This month, Michael Newton Brown joined us for the Unchaining Modern Slavery Webinar to share about the development of the Freedom Project. The Freedom Project focuses on the prevention, rescue, and restoration of communities impacted by modern slavery. It is founded on Christian beliefs and values and God’s heart for justice, flowing out of the personal faith of our founders. This identity shapes what they do, and how & why they do it. They partner with like-minded faith-based partners in the field. However, all the activities we are involved in are for the purposes of justice to all on the basis of need and vulnerability to trafficking and slavery regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity.
1. The kids who join the project, have to be in school as well. Michael and his team have put rules in place for the children who are part of the Freedom Project, like this one for example, in order to keep the children off the streets and away from the risk of having to work in slave-like conditions. The children can receive an education and be led into a life of joy, rather than feeling that their only option is to stay in a position of human trafficking.
2. They also have separate programs for women who have been rescued from human trafficking. These women have lived through things that most of us cannot even imagine, and because of this, they are provided with mentoring and psychological therapy when they are placed in the program. Professionals will work with these women to help them find their own purposes and remind them that they are loved and valued.
3. Success, Michael says, looks like an increase in the number of rescued slaves, and a significant decrease in the number of people trapped and entering the slavery cycle. This, however, is sometimes hard to measure as the slavery cycle can be far beyond the control of a charity. In this case, it’s his faith in Jesus that reminds him why he does the work. If Jesus would come to Earth to rescue one person, he will continue to do his work at the Freedom Project even if it only rescued one person.
