Focus on Faith: Saving children from the sex trade

 By: Melissa Riopka
Email: mriopka@waaytv.com

Huntsville, AL -- The United Nations defines human trafficking as the "act of recruiting, transporting, transfering, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them." These words, while accurate, do little to portray the true horror of the practice that involves an estimated 2.5 million victims around the world. Tommy Oakley, a student at UA-Huntsville who recently returned from a mission trip to Cambodia, says, "nothing could have prepared me for the stories, the depravity of the human condition."

Oakley was part of a team of 20 Americans and Canadians who traveled to Poi Pet, Cambodia to spend two weeks with a Christian ministry called Compassion Acts. While there, the team worked alongside the Cambodian Hope Organization, which rescues children from the sex trade. Michelle Laverty, also of Huntsville, was another team member. She says the selling of children there is the result of the country's extreme poverty. "You know, if you can't feed three of your children, but if you sell one of them, the other two can get fed, that's what the parents will do," she says.

While some parents know what kind of future they're consigning their children to, most have no idea. They're told their sons and daughters are going to work at hotels and other businesses in the larger cities. Instead, Laverty says, "the girls can go in to the brothels or the karaoke clubs or else they're sent further into Thailand where people actually go on vacation... basically, it's a pedophile's holiday."

Extricating the children is extremely difficult, but some do escape thanks to groups like Cambodian Hope Organization, which provides them with a safe home and an education. The children learn trades like wood-working and sewing, giving them the skills needed to one day earn a living. More importantly, according to Oakley and Laverty, they are treated like children should be, cared for and loved.

While in Cambodia, the mission team built a playground for them to enjoy. Oakley says, "it's just somewhere where the children go to have fun. It's a release from their worries and fears, somewhere where they can dream, and it's a step on the road to recovery for them." To learn more about Cambodian Hope Organization, click here. More information about Compassion Acts can be found here.