Sometimes when we talk to kids about issues going on in the world, like I wrote about on Monday with my stepson and the visiting priest from Africa who needs money for his church, it is hard for them to understand what we mean by freedom–especially if they live in a free country like the United States. It’s hard for them to imagine that there are places where children don’t have the freedom to go to school or church or the doctor when they are sick. Young children, especially, need concrete examples of what freedom means, especially if they are taking part in any type of donation activity (like collecting pennies for an organization like Loose Change to Loosen Chains).
This book, This is the Dream written by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander and illustrated by James Ransome, is a great picture book that can illustrate the concept of freedom. What I especially like about this bright and colorful book is the way it shows the United States before the Civil Rights movement, then some of the Civil Rights leaders, and then the way the country is now–with freedom for everyone. In the year 2010, the fact that black people used to drink from a separate fountain or ride at the back of the bus might be particularly shocking for our children since less than 50 years later, our president is black.
Here are a few verses from this great book:
“These are the fountains that stand in the square, and the black-and-white signs say who will drink there.”
“These are the leaders whose powerful voices lift up marchers demanding new choices.”
“This is the fountain that stands in the square and the unwritten rule is to take turns and share.”
Love it!!
In order for children to understand what it looks like when there’s not freedom and what it looks like when there is, you can use a picture book like This is the Dream by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander. Then you can explain to them how around the world in the 21st century, there are still people living without freedom, and we are collecting pennies to try and help them. The Civil Rights leaders helped in the United States, and now it’s our turn!
A boy named Zach Hunter was 12 years old and a seventh grader when he learned in school that slavery still exists in modern day times. He was horrified as he learned more about the situation around the world and formed a group called: Loose Change to Loosen Chains (nicknamed LC2LC). In his first year, he raised $8,500. It’s now 7 years later, and this organization has gone crazy! The International Justice Mission, which I’ve talked about on this blog before, now has the LC2LC program as part of their anti-slavery movement.
According to Real Simple magazine, there’s $10.5 billion in loose change lying around American households. Like it says on the International Justice Mission website, “Imagine what you could do if you were to collect even just a fraction of this amount and use it for a good cause!” Loose Change to Loosen Chains has collected a fraction, and they are fighting human trafficking with it.
So, a seventh-grader, Zach Hunter, started this; and in 2007, when he was in high school, he presented to the White House a petition with over 100,000 signatures on it to encourage politicians to do more to stop trafficking. He wrote a book: Be the Change: Your Guide To Ending Slavery and Changing the World. He speaks to schools and church groups across the country about trafficking. If one person can do all of this, think about what 10 or 20 motivated modern-day abolitionists can do.
If Loose Change 2 Loosen Chains sounds like something you are interested in for your youth group, family, classroom, or community group, then go here to order materials. You will get a kit and information that will help you get started collecting loose change in your community to stop slavery and human trafficking today!
I first learned about The International Justice Mission when I attended a human trafficking awareness night on the University of Illinois campus. A young man who had interned with IJM shared his horrifying stories from the field–stories of girls as young as TWO YEARS OLD in brothels. After listening to him–someone who had been on the front line–I knew I had to check out IJM and what they offered for victims of human trafficking. What I like about IJM is that they are raiding and shutting down brothels, but they are also fighting for stricter laws against human trafficking agents and brothel owners, against corrupt police, and against kidnappers. Some countries have laws where these people are barely punished for their crimes or as we saw in Rath’s story yesterday, the wrong people (the slaves) are being punished.
According to the IJM website, this organization was founded by Gary Haugen, who was working as a lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice and as the United Nations’ Investigator in Charge in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Today, IJM has over 300 professionals working in their own communities to fight injustice. These professionals “confront aggressive human violence: violence that strips widows and orphans of their property and livelihoods, violence that steals dignity and health from children trafficked into forced prostitution, violence that denies freedom and security to families trapped in slavery.”
If you want to help these professionals fight for human rights and help girls like Rath, then you can donate money to their cause–you can give a one time gift or a monthly donation. It is simple to do–right from their website. If you don’t have a lot of money or your school would like to do something to help IJM, you can always do a penny drive. Ask people to bring in their pennies and loose change for a period of time, and then donate this money to IJM. Whatever you can give helps.
But not everyone has extra money–especially in today’s economy, so another way you can help is to tell other people about IJM. You can also pray for the professionals that are working in the field and for the victims they are working to protect. IJM also has student ministries, so if you work with children or teens or if you want to do something in your own home, you can! And IJM helps you with this. They also provide resources for churches. Just spreading the word and talking about the problem and resources available can help stop human trafficking.
If you are interested in the t-shirt pictured above, you can purchase these from the IJM website. Thanks for listening!
