2010-05-17 16:45:25

SISTERS ON THE BALL


Salesian Sister Bernadette Sangma speaks of the international network of religious sisters who are working hard to prevent human trafficking and exploitation in the lead-up to the Football World Cup in South Africa:


Q: Who are the most vulnerable people?

“They can be the internally trafficked themselves. So within South Africa the people from the rural areas, because it is easier to cheat the rural population, because their lack of access to information or illiteracy. So we are concerned about the trafficking of some of the rural population, but also about the trafficking of young people because the South African government decided to close the schools for the entire period of the World Cup, so the pupils will be free the whole time, becoming easy targets. But we are also aware that because in the field of sexual exploitation there is always a demand for exotic sex they can also be trafficking from other countries and perhaps from countries that are quite far off, Eastern Europe, Thailand and some Latin American countries”.


Q: How about the football fans themselves, do you have a message for them?

“Yes. I really seriously want to tell them that the World Cup should be about the game. It shouldn't really make them go beyond the enjoyment that they legitimately would want to have with the game to getting involved in exploitative activities. If they were to collaborate in this, 95% of prevention of trafficking would take place already, then they would know that they are not accomplices in the suffering of many people”.
Hear more: RealAudioMP3


Sister Bernadette, originally from India, has been working in Rome in the field of Women’s empowerment and is actively involved in counter-trafficking activities. She is also the coordinator of a counter-trafficking project called “Talitha Kum”, an international network of religious sisters from 19 different congregations, and backed by the International Union of Superiors General.








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