A face you can't forget.
A story you should know.
By now, you’ve probably seen them, scattered across Greene and Lawrence counties. One rises unexpectedly from an auto service lot in Judah. Another overlooks a collection of yard barns for sale in Switz City, and a third greets you as you enter Bloomfield on Highway 231.
Your commute often includes passing billboards advertising law and real estate offices, congratulating sports teams, or announcing upcoming community events. But these signs are different. They warrant a second look.
A haunting photo of a young boy accompanies a serious declaration: “Child Slavery Is Real.”
Maybe your own child has asked you about the boy on the billboard as you drive to school or practice. You may have admitted that you don’t know his story but decided to look up the website listed on the sign, micah68project.com, the next time you have a chance.
There’s just something in the boy’s eyes that implores you to learn more.
You wouldn’t be the first person to be spurred to action after seeing the boy’s photo. In fact, that face—and the story behind it—have launched an entire ministry.
When Christy Farhar, of Shoals, traveled to Africa and met children who had been rescued from slavery on Lake Volta in Ghana, she knew she would never be the same. After a miraculous encounter with one special little boy named Sammy on the shore of the lake, it seemed clear that Christy was to bring him out of his life of child labor and adopt him into her family.
However, when the unexpected occurred, it became apparent that a different kind of rescue would be needed.
It has been nearly three years since Sammy’s story first hit bookshelves. Deep Waters, by Rachel Hayden and Christy Farhar, tells how one woman’s call to Africa gave birth to the Micah 6:8 Project and a mission to combat the cycle of poverty halfway around the world. The book also tells the story of how unspeakable tragedy gave rise to the founding of Jacob’s Wells—and how grief transformed the focus of a ministry.
The book and the billboards it inspired are not meant simply to entertain, shock, or even inform.
They are a call to action.
Harvest Community Church in Bloomfield has answered that call, partnering with the Micah 6:8 Project in its efforts to bring clean drinking water, education, and sustainable income to remote areas of Ghana.
