CASE STORIES CHINA A few years ago, in a rural part of south-west China, traffickers were working their way down the valleys and picking off women one by one, village by village. These villages were living in real and persistent poverty and so people were easily convinced to take traffickers up on the opportunities they were apparently providing. But these promises were not what they appeared. The problem became so bad that some villages we visited had lost all of their women because of trafficking. The Salvation Army started to respond to this situation in a number of ways. We worked alongside the local government to carry out prevention work in vulnerable communities, running workshops so that people are more aware of the dangers of trafficking and less prone to the false promises offered by traffickers. More recently we have also been working to improve the income of those living in these areas, so that they are not so reliant on migrating in search of work.
She can also now give her children pocket money, they eat better and their general standard of living has improved. Her hope is to increase the amount of land she uses for mulberries, to increase her production and income.
Now women would rather stay in their communities than move elsewhere. Alongside this, the Government has also been implementing stricter policies and harsher punishments for trafficking offenders. This new-found knowledge and income possessed by the Dulie has three children. She previously used her land to grow maize and walnuts. She has given a third of her villagers means that traffickers no longer even visit land over to planting mulberry trees to feed silkworms these villages, because they now know that there’s nothing for them there. that have been provided by The Salvation Army. After just the first harvest of silk cocoons she has earned A great example of freedom being proclaimed! enough money to build herself a new brick house.
www.salvationarmy.org.uk/cryfreedom