Battling grans wage war on slave trade
Reporter: Words by BEATRIZ AYALA
Date published: 18 February 2009
Photo: Picture: VINCENT BROWN
Campaigners Ann Matley (left) and Jean Beard
A PAIR of campaigning grandmothers from Chadderton are helping to put a stop to the modern-day slave trade, the buying and selling of people for work, profit and sex.
Jean Reed (73) and Ann Matley (51) attended a human trafficking conference in Blackpool last May (08) as part of the Baptists Union annual meeting.
They were so disturbed by what they saw and heard that they decided to take action in their home town and raise awareness at a local level.
The friends, who have two grandchildren each and are members of Mills Hill Baptist Church, believe it is all too easy to think slavery occurs only in big cities when it could be happening in Oldham.
Mrs Reed said: “As little as £1,000 can buy foreign women and children — human beings being sold into the sex trade for the price of a cheap second-hand car.
“As parents and grandparents, we say this disgusting trade has to stop.
“We are not prepared to see young people’s lives destroyed — not only children imported from abroad but British youngsters being groomed for sexual exploitation and slavery.”
Both women said with Manchester only seven miles away and big cities being the hubs of the trade, it was too big an issue to think it could not be happening in Oldham.
Mrs Matley said: “I do worry more now than I ever did when my children were young, and it is not because I’m getting older but because there are now more opportunities for young people to be influenced by people outside of the family.
“Technology has opened many doors but at the same time brought the nastier side of life into our homes.”
The grandmother’s have organised an awareness day at Mills Hill Baptist Church, Mills Hill Road, on Saturday (1-4pm) to bring the subject to the attention of the public and provide information on how the trade can be stopped.
They have joined forces with the charity Stop The Traffik to illustrate the size of the problem and the scale of misery it brings to the thousands of people from all over the world.
