ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Millions of people are living in slavery around our world today.
Men, women, and children are forced to work into industries such as:
agriculture
commercial sex
construction and landscaping
domestic labor
factories and manufacturing
restaurants and hospitality
Slavery is everywhere. It’s in our closets, cupboards, and kitchens.
It’s in our neighborhoods and around the globe.
We believe slavery is a symptom of a deeper problem: our brokenness.
Injustice emerges from fragmented relationships, divided communities, unjust systems, and distorted cultural values. Slavery and human trafficking are the by-products of poverty, racism, sexism and gender-based violence, abuse, civil war, addictions, and more.
Ending slavery means we must transform people and communities from the inside out.
More than 60% of commercially sexually exploited youth in the US spent time in foster care at some point.
People living in poverty or battling unemployment are at risk of being abused, exploited, or trafficked.
Ending slavery means we must transform people and communities from the inside out.
We need to address the root causes of exploitation. This means we must heal brokenness at all levels: relationships, communities, and systems.
We seek holistic freedom
We strive to build healthy communities with zero tolerance for exploitation, where people can experience holistic freedom: not just freedom from injustice, but freedom for a greater purpose. Our vision is not only to seek justice, put to pursue shalom.
How we engage is as important as what we do.
We start by forming community teams who come together to pray, learn about the issue, dialogue, build relationships, partner with others, and eventually form a context-specific, community-informed strategy to address the root causes of slavery in their own neighborhood.
!["What began with resistance has turned into a propelling passion in my life." Camille Pook writes about her work with Set Free in Seattle.
"I started with foster ministries at First Free Methodist Church in Seattle, WA, reluctantly filling in for a volunteer who was sick. 'Lord, I know this is something I should do but I’m tired and don’t feel like giving up another night.' My heart was not in it at all. Still, I showed up to our foster family support group duty-bound and was immediately confronted by energetic chaos. It was both messier and noisier than any church program I had ever experienced, but I saw moments of true connection over bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup, tearful roundtable discussions with foster parents, crazy obstacle courses in the gym, and completing a Star Wars puzzle with a particularly anxious child. “Ms. Camille, will you come back next time?” That night God took my reluctant obedience and sparked a deep love in me for the fostering community."
"As a Set Free Team, we focus our energies on foster ministries in response to the staggering statistic that close to 80% of minors caught in the sex trade in the greater Seattle area have been in the child welfare system at some point in their lives. Clearly, this is a system in need of restoration... [Read full blog - Link in bio]](https://www.setfreemovement.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
