Teens entered the simulation being told they needed to find work to help their family due to financial hardship. The storyline developed so that the promising job offer that the teen accepted turned out to be a lie. Instead, the teen was forced to commit crimes or acts that did not match what was promised. 

It was part of a larger experience, “Journey to the Least Reached”, which was aimed at helping the teens grow in their awareness of critical issues of the day, while asking them what their role could be in making a difference. Participants were faced with what refugee teens have to go through as they leave their homes, how vulnerability can lead to human trafficking, and what is means to live as a Christian in the persecuted church. 

Through the story, the teens got to experience in subtle, but powerful ways, how people can fall victim of human trafficking. Anne (Germany), Taina (Finland) and Helma (Netherlands), who work with OM’s Justice & Freedom Network (JFN), helped host the simulation.  

Making trafficking personal 

Greta, a small group leader from Italy, took her girls through the experience and said it had a profound effect on all of them. She said, “I was curious to experience this mission experience, expecting to see a screen showing the different mission opportunities around the world. But instead, it was something completely different, something much more. It was a real-life experience of what persecuted missionaries, refugees, or victims of human trafficking and prostitution go through. 

“Immediately there was a strong feeling of fear, uncertainty, and not knowing what to expect. Moving through the different locations without knowing where you were going was really difficult, but it helped you deeply understand what they experience.” 

“What is key to realise is that vulnerabilities make people at risk of being trafficked,” shared Taina, one of the experience’s designers.  

Helma added: “Prevention can’t be emphasised enough. If children and young people learn from an early age to understand what vulnerability means, they can become active change makers in the lives of their friends and in their communities, together with the wider church community.” 

It was JFN’s first time attending the TeenStreet youth conference in Germany, which gathered over 2,000 teenagers from all around Europe for the first week of August. The teens were clearly impacted by having personally been in a situation of trafficking, even if constructed and simplified. 

Anne said: “It was incredible to see the changed expressions of the teens once they understood that many young people in their own countries are actually affected by trafficking; that it is not something that happens only far away.” 

Though actual numbers are not known, according to European Union statistics (2021-2022), child victims constituted almost one-fifth of all registered victims in the EU (19%), out of which 81% of the child victims were EU citizens.* 

* European Commission “Report on Progress made in the European Union on combating trafficking in human beings“, Brussels (2025)