This week, we met with Amanda Buthe, who is one of the Social Enterprise team members for NFS.  She is co-leading a team of 4 research students (from Korea) and they are studying the economy of Peru and the implications of using sustainable business opportunities to prevent and provide an alternative to forced labor or prostitution in Peru. This team will be coming in April-May to Cusco to continue their research and a partnership has been established between NSF and YWAM Cusco. Truthfully, many missionaries and volunteers in Cusco don’t know much about the extent of human-trafficking (especially of minors) in our city.

It’s well hidden and not talked about (unlike other cities in the jungles of Peru where the hotel sign bluntly displays “Casa de Sexo”).  Amanda told us that Cusco is a “transit point” in human-trafficking, meaning that most people are coming or going to the jungle, and pass through on buses. It is also estimated that a bunch of the businesses that are geared toward the tourists and backpackers (ahem…massage parlors) are facades for trafficked victims.

The team of research students will be able to investigate Cusco’s needs and access areas where we (YWAM Cusco and other volunteers in Cusco) can begin to combat a problem that lives and works in the shadows. The team will also be working in The Meeting Place Cafe (a strategic cafe in Plaza San Blas that YWAM Cusco is looking to take over in the possible future) as well as other local ministries that we work alongside of.

YWAM Cusco looks forward to continuing to partner with Not For Sale in the future and having a fruitful relationship as we both work together to eliminate slavery in Cusco.

Did you know??? There are more slaves today than have ever existed in human history. Human-trafficking and forced-labor is a global problem that enslaves 30 million people. How do we combat this problem at its roots? The reality is that God has a solution to every crisis and problem in the world and this issue of slavery is near to his heart.

Not For Sale is a global non-profit organization that “{uses} business creation, supply chain evaluation, and aftercare aid. By creating enterprise opportunities for vulnerable communities, offering social services to survivors and those at-risk to human trafficking, and evaluating the use of forced labor in mainstream supply chains, Not For Sale works to ensure that no one is for sale.” NSF has initiatives all over the world, including in Peru. Currently, they specifically work in Lima, Puerto Maldonado and Pucallpa. To learn more about their work in Peru: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/global-initiatives/peru/

photo courtesy of Not For Sale logo