A heritage of freedom
CWM missionary to Bangladesh James Pender reflects on the heritage of the mission agencies and churches that support his work.
The abolition of the British slave trade was the result of the work of individuals who were passionately convinced that slavery was evil and an offence to humanity, as well as to God himself.
James Pender
Of these figures Britons William Wilberforce and David Livingstone have been tremendously influential upon me. From the time I visited the Livingstone Memorial in Blantyre, Malawi, and read about David Livingstone as a small boy, I gained a thirst for adventure, to travel, to make a mark on the world.
I am again privileged to be standing in tradition flowing also from this heritage as the Church of Bangladesh Social Development Programme (CBSDP) is set to scale up the Woman and Child Trafficking Prevention Project I helped to start.
I am also immensely proud that my brothers and sisters in the Church of Bangladesh, which contains only 16,000 members - mostly farm labourers living hand-to-mouth - raised almost US$3,000 in a recent collection to be used in this project.
This hard-earned money was put to good use during 2006 combining with funds sent from the UK, so I am pleased to report that 57 formerly trafficked young women have received training in tailoring and that the 28 girls who graduated during 2005 with the help of interest free loans have already set up successful tailoring businesses.
Last year we also made 8,083 locals aware of the danger of human trafficking and distributed 1,000 warning posters.
Numbers and figures look impressive but each one has a story behind it.
Sabina, from the Bangladeshi village of Kamdevpur, was sold into sexual slavery at age 12 and worked as a prostitute for six years.
She escaped and last year through our Women and Child Trafficking Prevention Project completed three months training in tailoring and embroidery. She has gone on to set up a small clothing business with an interest-free loan from CBSDP-Meherpur.
Sabina has been encouraged by CBSDP to take her traffickers to the civil court in order to receive compensation and to see her abusers punished. She is encouraging other trafficked women to contact CBSDPMeherpur so they can also receive support.
This is truly the kind of heritage we should all value and work to maintain in our communities, churches and organisations. It is significant that the fight against slavery included both those like Livingstone who were overseas and those such as Wilberforce who were UK-based.