Spotlight on a Volunteer

When she was a child, April Martin, 22, wanted to be a doctor or missionary when she grew up. While working on the Mercy Ship—which provides medical care to third-world nations in Africa—Martin learned about child prostitution first hand.

“I was in a taxi one night and it was just me and the driver,” says Martin. “He stopped to pick up a passenger, got out of the car and was gone for several minutes. He came back with a little girl about seven-years-old. He put her in the front next to him. As he drove away, he looked at me in the rear view mirror with this aggressive look on his face and then started fondling the little girl between her legs. I was so overwhelmed with responsibility towards her, but I felt so helpless.”

After this, Martin considered becoming a lawyer to fight against child prostitution and trafficking. “The more I researched,” Martin says, “the more I realized that there are a lot of laws already, but they aren’t enforced and there isn’t enough money.”