By Ashley Coker
Staff Writer
The leaders of SSTOP, a PCI Initiative that focuses on raising awareness about human trafficking, held a meeting Sept. 25 to inform interested students about the group’s mission, as well as some of the activities planned for the year ahead.
The primary goal of SSTOP, Students Stopping the Trafficking Of Persons, is to make people aware that human trafficking is happening all around the world. According the STOPP leaders, they are hoping to do this by hosting several fun activities for the student body, including a fair-trade chocolate party and salsa dance lessons.
SSTOP will continue to hold prayer meetings every other week.
The team is looking to partner with two other PCI Initiatives, Students for Life and Young Life, to spread the word about the risks of human trafficking with people who may be particularly vulnerable, including high school students and women in abusive relationships.
SSTOP aims to shed light on not only sex trafficking, but labor trafficking as well.
“A lot of the time when we talk about human trafficking, we tend to focus on the sex side of it and not so much the labor side, so we definitely want to bring a balance,” said SSTOP Vice President Cameron Brock.
Both sex and labor trafficking exist within the United States. As many as 17,500 people are trafficked inside US borders each year, according to Freedom Center.
Maddie Mondell, president of SSTOP, said she wants to avoid guilt tactics and reawaken a real passion for fighting human trafficking among students.
