normally takes 30 minutes, took more than six hours.

He described driving past the collapsed buildings and houses and seeing dead people and hearing crying and frantically trying to make his way home to his family.

He had a friend with him who told him, “God is in control. If He wants them alive, they are alive. If He wants them dead, they are dead.”

Jozue maintained his strength and arrived at the scene of his collapsed house after 11 p.m. He searched with a flashlight and could not find them…

Read more – http://blog.compassion.com/life-in-haiti-after-the-earthquake-living-by-faith/

Trafficking children into the sex industry is done because there is a demand. Predators seek out vulnerable victims and lure them under false pretenses into situations they cannot escape from. No matter the reason, children have become sexual commodities to be bought and sold for the pleasure of exploiters. These children are scarred for life and need help – our help.

Take action by visiting Stop Child Trafficking Now.

If you know of Human Trafficking Crimes in Your Area:
For questions, referrals, resources or to report a tip in your area, please contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or email us at NHTRC@PolarisProject.org.

Statistics:

• 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. -U.S. Department of Justice
• 600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across international borders each year; 50% are children, most are female. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. – U.S. Department of State, 2004, Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington, D.C.
• An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. – U.S Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons
• An estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry – UNICEF
• The average age of an underage sex worker is 14 years old, but the FBI states children as young as 9 have been rescued. In the U.S., the average age of entry into sexual exploitation is 12 years old

The quake, which hit the island of Sumatra on 30 September, left more than 800 people dead and injured many more. Families lost everything – loved ones, homes and livelihoods.

More than 130,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed, and water supplies were affected.

Christian Aid’s partners responded immediately. One partner, Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU), was able to treat nearly a thousand patients in the immediate aftermath.

Our partners continue to distribute water, food, clothes, blankets and tents to the worst affected communities.

They are repairing water supplies and distributing education and recreation kits so that children can play and resume their education.

Listen to Arshinta, director of YEU, explain over the phone from Sumatra what the situation is on the ground and describe the logistical problems they are facing.  Listen to the audio *

More help is needed

Christian Aid urgently needs your support to help the people of Indonesia as well as those affected by disasters across Asia Pacific, including in the Philippines.

Read More at http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/indonesia-earthquake/index.aspx

The Voice of the Martyrs are dedicated to assisting the persecuted church worldwide.

1. To encourage and empower Christians to fulfill the Great Commission in areas of the world where they are persecuted for their involvement in propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ. We accomplish this by providing Bibles, literature, radio broadcasts, medical assistance, and other forms of aid.
2. To give relief to the families of Christian martyrs in these areas of the world.
3. To equip local Christians to love and win to Christ their enemies who are opposed to the gospel in countries where believers are actively persecuted for their Christian witness.
4. To undertake projects of encouragement, helping believers rebuild their lives and Christian witness in countries that have formerly suffered Communist oppression.
5. To emphasize the fellowship of all believers by informing the world of atrocities committed against Christians and by remembering their courage and faith.

In less than five years, the 14-year-old boy had lost both parents to AIDS-related illnesses. And as the conflict in war-torn northern Uganda continued to escalate, the boys were increasingly vulnerable to abduction and forced conscription into the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group known for its brutality and traumatizing tactics.

To make matters worse, community members believed the children were also HIV-positive and refused to offer shelter or care. Benson had to carry this burden alone.

With an estimated 2.2 million orphans, Uganda has more parentless children than any other nation on the continent except South Africa, according to the United Nations. Plagued by poverty, poor health, abandonment, malnourishment, and the loss of family support systems, UNICEF estimates that another 5.4 million children can be classified as highly vulnerable. In all, at least 7.6 million of Uganda’s boys and girls face a daily struggle to survive.

Read more about this story at Samaritan’s Purse

As one U.N. official put it, “The food crisis is not over. We have an anomaly happening where on global, big markets, the prices are down, but for 80 percent of commodities in the developing world, prices are higher today than they were a year ago, and the prices a year ago were double what they were the year before that.”
By U.N. estimates, this translates into 1.2 billion “urgently hungry” people – the highest number ever.

Cross International, is routinely hearing from their ministry partners, whether in Africa or the Caribbean, that food is just too expensive. The rising costs, combined with a struggling global economy, have made them more dependent than ever on our help. How can they pay more for food when they are actually earning less?

Take action by shipping containers of food to malnourished children and their families around the world. We can’t wait until tomorrow to feed a hungry family that is starving today, and that is why the call is so urgent.

Right now, Cross is working through churches, schools, and orphanages to provide daily nutritious meals in Christ’s name to the poorest of the poor, and you can be a part of it! Click here to find out how.

Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been called a threat to an entire civilization. Nations, communities, and families have lost the leaders of today and tomorrow. Healthcare systems have been overwhelmed, economies undermined, and schools robbed of both students and teachers.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the statistics—2.1 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses last year.

It’s easy to choose inaction when you feel overwhelmed by the scope of this disease.

But you can be involved. There are ways to make a difference.