M usic Notes Music That Stops Traffic
to help him, and the country’s ongoing civil war hampered any infrastructure that might have aided in the search. Gopal determined to put together a network of people he could trust to help Soon I’ll come to your side him find Sohenya. As he did so, he began To see you come alive…inside… to educate himself about human traffickIt weighs on my gallant heart to ing and realized how pervasive a problem know this It tears out my open heart to know it is, not only in developing countries but also in the US. He met with a pastor of you sit here alone. an orphanage in Thailand who rescues – from “To Know This” by PW girls from prostitution. And he spoke at a camp for at-risk kids in the US, where he Gopal met a girl who told him that she prostiPW Gopal’s towering, molasses-rich vocals tuted herself to help pay the bills. Eventually Gopal got conhave at once a tenderness and a muscular edge to them. The Sri Lankan-born, nected with North Carolina-based singer-songwriter creates beautiful, lyrical songs that not only express a deep intimacy with God but also challenge listeners to love and care for the victims of human trafficking. “It’s a polarizing issue, but in [a concert] setting, it’s easier to introduce the subject matter,” he says. “I tell the stories of the people I the Not know…It’s a good way to for Sale campaign, an organiget people thinking, and if they want more, they can get in zation working to end the global slave trade, and learned about some tools to touch with me and take the next step.” During his concerts, Gopal tells the help him find Sohenya and to fight human story of a young girl named Sohenya, for trafficking. He also met Marlene Carson whom he wrote the song “To Know This.” of Rahab’s Hideaway, an organization that He and a friend were working on a docu- rescues girls from prostitution and slavery mentary about a Sri Lankan orphanage and puts them up in apartments. A few affected by the 2004 tsunami. There weeks later Gopal moved out of his house, Gopal met Sohenya, who was living at the and several of the ministry's girls moved orphanage because her family could not in. According to Gopal, there are fewer afford to take care of her. When Gopal returned to the orphanage in 2007, he than 100 beds in the US for rescued vicfound that Sohenya had gone home to tims of human trafficking and even fewer visit her mother and that her mother had connected resources for assisting them. sold the girl to an unknown man from In response to a sense of God’s call, Gopal founded the Hundred Movement, an iniIndia. Anguished by this news, Gopal felt tiative aimed at establishing 100 core God was calling him to find Sohenya. He groups of people who will take one girl off has continued searching for her when he the streets and into a safe place where she can, but he was unable to find any aboli- can get her life back. Gopal’s vision is that tionist organizations working in Sri Lanka these will be rescue homes, not institu-
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Allison Duncan
tions. He is asking the church to become educated about the problem of human trafficking, to discern what its role will be, and to be trained to care for these girls. Several churches have accepted Gopal’s invitation. “There are little pockets of people who are starting to move,” he says. He hopes to see more churches start the education process, which involves a seminar with him, discernment about the skills the community has, and surveillance and monitoring training. This is not just about giving money so that the staff of a nonprofit organization can do the work, he emphasizes. “I want people to know that the Hundred Movement is a movement, not a nonprofit. The way the church typically deals with things is just write a check and what we’re asking people to do is not just write a check but do the work.” Through music and through a movement, PW Gopal is gradually building a community of people who know about human trafficking, who let it weigh on their hearts, and who love those caught in its hold. “We’re dealing with a very small population of people who want to be involved, but it will be a powerful group of people,” he says. Does it weigh on your breaking heart to know this? Will it change who you are inside? Will it change who you love tonight to know that Love is here, Love is here?
Learn more at TheHundredMovement.com
Allison Duncan studied English and theology at Eastern University and works as a marketing writer/editor in Broomall, Pa. She enjoys freelance writing and singing harmony.