Statistics and numbers only do so much for me. I know that over a billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, but that does little for my heart in terms of daily life. I need a story to relate, a face to remember. But once I have that face, once my heart breaks for a single person, I can't forget it. It's no longer an issue; it's a human life.

That's what happened to me in Swaziland with AIDS, it's what happened to me when it came to hungry orphans in India, and it's what's happening to me now with the sex trade in SE Asia.

Last month, Trevor Curington shared an amazing photo blog of faces he captured while walking the streets of Chiang Mai in Thailand. Human trafficking is so rampant there that he makes the point, you can't tell who has been or is being trafficked and who is not. He writes:

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand we went to the market for the first time.

A few of us had wanted to go there and we finally got our chance. It's one of

the most busiest markets I have been to and you can walk for hours and

never see the same area. On one of the streets I noticed a boy playing a
traditional Thai instrument and was begging for money. As I kept
walking, I noticed more and more people in the middle of the street
begging for money. About every 50 yards was another child or adult. Some
had some physical disabilities and several looked to be blind and
possibly had their eyes burned out. It wasn't until a few later I
started to realized that there was a high chance that some of these
people were victims of trafficking. I will never know for sure whether
they are or not, but trafficking is high in this area. You can only hope
that they are not trafficking victims.

Below are some of Trevor's photos. See how each one tells a unique story:

AIM has put together a specific World Race human trafficking trip as an opportunity for young people to have first-hand exposure to the sex trade and to play an active role in bringing healing to the lives of those who have been trafficked. It is an intense, five-month ministry journey around the world, with one of the steps actually in the U.S. (yes, people are trafficked here in the United States).

If God has placed the sex trade on your heart, please pray and consider how you can be a part of this. Find out more about the trip here.