Austins in Thailand

Author’s note: names are fictional but the facts in the stories are not.

Cambodia: Last year Somkien’s husband left her with five children. Because of her poverty and lack of education she has no way to support her family. Three of her children are boys, so they can become novices at the Buddhist temple where they will receive both food and education. But what about the two girls? She can not feed them. If they were gone she could find work or a new husband. She decides to sell them.

All across South East Asia this story is replayed with various scenarios. Some parents are heartless; most have few options; either way, it’s the children who suffer. Governments can always do more and officials can easily be bought. Many factors make the buying, selling and smuggling of people the most profitable illegal business in the world today. This is the new slavery.

According to the Trafficking in Persons Report published by the US State Department in 2005 an estimated 1 million men, women and children are smuggled across borders each year. 50% of these are minors. All are destined for a life of misery.

Burma: Fourteen year old Htin-lee was bought two years ago for US $200 by a man who told her mother she would be sewing clothes to sell to tourists. Two days later, after arriving in a busy crossroads town in northern Burma, she is informed that she will not be selling clothes. Instead she will “come with a room�. When she asks what this means her owner states that business men are lonely.

We are “Free� Methodists. What is our response to this information?

In the 1860s, in America, some courageous men and women took a stand for freedom. They saw abuses in the church and spoke out against unbiblical actions of the Methodist church at the time. These people became Free Methodists. One of the freedom issues was over the issue of slavery in the United States.

Today we are faced with slavery issues again.

Thailand: Lek’s husband was involved in an accident at his work and can no longer support his family. A friend from Lek’s past, now married to a Japanese man, told Lek she could make a lot of money working in a Thai restaurant in Japan. Lek agrees to go. Her friend arranges the details and lends Lek the money for the flight. However, once arriving in Japan she realizes that she has been tricked and sold for a great deal of money.

Somkien, Htin-lee and Lek are all deeply loved by the savior. Our savior’s message is a holistic one. Christ came to set us free in every way and bring healing to individuals and society. Our savior calls us to follow him.

What can Free Methodists do? They can change their world one person at a time. For example, International Child Care Ministries gives hope to situations like Somkien’s. We can continue supporting ICCM. Our missionaries in every field are aware of the trafficking of people and are working within their sphere of influence to bring freedom to these captives. We can continue supporting our missionaries.

What else can we do? We can learn more about this situation. We can pray. We can call our churches to embrace a new abolitionism. We can ask our Superintendents, Bishops and others in authority to seek ways to combat slavery.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?�
Isaiah 58:6