Hi Dollies,

Slavery is a term not often thought of today, and one that people often connect to the 1700s with the slave trade and works abolitionists like William Wilberforce's work to end it. I come to you now to reveal that although the slave trade was successfully abolished in 1807, there are more slaves in the world today than there ever has been in history. Modern-day slavery manifests itself in the form of human trafficking, forced labor, child labor (including child soldiers) and forced marriages. These are a serious violation of human rights.

This modern slavery is prevalent in over 167 countries, including, to my surprise, Australia and the US. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Uzbekistan hold the majority of the slave population. According to The Global Slavery Index, as of 2016 there are 40.3 million people trapped in modern slavery, and these are just the slaves we know of. People can be tricked, kidnapped, or even born into slavery, owing their captors debts they can never pay off. These people have no escape and can suffer great physical and mental abuse.

These numbers are hard to take in, and it's easy to let this fade into the background of your life, but I want to encourage you to think about this more. There are ways we can contribute to ending this, because even one slave is one too many. 

How can we help?

The reason I was driven to write this post, is because a representative of The Freedom Project (Sydney) visited my college to bring these issues to light. There will likely be a similar organization in your area, so I encourage you to seek them out and donate, or even volunteer. 

Another way is watching how you shop. Many fast fashion brands are fuelled by slave labor. Research your favorite brands and check out an ethical fashion guide (Baptist World Aid Australia has a good one). If you find out your brand isn't ethical, perhaps even go the extra mile to reach out to them and let them know what you think about their methods. The same can be done for food (Fair Trade).

And finally, raise awareness! Talk about it with your friends, discuss your spending choices with your family and raise it up in your community. 

Take care,

♡ Joanne