COLLEYVILLE, Texas (ABP) – Given Kachepa's father died when he was 7. He lost his mother when he was 9. He ended up living with 15 relatives in a two-room hut in Zambia without electricity or running water.
So when a Baptist missionary offered to make Kachepa part of a Zambian boys choir that would sing in American churches to raise money to build schools in his hometown and support his family, he jumped at the opportunity.
“If you look at the country and what they don't have and you meet someone who says, ‘We are going to build schools, we are going to support families,' it's like a dream come true,” he said.
Once in the United States, the dream quickly turned into a nightmare. Within three months, the choir director became increasingly controlling. He took away the boys' contact with people, including their families. All 12 members of the choir lived in one mobile home when at their home base. They were denied medical care. When boys started asking questions, the director threatened deportation.
Kachepa was one of an estimated 14,500-17,000 people who are trafficked through the United States each year. The national day of awareness for human trafficking is Jan. 11.
Neither Kachepa nor any of the other choir members were ever properly paid for their singing. Schools were never built. Families never received money. “We were completely lost,” Kachepa said.
Slowly, church families who hosted the Zambian boys realized something was wrong. Some pulled support and began writing letters to officials about the boys' treatment. Eventually, the situation self-destructed as immigration and labor officials got involved.
The boys were taken in by Sandy Shepherd, a member of First Baptist Church in Colleyville, Texas, who at one point supported the choir but withdrew that support when she realized the boys were being mistreated. She found homes for all the boys, eventually adopting Kachepa.
Shepherd raised Kachepa as one of her own children. She helped reconnect him to his family. She worked with him through school. Now, 10 years after Kachepa came to the United States, he is a junior at the University of North Texas.
Along the way, Shepherd became one of a growing number of Christians interested in fighting human trafficking. More than 2,000 congregations across faith and denominational lines have become involved with Not For Sale, a campaign to free the more than 27 million slaves around the world. The Salvation Army and Catholic Charities operate centers to provide practical assistance for those who have been trafficked.
Mark Wexler, director of Not For Sale's abolitionist church network, described the “people trade” as an ethical, moral and spiritual issue. The practice of trafficking people is “pure evil” and demands a spiritual response, he said.
“You can't combat evil by saying it's evil,” he said. “It has to be more than that.”
Mosaic Church, a Baptist congregation in Austin, participated in a Not For Sale event last fall. The Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas has condemned human trafficking. It has provided a workshop and produced a publication on the issue.
Bruce Peterson, pastor of South Park Baptist Church in Alvin, Texas, became involved in the issue after seeing a video of a young girl who had been trafficked and forced to have sex with men. She had two possessions by her nightstand — a roll of paper towels she used to clean up after being with a man and a teddy bear, the only vestige of a lost childhood.
“To have somebody who is a completely abused individual who is being used by men for money goes against everything I stand for as a minister,” he said.
Alvin lies along the corridor through which the trafficking industry ships people from Latin America to Houston, he said. While his congregation has not come in contact with anyone who has been trafficked, it is now more aware of the signs of trafficking.
And awareness is key at this point, said Sam Myrick, Mosaic's pastor for community and contemplation. At this point, many people don't know human trafficking exists around them. The Interstate 35 corridor along which Austin lies is a primary route for moving people from Central America through the United States. That makes it imperative, he said, for Texans to keep their eyes and ears open.
Shepherd, Kachepa, Myrick and Peterson see themselves as pieces in the puzzle that is assembling itself to combat human trafficking. Each of them and their churches can inform and affect a small group of people. First Baptist of Colleyville started a school in Kachepa's hometown. Now the congregation is looking to construct a building to house the school.
Kachepa and Shepherd share their story when they can. When possible, Kachepa speaks at conferences. A book has been written about his life, and he's been interviewed by numerous media outlets in an attempt to share the realities of human trafficking.
After graduating from UNT, Kachepa hopes to become a dentist. He'd like to use those skills to help the people of Zambia. There he'll be a piece of another puzzle – of Zambians assembling themselves to help improve conditions in their homeland.
Fortunately, he has a model for how to do that. He simply looks at what Shepherd did for him and is reminded to invest in one person at a time.
“You don't have to help the whole community,” he said. You don't have to help the whole city. You just have to help one person that goes so far.”
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Read more:
Dept. of Health and Human Services information on Human Trafficking