Hallo! Ich heiße Avery, and I’m headed off to Berlin, Germany in 2 months (eekk!). I will be working in the field of anti-trafficking which is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.
I first learned about the issue of modern day slavery when I was in high school. One of my older sisters had gone to a Christian conference where she was told about modern day slavery. She came back from this conference and was telling me about it. I told her, “what are you talking about?! Slavery doesn’t exist anymore.” She told me then to watch a short little YouTube clip put out by a movement called the End It Movement that talked more about human trafficking. I watched this video and at the end it said “Indifference is not an option”. That phrase really stuck out to me and stuck with me. The only logical reason for that is because of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the rest of my time in high school I continued to research and look into what is human trafficking and how it can be stopped. I learned that human trafficking "involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act" (Department of Homeland Security, n.d.) and that labor trafficking is believed to actually be more prevalent throughout the world.
As I was thinking about what I was going to study in college I came across that social workers could work with survivors of trafficking. So, I decided to study social work for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Throughout my time in university I did different field placements and internships with agencies in the field of anti-trafficking as well as all forms of anti-sexual exploitation. After I graduated from my master’s program I was accepted to work with a human rights anti-slavery organization that works all over the world. I was scheduled to move to South Asia to work in one of their offices when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Because I didn’t end up going to South Asia I was able to get more involved with two different cross-cultural relational ministries in my hometown. I was really impacted by the fact that the believers engaging with these ministries truly cared about other people’s salvation and were intentional about praying for them. God really used these two ministries to put that same burden in my heart - to truly care for other people’s salvation. I also thoroughly enjoyed the cross-cultural aspect of these ministries. Since then, I’ve continued to want to move overseas to do anti-slavery work.
But how did I land on Germany? My ancestors came from the German speaking world which makes me feel connected to that part of the globe. Actually my last name is two German words put together - “gut” (good) and “wein” (wine). So my last name literally means “good wine”. LOL
Thanks for journeying along with me as I move to Berlin!
Schöne Grüse,
Avery