Date: March 26, 2013
Contact: pr@andrews.edu
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Andrews University invites you to attend its second annual Summit for Social Consciousness from Wednesday, April 10, through Saturday, April 13. This year’s symposium will focus on the theme of Human Sex Trafficking: The Sale of Innocence with the objective of informing the community of this universal human rights violation, and also providing a means for students and community leaders to engage in social action. Abigail Kuzma, deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana, and Annie Lobert, founder of Hookers for Jesus, will be the featured guest speakers. All events are free and open to the public.
 
According to Shared Hope International, a non-profit dedicated to preventing the conditions that foster sex slavery, restoring victims of sex trafficking, and bring justice to vulnerable women and children no laws in Michigan address sex tourism, making the state attractive to unscrupulous businesses capitalizing on commercial sexual activity.
  
Deputy Attorney General Kuzma, who is also a co-chair designee of this year’s event, will be speaking the opening night, Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Memorial Church Youth Chapel, located on the campus of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich.

“Prostitution is not a victimless crime,” Abigail Kuzma, deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana, says. “Many children, both U.S. citizen and immigrant, are used in commercial sex…As a former attorney for immigrant victims of human trafficking, I know first-hand that many of these vulnerable individuals are physically forced, coerced, raped or beaten by their traffickers. Our goals on the state level include holding these criminals accountable, mobilizing communities to care for victims and raising public awareness while reducing the demand for commercial sex that fuels human trafficking.
  
On Friday, April 12, Annie Lobert, a survivor of the sex trafficking industry and founder of Hookers for Jesus, will speak at 7:30 p.m. for University Vespers in Pioneer Memorial Church. In 2003, after a serious drug overdose and an epiphany with God, Lobert began her personal journey of healing and recovery to emotional, physical and spiritual wholeness. Her mission was to go back and reach ladies she knew who were working in Las Vegas as prostitutes/sex trafficking victims. In 2005, her grass roots outreach became Hookers for Jesus, a non-profit focused on outreach, housing and restoration for former sex workers.
  
On Saturday, April 13, a full day of events is slated for the Summit. A discussion with sex trafficking experts and activists will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Howard Performing Arts Center. A worship service will immediately follow at 11:45, also in the Howard. A variety of breakout sessions begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Seminary building, located across from the Howard Performing Arts Center. Among the speakers are a former victim of sex trafficking, the mother of a trafficked girl, a representative from the Sex Trafficking Unit Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, and several faculty from Andrews University. Topics included, “How to Spot a Predator,” “Social Justice in the Bible” and “Sexual Addictions.”
  
The Summit concludes on Saturday with a reception following the concluding remarks at 6:30 p.m. in the Seminary Commons of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.