Migrants remain almost daily in News headlines in recent years. While the media attention goes to debates on whether to let people in or not, SMA and OLA missionaries turn their attention to the victims of human trafficking and the criminal network behind it.

Many of our members have been working with victims and survivors quietly and efficiently since many years in different countries. The General Councils of the two missionary institutes decided to strengthen this ministry and coordinate it better.

Since a good number of the victims in Europe come from Nigeria, we decided to set up a six-member team in Nigeria with three SMA and three OLA members. The team will have three major responsibilities:

–          Promoting awareness among potential victims

–          Networking with our members in the same ministry in Europe

–          Accompanying and helping the returning survivors resettle in life

We produced a documentary titled ‘How much…’ as a tool for awareness creation with the help of Mr. Antonio Guadalupi, a film producer and a friend of the SMA. We made many DVD copies for distribution and have it available through our channel youtube.com/smaollywood. (The video is at the top right of this web page).

Francis Rozario, a member of the SMA General Council went to Nigeria for two weeks to meet the SMA-OLA team and various other potential partners. He met Mr. Nduka Nwawwene, the commander of NAPTIP (National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons), Mr. Solomon Okoduwa (Special advisor to the Edo State Governor on human trafficking), Mrs. Grace Osakue (Director of Girls Power Initiative), Prince Ehihioya (Member of the inner court of the Oba of Benin) and some religious congregations involved in this battle. He also met the apostolic communities of Benin City and Lagos.

Meanwhile, in Italy, the documentary was screened in Italian senate and received a positive response. On November 16, 2018, a group of NGOs and volunteers organized a screening of the documentary in Rome. About 120 people attended the programme. They are planning to join hands in order to do something.

Soon, we will identify various partners in Europe for more concrete action. Our dream is to see people getting better awareness in Nigeria so that they don’t get deceived easily and traffickers brought to book in Europe while we continue to attend to the pastoral needs of everybody in the network.