One woman’s journey…

by Jillian Carver, California

My name is Jillian Carver. I’m married and have five children ages 16-30. I live and work in southern California and have a full and busy life.

In fact, my life is way too busy to be involved in a ministry, let alone lead a ministry. I’m assuming you’re nodding your head, “Yes, she knows how difficult it is to get involved.” And, believe me, I do. Yet, inside my busy life, my heart was moved when I was on a church-sponsored trip in Turkey and learned that slavery still exists, in larger numbers than ever before.

Once I got back home, I thought I could return to my Orange County lifestyle. But my broken heart would not mend. The thought of a little girl sold as a sex slave haunted me. I knew I had to get involved. With much trepidation, I stepped over the threshold from apathy to action in order to find out what one woman could do.

I began making contacts with anyone who knew about human trafficking (modern day slavery) and were already working to help those with no voice. To my surprise, I found out that human trafficking not only exists today in other countries, but also here at home, even in my safe Orange County bubble. I then called the leadership in my church and made myself available. I am one of the volunteer leaders of the “Human Trafficking Outreach” at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Here is what we do on a regular basis:

1. PRAYER. We pray for those who are imprisoned. We pray for girls who are tricked into prostitution with the promise of a good job and are then trapped behind a locked door with up to 40 men a day coming in to abuse them. We pray for those trapped in hard labor with no pay, with the threat of harm to their family if they try to leave. We pray for young boys, kidnapped and forced to be rebel soldiers.

2. LOCAL BLOCK WALKS. We go into a housing community and visit the stores in the area. We hand out fliers to make them aware of the problem in their neighborhood, and tell them how to look beneath the surface. The fliers include a national hotline number to call if they think they see something suspicious or someone that might need help.

3. TRAINING. We make ourselves available for training by those who are ahead of us on this journey.

4. HELP RESCUED VICTIMS BEGIN A NEW LIFE. We have been called upon to help provide victims with food, clothing, and other necessities. Some have even volunteered to help victims job hunt. An agency that we have developed a relationship with recently contacted me and right now, I’m looking for a computer that works. I don’t care how old it is, just one in good working condition.

Yes, it takes time out of my day. Yes, I have experienced emotions that tear me apart when I realize there are children being robbed of their childhood, their innocence. Each team member that gets involved with outreach activities will deal with feelings of anger and frustration when it takes so long to find them.

But I am also experiencing the GOOD. Every time we take a team into the neighborhoods to distribute brochures to business owners, we go home knowing that someone else now has information to help. Now there are other people aware of human trafficking in their neighborhood and they have a number to call for help. It’s no longer an impersonal number because we’ve represented to them that we are a people who care. Armed now, with an ability to do something about the problem, they can get involved in making a difference too.

We’re passing it along—that ability to get involved in the caring for children and our fellow human beings.

I know that the sacrifice of my time and emotions are worth it. Even if only one individual will step into the light of freedom during the entire time I’m involved, then it’s been a success. I will have positively impacted the life of another human being—an Eternal influence. Who knows what the future holds and how the seed of God’s love can penetrate hearts down the road.

I attend monthly meetings with a local county’s human trafficking task force to see how we can assist them with such a large problem. It is not our job to go out and rescue anyone; we’re not trained to perform that function. We use the National hotline and work within the system. But there is a place for all of us to make a difference. We all need to be involved to put an end to this darkness.