EMMANUEL RESEARCH REVIEW
Resources for the urban pastor and community leader
published by Emmanuel Gospel Center, Boston
Issue No. 71 — October 2011
In this issue: Human Trafficking: The Abolitionist Network
Introduced by Brian Corcoran
Project Director, Emmanuel Gospel Center
Managing Editor, Emmanuel Research Review
In this issue, we look at the development of the Abolionist Network, an emerging ministry of the Emmanuel Gospel Center that addresses the topic of human trafficking using a Living System Ministry approach. This issue includes three sections: (1) Helping to Create a Network of Modern-Day Abolitionists, (2) The Abolitionist Network: Learning, Connecting, Equipping, and Refreshing, and (3) Getting Involved: "I want to be involved, but I don't know what to do!", all by Farrell Lindemann, an Emmanuel Gospel Center Development Volunteer. Within each section Sarah Durfey, Director of The Abolitionist Network, retraces her investigation into the messy reality of human trafficking and how a living systems approach is helping her and her ministry partners see the big picture and develop a strategic and redemptive response to end human trafficking.
This article is a follow up from an earlier Emmanuel Research Review, Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery, that we published in July 2009.
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Helping to create a network of modern-day abolitionists
Sarah Durfey is the Director of the Abolitionist Network, the Emmanuel Gospel Center's newest program that also uses a living systems approach to address human trafficking.
by Farrell Lindemann, EGC development volunteer
Her name is Sarah Durfey, and she is an abolitionist.
Sarah’s Quaker ancestors were also abolitionists, part of the Underground Railroad that fought to free slaves in the United States many generations ago. But Sarah knows that abolitionists are not a thing of the past—and neither is the trade of buying and selling humans. Today, there are an estimated 30 million people being bought and sold in the world—even right here in Boston. Although data is lacking, experts estimate that hundreds of men, women, and children are exploited for sex and forced labor in the Boston area.
Sarah also knows that no matter how many people are rescued from slavery, human trafficking will continue to exist as long as there is a market for it. So she began exploring this complex problem from a systems approach—looking at the bigger picture and all the “players” involved—to understand how abolitionists could be most effective in their work. As she received Living System Ministry* training from Emmanuel Gospel Center, Sarah began calling her work the Abolitionist Network. The combination of Sarah’s passion and her approach to addressing this issue made her an excellent fit for EGC, and this past July the Abolitionist Network became EGC’s newest program.
The living systems approach: more than an attempt to save enslaved people
Sarah first learned about human trafficking when she was a Gordon College junior. During a chapel message, she heard David Batstone (President and Co-Founder of Not for Sale, which works to end slavery) talk about the realities of slavery, which was happening even in Massachusetts! David told the story of a Cambodian girl in Western Massachusetts who cleaned, cooked, and was sexually abused for years by a pastor and his family while her miniscule wages were sent home to her family. Sarah knew that she had to learn more. (Read more about David's story in his book
Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It.)
The more research Sarah did, the more she realized that the story of the Cambodian girl was only one story among millions, and only one example of what human trafficking looks like. Slavery can also appear on farms, and in restaurants, nail salons, and factories. It can take the form of forced prostitution, child slavery, or debt bondage, and is often accompanied by poor living conditions and abuse. Such information is surprising to most of us, as is the reality that slavery still exists in the world, U.S., and in our cities.
As Sarah learned more, she began to see that the stories that she heard were symptoms of a much larger and complex problem. “The reality is, if all the brothels were emptied and shut down today, and everyone was freed from forced labor, yet there was still a high demand for sexual exploitation and cheap goods, there would be more exploiters who would prey on the supply of vulnerable people, and it would all reopen, stronger than before,” says Sarah. This is why the Abolitionist Network, using many of EGC’s Living System Ministry tools, seeks to equip, connect, and support abolitionists who are fighting modern-day slavery by taking a step back to examine the entire issue of slavery, instead of only looking at the smaller problems that many abolitionists fight alone. (Learn more about the program’s activities on the next page.)
Our role and response to human trafficking
Approaching sickness in living systems is similar to approaching sickness in the human body. Sarah describes it this way: “If there is somebody who’s dying of an internal disease, and the disease is giving them skin sores, they will die if all you heal are the sores on their skin.” In the living system of slavery, it is crucial to rescue people who are enslaved. But if the effort were solely placed on rescue, or in capturing perpetrators, it could prove to be as frustrating as fighting an internal disease by treating skin sores.
It is also tempting to pinpoint others as the source of the problem. Living System Ministry does not allow this, because by expanding the focus in understanding the disease of slavery, even we come under the lens. “The brokenness that perpetuates trafficking is in all of us,” says Sarah. “We can’t say, ‘those poor people,’ or even get mad at the exploiters. We’re all part of the problem in different ways....And yet we’re also called to be a part of what God is doing in redeeming and restoring.”
As each of us learns how we’re part of the problem and responds in action, together we can work toward eradicating the market for human trafficking. Who knows how many others the Abolitionist Network will inspire to join in the fight. “I’m excited that Sarah is on our team,” Jeff Bass (executive director of EGC) says, “and look forward to seeing the fruit of her work in Boston churches and in the systems of human trafficking in our area and elsewhere.”
