The human trafficking industry is estimated to be worth a whopping US $32 billion dollars.¹

Approximately 60,000 children are trafficked across the borders of Southeast Asia alone.

Trafficking of women and children accounts for 87 per cent of reported victims.²

A study found that twenty-two per cent of trafficked victims were sold by their relatives, husbands or boyfriends, and fifty per cent were 14-21 years old.³ One mother said a United Nations peacekeeper raped her 12-year-old boy. A United Nations spokesman said that he had not heard that specific case but that there were indeed a number of new sexual abuse allegations against peacekeepers in Congo and that a team was sent in late July to investigate.⁴ The consequences of stripping away human dignity have seeped through the cracks of our apparently civil and humane society. It is a picture of darkness, desolation, and depression.

It is hard to understand our world but some folks have shown me the light.

Earlier this year, I was privileged to be able to meet a student at NorthLight School. He is only 16 years old, comes from a financial and familial background that many of us would label “disadvantaged” by general societal standards. However, as our friendship grew, I started to share about the work The Amber Initiative was doing. He immediately took interest in our work and his heart for social justice was sparked. At one of our meetings, he suddenly had an epiphany and begged, “Please tell me how much it costs to take a trip to Thailand to befriend children there who are at risk of being trafficked. I’ll save up money to go.” He then smiled in faith. My friend probably did not fully comprehend the weight of his decision. His courage to befriend children in Thailand was a fundamental belief in being the change and the smile that comes along with it.

In my personal journey of leading an organization that advocates social justice, we have always consciously examined and re-examined our modus operandi for sustainable transformation. Compassion for others beyond ourselves was the first fundamental we set as a conscious effort to keep our passion for social justice thoroughly connected with the reality of the issue. We were goal focused, and on track.

Over the course of a year, the passion and intensity within the youthful individuals in The Amber Initiative grew tremendously as it morphed from a program into a compulsion and calling. For many on the team, the reality of human trafficking inched fearfully close. Desperation became the new modus operandi. There was no time to waste, no time to rest. The team was engaged and involved – they were serious and never wavered in their immediate tasks.

We are passionate, outward-focused, eager, and compassionate. We were taking confident strides into a narrow alley that was never lit beyond the spot we were in. It looked like the perfect model; the key factors had logic yet it felt misplaced and possibly directionally false.
Now let me take you to Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, where I learnt a simple lesson of profound proportions.

I learnt this lesson from a homeless African American male who had refused to allow his personal “logistical” disadvantage overwhelm his ability to help others. His philosophy was simple (as I watched him for over an hour). His work was about joy. His “office” was a busy intersection that he had boldly albeit cheekily claimed ownership of by merely proclaiming his presence over it.

As pedestrians waited to cross the intersection, he would proclaim loud, clear, and full of cheer, “Welcome to MY intersection! You either buy my magazine or you skip across the road with me!” He began skipping across the road. No one followed him. “Come ON! It’s okay, you don’t have to skip, why don’t you just smile for me there, it doesn’t cost a thing; come on, let me see that smile! If you don’t, I’m going to come over to tickle you!” People at the large intersection could not help but break into a smile. “Ah ha! There it is! Just beautiful! Just beautiful!”
At every single change of traffic light he would do that, skipping and smiling. Skipping is really tiring, but it makes the journey so much more fun – that is what we often forget. When we cross the road, when we walk or cycle, we often forget the people around us – we get so focused on the destination that we forget the ride.

I dare say that the first step to ensuring your impact, sustainability, and the deliverance of social justice is kindling that ability within your soul to uplift yourself.

Skipping and smiling is noticing not only just what is right in front of you but all the moments beyond, around, and below the spot you are in. We should feel sorry for forgetting the importance of the journey. It is the quality of the journey that will eventually determine the depth of your ending. In the case of the advocacy and provision of social justice, there is no ending, which makes the journey an ending in itself.

It is about smiling with the people around you and encouraging them to do the same. We need to be reminded and to remind others that life is a celebration. Do you have enough strength to carry the cheer of this celebration as you advocate social justice? It is about a certain sense of freedom that comes with an innate sense of dignity and joy.

It took one homeless man to deliver justice to the thousands of people with homes in Chicago with the importance of a skip and a smile. Naïve, nonsensical, childish, superficial, superfluous, ridiculous, and insane are probably some of the words that have crossed your mind. Well, no one ever said advocating social justice was going to be easy, but at least it is simpler than we realize. Let us skip and smile to the beat of life. It is a party and you are invited. Will you celebrate?

References:
1. UN estimates, Correspondents in Vienna, 2008.
2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2006.
3. Kozhouharova, Nadya and Stateva, Milena. “Trafficking in Women in Bulgaria: A New Stage”In Feminist Review, No. 76, Post-Communism: Women’s Lives in Transition, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, 2004.
4. Gettleman, Jeffrey. “Symbol of Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims.” New York Times, August 4, 2009, World Section.

Suraj Prakash Upadhiah, together with Meixi Ng, are co-founders of The Amber Initiative, a youth led initiative committed to the restoration and protection of human dignity through a global movement of youth. Check out their website atwww.theamberinitiative.com.