The Living Word: S.O.A.P.
BY LEORA SCHMIDT
thelivingword@mail.com
Human trafficking is the fastest growing serious worldwide problem, a pandemic of the 21st century. It is asserted to be the 2nd leading crime in the entire world. It rakes in $150 billion dollars each year. It’s rampant in Canada where police estimate 60% of the criminal activity occurs in the Toronto area. But no province is free from this crime. Recruitment occurs in innocent places - at school, on Instagram, at the mall. Many continue to live at home while carrying out their activity at local motels or condominiums. The crime of sex trafficking has been significantly increasing since 2010. The numbers are staggering. More than 13 million children are enslaved through various means.
On a YouTube TED talk, and through her book The Slave Across the Street, Theresa Flores shares how she was enslaved as an all-American, blue-eyed, blond-haired 15-year-old teenager into the dangerous world of sex trafficking while living in an upper-middle class suburb of Detroit. And it all happened while she was living at home without her parents ever knowing about it. She was Involuntarily involved in a large underground criminal ring. Her story uncovers this horrific criminal activity of sex trafficking.
Theresa has turned her personal trauma into a powerful endeavour to reclaim victims. When she began publicly sharing her story she realized that listeners were shocked, frustrated, and angry, and demanded to know what they could do to protect their children. With the desire to educate students, parents, professionals and motel owners/staff on the red flags of trafficking and how to identify a victim Theresa initiated a human trafficking organization, TraffickFree, focused on building awareness through the S.O.A.P. outreach. S.O.A.P. (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) was launched in 2010. The Super Bowl on February 3, 2019 was her eighth year to be actively involved at this event.
S.O.A.P.’s simple means of alerting victims of sex trafficking is by distributing small bars of especially labeled soap in bathrooms of hotels, motels, busy commercial areas and at events with large attendance. Each bar of soap contains the number for the US National Human Trafficking Hotline - 1-888-373-7888 where trained volunteers provide counseling. It is not possible to gather complete statistics since S.O.A.P. was launched, but some of the one million bars of soap that have been distributed have prompted calls from individuals who have subsequently been rescued from this horrific life.
Canada is currently launching its National Human Trafficking Hotline. If you wish to anonymously report a case of trafficking, please call Crime Stoppers National Tipline at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). The RCMP has individual hotline numbers for each province. The Salvation Army Human Trafficking Program 1-855-332-4283 has for many years been offering tangible help and healing for victims of labour and sex trafficking. (It may take a few rings for someone to answer, so wait when you call.)
There is something that we as readers can do regarding this disturbing information of human trafficking. Because we live in community, one human molested, violated or held hostage affects the well-being of the entire community. We can educate ourselves to be aware of danger signs of this devious crime in order to know the steps to take to free victims. We can contribute in various ways to the S.O.A. P. Program and to Canada’s efforts in this area.
In addition, as careful guardians for our vulnerable ones, we can pray daily for their protection. When we pray The Lord’s Prayer there are protective phrases asking the Lord - “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13). Let us pray daily for safety and deliverance for those trapped in evil, binding circumstances.