I am having a short break from writing about Nick North and
his exciting adventures whilst I write another book for middle grade readers –
those aged 10 – 12.
My latest book is about human trafficking. It is quite a
brave and almost shocking topic to write about for children but it is children
that are being trafficked every day.
All through Turkey refugees including children from Syria, Iraq
and Afghanistan are being ‘helped’ on their journey by traffickers far more
interested in making a quick and exorbitant buck than in ensuring any safety to
those risking their lives fleeing from war zones.
I don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs of mass
immigration but I cannot help thinking that the European nations need to do far
more than just allow these people to trail across Turkey and Europe at the prey
of traffickers. Surely it would be better to register and vet migrants in
refugee camps and then safely transport them to Western Europe rather than allowing
them to make dangerous sea crossings in overloaded and inadequate small boats.
However it is not these traffickers that my story concerns
but those who prey on vulnerable girls from impoverished situations in Eastern Europe.
My story does not focus on the trade of girls into prostitution but on children
trafficked into domestic slavery – a topic more appropriate for this age
group. I chose Eastern Europe rather
than Asia where children are forced into factories as I know a little more
about Romania than India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Human trafficking is a wicked evil in our day and it is right
that our children are exposed to its evils in a safe and suitable story. Traffickers are vicious thugs who have no
regard for human life other than to exploit it either for money or their own
wicked aims.
The protagonist in my story is a young girl from a children’s
home in Romania conned into domestic slavery because she is naïve and gullible
and has no one to look out for her. She gets rescued and the story will have a
happy ending.
My aim is to enlighten pre teens to what is happening and hopefully
inspire compassion in this age group for the poor and underprivileged.
Some good news: http://stories.imb.org/eurasia/photos/view/refugee-highway/1
