[PPT slide 1]
Yesterday in our assembly we thought about how much God loves us and about how terrible it would be to be a slave. Today we are going to think about the children whose lives are affected by slavery.
Do you remember that yesterday I said that slavery still happens in our world today? I said that it was called human trafficking. Human trafficking is one form of slavery and it still happens in many parts of our world. It affects men and women but it also affects boys and girls too. In fact, 1.2 million children are involved in human trafficking in the world.
[PPT slide 2]
People end up as slaves because they are trapped. They are poor and the only way they can make money, or even think of escaping from poverty is to sell themselves, or someone in their family to another human being.
Watch this clip from A Bug's Life.
A Bug's Life (Disney Pixar) Cert U
Chapter 5 (10:00 The grasshoppers burst through the roof of the ant colony - 14:36 'Let's ride!')
[4 minutes, 36 seconds]
Every year the grasshoppers come and demand food from the ants. In this scene the ants are cowering under the earth, waiting for the grasshoppers to take the 'offering'. Unfortunately, Flik, one of the ants has knocked over the pile of food. The king of the grasshoppers, Hopper, demands to know where the food is. He tells the ants that they must work harder and produce more food for them. When the ants explain that they will starve if they do this, he tells them that if they don't provide food, the grasshoppers will not be able to help the ants and that they will be harmed by other insects.
The ants in A Bug's Life are trapped. Every year the grasshoppers come and demand food from them. Most of the food that the ants collect is given to the grasshoppers and the ants are left with only a little amount for themselves. The grasshoppers are bullies - they threaten to hurt the ants if they can't pay up. They pretend that they are protecting the ants from other insects, but in fact they are the ones who are harming them. But the ants can't do anything to change their situation. They have no choice but to do what the grasshoppers say.
There are lots of people in the world who are trapped too. People who are poor don't have any choice about what they do. Let me tell you about one person who didn't have any choice about what happened to him.
This boy was born in Cambodia - he had two brothers and a sister. His parents were farmers. His mother sold steamed corn and sweet potato. His father was an alcoholic who was often drunk and later died.
This boy has a physical disability as his feet and fingers are fused together but he can walk and is able to hold things with his hands. He used to go the rice fields, where he helped to plant rice and pull out the stalks.
One day the boy saw two strangers, a man and a woman, visit his family and give his mother and his brother some money. His mother told him to go with the strangers. He did not want to go but his mother insisted. The people told the boy they would feed him and take care of him. The couple had bought the boy from his mother. They took him to another country - Thailand - and forced him to beg on the streets. They would take the money that he got from begging. He got very hungry begging, and sitting on the street made his legs even worse. If he didn't make enough money, the people who owned him would beat him. No-one helped him.
One day the boy was arrested by the police and taken to a Detention Centre. His legs were operated on and, although he was safe from the people who owned him, the Centre was like a prison and the boy was often attacked by other people there.
Eventually, a charity found the boy, and a friend he had made in the Detention Centre. They took the boys to a foster home where they could be looked after by adults who cared for them. Now he is able to go to school, to play with the other children and to go on outings. He even has special shoes to help him walk better.
This story has a happy ending. The boys ended up being looked after in a foster home and going to school. Now he can play football and ride a bike like any boy who is free. But lots of other boys and girls end up working as slaves, maybe working in fields or factories, begging on the streets or being hurt by adults.
Yesterday, we read in the Bible that God loves everyone in the world and that nothing can separate us from his love. How do you think God feels when he sees how someone like this boy is treated by adults?
Jesus had something to say about how children should be treated. He said that when we are kind to people who need help, it's as though we are being kind to him. He also had something to say to people who are unkind. Listen to this:
Read Matthew 25:41-45 [PPT slides 3 & 4]
He said that when we refuse to help people who need our help it's as if we are refusing to help him and God is angry with us.
God loves every person in the whole world, but he gets angry when he sees people being unfair to each other or bullying.
Reflection
Let's close our eyes for a minute and think about the boy from Cambodia. He was taken away from his home and his family and treated very badly. He must have felt very sad and very lonely at times.
Imagine how God felt when he saw how the boy was treated. He must have been sad and angry. But he loved him very much indeed.
Now the boy is looked after by kind foster parents. He's able to go to school and play like other children. Imagine how happy he feels and how pleased God must be with the people who have been kind.
Prayer
God
You understand what it's like to be sad and lonely and angry when bad things happen.
We pray for boys and girls who have been sold into slavery.
Please help them to be rescued by kind people like the ones who helped the boy from Cambodia.
Amen.
Song suggestion:
Nobody's A Nobody (664 Kidsource Combined, Kevin Mayhew)
A Bug's Life (Disney Pixar, 1999) Cert U