The size of the problem of trafficking is overwhelming. It is immense and complicated and right under our noses.
Conservative estimates say that of the 2 million children who are involved in the commercial sex industry each year 400,000 are boys. Blackbox exists to provide holistic aftercare for boys who have been rescued from sex-trafficking. Based on our research, the resources for the lengthy process of aftercare are extremely limited worldwide and Blackbox exists to fill that gap.
We use a variety of methods to help these boys find healing from their past, joy in their present and purpose for their future. Currently, we have 10 beds in one home in the Dominican Republic (DR) for boys who have been rescued, and soon we will be opening another home in Haiti. The numbers of boys caught in sex-trafficking are overwhelming and the need for this ministry is great.
A little over a year ago, my husband, Jon and I, had the opportunity to visit the Blackbox home in the DR, to see more clearly what holistic aftercare looks like and to learn more about God’s heart for justice.
We walked through the kitchen where wonderful ladies make lots and lots of rice for the boys! We prayed through all of the rooms of the home and over the boys whose pictures made a “family tree” on the living room wall. We walked through the schoolroom with cheery yellow chairs and saw where the boys learn to read and write and gain basic life skills. I could see that the home is filled with love, intentionality and a desire to help change the story for these boys so they can become healthy, godly, contributing Dominican men.
We worshiped in a simple, yet vibrant local church that fully opens their arms, providing a safe place for the boys to belong. This is a huge component of our ministry. A few of the boys had the courage to walk up to us, look us in the eye and introduce themselves. We listened to the country director and the church pastor share in their heart language about why they do what they do. We heard from members of a local justice organization about the immensity of the problem of trafficking and still, we saw their tenacity and determination to help change the story for a growing number of people in the DR.
The size of the problem of trafficking is overwhelming. It is immense and complicated and right under our noses. We have 10 beds in the DR and will soon have another 12 beds in Haiti. But it feels like a tiny drop in a bucket. The trauma these boys have experienced has left them wounded and broken in ways my mind can’t begin to comprehend. The pain they have experienced is unimaginable.
And yet I see that God is continually raising up people and resources in a timely manner, to do what they can to show His great love, to bring about His justice and to help change the story for these boys.
I, too, will do what I can because the story must change.
