Still Processing

A few days ago we were out to the Teen Challenge farm to deliver some seeds and to introduce ourselves to them... They have an incredible success rate with men with drug and alcohol addictions. As most of you know , this is Julie's area of training, and she has been a long time supporter in Canada, and in fact, the Teen Challenge Farm donated a car to us a couple of years ago as a prize for a fund raiser for Central Asia missions. Well, it was the most peaceful spot you could imagine. We were talking with one of the directors there, and he shared that he also had a street ministry working with the homeless.. We asked him what are the contributing factors... His response took us off guard... We have seen and heard a lot, but still could not get our minds around the answer.... A large percentage of the homeless on the streets of the capital city are men that had gone to Kazakhstan seeking employment and then were kept as slaves. They have had their documents taken, then have been forced into labor, and kept in cages. When and if they do escape and make there way back to the capital city, they have no money and no paperwork, so they are not able to get a job.. they have also suffered so much abuse that they are emotionally scared for life. He must have seen the look of disbelief in my face... he took a quick look around at the six men sitting with us and then pointed to one of these men and said "Oh there... he was a slave and we found him on the street."
I have since asked others if they knew anything about this ... and they all have confirmed what we had heard... so Julie tried Goggling "Kazakhstan slavery" ...... Why have we not heard about this before?...... and what do we do now!... I have a new empathy for those I see lying in the gutters...... you are probably looking at the photo wondering which man was it...... thats just the thing.... how do you know the story until you help ... and as I have said before... does it really matter?