The feast day of St. Bakhita the patron saint for the victims of modern slavery and human trafficking was celebrated on 8th February.

St. Bakhita, a Sudanese nun also known as ‘Mother Moretta’ experienced the moral and physical humiliations associated with slavery in the hands of kidnappers at the age of nine itself. Her story of deliverance from physical slavery also symbolizes and all those who find meaning and inspiration in her life for their own deliverance from spiritual slavery.

Her feast day has been commemorated as a day of prayer reflection and action to end the injustice of human trafficking. On this special day,  with the holy Eucharistic celebration, Caritas Sri Lanka family join hands with the Catholic National commission for migration pray for the intentions of upholding the dignity of labour and to make the process of migration safer enabling the migrants and their families to enjoy maximum benefits of migration.

On this year, CSL organized a special discussion with SETH FM on ‘How the Catholic Church have been working for the betterment of migrant workers and its plan to prevent modern day slavery in Sri Lanka’ with the participation of National Director and the National officers involved in the  Safe migration programme implementation.

The discussion was aired on SETH FM on 8th February 2022 from 2.00 to 3.00pm. The discussion was very informative on labour migration in Sri Lanka and the role of Caritas in combating trafficking. You can view it at YouTube: https://youtu.be/wrHbx4LSLyc