How CHH Artist Legin is Fighting Human Trafficking

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In 2017, we spoke to Legin and Focus of Renaissance Music Movement about how their album in collaboration with fellow R.M.M. artist Sinai and numerous others raised funds for The Safe House Project, a sanctuary for children in South Africa. Recently we caught up with Legin to get updated on what has happened since then.

At the time, the trio partnered with Kerus Global Education, an organization that operates an after-school program for orphans in the community of Soshanguve, South Africa. Most of these children lost one or both of their parents due to HIV/AIDS. There are over 7 million people in South Africa living with HIV, more than any other country in the world. AIDS kills over 100,000 South Africans annually.

In many homes in Soshanguve, the oldest child cares for the rest of their siblings due to the lack of living parents. In 2017, when visiting Soshanguve, Legin asked the Kerus staff what their greatest need what, and was told a safe house was needed.

“She started telling me that some of the kids are very vulnerable to sexual abuse and trafficking issues. It messed us up.”

About 40,000 rapes are reported each year in South Africa. There are currently no accurate, confirmed statistics for numbers of human trafficking victims in the country, but it is believed to be in the tens of thousands.

After arriving back in the U.S., they were shocked to read an article and learn about the prevalence of human trafficking in their own community: Hampton Roads, Virginia.

“I fell into a little depression if I’m honest. When I came out, I was like, ‘Yo. We gotta help.’”

Legin and his then Renaissance Music Movement labelmates decided to create an album with a dual purpose: to raise awareness about human trafficking, and to raise funds for Kerus Global’s safe house.

The album, called Safe House, released in June 2017 and featured artists such as Da’ T.R.U.T.H., Eshon Burgundy, and Jered Sanders.

As 2017 continued, Legin learned more about human trafficking in the United States and was disturbed by the statistics. “300,000 kids a year here in the States are trapped. We looked into it and [learned] there’s not enough beds for kids in the states either. One percent get rescued, and there are less than one-hundred beds [specifically for children] in the States right now.”

While working on the album, Legin met a Public Relations specialist named Kristi Wells. She had a passion for anti-human trafficking efforts and came up with additional fundraising ideas that they implemented including the Safe House 5K and Half-Marathon series.

Legin and Kristi decided to team up and create a nonprofit called Safe House Project Inc. as a more permanent way to raise funds for their efforts, both in South Africa and in the U.S. Since then, Safe House Project Inc. has been able to support five safe houses in the U.S. and continues to support Kerus Global’s work to protect children in Soshanguve.

Throughout 2018, Kerus Global was raising funds and working on finding a property for a safe house. Early this year, they were able to purchase a property and prepare their first safe house. Now that the location has been remodeled, there will be an ongoing need to support the six to eight children who will soon be living there, providing them with education, nutrition, and other necessities.

Last month Legin went to Soshanguve for the dedicating of this first safe house.

“God cares about justice more than anything else, as far as practical issues are concerned. To see a dream that happened from a mere phrase of a question asked two-and-a-half years ago, to see it sitting there before me… I just learned to trust God. I just learned to go for it.”

Around the world, victims are more likely to be brought into human trafficking by someone they know and trust rather than a stranger.

“We’ve got stories of kids who are being trafficked by their grandparents for money… If we see a child that is in a particularly vulnerable situation, we say, ‘Hey, this kid is going home to something horrible, or they told us something is happening, we now have an outlet for them to live safely in that community.”

In the United States, Safe House Project Inc. provides financial support to several safe houses, helping them offer increased services and space for their local trafficking victims.

The fight against human trafficking in the United States is not only little known; it also has minimal support. “When [victims] get rescued, or if they escape, they have nowhere to go. Most of the time, they end up back in the hands of their traffickers.” Almost one-third of human trafficking victims are foreigners.

According to National Human Trafficking Hotline reported call data, 5,591 potential cases of sex trafficking were reported in 2016. According to the 2017 Federal Human Trafficking Report, almost two-thirds of active sex trafficking cases in that year involved child victims.

Although the number of those fighting human trafficking in the U.S. is small, it continues to grow with passionate advocates like Legin and Kristi Wells.

“We’ve got partners in the Safe House Project network that literally rescue girls escaping trafficking. They’ll text a number and say, ‘I’m on this corner. Come get me before my pimp finds me.’ We’re working with partners like that, and working with partners who are putting up housing [for rescued victims.]”

Safe House Project Inc. is planning a national concert series for 2020 with big-name artists to raise awareness of and funds for their work. “We are working hard to raise funds, raise awareness, and find different avenues to do this.”

Follow Legin on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Follow Safe House Project on Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about them and how you can support on their website.

Learn more about Kerus Global Education and how you can support on their website.

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