Child sacrifice or child murder

I think it was about two years ago that I learned the government of Uganda had created a special task force on child sacrifice which was becoming so prevalent in the country. It is connected with African traditional religion, its beliefs and practices. About the same time, our workers became involved in helping a little girl, about 18 months old, who had been used for ritual purposes, her eye teeth cut out of her jaw for magical purposes, then tied in a burlap sack and discarded. Someone found her while still alive, although almost drowning in her own feces. She survived, but suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of her ordeal.

In talking with our Ugandan leaders again recently, I learned that the government no longer wants to call it child sacrifice. Instead, they want to call it child murder.

Immediately I thought of the victim we are helping. The intention was clearly that she would die in the bag, but she didn't die, so it was not a child murder. It could have been considered attempted murder.

But to describe it as child murder skirts around the whole reason and motive for the crime. The traditional practitioner did not try to kill her for money, directly, at least, or for hate or anger or jealousy. He needed her eye teeth, in his religious practice, for magical purposes. It was a ritual act he carried out in sawing the eye teeth from her jaw.

Every government, of course, has a right to speak of crimes and issues in whatever terms they choose. For us, however, we will speak of child ritual abuse or child ritual murder. We would be doing a disservice to the public by obscuring the fact that child ritual abuse and murder are common and are on the rise. It could scare people, of course, but to ignore a clear and present danger to avoid scaring them would not do them a favor. They need to be aware and to take all precautions possible.

We do not wish to obscure the fact that African Traditional Religion is perpetrating these crimes. Not all practitioners of ATR practice child ritual abuse or sacrifice, of course, just as not all of them practice child slavery. Yet many abuses of children do stem from ATR, and both its adherents and the general public need to realize the dangers.

Changing terminology or relabeling something does not change the realities involved. The reality is that in Uganda, many child murders are carried out for ritual purposes involved with African Traditional Religion.

Pray with us that both our workers and the African governments involved may have wisdom from God in dealing with these issues.

48 Hours

48 hours. The name of a TV detective show.

48 hours. The average length of time a young girl has after she runs away from home before she gets trafficked into prostitution.

48 hours. The average time a trafficked prostitute has (I'm talking about one who is pimped or enslaved, which is the majority of them) after she escapes before she is re-trafficked into the same or a worse situation unless she gets adequate help.

2 days. Think about it.

Keep your daughter out of situations where she may be in danger of being trafficked.

An effective deterrent to child trafficking

They say that bank tellers are trained to recognize false currency by becoming super familiar with every characteristic of true currency. The same principle applies to fighting child trafficking. Every Child Ministries was recently able to track and rescue a young girl who had been trafficked from a notorious trafficking area. We were able to do this because our worker, who regularly visits and befriends people in the area, noticed right away that she was gone. The same worker a few years ago rescued an abandoned toddler because she knew the area well and recognized right away that a new child had appeared on the street.

This month Every Child Ministries is stretching itself again on behalf of children in danger of trafficking. Realizing the efficacy of having a worker who knows an area well, we are assigning a work to "pound the streets" in one of the most notorious trafficking areas we know of. Jeremiah (an assumed name) will spend time--lots of time--getting to know folks in an area that is hot, dirty, and smelly. We are believing God for his protection, for his support, and for an effective ministry that will encourage children and families in that area and will keep many children from being sold into slavery. Please pray with us.

The Making of a Girl

"The Making of a Girl" is one of my favorite You Tube Videos other than those produced by Every Child Ministries team members.

It follows the story of a young girl getting into prostitution for the first time--what goes through her mind, why she crosses that terrible line, what has prepared her. Then it tells what lies ahead for her.

This is an awesome video that really rings true. I have watched it many times and heartily recommend it to you. It could happen to someone you know and love more easily than you think.

When you think of the young girl getting into the Cadillac with the good looking young man, don't think date. Think recruitment. Think trafficking. Then you will understand better why girls become prostitutes.

Too close to home !

When I was in Ghana, I learned how God helped us to escape the devious plans of a child trafficker to steal one of the children from Haven of Hope under false pretenses. I learned that a woman came to the home with an adoption form she had been sent by a man, an application to adopt one of our children. Those of our children who are eligible for adoption are adopted only through Social Welfare in Ghana, so out people knew right away that something was wrong. When she learned she had been taken in by someone's deceptive scheme, the woman left the form with us. It looked like our literature and carried our logo, undoubtedly copied from the internet, but there was a different phone number on it. She even had a little girl picked out, but the girl was at the home temporarily due to family issues and was not eligible for adoption.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how narrowly we had escaped a huge tragedy. Someone was evidently using our website to try to sell the children under our care. Had they planned to try to steal the children from the home, or to pose as some legitimate agent? The woman herself was simply an honest person who nearly got sucked into the deception. How thankful I am that the security fence is now completed. It's now much harder for anyone to ferret away a child, and we are now alert to the scheme. We hate child trafficking anywhere, but this one came way too close to home. May God follow the despicable people involved and give them their due, and may His hand of protection always be over the beloved children in our care.

One of our street children trafficked & returned!

One of the orphan street girls to whom Every Child Ministries ministers was trafficked last month. A sweet-talking woman at the market began to sympathize with her about her hard life and offer her a way out, a good job...the same sorry lies that have snared so many other children. Like most children who are trafficked, she didn't have to be forced or abducted. Seduced by sugary lies, she went willingly with the woman. Deceit is one of the main recruiting methods of traffickers.

The really great thing is that our street workers are on the job regularly and really know the people of the street. They heard about the girl's disappearance, asked questions, followed leads, kept searching. They knew her health and safety and maybe her life were at stake. After two weeks, they found her and were able to rescue her from the "madame" who was using her as a slave. She was hidden and has now been taken to safety.

Great work, ECM street workers! Because of your diligence, one more girl is safe and free.

Lord, we've been praying about adding more "eyes and ears" in key trafficking areas. Would You provide soon so that we can increase our street staff?

Prime time for selling children into slavery

A week or so before my recent ministry trip to Ghana ended, I visited the Central Region to gather information to enable our organization, Every Child Ministries, to begin combatting child trafficking at one of its major sources. We are hoping to raise the $18,000 needed to open a center and begin work in the Central Region this year. I left Ghana on July 29 and arrived home on July 30. When I got here, I read that on those days, police intercepted three large groups of children being trafficked. One of them was a group of 118 children being sent out of the Central Region where they lived, to serve as slaves in the fishing industry to the west. I thank God for the diligence of the Ghana Police to intercept children being trafficked in the country. I pray that PLEASE Lord, ECM may begin to work in the Central Region this year. Right now, while schools are out on vacation, is prime time for selling children into slavery. My prayer is that before the next vacation season comes, ECM will be there, actively acting as a deterrent to the trade and helping to rescue and restore children who do get caught in the traffickers' nets.