International Justice Mission events for the month
- Food drive
All month, IJM has placed and managed food drive boxes in campus dining halls for Second Harvest Food Bank.
- “Sex Money”
IJM will host a screening of the 2011 “Sex Money: A National Search for Human Worth” documentary at 6 p.m. Nov. 19 in DeHority Complex.
- Ultimate frisbee tournament
IJM will host a tournament on Nov. 23 to raise money and raise awareness for sex slavery.
Students from the International Justice Mission will walk around campus until the end of November with barcodes on their bodies and the words “27 million” written beneath for the group’s “No Slave November.”
The monthlong event is in support of the estimated 27 million slaves that have been trafficked into debt bondage, sex trafficking and labor.
“International Justice Mission is an international organization that is doing some of the most significant work in the world with eliminating human trafficking and other forms of slavery,” Stephanie Metzger, Ball State’s IJM vice president, said.
In the United States, the state department estimates that between 17,500 and 18,500 people are trafficked annually. IJM will host several activities on campus this month targeted at raising awareness for worldwide slaves and a few dollars to support the organization.
Metzger said awareness is the ultimate goal for the November campaign.
“You can’t cause change without awareness,” Metzger said. “Awareness isn’t change, but it’s the first step toward change.”
The group is passing out fliers, hosting a documentary and putting together an ultimate Frisbee tournament.
“One of the biggest risk factors for being trafficked is poverty,” Metzger said. “A lot of people think that’s just happening in third world countries, but it is extremely prevalent in the United States and in Indiana. So, we could actually be making a big difference in preventing youth from getting trafficked.”
Ione Deollos, an associate professor of sociology, said a lot of trafficking from the United States surrounds large events.
“In Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, there were at least five arrests made on human trafficking,” Deollos said. “Sex trafficking tends to follow things like the Super Bowl, so police get special training before the Super Bowl to be aware of this and what to look for.”
The IJM on campus is a single chapter connected with hundreds of other on college campuses across the world.
Holly Van Duzer, its community service coordinator, said IJM targets the root causes of human trafficking in the United States — poverty — by donating food to Second Harvest Food Bank.
Van Duzer also said the group’s hope is to put together a program for “kids at the [Youth Outreach Center], A Better Way and the Boys and Girls Club” to teach children about human trafficking.
Deollos said women in the U.S. are targeted for sex trafficking to other countries.
“The primary thing for people who want American women want the American white woman,” Deollos said. “Asian and Arab countries find that to be an exotic group of people to have sex with. A lot of people are taking women for that purpose.”
Many women attempt to afford the experience of living in another country through nanny opportunities that are illegitimate and end up in prostitution. In other countries, children are commonly sold into sex trafficking for their virginity and sold as a virgin many times over.
Daniel Brown, an IJM member, explained the core of the organization simply.
“Justice is at the heart of what we do,” Brown said.
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