In the spirit of the Matthew 25 invitation — choosing welcome and standing with people in need — the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and World Mission are collaborating to co-lead upcoming travel study seminars on the complex, interconnected issues of migration and human trafficking.
While serving as a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer (YAV), Cherokee Adams learned about the heavy toll that human trafficking exacts from women caught in its clutches.
According to a United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime 2016 Global Report, nearly 71 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and one-third are children.
Videos, recently broadcast on CNN, show the brutal torture of migrants from Sub-Saharan African nations. Men are whipped and burned, begging their families for ransom. With increasing political instability in Libya, forced labor and human trafficking are growing.
I am a Korean-American Presbyterian, but that does not define all I am.” Those were the opening lines of my seminary application essays, ordination process paperwork and grant applications. The lines came at a turning point after serving as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) in Egypt in 2003. Those applications helped me re-evaluate my 20-something years of life, and I sensed the stirrings of ministry that might look more multicultural than the boundaries of my familiar upbringing.
War has a human face. Every shadow, every line, every wrinkle is part of the story. In a recent visit to South Korea, a PC(USA) peace delegation witnessed firsthand the human face of war. The delegation visited the War & Women’s Human Rights Museum. There they watched video interviews with “comfort women” — women kidnapped or lured by the promise of jobs and forced into sexual slavery in what were known as “comfort stations” for Japanese soldiers during World War II. The women in the video spoke no English. There were English subtitles to help translate. The subtitles, though, weren’t necessary. The women’s faces said it all.
Cathy Chang and her husband, Juan Lopez, are mission co-workers in Manila, Philippines. They help global partners such as churches and nongovernmental organizations address issues of migration and human trafficking. During her visit to Grace Presbytery, Cathy spent time with members of several churches to help spread awareness of her mission work.
