FARMINGTON — Child trafficking in the United States and abroad is the focus of events sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Maine at Farmington this week.

Jenna Stepp, a youth pastor at Vineyard church in Lewiston, will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday about Love 146, an organization providing secure housing for rescued children to heal.

Stepp’s talk is part of Social Justice Awareness Week and will take place at Henderson Memorial Baptist Church on Academy Street.

When Love 146 started, members posed as buyers and saw the numbed state of enslaved children. One little girl stood out, showing signs of fight in her eyes, even though her dignity was taken and her name was replaced by a number, 146, InterVarsity staff member Charles Ellis said.

The issue of why Christians care about social justice will be addressed at a program at 7 p.m. Wednesday in North Dining Hall of Olsen Student Center on campus.

The Rev. William Johnson of Pittsfield will address the impression of Christians as nice people who go to church but aren’t seen publicly fighting for causes such as child trafficking, Ellis said.

During human trafficking awareness week last year, some students were “dumbfounded” that Christians had hosted the event, raising questions of perceptions of Christians, he said. The group chose to address those questions this year, he said.

A program Monday focused on kidnapped children and youths who were forced into becoming child soldiers in Uganda, he said.

The public is welcome to attend the Wednesday and Thursday events sponsored by the multi-denominational group, which meets weekly on campus for an interactive talk, music and fellowship.

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