Allen Allnoch is a Shepherd’s Staff missionary and a fantastic writer. Allen’s home is in Bluffton, SC, and his mission field is in South Africa. Check out his blog.

In preparing lessons for our after-school children’s programs this week, I’ve had to grapple with an extremely troubling issue: human trafficking. As the soccer World Cup approaches in June, we’re trying to make children and teenagers aware that traffickers are expected to descend on Cape Town in large numbers.

The depth of evil associated with this issue is astonishing. I was shocked to read that today, despite more than a dozen international conventions banning slavery in the past century and a half, there are more slaves than at any point in human history. Children are lured away from their homes (or off the streets for those who have no homes), with the promise of a better life. People of all ages are bought and sold as if they are nothing more than cattle. Kids as young as 3 and 4 are exploited sexually , offered up for prostitution and for pornographic purposes. The list of atrocities is long and painful to confront.

The problem is especially acute in South Africa, where there are an estimated 38,000 children trapped in the sex trade. According to a January 18 article in Time magazine, “More than 500 mostly small-scale trafficking syndicates … collude with South African partners, including recruiters and corrupt police officials, to enslave local victims.”  For the four-week period of the World Cup, Cape Town public schools will be closed, meaning more children will be on the streets and vulnerable to those who would seek to take advantage of them.

I can’t comprehend the hardness of heart that would compel a person to treat a child, or person of any age, in this way. If you don’t believe Satan is real, then just google human trafficking and read some of the horror stories. Only a supernatural force of evil could influence people to sink to such depths.

But there is hope in the One who has already overcome the devil and all the havoc he has wreaked on the world. God is a God of justice and He “works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” (Psalm 103:6). He has made it clear in Scripture that He loves children and all who are oppressed, and that there is misery in store for those who mistreat children:

Jesus “called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said … if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18: 2-3, 6).

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul rhetorically asked in Romans 8:31. Still, these little ones need your prayers, as do teenagers and others who are vulnerable to those who would exploit them. For more insight into South Africa’s human trafficking crisis, see http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952335,00.html. For more information on the issue in general, see http://www.justiceacts.org.

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In his book The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S., cites a speech by Jimmy Carter in which the former president labeled the growing gap between the rich and the poor as the greatest problem of our time. Stearns then recalls a visit to Cape Town (which included a visit to Living Hope’s ministries) that gave him new perspective on Carter’s statement. He writes:

We also built in a couple of days to do some sightseeing – but found it difficult to enjoy it. Cape Town is one of the few places in the world where the worst imagined poverty and the most opulent wealth live together, sometimes just fifty yards apart. In the shadows of the luxury homes, high-rise hotels, wineries and upscale shopping malls lie acre upon acre of rundown shantytowns reeling with hunger, poverty, crime, disease, and despair, and populated by hundreds of thousands of broken-down human beings. … For me it was a microcosm of the “chasm” President Carter had described. How can the rich and the middle class live like this, I wondered, forced to see the stark contrast between themselves and the desperately poor every single day?

They do exactly what you and I do. They ignore them. The only difference is that it is easier for us to ignore the world’s poor because they are “over there.”

Stearns’ take on the rich-poor gap in Cape Town is spot-on, as are numerous other observations he makes as he wrestles with the question, “What does God expect of us?” when it comes to dealing with the poor. Stearns’ organization, World Vision, is doing heroic humanitarian work around the globe. For further insight, I highly recommend his book, royalties from which are benefiting World Vision’s work with children in need. To get involved with World Vision, check out www.worldvision.org. And for a further look at some of Cape Town's contrasts, see the images below.

Allen's Blog

Allen's Missionary Page

Following up on my most recent post, I’m here to report the Spirit continues to move in Red Hill. Last week, six boys gave their hearts to the Lord; on Monday, three more followed. Not that this is a scorekeeping exercise, but it’s exciting to realize that in the past month 12 kids have come to know Christ as their Savior.

Some who read this might wonder, “What’s the big deal? Jesus died for our sins, so we’re all going to heaven, right?” But following Christ requires a personal commitment. The Bible says until a person takes that step and receives Him into their heart by faith, they are an enemy of God (Colossians 1:21).

Some skeptics accuse believers of pushing their faith on others, claiming they aren’t being respectful to those who believe differently. But as recorded in John’s eyewitness account, Jesus said He’s the only way to God: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John14:6).

It's possible to respect others while not agreeing with their beliefs. For Christians to say a contrary system is equally valid would not only defy what their leader taught (and thus be hypocritical), it would be cruel if what Jesus said is really true. His followers should be compelled to share God’s message of salvation, in both word and deed. To remain silent and let friends, neighbors and relatives die and spend eternity separated from God is tragic.

That's why the first point in Living Hope's mission statement is “to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in a life-changing way and to encourage people to follow Him.”

Allen's Blog

Allen's Missionary Page

My friend Mzo keeps saying 2010 is the year for spiritual revival in Red Hill. I’m thinking he’s right, and I’m thinking it’s starting in the hearts of the community’s children and teenagers. First we saw three young girls commit their lives to Jesus last month. Then, this past Thursday, we had six boys in the 11-12 age group pray to ask Christ into their lives.
These boys all stepped forward and said they wanted “to stop swearing and fighting” and were ready to live the life that God desires for each of them. Several girls also came forward and asked for prayer with various issues in their lives. The fact that these kids recognize their failures and struggles is evidence God’s Spirit is at work in their hearts.
Living Hope believes communities are transformed when individual hearts are transformed. It appears that this process is well underway in Red Hill.

Allen's Missionary Page

Allen's Blog

Cape Town has some of the most extreme weather I’ve ever experienced. In winter, the rain can be relentless and is often accompanied by wind that blows it sideways. But the wind doesn’t truly get cranked up until spring and summer, when the region’s infamous “Southeaster” can literally knock a man down. One day last month it blew steadily at 40mph and gusted to 50, blowing rooftops away and fanning a fire that destroyed a dozen homes in one township.

And the summer heat is oppressive. Yesterday it hit 102, with no breeze. If it’s this hot here on the coast, I can only imagine what it’s like on other parts of the continent. It makes me long for the sub-freezing temperatures that I just came from back home.

But regardless of how hot it gets, I won’t be wading into the local waters to cool off. Not after what happened on Tuesday, when a visitor from Zimbabwe was attacked by a great white shark off Fish Hoek Beach, a popular swimming spot for locals and tourists alike. That was two days ago and no sign of him has been found.

http://ps121trekker.blogspot.com/2010/01/land-of-extremes.html