This might seem like an unrelated health issue but if you look at it in the broader scope of things, it impacts and connects all of us to an irresponsible and damaging act of cruelty toward our fellow humankind. The next time you buy something made in a far away place, question if possibly slaves were used in the making of it. The answer may surprise you. If left un-challenged it will continue to grow.
A conservative estimate tells us there are more than 27 million people enslaved in the world today. That’s double the amount of people taken from Africa during the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade. A hundred and fifty years ago, an agricultural slave cost about three times the annual salary of an American worker. That equates to about $50,000 in today’s money. Yet today, entire families can be enslaved for generations over a debt as small as $18. Astonishingly, slavery generates profits of more than $13 billion worldwide each year.
Lisa Kristine
is a photographer who has traveled the world and witnessed the modern day slavery first hand.
This short TED video is one of the most powerful talks I have seen and sheds light on a subject that many people are either not aware of or refuse to acknowledge exists.
image source: Lisa Kristine
