Music for a cause
Human trafficking is a growing problem in the United States.
Tens of thousands of young men and women are trapped in this vicious cycle. PW Gopal, along with others from around the country, is leading the way to stop this cycle.
Gopal has been a professional singer and songwriter for the past 11 years, starting in what Gopal described as the “bar scene.”
“Music started as mainly a journey for me to talk to people who didn’t know Jesus and weren’t coming to church. That then translated into becoming part of someone’s story who was trafficked,” said Gopal. “For the past seven years, I have been working on an aftercare project called ‘The Hundred Movement’ for victims of human trafficking.”
The organization’s mission statement is “to rescue and restore 100 women and children from U.S. sex trafficking by empowering the local church to build 100 points of exit for victim recovery, educate the local community, and train abolitionists to grow the movement.”
Knowledge of human trafficking as well as interest in its termination of human trafficking continues to increase.
“There are more people that know about trafficking and there are more people that want to do something about it. The awareness has gone up radically over the past seven years,” said Gopal. “We are starting to build better tools and having a little bit more success in preventing trafficking, educating on trafficking and even removing girls from the street.”
After the girls are taken off the street, they are placed in an aftercare system to make up for lost time.
Some victims lack certain social and intellectual skills due to the years of abuse.
The age range of the victims is anywhere from 12 to 22. The aftercare program allows the victims to regain what is needed to be reintroduced into society.
“We want them to have access to higher education from ages 18-22,” said Gopal. “Even after that, we want them to have tools after they are done with college to be able to pick a career or do whatever it is that they want to do in their life.”
“The Hundred Movement” is in the process of building a 15-year system to cater to a 12-year-old girl until age 26.
The group plans to partner with 99 other systems.
Those interested in joining the movement to help end human trafficking can visit www.thehundredmovement.com for more information.