Despite its status as a multi-billion dollar industry, there is not a lot of obtainable information or education on what human trafficking really is.
This week, a small group of Christian students sponsored by the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is trying to shed light on the brutal and untold truth of this global underground trade. Slavery Still Exists Week, May 12-16, aims to show students on campus how slavery was not abolished long ago, but rather still exists in the form of human trafficking.

University junior and philosophy major Huston Hedinger, one of the key players in organizing the event, came up with the idea when he was talking with some friends.
“One of the biggest reasons that I wanted to put this event together was because of my faith,” said Hedinger. “My friends and I don’t just talk about following Jesus and doing things for the poor, we actually try and do them.”
The human trafficking industry revolves around forcing primarily women and children in poor, developing nations to work in the sex or labor trades. According to the non-profit anti-trafficking organization Transitions Cambodia, more than a million people are trafficked globally every year, and hundreds of thousands of girls and young women are forced into the sex trade annually. Southeast Asia is one of the hardest-hit areas in the human trafficking ring but the industry flourishes all over the world, according to Transitions Cambodia.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff member Joel Martin, an organizer of Slavery Still Exists Week, said the broad subject of global trafficking is often misunderstood.
“People think that it’s indentured servitude or being forced into working in sweatshops, but it does include forced prostitution and any sort of work that people don’t choose to do,” Martin said.
Alisha Bachelder, a freshman double-majoring in international studies and family and human services, helped advertise and work with many other local Christian groups to get involved.
“Before we started preparing for this week, I didn’t really know anything about global trafficking,” Bachelder explained. “I’d heard about sweatshop workers and prostitution but I had no idea how forced it actually is and how much trafficking is going on.”
Slavery Still Exists Week features noted speakers that will present at 7 p.m. tonight and tomorrow in 177 Lawrence.
Tonight, James Pond of Transitions Cambodia, along with Brian Cress, a representative from International Justice Mission, will speak about the global sex trade. On Thursday evening, Bill Hillar, an adjunct professor who has taught courses on human trafficking and other social issues, will share why he has devoted his life to ending human trafficking. These events intertwine with silent marches on campus and representatives from campus organizations who will hand out fliers outside of the EMU.
Hedinger is hoping to make this an annual event – in fact, the EMU Ballroom has already been reserved for next year.
“If we’re ever going to look back on human history and see no slavery, it’s not going to be because people were scared to act, it’s going to be about creating politically and globally aware citizens in order to shift the power,” Hedinger said.
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