Emily Parker spoke with editor Peter Stanley about what slavery looks like today and what is being done to bring an end to it.



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They were rescuing some people from a brick kiln. It was in extreme slave conditions, the way they were treating the people. What they came against was the community that were buying into the brick kilns. They started whipping up a crowd and it got to the point where rather than just being academically safe in a court, they were out there in the brick kilns and cars, with their lives put at risk. It's a real story of heroism, going back to rescue people, and it's quite a page turner.

That's what I like, that some people will do very simple things like get involved in campaigns at home, but there are also other people out there that are right on the edge. It inspired me because James is very self-effacing and he doesn't make a thing of what he does. It was his integrity and his Christian faith that put him right on the front line and I thought that was so inspiring.

That is the good thing about our faith, isn't it? It's not all don't do this, don't do that, rules and regs, it's actually inspires us.

Fighting Slavery: Faith In Action

Emily: If William Wilberforce made a change hundreds of years ago in the law, in order to abolish the transatlantic slave trade, what needs to happen in the world today to see trafficking abolished?

Peter: It's sad isn't it that slavery continues 200 years later? It would be easy to say, "Oh well, what can we do?" I think that there's a lot that we can do.

Two hundred years ago it was in wooden sailing ships and it was on plantations, but now traffickers will communicate through social networks and entice people through job adverts. We can use the same tools though. We can campaign, like the chocolate campaigns that have now resulted in a lot of the major chocolate companies going Fair Trade, as a way to try to improve the conditions of people out in Africa and elsewhere.

We can map where some of the illegal brothels might be, purely by looking in the newspapers and social media and we can carry the message, 'Stop the Traffic' in advertising. Certainly people in their 20's and 30's have got a tremendous heart for both justice and creativity. They can be inspired by using social media and by putting songs on YouTube. They can encourage other people by having meetings together, whether it's a worship meeting, or going out on the streets to look around and to map things.

We move with the times and we can use modern methods to be able to come against it. As slavery is a worldwide thing, the good thing about social media is that we can communicate worldwide, so we can be in touch with people in the Philippines, Australia, or Canada and we can encourage people. We can get books out on Amazon and places like that so that people can read things and we are not limited in our own little area. So there's a lot that can be done.

Emily: What does freedom look like?

Peter: Freedom is what we all have a right to. It's a basic human right to be able to choose what we want to do; to be able to live without the fear of someone beating us up, or taking our passport and documents away so we can't escape. Freedom is having a sense of hope that I can make something out of my life.

Emily: For those who have been trafficked, where can hope be found?

Peter: Hope can be found in finding someone who cares for them. When you have been trafficked, the first thing that goes is your trust in your fellow person, because you will have been let down and lied to; you would have been manipulated and controlled. So you end up not being able to trust anybody or have any hope at all. Those organisations that are providing safe homes and rescue, it takes them a long time of counselling, physical help and safety before those damaged hearts can begin to start to believe again.

The thing I would stress and it's the message of the book, is that the ultimate source of hope is in Jesus Christ. It's in the Christian faith, where we know that no pit is too deep and that motivates us to be able to help people and to go where we know Jesus would go and that's the most wonderful encouragement and it gives us enthusiasm to do that ourselves.

Emily: In the book justice is one of many important messages seen in each person's account. Why is persistence in seeking justice important?