out of the ordinary..

ok so every week i usually go on and on about something new i came across online or something i saw on t.v. Well this week its something different. i decided to write about a more serious topic, Human Trafficing.

One of my roommates had to watch Maria Full of Grace as a homework assignment for her English class. I had heard of the movie but never really took the time or energy to watch it. So we all gathered together in my apartment and watched it. The first thing we noticed was that it was all in Spanish. Now one would think that it would be hard to pay attention to the movie while reading the subtitles, but in all honestly it was quite easy.

The movie was about a young girl named Maria from Colombia who needed to make some money. She was pregnant and the sole provider for her family. Although maria was only 17 she was able to become a MULE for a drug lord named Javier. The job of a drug mule is to hide the drugs in your body either through swallowing the drugs which are wrapped in latex, or sticking them where the sun doesn’t shine. Maria had to then travel to the United States where she was given a laxative and asked to disposes of the drugs. At the time Maria was pregnant and saw one of her friends, who was also a mule, die of a drug overdose after one of the tiny capsules popped in her stomach.

While watching the movie I starting thinking about drug smuggling and human trafficking. I did some research and found out that it is a multi-billon dollar business. Places like Japan, the Philippines and Nigeria are hot spots for human and drug trafficking. They are the most targeted places because of the poverty level and eagerness to make money. Not only are these atrocities happening in third world countries but they are also happening in our home country!. According to HumanTrafficking.org: “The United States of America is principally a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually.” The website also stated that the number of Philippine and foreign child victims in the Philippines range from 20,000 to 100,000. The fight to end human trafficking continues. If you would like to get involved to end these horrific problems go to
HumanTrafficing.com