The locals call the burnt-out, rotting structure, “the Anarchy Building.” What was once an apartment building has now deteriorated into a mere shell, patched together with cardboard and tin. It is infested with rodents, cockroaches and disease, and home to drug dealers, pimps, weapons merchants and a cast of other criminals.
This is the prison where Kunthy* was held against her will, drugged and violated, after being trafficked at age 14. This is the graveyard where she lost her childhood, endured serial abuse by stranger, enforced by violent pimps.
Kunthy’s story exemplifies a real horror in our world that is kept hidden, unknown, and unheard of – slavery, and it still exists. On Wednesday, UVA students along with thousands of students across the nation, will stand for 27 hours as a part of a movement called Stand for Freedom for the 27 million slaves in the world today. This symbolic movement is to show that our generation will no longer continue to allow the injustice of slavery to go unheard of.
When we hear the word slavery, most tend to think of slavery that was abolished in 1865. Slavery did not end there, however. The 27 million slaves today are significantly more than ever before. They come in the form of forced labor, bonded labor, domestic servitude, forced child labor, child soldiers, and sex trafficking.
The reality shocked me when I learned the truth about slavery two years ago at Passion, a Christian conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. At Passion, multiple non-profit organizations came and talked to 40,000-college students about the realities of modern-day slavery. One of those organizations was the International Justice Mission (IJM), which is, according to their mission statement, “a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.” Inspired by IJM’s mission, a group of UVA students, Paige Kimbel, Sarah Clark, Blake Sinyard, Zach Porter, Stephen Paul, Sarah Pak, Titus Matthews, Elizabeth Stewart, and Holly Jesensky founded an IJM chapter at the University in order to advocate for this cause on grounds and motivate other students to fight for the freedom of these slaves.
IJM at UVA has firmly established itself after only a year of being on grounds. All members are excited for the upcoming Stand for Freedom event and hope that UVA students will join in to show support for the freedom movement.
Paige Kimbel, a 4th year and the president of IJM at UVA, summarizes the mission of the movement: “Stand for Freedom is an opportunity for college students to say we will not sit by while 27 million people suffer the injustice of slavery. IJM at UVA seeks to provide opportunities for students and the community to partner in the work of ending human trafficking in our lifetime. We will continue to raise our voices and take action until we see the atrocity of slavery come to an end.”
To join the movement, go to http://www.ijm.org/stand/ and sign up to stand with your school for Freedom.