A quarter of Cambodia’s physical or sexual assault victims are under the age of 10. (Image courtesy MTI)
International (MNN) — Have you ever looked into the faces of victims of trafficking? A man, woman, or child with deep, rugged worry lines?
They’ve been beaten, broken, and they’ve lost their trust in others. They’ve done nothing to deserve the cruel treatment they face daily. But many times, the worst part is: they are sold and betrayed by loved ones.
Operation Mobilization has 55 projects around the world dedicated to helping people who have been and are trafficked. OM’s Tina Yeager reports, “Most of these projects we have around the world, the majority of them are prevention. Being able to educate these children and even provide food for them is enough to prevent them from being trafficked because, often times, a family will be forced into a situation where their child is sold in order to feed the rest of the family.”
Of course, rescue and prevention projects take a lot of money, so OM has turned to a unique and effective way to raise funds.
Each year they host a Freedom Climb, where women hike mountains throughout the world. They have walked Mt. Kilimanjaro, trekked the Everest Base Camp, and climbed Kalapathar. This summer, they will be climbing mountains in Switzerland and France.
(Photo courtesy of OM)
Each participant looks for sponsors in order to raise $10,000 for the projects. Now don’t let that amount scare you away. Yeager says women realize what a true invitation from the Lord it is and “God opens the door to so many opportunities and blesses that incredibly. What seems like a very difficult amount to raise becomes easier as the Lord guides every step of the way.”
The $10,000 that each woman raises saves thousands of lives, explains Yeager.
And it’s not physical rescue but spiritual as well. The programs share the Word of God with each person rescued from slavery. Yeager says, “In all of our projects around the world, hearing the Gospel is primary. All the rest of the issues that come with that are truly secondary because we can do everything in the world for them, but if they don’t know Jesus, they’re not going to be free anyway.”
According to Force 4 Compassion, about 136 people are sold into slavery every hour. Time is ticking away. Can you help? To find out the rest of the details on how you can join the Freedom Climb,click here. You can make a difference in thousands of lives.
