Become a Biographer

BE A BIOGRAPHER - Take The Blind Project Design Challenge from The Blind Project on Vimeo.

CNN: Rescuing Girls from Sex Slavery

I haven't blogged for a while, and I apologize! Good stuff is coming soon. In the meantime, check out this CNN video.

Beautiful Faces

I've written about them before, but it's worth checking out again:
www.theblindproject.com

ABC News: In Cambodia, American Evangelicals Fight to End Child Sex Trafficking

I have actually met Clay once before and in the few minutes we talked, I thought he was one of the most amazing people I've ever had the pleasure to meet.  Couldn't believe it when I saw him in this ABC News story...

So glad to see what you are doing right now in Cambodia, Clay. Hope to run into you again someday and hear your stories of heartache and hope.

The Body Shop is Making LemonAid

Yay, Body Shop!

After taking a stand against child sex trafficking with their "Soft Hands, Kind Hearts" campaign last year, The Body Shop has launched a new fundraiser to again benefit ECPAT-USA and the Somaly Mam Foundation. The "LemonAid" campaign began on March 15, and it has already received so much support that The Body Shop has raised its goal to $15,000.

I just raised $5 for these organizations with a few clicks. It's so easy--visit http://www.lemonaid.thebodyshop-usa.com/ and you can raise $2 by becoming a Facebook fan of The Body Shop; $2 by following @thebodyshopusa, 50 cents by using the hashtag #LemonAid, 50 cents by squeezing the Lemon widget (below!), and $1 for installing it here.



I'm impressed by what the Body Shop is doing, and I'll be supporting them at every chance I get. Hope that you will, too.

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.