Leaving Your Signature

This is sooo cool. Check out these new t-shirts and key chains from Freeset Global.  They are free trade products made by women survivors of the sex trade--and imprinted with their signatures.

I love this idea. Freeset has found a way to connect to the individual, in an issue that so often is deadened by statistics.  You can match each woman's signature on the website and click to read a little glimpse about them. For example, Sanda's nickname is "Mosquito" and she has recently learned to write her name--a mark she will now leave on each of the products she makes.

As an introductory special Freeset is offering free shipping. According to the website:

"Purchasing a Freeset Tee enables women to rise out of poverty and the sex trade. Many women are coerced, blackmailed or forced into India's sex trade by pimps and poverty. Shunned by society with no education or job training, it is nearly impossible for these women to free themselves from prostitution. Freeset offers women the chance to work instead of selling their bodies, and helps to restore their place in society by teaching them both vocational and life skills like budgeting and nutrition. They grow in self-confidence and receive a steady income so their freedom is sustainable. 

Purchasing a Freeset Tee helps to decrease demand for cotton produced using dangerous pesticides, child labor and irresponsible land management. Instead, purchasing a freeset tee supports sustainable farming practices that include fair wages paid to field workers, employment of natural pest management, and no child labor."  

I'm going shopping, and this is one time I would be thrilled to be wearing the same thing as every single other person in the room.

All That is Possible

If you want to feel inspired, and so incredibly thankful for your life/education/opportunities, read Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea" and his recently published "Stones into Schools." They are fantastic.



These books, and Mortenson's organization the Central Asia Institute, ask what can be possible by giving girls an education and a chance to pursue a profession. In a similar vein, Nicholas Kristof wrote a piece today called "Three Proven Steps to Advance the World's Women," which is also worth a read.

It makes me want to sing that even as men and women are trafficking children and taking away every one of their rights, hopes, and opportunities, there are men and women who are pouring their lives into building the next generation.  It's people like Greg Mortenson that make me believe that the balance will come out in the right.

The Sum of Things

Full blogger disclosure: I'm needing a bit of a pick-me-up tonight.

I just read a book on the Holocaust and have had to delete a couple of links from a persistent commenter that are totally inappropriate given the subject matter of this blog...

...so to cheer us both up I'm posting a couple of (hopefully encouraging) videos to break up this week.



Not for Sale in Cambodia from Jesse Natale on Vimeo.


Engage In Your World from ryan frederick on Vimeo.

The second video says: "Our history is the sum of all moments and deeds, an aggregation of every tiny action taken."

I love that thought.  Going to think about that one tonight.

Diane von Furstenberg and Polaris Project

Diane von Furstenberg has had quite a career.  My mother wore a DVF suit as she left her wedding and started the rest of her life with my father--all the way back in the 70's.  Meanwhile, Ms. von Furstenberg is still making waves as a top designer more than 30 years later, whether she's guest judging on Project Runway or donating funds through her foundation's annual "People's Voice" awards.

This year, the admirable Katherine Chon, president and co-founder of Polaris Project, is up for the DVF People's Voice award. If you read this blog at all frequently, you might remember a post a couple of months ago where I went to a Harvard forum on careers in human trafficking and actually met Ms. Chon. She was extremely well-spoken, intelligent, and passionate about fighting human trafficking, and that's why I would urge you to take 2 seconds and cast a vote for her.

The winner will receive $50,000 for their organization in recognition of a woman who uses their vision, resources and commitment to change lives.  You can vote here: http://inside.dvf.com/awards/, and unlike many of these contests, you don't have to register, add a group on Facebook, or do anything other than simply click a button.

Polaris Project is one of the most respected organizations in leading the fight against modern-day slavery and human trafficking, and I would be thrilled to see them win this recognition.

So please go vote! :)

Hello Rewind; Or, How Your Laptop Found Its Home

Hat tip to my good friend Johnny Fitz for finding this cool site.  "Hello Rewind" takes your favorite old t-shirt and turns it into a comfy, protective home for your laptop--and simultaneously provides training and an alternate source of income for survivors of NYC sex trafficking.

Image from Hello Rewind

By partnering with Restore NYC, Hello Rewind works with sex trafficking survivors--many of whom don't speak much English, but now have the opportunity to learn--and teaches them a skill to support themselves outside of the brothel.  Check out some additional details on their work here: http://blog.hellorewind.com/some-additional-thoughts.

The process goes like this: 

You select the size of laptop case you want; pay $49; and Hello Rewind sends you a prepaid envelope for your t-shirt of choice. Once you've mailed the shirt in, they work with the sex trafficking survivors to make it into a beautiful, handy, and soft little case, and mail it back to you.  Voila!  It's a way to protect your laptop and also feel like you've done something to protect a woman from being pulled back into a life of sex trafficking and endless cycle of prostitution.

High fives to the people behind Hello Rewind for thinking way outside of themselves when they created this business model.

Aaron Cohen: Innocence for Sale

I read Aaron Cohen's fascinating book "Slave Hunter" over the summer.  It's harrowing and some of his methods are controversial, but definitely worth a read--if you're interested, you can find a link to it in the "Reading" section over to the right.

In the meantime, Mr. Cohen continues to shed light on child sex trafficking, this time with the help of CNN.  CNN Hong Kong actually reached out to me about their recent program called "Innocence for Sale." I'm so grateful that they did, and now I will share it with you.



http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/01/27/wus.innocence.for.sale.cnn

I think what is so devastating about child sex trafficking is how many forms of injustice and suffering combine to each play their hands.  Extreme poverty. Sexual abuse. Child abuse. Forced drug addiction. Old taking advantage of the young. Strong taking advantage of the weak. Rich taking advantage of the poor. Parents being forced to sell their own children. Disease. Governments, police, the rest of us, either feeding the cycle directly or just doing nothing to help.

This, in a word, is tragedy. This is heartbreak. This is hard to watch.

This makes me cry.

Valentine's Day, Part II

Chances are, the first word that comes to mind when you hear "Valentine's Day" is... chocolate.

Unfortunately, one of the first words that is now coming to mind when you hear "chocolate" is... slavery.

This blog generally looks at issues of child sexual exploitation, but it's important to remember that there are many ways children are forced into slavery around the world.  And it pains me that one of my favorite things in the world is often brought to my local stores through the blood, sweat, and tears of child labor.

Free2Work has put together a site where you can investigate how certain companies are faring in the use of slave labor.  The fact that we can now educate ourselves about the best place to put our money is the good news.

The bad news is... most of our chocolate producers are getting C's and D's in the slave labor grading system.  (This system is based on what Free2Work can gather via publicly available information/lack of action.)

Want to see why the likes of Godiva, MARS and Hershey are receiving D's?  Check out Free2Work's list and reasoning here: http://www.free2work.org/products?cat=21.  An overview of how the major companies scored (as of V-Day 2009) can also be viewed here:
http://www.laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/ChocolateScorecard09.pdf.

Eating chocolate may never be guilt-free... but by looking for ways to buy slave-free chocolate, it can be much less so.

Image by ulterior epicure