“He chose me.”
Every teenage girl dreams to say those three words about the man she loves. Out of all the beautiful girls in the world, he looked at me and saw something special. He chose me. Part of our natural, human desire for love is also the desire to be chosen, to be intentionally sought out and pursued.
But as love has become a disastrously broken idea in our world today, it can also be dangerous to be chosen.
Can you recognize the danger signs of trafficking?
“He chose me.”
Every teenage girl dreams to say those three words about the man she loves. Out of all the beautiful girls in the world, he looked at me and saw something special. He chose me. Part of our natural, human desire for love is also the desire to be chosen, to be intentionally sought out and pursued.
But as love has become a disastrously broken idea in our world today, it can also be dangerous to be chosen.
When it comes to sex trafficking, being chosen is more than a warning sign—it’s a death sentence. Every year, hundreds of girls in our classrooms and neighborhoods are tricked and coerced into sexual slavery. Once they’re in, their lifespan can last as long as seven years unless they are able to escape. The goal in activating rescue and raising awareness isn’t only to save these girls from the painful trauma they have undergone, but literally to save their lives.
Shared Hope International, a leading organization in rescue, prevention and awareness training across the globe, has recently released a new program designed to do just that. The 20-minute documentary tells the story of two girls, Lacy and Brianna, who were living the life of “typical” American girl. They came from loving homes, worked hard in school and were involved in extra-curricular activities. Yet both of them eventually fell prey to the manipulation and exploitation of pimps. They were vulnerable. They were “chosen.”
Liz Alston, the Awareness Resources Manager for Shared Hope International, describes the difficulty of creating a documentary that “takes a sexual topic, while making it engaging and interesting to teens without being explicit or inappropriate.” The video includes the girls’ own versions of their true stories, along with interviews with local law enforcement. It ends with “Four Ways to Take Action,” a summary of danger signs to look for and steps to take if either the teen or her friend finds herself in the same vulnerable situation. The entire training kit comes with many more resources as well, such as pre-assembled Power Points, handouts, takeaway cards and discussion guides, geared separately at middle school, high school and adults.
Last week I attended a training event for churches and schools in the Portland area that included the Chosen documentary. Teachers and staff were introduced to Chosen, along with more information about the prevalence of human trafficking, warning signs to look for and resources available to help their students. The documentary prompted many questions about human trafficking and the most appropriate ways to educate students and parents on the issue. How young is too young to learn about trafficking? How can we teach students to be safe without giving them an unnecessary level of fear? Where are the parents while this is going on?
Cathy Shannon, the Director of Child Protection/Victim Assistance for the Archdiocese of Portland, holds these gatherings every year for teachers, trainers and ministers who advocate for the protection of children within their parishes and schools. For several years, she had been looking for a teenage-level prevention program that deals specifically with the issue of sex trafficking. When Chosen was brought to her attention this year, she knew it was “exactly what they were looking for.”
“It was designed to be for teens, so it was age appropriate,” Shannon commented. “It gave students a way of identifying what the warning signs were…and how to help their friends or family members who might be caught in a trafficking situation.” Shannon also added that she appreciated the Northwest setting of the documentary.
“It brought it home to our people right here,” she explained. “People think it only happens in big towns, but they don’t think about the fact that girls in small towns might be trafficked and moved to big towns where the demand is.”
Two, often-heard questions, when talking about human trafficking are, “How do they get into that in the first place?” and “Why don’t they just leave?” Chosen answers both of these questions, showing the slippery slope of gifts, flattery and emotional control that pimps use in a manipulative process known as “grooming.” It also discusses the threats, violence and other obstacles that make the girl feel trapped once she’s “in.” At one point in the film, they quote an ex-pimp saying, “It’s impossible to protect all girls from guys like I was, because that’s what we do. We eat, drink and sleep, thinking of ways to trick young girls into doing what we want them to do.” Shared Hope’s mission in creating this film is to educate youth and make them aware of the warning signs in both their lives, and the lives of their friends. Their goal is to prove him wrong.
The Chosen training package, released in May of this year, is still available. Please consider ordering a copy and presenting it to your friends, coworkers, youth group or Bible study this fall.
“I wanted our staff, parents and students to be aware of this,” Shannon emphasized. “It really fit all of those needs. We’re just delighted that something was so well done and was ready to go. “
