Mom cries for end of child slavery, teen abolitionist promotes cause

MIAMI (FBW)—A young girl named Rita looks up, dark eyes wary, mouth unsmiling. She has few clothes and despite being 12 years old, looks no more than five. Malnourished and overworked, Rita was rescued from selling water on the streets of Niger, hundreds of miles from her village in Benin, Africa, seven years after a relative sold her into slavery.

Rita is one of an untold number of children sold into slavery each year, according to Carmen Morris, founder of Sanctuary of Moses, a non-denominational organization committed to combating child slavery.

"You looked into her eyes and all you saw was pain," Morris said of Rita. "Every time I pray I see Rita's eyes and it really touches me in terms of getting this project moving."

This year marks the 200th anniversary of British Parliament outlawing participation in the African Slave Trade. However, from labor camps in Palatka, Fla., to brothels in Cambodia, slavery still exists. Between 600,000 and 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked across national borders while millions more are bought and sold within countries, according to the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

"Once you know the truth you have to—you're compelled to—do something, to help make a difference," Morris said.

Amazing Grace, a movie chronicling the pursuit of eighteenth-century British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce who led the British Empire to abolish the slave trade, gets its name from Wilberforce's friendship with John Newton. Newton, the author of the hymn "Amazing Grace" and a former slave trader, teamed up with Wilberforce to abolish the slave trade.

Morris recounted the horrors of the "African holocaust" that occurred during the years of the transatlantic slave trade-horrors including beating, rape, "breeding," and death.

"Women and children and men were shackled and treated as subhuman, which is why the connection with the movie Amazing Grace is so great," Morris said. "Newton, who was in the slave trade, recognized—God touched his heart—recognized, this is not what you do to fellow humans and he was converted. He met the Lord like Paul did and then he was able to influence others like Wilberforce to help make a difference."

Morris, born in Kingston, Jamaica, recalled visiting the Gate of No Return in West Africa.

"I just wept because ... between the 1400s and 1800s my ancestors it's likely were shipped out of West Africa," Morris said. "And here it is we're in the 2000s and slavery still persists? There's something wrong with that."

Sanctuary of Moses dedicated a school in Benin for children who have no educational alternatives, have been trafficked or are at risk to be trafficked, Morris said. The organization is also establishing a full-service campus to include a clinic, school and chapel.

"Slavery, trafficking in children, I believe it pierces the heart of God and I really believe He wants to see us as believers do something about it," Morris told Florida Baptist Witness. "He doesn't want us to hear that this is happening and just ignore it and go about our daily lives."

Zach Hunter, 15, a member of Grace Fellowship, a non-denominational church in Atlanta, Ga., decided to do something about slavery. Three years ago, he started a fundraising campaign "Loose Change To Loosen Chains." The student-led campaign calls on youth to gather change and sell t-shirts to help abolish slavery.

"I really believe in my generation," Hunter told Florida Baptist Witness. "A lot of kids are volunteering their own time on the weekends to help other people out. And that sort of gives me hope for my generation."

Hunter also is a spokesperson for The Amazing Change, a campaign to carry on Wilberforce's vision of mercy and justice inspired by the movie Amazing Grace.

"In Isaiah 1:17, God says to learn to do right, seek justice, rescue your oppressed, defend orphans, and plead for the widow," Hunter said. "It really doesn't get much more straightforward than that, I think. It's a biblical mandate to go out there and help those who are in need and help those who are oppressed. And that's really what the campaign is based on."

The Amazing Change is circulating a petition to abolish modern-day slavery. Their goal is to gather 390,000 signatures—the same number amassed by Wilberforce in support of slavery's abolition—to present to the U.S. House and Senate as well as other global leaders.

"When they know the hurting other people are in-once they sign [the petition] and realize that they've just given their name to the cause, there's almost a visible change about them," Hunter said. "It's sort of like that cause has become their own. That's changed them from the inside out. That's a pretty cool thing to see."

