traffic.

Whenever I watch Slumdog Millionaire it makes me cry when the little kids have their eyes cut out so that they can make more money singing and begging, money which of course goes to the 'boss' - the person who blinded them in the first place for a little more profit. And Taken makes me feel so sick when Liam Neelson finds his daughter's friend, captured for sex and forced into being a herion addict.

According to a source on the internet an "estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labour, including sexual exploitation, at any given time as a result of trafficking". 2.5 million. Are you fucking kidding me? Here we are complaining about our boring jobs or our annoying boyfriend or our stupid sister and little girls all over the world are being sold, often by their own parents, to "please" richer men. Little boys are being forced to work in factories with deadly chemicals and no protective gear.

I understand that in some countries families are so poor the children have to work. I understand that I can't possibly understand what they're going through and how extreme their situations must be. I know that a lot of the time children are stolen and forced into trafficking. But I also know that often the parents give consent. Selling your own daughter to be raped over and over, that I can't understand.

And whenever someone says human trafficking, your mind automatically jumps to Asia. This is fair enough, considering 56% of trafficking occurs in Asia. But stats say 161 countries are affected by human trafficking, an industry that makes an annual US $31.6 billion in profits worldwide. It's not just under-developed countries. We can't just shrug it off and say "it doesn't happen here". It's everywhere. It amazes me how that sort of shit can be going on in countries we consider privileged. How have we not moved past this? How do the people in this industry think this is ok? Is there just no ounce of respect for these victim's lives at all?

I have no idea what to do to help this situation. And I know that sounds pathetic. Here I am feeling fucking sick to my stomach over it, yet not doing anything to stop it. It's completely over-whelming, I wouldn't even know where to start. I read an article about a guy in America who was in a Thai restuarant and he found it odd that all the staff barely spoke to him and never made eye contact. When he asked them what they did outside of work "fear gripped their eyes". He said "the man I assumed to be the manager looked at the actions of the staff not as an employer but as a slavemaster". The area this restaurant was in is now being looked at (http://istoptraffic.com/). One guy, noticed something suspicious and told someone about it. It might not be much, but it's better than nothing.

We take so much for granted in our lives and we push so much aside because it's too hard to deal with, to sad and sickening to think about, too far away to help. We all do, I do. Tonight I'm going to say a prayer for all the people forced into something so inhumane and be so absolutely grateful that I was born in Perth, Australia.