THE JOURNEY TOWARD FREEDOM

Project Moses and the Journey Toward Freedom

Elizabeth Lang

Why do we call the Saint Michael and All Angels ministry that is concerned with fighting human trafficking Project Moses? In our early collaboration we wanted a name that reflected our mission and was descriptive of those we wanted to serve. Project Moses resonates with the Biblical story of the Exodus—the story of God’s freeing people from slavery in Egypt. Moses was the agent whom God called to lead God’s people to freedom and empowerment. Their journey from Egypt was a pilgrimage of liberation. As a child I heard the story as a wonderful tale featuring a burning bush, crossing the Red Sea, and receiving the Ten Commandments. Since then, I have learned that this story is more complex and arduous. To show how the ancient story of Moses and the Exodus forms a theological basis for Project Moses, I want to draw some parallels between the Biblical story and the contemporary journey of a survivor of human trafficking, particularly the long path to recovery from the trauma of sex trafficking.

A CRY OF PAIN

“The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.“ Exodus 2:23-25

God has compassion on those who are enslaved, which suggests that we also should be concerned about those suffering under the burden of contemporary slavery—those controlled by trafficking. Yet, there is more to this than the attention of God and our compassion.

Until the victim of sexual trafficking realizes that he or she is suffering under a burden, it is hard for the victim to seek change. Before then, those abused may not see themselves as oppressed. Sadly, the trafficker who controls the one being exploited is too often a family member, boyfriend, or other trusted adult. Those who seek people to use for profit know how to groom and manipulate them. The potential victim may think that she is being helped and loved by the one who will abuse and misuse her. The one she perceives as her protector is the one who begins to exert power and control. The once mutual relationship now becomes a struggle for survival and escape from a pernicious web of control. It’s only after the one being trafficked realizes that she is suffering and wonders what to do about the situation that she begins to think of leaving.

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW

When Moses returned to Egypt from his exile near Mount Horeb in order to free God’s people, the Pharaoh and his system, of course, resisted any movement to free the people. Why should those on top of the economic pyramid set free those at the bottom? Moses demanded in the name of God, “Let my people go.” Pharaoh and his taskmasters complained that Moses and his brother Aaron were taking the people away from their work. Therefore, they increased the burden of the enslaved by no longer furnishing supplies for making bricks. The slaves now had to produce their quota of bricks with greater hardship. Naturally, the slaves turned against Moses and Aaron and blamed them for worsening their condition Exodus 5.

If a victim of trafficking begins to resist his and her captivity, the trafficker has means to keep his or her economic resource in place. Those wielding the power use isolation, emotional abuse, and economic power to keep their sex worker under their control. They use threats and employ physical and sexual violence. In addition to hurting their victim, they may threaten to harm a victim’s friend of family member. These are effective means of making the ones enslaved prefer slavery to the consequences of escaping their situation. As trauma reinforces trauma, those trafficked are further damaged and trapped, especially due to the strong emotional hold exerted over them.

THE RED SEA

Finally, after a series of plagues, culminating in the death of the firstborn, the Pharaoh and the Egyptians sent away the Hebrews. The former slaves moved out walking on the way toward freedom. But then, Pharaoh sent an army against them. As the people were trapped between the army and the Red Sea, they asked Moses, “Were there no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?”

But, of course, we know the rest of the story. Moses raised his rod, the wind blew, the waters parted, and the people walked to safety. Which was the greatest miracle? The lifting of the rod? The blowing wind? Or the first person stepping between the risen waves? As the story continues, the people arrive safely on the further shore, and their pursuers are destroyed. The women lead the people with song and dance rejoicing in God’s salvation Exodus 14 & 15.

Those who have been sexually trafficked have been traumatized on so many levels that it is hard for them to imagine that they are on a safe path toward inner security and freedom. Even if survivors of sexual trafficking are in a safe house, they do not initially feel safe. Disturbing emotional and physical flashbacks are “triggered” by things in their new environment. They may cycle through and return to various rehabilitation stages as they move toward recovery. They get glimpses of a new life and may rejoice in this. But the work of liberation is just beginning.

THE WILDERNESS JOURNEY

As a child, I thought that the Exodus story ended with the crossing of the Red Sea and the receiving of the gift of the 10 Commandments. But the story continues with much backsliding. The people complain about manna from heaven and yearn for the stew pots, garlic, leeks, cucumber, and melons of Egypt. The people turn against Moses, grumble about water, worship a golden calf, are too frightened to enter the Promised Land. Repeatedly they complain, resist, and even rebel on the journey toward freedom.

The story of the wilderness journey not only takes up a lot of space in Exodus but also continues in other books of Torah. After all, there are forty years after the people approached the border of the Promised Land. Again and again, they had to be recalled to their identity as the people of God and return to the redemptive path.

So, it is with recovering survivors of trafficking. When someone who has been extracted from “the life” enters a program of recovery and a safe house, they have a lot of work to do. Victims go through stages such as withdrawing, shutting down, getting better and fitting into the rules and routine of the safe place, relapsing, rebelling, working on therapy with great difficulty, and periods of resistance.

The progress of healing is never a straight line. There are relapses and repetition of stages of recovery. Survivors need to recommit to their journey toward adjusting to a new life. Counseling, structure, education, mentoring, discipline, being members of a supportive community are all parts of a journey toward a new life. Project Moses is involved in this journey through supporting those agencies and organizations that take on this work of recovery.

Engaging in prayer, contributing financial and material resources, volunteering in service, lobbying the legislature, and educating about human trafficking are some of the ways Project Moses fights the evils of human trafficking and encourages those journeying toward freedom. Perhaps you would like to join this endeavor. If so, please contact Mark or Terry Demler at projectmosesht@gmail.com.