‘IF your parents have no idea who you are chatting to on social media, they will not even know where to start looking for you if you go missing.’
Breaths were drawn and nervous giggles sounded up everywhere, when Pastor Caroline Pitout of Freedom Generation SA addressed John Ross College pupils on the very real and current dangers of human trafficking and how syndicates trawl for naive victims via social media platforms.
She told teenagers to go home and fully disclose the identity of their Facebook friends and other contacts to their parents.
‘No matter how rebellious or naughty your friends may be, at least tell your parents who they are.’
Pastor Pitout, together with SAPS, Lifeline and the Zululand Observer, kicked off Human Traffic Awareness week at John Ross, reaching 500 teenagers with potentially lifesaving information.
She spoke frankly about dangerous teenage behaviour, including the link between drug abuse and human trafficking, sighting examples of cases in Empangeni, Richards Bay and Durban.
‘Syndicates will supply you with drugs until you are completely hooked – you may think smoking whoonga every now and then is cool, but you are getting yourself into deep trouble.
‘Then they will start selling you for sex to pay back your drug debt.’
She sternly warned children against making known their location on Facebook and posting selfies in skimpy outfits.
She also told boys that watching pornography means directly funding human trafficking.
According to recent statistics, a person is trafficked into sex slavery every 30 seconds and an estimated 27 million people globally are currently enslaved for the purposes of sex and free labour.
As a final challenge, she requested children to mark their hands with a red cross, which is the international symbol against human trafficking.
‘If you support this cause and have heeded the warning, draw a cross on your hand, post it to social media and hashtag it: #FreedomGeneration.’
