I’ve bumped this to the top for a few days in support of the EndItMovement and today (25th February 2016) being shine a light on slavery day….

In life there are a few causes I am really passionate about, and in particular the plight of human trafficking and slavery in our modern day twists my heart into knots and moves me to action. To do something, anything. How can we let it go on?

It is estimated that there are realistically about 27 million people in our world right now trapped in slavery. That figure is insane. We can’t even hide behind our smoke screens and claim it to be propaganda, because the evidence is out there. In London we see it in our newspapers everyday, reports of men, women and children being discovered and rescued from a life of slavery. Just as much as it may disturb us that one human being is capable of taking the life of another, more so should it shake us that women and children in particular are suffering under horrific circumstances of oppression with no way out, enduring things that would cause us to be physically sick should we have to picture it.

My heart cries out for all the beautiful young women who are taken everyday, their lives traded into money, sex, drugs. The A21 Campaign was set up by the wonderful, passionate, and extremely articulate Christine Caine. Daily they are rescuing, sheltering and caring for girls who are trafficked for the sex-trade through eastern Europe, and now other parts of the world too. If you’re hungry for more knowledge there are plenty of campaigns like A21 you can follow and support. If the idea of charity scares you, watch a film like Taken to get a picture that is terrifyingly close to reality, or read a book like Sold, but these are just examples of certain kinds of slavery, the picture is much bigger and not focused on any one country or population – it is world wide. Sadly, one of the biggest hurdles seems to be raising awareness of the cold reality, so there it is; if you weren’t before, you are now aware. Don’t close your eyes.

the dark cause. JR Manawa.

I am she, the one you walk by.
The one you can’t look at.
I make you feel awkward,
And uncomfortable.
I arouse feelings some cannot control.
In your mind I hear names you wouldn’t use.

But if you stopped for a moment.
Looked closer beneath these thin layers.
Would you notice the bruises,
Cuts and scars, the tracks on my arms?
The mascara stains on my cheek.
This is my story.

I am the dark cause you choose to ignore.
I am the princess who was stolen.
The precious one who was taken.
I am the one with a broken soul,
Yet for me,
Would your heart break?

Would you stop for a moment,
Consider me?
Consider the shadow that remains?
And the price tag on my thigh?
These drugs and blood which flow.
Intoxication.

Would you end it, if you could?
Free this princess in chains?
Am I fixable, or forgotten?
Waiting on the street corner.
He comes, you watch me,
Walk away.

Written by JR Manawa