The Abolitionist Network: learning, connecting, equipping, & refreshing
by Farrell Lindemann, EGC development volunteer
The Abolitionist Network believes that addressing the issue of human trafficking is better approached with pointed questions than with temporary solutions. Sarah Durfey, director, asks, “How do you use systems thinking tools to understand trafficking and not just clean up the mess that it’s making (and will keep making)?” The Abolitionist Network tries to answer this question through learning teams and research, trainings and workshops, and networking across the abolitionist community in order to understand the systems of slavery and its complications. Read on to learn more about the program’s activities.
Photo: “Freeze for Human Trafficking Awareness,” an event organized by Not For Sale MA in January 2011
Networking and Rest
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Bringing abolitionists together to share their knowledge, avoid doubling their efforts, and work toward reflecting Christ through their unity
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Providing time and space for encouragement and rest
Networking is crucial in this work because “the systems perpetuating human trafficking are interconnected with nearly every injustice and criminal activity in our world today, so no one can even attempt to solve it on their own,” Sarah says. “Those who are working against human trafficking must communicate and share resources and strategies.”
Opportunities for encouragement and rest are also important in the work of fighting human trafficking, which can be a dark and often dangerous vocation. The Abolitionist Network provides retreats that are places of relaxation filled with others who are going through similar battles. “Part of what we do is to recognize leaders who feel lonely and discouraged by all the need around them. We help to shine God’s light back, saying, ‘Look at what God is doing, he is working through you, you’re not alone,’” Sarah says.
In 2010, while on a trip to visit abolitionists in India, Sarah met an Indian pastor that was overworked, exhausted, overwhelmed, and discouraged in his effort to fight slavery. Sarah spent time with him, encouraging him and affirming his ability to make a difference. Her other strategy? “You introduce the isolated people to each other!” she says. Sarah helped connect him with other key players in the abolitionist movement in India so that he would remember that he was not alone in this daunting task.
Photo: A systems map that Sarah has been working on and sharing with other abolitionists.
Trainings and workshops
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For abolitionists throughout the country and people that do related work, such as politicians, and law enforcement officers
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Sarah also speaks at conferences and workshops
Sarah’s goal is to help others understand the idea of slavery as a large, living system. When Sarah visited India, she led workshops and trainings on EGC’s Living System Ministry, and was happy to see “how ready and open people were to thinking about trafficking in these bigger system ways...and seeing which groups had different strengths.”
Photo: Community training on human trafficking, hosted by the Abolitionist Network and Not For Sale MA (Photo by Audrey McIntosh)
Amirah
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A partner and a local aftercare house for women who escape from slavery
The focus on the bigger picture has not eliminated the immediate need for aftercare for those who escape from slavery. Women who are rescued need more than shelter and food; they need healing. Amirah is a house in Greater Boston dedicated to women who have escaped slavery. When it opens in 2012, a team will help provide for physical needs as well as emotional healing. The Abolitionist Network is helping Amirah connect to the bigger abolitionist movement, and build partnerships for referrals and care for the women once the home opens.
Getting Involved: “I want to be involved, but I don’t know what to do!”
by Farrell Lindemann, EGC development volunteer
Sarah excels at empowering all kinds of abolitionists, and her friends are no exception. One day over coffee, a friend expressed her frustration with all that she was learning alongside Sarah about human trafficking. “I want to be involved, but I don’t know what to do!” So Sarah told her a story.
A group of women from a church in Louisiana heard the stories of modern-day slavery. Upset and motivated, they decided that they had to do something, so they started at their town’s strip club. They bought baskets full of roses and affixed a small note to each rose that read “You are Loved,” with the church’s phone number below the message. The roses were a simple attempt to convey to the women at the strip club that the women at the church cared deeply about them. After the third basket of roses was delivered, the church received a call from a woman who worked at the strip club, who was looking for help. She worked there because it felt like the only option. Her husband had left her, and she was raising her son alone. Because she took a chance and called the phone number left on the rose, the church had the opportunity to learn more about her and her situation, and was able to help her get to a place where she could leave her job at the club. The church provided her with support, helped pay for her son’s schooling, and brought homemade meals to her house. Eventually, she was able to leave her job at the strip club and get her GED.
This story of a church in Louisiana, shared over coffee, inspired Sarah’s friend to start a ministry of her own. She returned to her church and shared her vision with the pastor and the women at the church. Soon, they were creating their own baskets for their own local strip club, right down the street from the church! On Christmas Eve, they delivered the first baskets of roses. As expected, the church was met with resistance from the strip club’s owner, but unexpectedly the manager allowed them access into the dressing room. Soon Sarah’s friend and a group of women from her church started “Route 1 Ministries” and visited the strip club every Monday night during business hours, building relationships with the women who were working. Now, the goal of the church is to have 11 churches partner with them by Christmas Eve, one year after their first delivery of roses.
The Abolitionist Network continues to support this new ministry, helping to coordinate trainings and connect them with other organizations and resources. To learn more about Route 1 Ministries, contact Bonnie at bonniegatchell [at] gmail.com.
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