Ten to thirty million people have disappeared. It’s the enigma of our time, how people embedded into their families and communities can simply slip away from society’s eye into a nightmare of never ending abuse and exploitation. The trafficking of men, women and children for sexual, domestic and labor exploitation is a problem that no state is immune to.
Earlier this month Right Now attended and reviewed the Young UN women’s panel Trafficking in Melbourne: Prevention, Protection and Prosecution. We wrote about the inspiring video that opened the evening by young artist and community worker Melody Groenenboom. Melody created this film when she was still a student. Presented with a problem of overwhelming magnitude she stepped back and considered what she as an individual could do. The result is this powerful film that combines art and adovocacy in a clear yet creative way.
Melody choose to draw rather that photograph victims of trafficking. Everyday our newpapers and our laptops bombard us with images of suffering from all corners of the globe. We haven’t stopped caring, but in an effort to protect ourselves we have developed an immunity. However, every so often, something is poignant enough to break through our shield. Sometimes something as simple as a change to the medium we are used to seeing, an expressive rather that realistic technique, that opens up the emotional realm.
Melody Groenenboom currently works for children’s charity Compassion.
