This giant statue is meant to be noticed
I’ve never been trafficked, but if I had been, I’m pretty sure that something I would have prayed for each day was to be noticed. For someone to recognize that I needed help. For someone to help me find a way out of that situation.
As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this Thursday, keep in mind that he was also a victim of what we now call human trafficking. Captured and sold as chattel, he escaped and was recaptured and finally escaped again.
To bring light to the plight of enslaved people around the world, and to make people realize that we might not be noticing modern-day slaves around us, Tim Schmalz has created a 20-foot-long bronze sculpture memorializing the release of slavery victims by Saint Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of slavery survivors.
As Schmalz states, where ever these sculptures are installed, they are meant to be large enough to disrupt your path of travel, and hopefully will instill the thought that people we normally don’t notice are sometimes the very ones that need our help the most.
13 More articles you might find valuable:
Has your child’s school taken the first step?
10 Ways you can help end trafficking
Can you believe human zoos existed in this country?
What to tell your child before it’s too late
The worst thing your child won’t tell you
Make a friend – save a trafficking victim
Learning the facts about sexual violence – these stats are incredible
St. Josephine Bakhita – patron saint of recovering trafficking victims
Learn the dangerous language of human traffickers before your child does
Look beneath the surface – would you recognize someone being trafficked?
Three ways to protect kids online
WTH are these preteens thinking?
