Navigate the site: 1. Intro … 2. Learn … 3. Plan … 4. Reflect
This website will enable a CRS Ambassador chapter or a social justice class or group to create a simulation to educate participants about forced labor as a form of human trafficking. In a 20-30-minute interaction, participants experience:
- How children and adults are forced into slave labor;
- How modern slaves make items that we use everyday;
- Portrayals of three situations of modern forced labor;
- Options for reflection, through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching, on the ethics of our consumer society;
- An opportunity to engage in advocacy.
We fully realize it is impossible for us to comprehend the reality these minors face. However, we feel the need to engage participants in what thousands of children must undergo. And so we created a simulation to give a small sense of their reality. In a 25-minute simulation, participants experience:
The three heading below (INTRO, LEARN, PLAN, REFLECT) will give essential background on the issue, instructions on how to set up the simulation, and resources for reflection, prayer, and advocacy.
The header image photo credit: “Afghan girl at brick kiln” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by ILO in Asia and the Pacific
Click here to See this floor plan as an animated image.
Video of entire simulation
Background: The Power of your Purchase
The Power of Your Purchase simulation was first developed as a project in a social justice course at Cabrini University.
The Cabrini students presented the simulation in two public settings that year, one at Cabrini Day in the fall and the other at a commemoration of Saint Josephine Bakhita, who had been trafficked from the Darfur region of Sudan. These are both mission-focused opportunities for campus-wide education about social justice. Some members of the class joined the CRS Ambassador program and collaborated with their fellow Ambassadors to adapt the program to the one you see here. Michelle Guerin, a CRS Ambassador officer, was their classroom coach and assisted them in many ways.
We hope that the simulation will be used by other campuses and groups and adapted to your situation and needs.
