Content warning: this video includes themes of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Demand for our services and support is so urgent this year. Online grooming is a major factor as you can see in the video, while in other countries, like Uganda, we have seen a desperate rise in the number of children who have chronic illnesses, undernourishment, and immune-suppressed infections. Traffickers target these children for a heartbreaking reason: they think that by forcing them to beg on the streets, passers-by will be upset by the child’s appearance or disability and will give a few coins. But the trafficker takes the money and keeps the children in terrible conditions, sometimes forcing them also into dangerous unpaid work, domestic slavery or sexual exploitation.

Our community prevention teams are identifying so many of these children on the streets, being made to do things they do not want to do this Christmas – you can help ensure we can provide a Lighthouse shelter space for them too. It costs us on average $900 per month to care for each child with chronic medical needs at our Lighthouse shelters in Uganda. That covers food, transport to hospitals and medical costs, psychological care and other essentials. This usually reduces to around $550 a month once the child is stabilized and he or she has received urgent treatment. Your support could enable Hope for Justice to bring the gift of freedom to even more children who need it and truly deserve it.