RECORD-breaking Atlantic rower Julia Immonen will bring her crusade against modern slavery to a Bournemouth church tomorrow.

Julia – who has just published a book, Rowing For Freedom, with a foreword by Bear Grylls – will be at two services at St Swithun’s Church.

“I’m quite full-on – you become passionate about some-thing,” said Julia, who set up the charity Sport For Freedom after she and four other women rowed the Atlantic to help highlight the issue of human trafficking.

They broke the record for the fastest women’s crossing and were the first female crew of five to row the Atlantic.

Julia told how her view of slavery and human trafficking had been transformed suddenly.

“I watched the film Taken and thought ‘that doesn’t happen’. A few months later I heard a woman talk about trafficking. Everything about the films was true – and worse.

“There are an estimated 30 million people in slavery today. I had never really been passionate about anything in my life but for some reason that captured my heart.

“How could this be going on, on our doorstep?”

She said forced labour and sexual exploitation were going on in every community.

Often, victims are ignored because they come from poverty or because they are immigrants.

“If someone does come here illegally, they’re often targets and sold from one nightmare to a worse nightmare,” she said.

“It could be your sister, your brother, your daughter, your son and it’s just not okay.”

Julia, as an assistant director for Sky Sports News, describes herself as a “real prodigal”, who grew up with a pastor for a father but fell away from the faith.

She returned to Christianity after doing the Alpha course at the Holy Trinity Church, Brompton.

“My faith is the absolute anchor in my life,” she said.

“Every decision I make is based on it.

“I pray about it and I would rather my life do the talking than my words. I want my life to tell the story.”

She said people could support the anti-slavery cause by sup-porting non-governmental org-anisations and others campaign-ing against it.

They could write to their MPs and ask more questions about the chain of supply when buying clothes.

“We can’t all do everything but we can all do something and all our somethings collectively can change this,” she said.

n Julia will be speaking at the 10.30am and 6.30pm services at St Swithun’s, Gervis Road, Bournemouth.