It’s a wrap!

On the first day, we interviewed Rebecca Helme from Hestia; Sion Hall from The Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership; Dan Pratt from Southend Against Modern Slavery; Fiona Kendall from Mediterranean Hope; Becca Faal, a safeguarding advisor for the Diocese of Gloucester; The Clewer Initiative’s chair Bishop Alastair Redfern as well as two of The Clewer Initiative's trainers, Hilary Lines and Bill Crooks.

We are excited about the insight and experience that these modern slavery activists bring to the project. Throughout the in-depth interviews, we asked them to share their stories and the experience they have had of working alongside victims and setting up projects. We also discussed some of the deeper, more systemic issues plus the value of partnership, safeguarding, therapeutic art, community resilience and awareness raising.

These interviews will now be boiled down into five short films which will form the basis of our Lent course.

The victim’s perspective

Our second day of filming involved a team of incredible actors in a house in London. Five monologues have been filmed – each providing a unique angle on modern slavery in the UK.

The Clewer Initiative researched various different victim stories and, in the end, chose to dramatise a labour exploitation case study, a county lines story, an extremely unusual financial exploitation story, a domestic servitude story and a story of recovery. We hope that as people listen to the narratives, any misconceptions and misunderstandings about modern slavery will fall away. The actors are from four different countries and include male / female; younger and older. This is to reflect the diversity of people who are drawn into slavery.

The monologues were written by April de Angelis, an English dramatist whose play “Kerry Jackson” is currently showing at the National Theatre. April also wrote the monologues for The Clewer Initiative’s Women in the Shadows project.

A course for Lent

The five films will be accompanied by a brand new devotional resource, based on the “Stations of the Cross.”

The Stations of the Cross, sometimes known as the Way of the Cross or the Via Crucis, consist of a series of 14 images which were developed to enable Christians to enter into Jesus’ final journey on the day of His crucifixion.

Not all of the images have a clear scriptural foundation, but the complete set of images provides a profound invitation to explore the mysteries of innocent suffering, harsh judgement, misplaced prejudice, courage, commitment, and the mystery of new life being received against every human expectation – the journey of Jesus to the cross and the miracle of resurrection.

In our devotional, we will invite people to meditate on the traditional stations of the cross and some of the Bible passages that inspire the stations. We will also reflect on how some of Jesus’ experiences are echoed in the journey that victims of modern slavery face today. Through discussion questions, we will consider the journey we are on in responding to the horror of modern slavery. Our hope is that through the five weeks, churches and individuals will go on their own journey, moving from observation and sympathy to action.

Each week of the five-week Lent resource will include discussion questions, a prayer, case studies and suggestions for action.

The resource will be available to download from our website in early January.