Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Isaiah 58:6
Prayer breaks chains and gives favor that is supernatural. It enables rescue and puts people in the right place at the right time.
Greetings! The past month has been quite busy. The anti-trafficking section of the Aglow website has undergone some changes, which now include an explanation of our calling and action points, an archive for present and past newsletters, and a resource page! Take some time to look around, and if there is something that you would like to see on the website that you would find helpful, let me know. This month our newsletter will be a little different. I’d like to talk to you about the pressing problem of trafficking in India, and a resource that you can view to help spread awareness of this issue.
The Dalit People
Have you ever heard of the Dalit people in India? Also known as the “Untouchables”, they are not a small group by any means. There are about 300 million Dalit – that’s roughly the size of the United States population. Yet an estimated 90% of all trafficked people in India, either bonded labor or sex trafficking, are Dalit people. According to an article in Christianity Today India in May 2011, “India has emerged as one of the biggest source, route and destination countries for victims of trafficking. According to government figures, 60,000 children go missing annually in India and majority of them fall prey to trafficking.”
60,000 children. We must do something.
Aglow's current anti-trafficking action steps include: prayer, partnering locally in your community, and raising awareness on trafficking. One way we are helping raise awareness is by partnering with the film NOT TODAY. NOT TODAY is a faith-based film that brings awareness of the Dalit people and their vulnerability to trafficking in India. You can view the official trailer here. Jane Hansen Hoyt was deeply touched when she saw the film with her husband at a San Diego Christian film festival. We want to join NOT TODAY in spreading awareness of the issue of trafficking of the Dalit people.
Not Today
The film NOT TODAY will be released at select theatres in the U.S. April 12 - 14. I highly encourage you to take a group of friends or people from your church and go and see this film. You will be pleased to know that this film does not have the graphic content or violence of other fictional trafficking films. NOT TODAY does a wonderful job presenting a responsible and factual screenplay. Their action steps at the end of the film are excellent and include partnering with Aglow.
Interview with Brent Martz and Cody Longo
NOT TODAY has won seven awards in the past two years, including “Best Justice Film” at the 2013 Justice Film Festival. I had the privilege of interviewing the film’s producer, Brent Martz, and leading actor Cody Longo, who plays Caden Welles, a 20-year old who decides to travel to India with his friends, not knowing this trip will forever change his life.
Allow me to share, and sometimes paraphrase, Brent and Cody’s heart regarding NOT TODAY and the Dalit people of India:
1. Brent - What made you decide to produce an anti-trafficking film about/in India? What was your first step in this process?
Since 2002 our church has been building schools for the Dalit. Our original pastor was introduced to India and the Dalits in 2002. We went back in 2007 to check on the progress of the 20 schools we were building. We were in Hyderabad, India, which is also the headquarters of Operation Mobilization in India and the headquarters for the Dalit Freedom Network. We thought we knew what we were walking into, but we were surprised at the impact that the first schools we built had on those people. There was one village called Pipe Village. Families live in huge concrete sewer pipes that had been given to some workers of the pipe factory. And looking at this pipe city… someone told me, these kids will never live in a pipe when they grow up because they are going to the school your church built.
We are going to build 200 schools in this area. We’ve built 42 schools so far, and have the money raised for 70. Our ultimate goal is to build 1,000 schools.
2. Can you tell me more about trafficking in India? What grabbed your heart?
Brent: 90% of people trafficked in India are Dalits. Dalits are considered untouchable, except when it comes to bonded labor and sex trafficking. We talked to brothel owners to do research for the film. I have 3 children myself – and I had children offered to me, for pennies.
3. If you could say one or two things to Aglow about the Dalit people, what would you want them to know?
Cody: Go to India. See this culture for yourself. The people I got to talk to and touch and be around, these kids are so– they’re so adorable, we would bring them chalkboards – they have nothing, and they don’t even know they have nothing. We’re doing this movie for them. The culture is so incredible and so welcoming – we are so blessed over here in America. Some of us take advantage of that, and I did too – until this film. Let’s stop living for just for ourselves. Love is living for others.
Brent: For 3,000 years the Dalit people have been told they’re worse than dogs, worse than cockroaches. But when you tell them they are created in the image of God, that Jesus came to die for THEM, even though it is generationally engrained in them that they’re worth nothing, this truth is revolutionary. I’ve seen freedom that only Jesus can bring. If we truly believe in the teachings of Jesus, standing in the gap of the poor, following Jesus’ example… God invited our church into one of the greatest movements of God in this century. I wouldn’t trade that for the world. I’m thankful for brothers and sisters in India who are daily living out their faith. The world needs to know their story.
4. Brent, What do you, as the film’s Producer, hope people will walk away with after watching this film?
I hope that we not only raise awareness, but motivate action. Our success would be if people are motivated to action – whether that’s in India or in trafficking around the world. God is going to put a different call on everyone’s heart when they watch NOT TODAY. I had no idea about Dalits. I had no idea about human trafficking, I just thought, I have to do something. So be involved – via social media, fund a school, volunteer with a global partner. That is success for us – being committed to actions.
5. Cody - What do you hope people will walk away with after watching this film?
I hope people get inspired. To ask, what can I do, now, to get involved? It’s going to take that one generation who says yes, to make that change. Wherever your passion is, that’s the most important thing.
6. How can Aglow pray for you? For the movie premiere? For the Dalits?
Cody: I would just hope that they would pray for a change. Pray for peace and awareness. And for people to become active and to make a change.
Brent: Pray that the Dalit people would find freedom through Jesus. Pray for spiritual freedom. As schools get built, pray that the Dalit would find literal freedom, freedom from persecution, from all the atrocities they have to put up with every day just for how they were born. For freedom in society. For their life to be lived out.
Also pray for the film. Opening weekend is so huge. We don’t have funds but we do have the Holy Spirit. Pray that God would do abundantly more (Eph. 3:20).
April 12th is opening weekend, pray that the movie would have an unprecedented response and that it would open in 30, 40 cities and that God would use this film as a conversation starter or conversation continuator. That it would wake up the church in America to live outside ourselves, for others. I think the church in America is looking for something to give themselves to, that is not for themselves, and this is it. Your ticket in, is their ticket out.
This Month Pray For The Dalit People:
- Pray for revelation to come to the Dalit people – that they would know they are beloved, precious, and loved by God!
- Pray for their physical and spiritual freedom.
- Pray for their Salvation - that they would walk in the abundant life Jesus came to give.
- Pray for the missing 60,000 children - that they would find freedom and protection!
- Proclaim Matthew 19:26 - With God all things are possible.
- Pray for the Not Today showings this weekend – Pray that eyes would be opened and hearts stirred into action.
Suggested Resources for this Month:
Film – Not Today, playing April 12 – 14 in these citiesBook – No Longer A Slumdog – by K.P. Yohannan of Gospel For Asia
Bless you as you pray for the Dalits, spread awareness, and get involved locally in your community! Let us arise in our vision and see God break the tyranny of oppression and bring freedom and empowerment to those enslaved!
Standing in the gap with you,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Anti-Trafficking Specialist
Aglow International
