Abolition, Restoration, and Love146

This week I want to highlight a group called Love146. They are an international anti-trafficking group with US offices in New Haven and Houston, who offer safe housing and rehabilitation for girls rescued from sex trafficking; they also offer training and resources for those willing to go out and work in the trenches.

Their moving introduction video talks of how Love146 was created, when several of the co-founders embarked upon an undercover operation in Southeast Asia in 2002, hoping to learn how best to fight the horrors of child trafficking. They were unprepared for what they saw—in once instance, children with numbers attached to them, sitting behind a window, watching cartoons while waiting to be ordered off of a menu by number. Literally. One of the co-founders admits to feeling an overwhelming rage and desire to smash the window, to pull the girls to safety. Because this was an undercover mission, that response was impossible. They felt helpless. But one of the girls, #146, changed everything for them. Whereas most of the other children’s faces registered hopelessness and resignation—a typical and very human response to repeated trauma—in the eyes of #146 they saw defiance. She was still registering a desire to fight, there was still a light in her eyes. She was their call to action, and the reason Love146 was created.

 

Their mission statement is, “Abolition and Restoration! We combat child trafficking & exploitation with the unexpected and restore survivors with excellence.”

If you have a chance, pop over to their website and check them out. They work in the trenches. They see the unimaginable.