Today...

Last night I went with a couple of friends to see a movie that broke my heart. We saw Not Today and it is a movie about human trafficking and one man’s quest to save one little girl from slavery. In the beginning, it seemed like a movie directed at teenagers or early 20’s, but as it goes along, your heart gets wrenched and pulled into the story of Annika (sp?) who has been sold by her father because he could not afford to take care of her.

 The Dalits of India, the group of people who are the focus of this movie, are exploited every day. Annika and her father are Dalit, and as such, are treated as less than human by the higher classes of India. It is a tragedy that this happens at all, but for an entire race, it is inhuman.

(From the website)

Working in partnership with the Dalit Freedom Network, Friends Church has made a $20 million commitment to build 200 schools for Dalit children. With education, young Dalits gain an understanding that we are all created equally and can live purpose-filled lives. According to Dr. Joseph D'souza, the International President of the Dalit Freedom Network:

"For three thousand years, one dominant religion branded more than one fourth of our nation's population as sub-human—nearly three hundred million people known by many as Dalits. Historically, any interaction between this alienated group and the mainstream has been met with harsh penalties, even violence. Separatism has been the accepted norm. It puts our nation in league with South Africa's old apartheid and some of the worst systems of slavery in the world."

I am obviously too young to have had firsthand knowledge of slavery in the United States, but in my readings and hearing stories from my grandfather, it was horrible. The things we humans do to one another in the name of greed and selfishness is beyond defensible.  There is NO reason a child should be sold as a sex slave. Yes, a sex slave, some as young as 4. I think of my family, and I have a niece who is almost the same age as the little girl in the movie and it shatters me to think of something like that happening to her.

It should shatter me to think of something like that happening anywhere, and it does. I recently read a fictional book based on human trafficking and the atrocities committed in my own country… horrify me. It does, and while I am unable to go to India at this time, maybe there is something that can be done in my own part of the world.

The ONE thing that kept rolling through my mind as I was watching is that GOD answers prayer, exactly on time (HIS time), and with exactly what we need (although it may not be exactly what we asked for). He does know all, and He sees all, and I firmly believe this type of human behavior breaks His heart.

I want to do something.

I want to free these children all over the world, but cannot do it alone.

I don’t want to forget their little faces.

http://www.nottodaythemovie.com/

See the movie. Join the cause.

Do something for those who are weak and cannot speak for themselves.

GOD loves us, more than ANYONE on earth could ever love us. Don't ever forget that, no matter where you are in your life.