The teen wrote Be the Change: Your Guide to Freeing the Slaves and Changing the World, a book to help teenagers understand the reality of slavery published by Zondervan.

The book, available in March, shares stories of people who fought for change, from historical figures such as William Wilberforce and Harriet Tubman, to contemporary examples such as Mother Teresa and Jon Foreman from the music group Switchfoot.

"Everybody's labeled," Hunter said in discussing one of his book's topics. "A lot of those labels are meant to be negative, but we can actually use those as circles of influence. Everybody has their little circle of influence and we can choose to either influence those people for the good or for the bad."

Hunter asks visitors to his blog, www.myspace.com/lc2lc, to put themselves in the shoes of one of the 27 million people currently enslaved, asking them, "What if it were you?"

"What if you had to dive down to the bottom of the river to untangle your masters' fishing nets, after your best friend had just drowned the day before doing the same thing?" Hunter continued. "What if your father had a drug addiction so he sold you into slavery to get his next high?"

Seeking justice for modern-day slaves is a way Christians can get closer to God, Hunter said.

"If you have a friend who enjoys golfing or snowboarding or something, even if you're not good at golfing or snowboarding, you still go and have that shared experience with them because it's what they like to do," Hunter said. "God loves justice. So, if you go out and seek justice with Him you're getting shared experience with Him and will get closer to Him as a result."

Morris, who became a believer at a Billy Graham Crusade in Jamaica, said those who know God's compassion and love as a Father should engage themselves in the plight of slaves—especially child slaves.

Through Sanctuary of Moses, Morris said she hopes to permanently house children who may be sold into slavery after they are rescued because they have nowhere else to go. Emphasizing the absence of "safety nets" for children, Morris said her organization is currently raising funds to eventually serve 200 to 250 children from ages four to 17 at a sanctuary village.

"Jesus said suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not," Morris said. "Time again you see in the scriptures children have a special place."

The last time Morris visited Benin she tried to see Rita. After traveling through the jungle to her remote village, Rita's parents told Morris she was away visiting an uncle. Morris said she fears Rita has been sold into slavery again.

"We have to stem the tide of this," Morris said. "We have to reach out to other children who are represented by Rita to prevent them from being trafficked themselves or prevent them from ending up dead somewhere. That is my desire. And I welcome anybody who'll want to help us to do that."

Sanctuary of Moses also works with local women through a micro loan program based on Matthew 25 to help them build their businesses so they don't feel it is financially necessary to sell their children, Morris said. In establishing the sanctuary village, Morris plans to help circulate their currency by buying food and uniforms from local people rather than shipping it from the U.S., she said.

"When I met with ... the women who are in the talent grant program in Adjohoun and looked into the faces of these women it was like me being reflected," Morris said.

Morris, a single parent, said she was on welfare for a while after she had lost her job and had surgery due to a car accident. Her experience of being in need and learning to trust God with the little she had helps her relate to the African women trying to sell their products in the marketplace, Morris said.

"As Christians we're called to serve wherever we are," Morris said. "Whatever place in life we are, we can do something because God has already given us whatever gifts we need, whatever talents we need to be of service to help with the building of the Kingdom of God. And so we're never too poor; we're never too rich to help make a difference."

Morris now owns a consulting firm that helps fund Sanctuary of Moses.

Visiting Ephesus, the site of the famous temple of Diana and the amphitheater where Paul preached, Morris said she was struck by markings Ephesian Christians carved to indicate to travelers they were passing a Christian home and they could find fellowship and food there. Morris said she looked at the markings, which were as clear as if they had been made that day and compared them to the one pillar—covered in pigeon droppings—left of Diana's temple.

"It's what we do for Christ that will last—nothing else matters," Morris said. "Once they are brought into the Sanctuary of Moses, [children] will become the markings that will remain of the love of God in this generation."

People are starving everywhere, Morris said.

"They're starving for food; they're starving for the scriptures and we owe it to God ... to be open so that what we do for Christ lasts," Morris said. "It's the fruit that remains."