Photo by Abby Bellow
Oklahoma Christian Modern Abolitionists are traveling far in order to prepare themselves to fight for a cause that spans the world and at home.
OCMA is a student-run group dedicated to learning about and raising awareness of human trafficking in Oklahoma City and around the world.
“[Human trafficking is] a really, really bad problem here since there are three major interstates that converge in Oklahoma,” Grace Nix, OCMA campus liaison said. “It makes it really easy for traffickers to set up base here and to move people across the country.”
Dec. 13 to Dec. 18, a few members will travel to the Life of Freedom Center in Miami, Florida, where they will train to serve survivors of human trafficking.
In previous years, the club has primarily focused on raising funds and gathering donations for No Boundaries International, a non-profit organization in Oklahoma City devoted to ending modern day slavery.
However, Life of Freedom Center contacted Ben Langford, director of the Center for Global Missions, about sending students to train with their organization.
“[Life of Freedom Center is] a Christian organization that… educates people and trains and equips and also engages in bringing people, especially young women, out of sex trafficking,” Langford said.
This is the first time OCMA will take a hands-on approach at serving human trafficking victims, according to Nix.
“We’re going to go down there and get experienced trainers to teach us how to deal with these kind of situations,” Nix said. “We’re also going to get to have some workshops [and] hands-on experience with survivors and getting out in the community and raising awareness.”
Langford said the group is interested in pursing the trip annually and the experience could open doors for students to take action against sex trafficking in Oklahoma.
Nix said the trip would make members of OCMA better equipped to address the issue of modern day slavery on a local level as well as heighten campus awareness.
“Especially at OC, everyone is kind of in this bubble,” Nix said. “But, less than 20 minutes away from this campus there is human trafficking going on in OKC.”
Schouppe said the most important goal of the trip is to learn how to be spiritually influential to victims of human trafficking.
“Learning how we can better serve these people and ultimately show them God’s love – that is our purpose,” Dylan Schouppe, Community Liaison for OCMA, said.
OCMA hopes to bring in more members through this new experience, according to Schouppe
“A trip [to] Miami could be what it takes, one, for us to rally together as a group, but also for others to join our club,” Schouppe said.
The trip is open to all who wish to attend. Participants are currently fundraising for the cost of $1,100 per person. The trip will be Dec. 13 through 18. For more information, contact Grace Nix at grace.nix@eagles.oc.edu.
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