Week 7: International Justice Mission

Slavery.  It's a really ugly word and yet it is a far too accurate one that describes the daily living condition of millions of people in the world today.  It is a concept so horrific and grotesque that I don't even want to confront the reality.  This post has been so hard for me to write because every time I try to force myself to look at this issue, it's so disturbing that I find my attention skittering away to anything else, just so that I can pretend that human slavery has been resigned to the far distant past.

Fortunately, there are people in the world who aren't adherents to the ostrich approach that I favor.  These are people who are not only willing to confront this reality, but spend day in and day out working to rescue those who are living under oppression and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.

International Justice Mission has a worldwide team of lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals whose mission it is to rescue victims of violence and slavery, bring the perpetrators to justice and provide restitution and care for the victims.  They are kind of like super heroes who are lawyers by day.  Except this isn't a fantasy and they are using international law as their super power.  By donating, I'm kind of like the super hero sidekick.  Without the tights and cape.