To the Justice Run participants…

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for your participation in this years Justice Run. I hope it was an awesome race and we wish we could have been there to share in the competition and excitement this race brings. A special thanks to Jenny Watson and her team of volunteers for making this race a growing success! You guys are amazing!

The issue of Human Trafficking is a complicated international crisis and the solution demands nothing less than an equally strong international body of people willing to be the answer. Since the moment we first heard about Human Trafficking in late 2006, we knew that we needed to give our lives to this cause. For us, solutions to this issue dominate our minds constantly as we continue to labor to see real differences made in the lives of these women. We understand that not everyone is called to this level of focus and we are so thankful that you would take the time and energy on a Sunday morning to make a run and take a stand against this atrocity. Your partnership with us is helping to make a difference.

Justin and Rawan

Working against Loverboys

Along with our continued activity of visiting brothels and developing relationships with workers in the sex industry, we have also begun to focus on an awareness and prevention campaign in local schools. The campaign will have a two-fold purpose, to educate young people about the issue of Human Trafficking and to make them aware of the dangers of “Loverboys.”

“Loverboy” was a term that was developed in Holland and it describes a guy who initiates and develops a romantic relationship with a girl for the purpose of sexually exploiting her for monetary gain. This type of exploitation commonly occurs among the nationals of the country. With the increase of technologies which allow for easy sharing of both personal information and pictures, Loverboys have now been able to easily exploit these girls through prostitution and pornography.

This is the common story: You have a teenage girl, coping with her world of high peer pressure and the challenging social circumstances of school. Then along comes a fox, a Loverboy, who knows how to prey upon the emotional and social weaknesses of the girl. He tells her everything she wants to hear. He spares no expense to show her his affection with nice gifts, expensive clothing and basically everything she wants. Then he slowly separates her from the people she knows and trusts such as her family and close friends. She is under his control. Then he asks her to do what would have been unimaginable for her before. He asks her to prostitute herself or to pose for pornographic pictures which he can sell. Because she thinks he loves her, she will do anything for him. This type of manipulation has been happening for a long time but we are seeing it lead to exploitation now more than ever in our generation.

Our desire is to expose the tactics of these Loverboys and to encourage the girls we speak with to see their worth so that they do not fall prey to their tricks. Just as we began to put together our presentation materials for the school, we received a news article about a 15 year old girl in Northern Germany who fell prey to a Loverboy through Facebook. She disappeared and then she was later discovered on an internet advertisement for prostitution. The police rescued her and placed her in a psychological treatment center but she immediately ran away and has not yet been found. The power these Loverboys have over their girls can be very strong! This article was a sober reminder that awareness and prayer are greatly needed if we are to see this activity subside.

African Women in Europe Victims of Human Trafficking

By Beatrice Mariotti *IDN-InDepth NewsReport BERLIN (IDN) – As European countries strive to find a solution to Lampedusa that has come to symbolize much disdained African migration to Europe, little attention is being paid to African women and children in Europe, who are faced with new forms of slavery and colonialism which they experience day in and day out in democratic states of the ‘North’, which are otherwise mindful of human rights. Though precise figures are not available, the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO), estimates that there are about 2.5 Million people trafficked every year across the borders worldwide. After drug dealing, human trafficking along with arms dealing is the second largest crime industry in the world (churning out 7-10 billion dollars a year), and is the fastest growing, says the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Don’t Forget to Fight

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

- Ephesians 6:10-13

Recently, in one of our prayer meetings, we prayed that the Lord would give visions and dreams to our group for the advancement of our work in the city. The next night, one of the ladies from our prayer group had a dream.

New Workers

In the next few months, the Justice Project will be getting some new workers. Our first, full-time, co-laborer will be joining us at the end of July.

Micah 6:8

One day, as I was praying, the Lord said to me,

“Justice is what I do, mercy is who I am, and humble is how I walk. Learn from Me”

Momentum Building

-Rawan giving a presentation at ICF – Karlsruhe-

Over the past 3 weeks there have been some encouraging things that have happened to build momentum for our ministry as we prepare for our June 1oth presentation, “Kampf gegen Menschenhandel”.

A World of Wolves

After sitting down and talking with a man who recently became a Christian and has left his former life of involvement in Russian criminal circles, I have been soberly reminded of the darkness of the world we are coming against. There seems to be no feeling; no mercy in the heart of these individuals who so cruelly make money off of the poor. They are only moved by their intense lust for two realities; easy money and the party life. These two things drive them constantly to make decisions which cost the dignity and lives of thousands upon thousands of women and children. I began to talk with this brother about some strategies to infiltrate these circles and bring to light those who are being held in prostitution against their will. However, the more we talked about the situation, the more gloomy the picture became. I was reminded again that one can’t approach this the same as one would a church plant or a discipleship program. My wife and I sat that night somewhere between perplexity and discouragement (a common occurrence for anyone who wants to see God move in our messed up world). How could anyone bring change to a world of such darkness?

Leaving the Mountain of Statistics

“The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, 

‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey…See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord promised…’” (Deut. 1:6-8)

I feel the Lord is speaking this to many of the individuals and organizations that He has called to work against Human Trafficking. There is no doubt that every journey into doing something about this issue begins with hearing, processing and repeating the vast array of estimated statistics which have been articulated over the past 8 years. However, I feel, far too many have become satisfied with the simple repetition of the same statistics to new groups of people instead of hearing the call to lay down their lives in order to bring an effective change.

Kampf gegen Menschenhandel

“Fight against Human Trafficking”

The first presentation of the Justice Project in Karlsruhe, Germany will be taking place on June, 10th at 7:30 pm. The event is geared towards the believers among the “free” churches in Karlsruhe who have a heart to work against Human Trafficking in both Karlsruhe and in Germany.

The event will be following by a weekly prayer meeting and in the fall, an outreach into the red light district of the city.