Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Numbers.

Some estimates are that there are 1.2 million children trafficked every year. 600,000 of those are girls, average age 13, that end up as child prostitutes.

But those are just numbers.

Numbers are not afraid to cry during the rape sessions, numbers are not afraid of the beatings they will get
if they do. Numbers don't get addicted to the heroin force fed them to keep them docile, to break their will, to keep them coming back. Numbers do not have their virginity sold to the highest bidder, or have their "virginity" resold and resold and resold to the highest bidder after a surgery to "restore" that virginity. Numbers are not fed animal hormones to make them look healthy when the ravages of rape and the filth of light-less existence begin to atrophy their bodies. Numbers don't get Aids. Numbers don't get thrown out of a brothel when they do.

But children, 3200 hundred a day, 135 an hour,
2 every minute, do. They lose their childhood, their hope, their sense of justice, their will to live. What if it were your child? What if it were your little sister? I bet she has a name, bet she's not a number to you. Numbers get filed in folders, in file cabinets, between other files, and are forgotten. But you'll never forget her.

These are the real life stories of the victims of human trafficking from The Polaris Project. Their stories are unforgettable, they are the daughters, the baby sisters, the children those numbers represent, they are the statistics that suffer the most depraved of injustices. Please read their stories. Please imagine their words are your own child's, your own sisters words. Please do whatever you would do for your own child for these children. Because until we fight for them with that same passion, that same relentless resolve, they are just a number to us. And numbers have a way of being rounded down, subtracted, erased, and lost forever.


Child Prostitute in India.


6 comments:

  1. I'm going to share this, if thats okay.

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  2. Thank You Rebecca. Of course, any time.

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  3. Mark, thank you for this wonderful information! It breaks my heart that so many people are oblivious to number of children that have been sold, abducted and are victims of horrible abuse! I just formed a company called Blue Whale Coffee. All the profits are donated to rescue homes.

    I would like to link your blog and use your videos as education if it's okay. If you could let me know where you acquired the images that would be great. They are thought provoking and real. Just what this world needs. Images to wake them up to this horror.

    Thanks so much! You can email me at bluewhalecoffee@zoho.com or visit my website www.bluewhalecoffee.com and submit a contact request that way too.

    Respectfully,
    Kimberly Peterson

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  4. Kimberly! Thank you so much for your passion and kind words. The images are from the web. The video we made with footage and stock images from the web. I am leaving for India in 3 and a half weeks and will have many more images first hand and videos too I hope. Please use whatever you can to help stop the injustice of children!

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  5. Dear All,

    just came back from mumbai, still shocked about powerty and especially when looking at these kids.

    God bless them

    Ezter

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    1. God bless you too Ezter. Children are the most precious thing on the planet. Thank you for loving them.

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