A couple of weeks back, we were just about heading into Race Week here in Cheltenham. For those of you who have no idea what this means, it's the week when the Gold Cup is held-usually the same week as St Patrick's Day. There are currently four days of races in the week, and for that week thousands of people come into Cheltenham, hundreds staying locally.
Now I don't know when Race Week first started, but certainly longer than I've been aware of it. I remember working there about 20 years ago. And for most of my life, it was primarily seen as a good thing; something to celebrate. Everyone I knew looked forward to it, and the atmosphere around town was generally happy. But in recent years, something has changed. The atmosphere is different, and local people stay away from the town centre during that week unless they really have to be there.
And, also, I have been made more aware of the rise in sex trafficking over that week. I only heard it mentioned a couple of years back, but I remember not being surprised. I'm not saying that it only happens here (for instance, it has been talked about around the Superbowl and the Olympics). That's why I didn't find it surprising. It makes sense to think that wherever there is going to be a large number of (drunk) people, this market will increase. Nor am I naive enough to think that it doesn't happen all year round, though that does apparently surprise some.
I got to know a bit more about it through the charity Hope for Justice, which my church supports. And, as a result, I joined the local Act for Justice group-which is their local support group. They have them all over the country, and there was quite a lot going on this month because of the races. First, near the start of the month, the church put on a showing of the film Nefarious, and the week after, there was a lot of prayer on the streets. On the Monday of Race Week, before the races started, we joined with the Gloucester Act for Justice group and prayed at the racecourse; and then, the next few days, various people from church went on on the streets in the evenings offering prayer to anyone who wanted it.
I went out with a group on the first day, and we had some interesting conversations, though no-one asked for prayer. We met some girls handing out leaflets about a lapdancing club (I think), who said they didn't want to be doing it; and we had a conversation with some very drunk Irishmen, one of whom showed us a picture of his 5 month old daughter. They changed their minds about going to a lapdancing club when one of the girls in the group pointed out that every one of them was just like his daughter once.
So, I've been thinking about the subject a lot this month, and thought it was about time I said something on here. It's gone quiet again here, but that doesn't mean the subject is closed. This horrible trade is still going on here, there, everywhere, and has to be stopped-so I thought I'd finish by giving you some ideas of what you can do to help. I would recommend that you watch 'Nefarious' at some point; but, there are other things you can do. Mainly by getting in touch with one of the organisations that deal with it on a day-to-day basis, and seeing how you can support them. Hope for Justice is based in the UK, but, internationally, Exodus Cry is a great organisation to get in touch with. They will let you know how you can help; pray, donate, campaign, but do something. And tell others.
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