What about today?

In today's money a slave used to cost £2,000.

Today a slave can be bought for as little as £40. The price of a meal out, a computer game or a pair of shoes.

A form of modern day slavery is abducting children into civil war and forcing them to be combatants and sex slaves.

It is an evil practice that robs children of their childhood, family and sometimes costs their life.

This happened just a few years ago in Hull's twin town, Freetown, Sierra Leone. In the civil war of the lates 90's, thousands of children were forcibly taken from their families to be child soldiers and sex slaves. Efforts to reunite them continue.

Small aid agencies like HANCI (Help A Needy Child International), The St. George Foundation and AMNet (The Advocacy Movement Network) battle on with this reunification work.

One obstacle in the way of the aid agencies is the poor road conditions. Most roads in the country are very poor quality and reliable transport provides a vital lifeline to the young people affected by this modern day form of slavery.

The agencies have precious few resources to keep their ageing fleet of vehicles road worthy.

The Hull Freedom Trail wants to meet this need.

Our Vision

1. To donate five fully equipped four-wheel drive vehicles to our twin town, Freetown, in Sierra Leone. Aid organisations will use them for humanitarian aid including re-uniting trafficked young people with their families.

2. Drive the vehicles to Sierra Leone, across the Sahara Desert, to make a television documentary which will raise awareness of historical and modern day slavery – trafficking. Supporting the Stop The Traffik campaign.

3. We’ll mark the celebrations of Wilberforce 2007 for Hull with a landmark philanthropic project and keep William Wilberforce’s original vision alive.