Kids Alive! World: Helping-Hand 2024

The Kids Alive! team explores the 2024 Helping-Hand Appeal.

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Sometimes it’s hard for people to find work that pays a fair wage, but they still have bills to pay, food to buy and family members to look after. This can lead people to lose hope and they can become vulnerable to human trafficking.

What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking is a crime. It involves moving or transporting people who are then tricked or forced to do things that are not safe and that they didn’t choose to do. This could include working for little or no money or stealing for other people.

Human trafficking happens all over the world. People can be trafficked within a country, or they can be trafficked across international borders to another country.

How can The Salvation Army help?

Human trafficking is a global crime. There are people and organisations all over the world who are trying to stop it and it’s important that they work together. The Salvation Army is an international church and charity. This means it has a network of people living in different parts of the world who can work together to bring human trafficking to an end – each using their own unique skills, resources and knowledge.

Uganda

The Salvation Army’s International Development UK unit is working with The Salvation Army in Uganda on a project which aims to raise awareness about human trafficking. It also aims to support those who have returned home after being trafficked and help people to find ways to stop trafficking in their communities.

Meet Jackline

Jackline lives in Uganda with her family and she’s a survivor of a crime called human trafficking. She shared her story: ‘Things were not going well. I needed work so I could pay for my children to go to school... so we could live a better life and find a new place to live.’

When a man visited Jackline’s village with the promise of well-paid housework in Kenya, it seemed like the answer to the family’s problems. So Jackline left her children with her husband and set off. But the job was not what she hoped for. ‘I worked for three months and I didn’t get a single penny. At night I had to sleep on the floor. They were really hard on me.’

Thankfully, Jackline was able to escape and travel home to Uganda. When Jackline returned home she found The Salvation Army was already running a group in the village. Group members were telling people about the dangers of human trafficking and supporting survivors who had returned. The group heard about Jackline’s story and offered to help.

As well as raising awareness about human trafficking, the group also runs a savings project. Members add a little of their money to a shared pot. They can then take loans from the pot when they need to pay for important things. Jackline is one of the treasurers, so is responsible for keeping track of how much money the group has saved and giving loans to the members. 

Jackline said: ‘I feel so happy about this project. The group has given me so much knowledge – about avoiding human trafficking – and they’ve also helped me save some money.’

In her spare time, Jackline now tells people about her story to raise awareness.

‘We go door-to-door telling people about human trafficking and we support each other sharing this information in our communities. We have really seen a difference.’

Have you heard of the Helping-Hand Appeal?

It’s an annual fundraising project run by The Salvation Army’s International Development UK and Family Ministries units aimed at encouraging people to look beyond their own communities and help others around the world. This year the focus is anti-trafficking.