I have a question.
When will we defeat this present darkness of social injustice that blankets our world in such unbearable misery?
Friday night I was walking out of one of the lecture halls after one of my classes ended. Me and six of my peers had just walked out the door into the cold winter night when four armed men started yelling at us. They pointed their guns at us and shouted "Get on your knees! Get on your knees NOW!". After recovering from a dizzying moment of shock and confusion I realized I needed to obey their orders. But I realized to slowly. After a moment of clarity I was shoved to the ground by one of these men. I was shocked to see they were dressed in camo...they looked like soldiers. After we were all on our knees these men forced us to put on bandanas. I knew what was going on. This was a classic sceanario of human trafficking.
As if I were reading it straight from a book on child soldiers...the night unfolded into my worst nightmare, something I never imagined would happen to me. "Why God?..why?!?!" I kept asking. After being blindfolded we were all poked and prodded by their guns and shoved into the back of a van. The confusion was was almost incapacitating. As soon as we were in the van I grabbed the arm of my whimpering friend, asking who it was I was grabbing ahold of. I didn't dare take that blindfold off. It was Marina...sweet,caring Marina. Scared out of her mind. But as soon as I started whispering to her, what sounded like the head soldier in charge yelled at me, saying "shut up or I'll shoot you!!!". The rest of the van ride was filled with a terrifying silence, except for the continuing jeering remarks from the soldiers. The ride was bumpy and uncomfortable but it was a cake walk compared to the hell we had to endure next....
The van soon came to an abrupt hault. And the seven of us were this time forced to exit the van. Still blindfolded and utterly confused. It's difficult to even begin to describe what happened next.
We were standing in some kind of open feild, I got the tinest bit of a peek from behind my blindfold. We were then all shoved to our knees and found oursleves sitting in mud. All of a sudden there was a blood curdiling scream, but it wasn't from any of the girls in our group. I recognized the voice. It was one of our DTS leaders, Megan. She was screaming
"no!...no..please NO!!! Don't shoot!...no please NO!!!!"
Then I heard the shot of a gun...and complete silence.
As soon as the silence came, it was gone. Replaced with the cheering from the blood thirsty soldiers lips. "You're one of us now! Welcome to the club."
"Oh my God." I begun to realize exactly what was going on. They were recruiting us as soldiers of their rebel army. I am going to die.
I frantically prayed to God begging Him "Please God! Please end this! Don't let them chose me! Don't let them even notice me!"
It seemed as soon as I prayed that prayer there was already a soldier picking me up, forcing me to my feet.
I was the next victim.
I resisted at first but then realized I didn't stand a chance. I succumbed to the soldiers grip on me and followed after him. I was led to the center of the feild and there the screaming started again. "NO!!! NOOO!! please no! Don't shoot me!! noooo!!!" These cries from whatever innocent girl was up next sent chills down my spine. One of soldiers then put a gun in my hand. I instantly had the reflex to elbow him in the stomach. I refused to hold it. Once I started to resist he started yelling at me. Forcing it into my arms, coaxing my fingers over the trigger. I still couldn't do. He screamed in my ear with the ferocity of a lion. "SHOOT!!! SHOOT HER NOW!!! Shoot her or I will kill both of you!!!!!! SHOOT!!!"
I still resisted. They were sick of playing games. Another soldier came behind me and held a gun to the back of my head. Thats when I knew it was time to give up. I had lost this battle. The poor girl screamed out in despersation one last time....and then I pulled the trigger. They patted me on the back and said "YEAH! Welcome to the club!"
I couldn't think. I couldn't feel. What. Just. Happened....

Now this reall did happen on Friday night. Although it was a pretend sceanario used to teach me and my classmates about human trafficking. It was acted out by our DTS staff members and we really did go through all of that. It was beyond difficult to go through, but incredibly eye opening. Oh and I got the idea to write this is story form from a girl named Kristi in my class by the way.

Alright so now here are some things you need to know.
Real facts everybody.

There are more slaves in the world today then there were during the times of the African slave trade.
-27 Million people in the world are living in some form of slavery.
-Human Trafficking is the 2nd largest criminal industry in the entire world.
and it's a 39 billion dollar industry.
-4 Million of them are sex slaves,
- One million of those are children.
- 70% of Russian orphans are trafficked.
-Almost all internet porn with the exception of Playboy, is actually trafficked women. Women forced to do it.
-Nearly 200,000 people lived enslaved at this moment in the U.S. and an additional 17,500 new victims are trafficked across our borders each year.
-50% in the U.S. is sex trade, the other half is trafficked into forced labor.
This is slavery....

You WILL be hearing more about this later.....