Messiah College Takes A Stand Against Human Trafficking

On Tuesday February 16, David Batstone spoke in chapel about human trafficking and the Not For Sale organization. Over the past few weeks, students have led many events to raise awareness of human trafficking.According to notforsalecampaign.org, over 27 million people are slaves today. "Not For Sale believes that everyone has a skill to contribute that can free an individual living in bondage, and together we can stop human trafficking and end slavery in our lifetime."

Students in many majors, with different skills and talents, have united since Batstone spoke in chapel. In addition to the Theatre for Social Change project taught by Valerie Smith, there is a chocolate "buycott," the Human Wrong Campaign, and various alternate chapels.

Batstone also spoke in an alternate chapel the night of February 16. He showed students tangible ways to get involved. Batstone encouraged students to be informed about where the things we buy come from.

In the alternate chapel, Batstone introduced free2work.org. Free2work is still under development, but it provides information on where certain brands stand on the issue of human trafficking. Hershey, Godiva, Skechers, and Hanes are among the worst brands.

Sophomore theatre major Michael O'Donnell created the Campus Wide Fair Trade Chocolate "Buycott" group on Facebook. Most popular brands of chocolate scored very low on free2work.org.

O'Donnell says that Batstone was the catalyst for the Facebook "buycott." Batstone also "raised a lot more awareness," says O'Donnell.

The chocolate buycott simply asks students not to buy any Hershey, Godiva, Mars, or Cadbury chocolate.

"People are much more likely to help if you give them something they can do about it," says O'Donnell. Instead of asking for donations, many campaigns against human trafficking involve time or making responsible decisions.

"College students can actually help," says O'Donnell. He is getting the chocolate "buycott" to spread to other college campuses in the area, such as Temple and Gettysburg. O'Donnell says that if one in five people "buycott" these brands, it will make enough of an impact that the companies would have to confront the issue.

O'Donnell says his motivations are not to damage the big corporations. "I want responsible capitalism," he says. O'Donnell says we have to make our voices heard so that the companies will agree to be open and say they have no reason to hide where their products come from.

Free trade chocolate is more expensive than Hershey's chocolate, but you can buy some varieties at Wegman's, Ten Thousand Villages, and online, according to O'Donnell.

O'Donnell is also organizing a petition to Dining Services to make free trade products an option in the Union and the Falcon Express.

On Thursday March 4, students wore black t-shirts advertising the Human Wrong Campaign, a college advocacy movement against human trafficking. This was a result of an alternate chapel on March 3.

Sarah Plumadore says this chapel was held to train students in the Human Wrong Campaign. "We teach the students basic facts about worldwide slavery, most specifically child slavery," says Plumadore.

The most important information the campaign is trying to spread is about the Child Protection Compact Act. "If passed it will provide addition diplomatic and foreign assistance tools to the State Department to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons," said Plumadore.

International Justice Mission(IJM)/Love 146 president Kristin Miller says five more alternate chapels are being planned, as well as another battle of the bands event.

The battle of the bands will be at the Sycamore House on Front Street in Harrisburg on April 16.

For Valentines' Day, IJM/Love 146 sold "Candygrams" to raise money. Plans are in the works to have an outdoor festival event to educate about human trafficking.

Miller says she is excited that what IJM/Love 146 has already been doing has really taken off in the past few weeks. Even though there are many different things going on at once, Miller says she is happy with how everything is turning out. "It would be really cool to get everybody together [sometime]," she says.

Brian Smith, teaching pastor and senior lecturer in Bible, who first met Batstone in 2004, says "Batstone gave it a whole campus voice. . . it's very exciting to see that it is very student led and centered. It gives it more life."

"Look at what Christ did and what he commanded us to do. Human trafficking goes against all he commanded us to do," says Miller.