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

Valentine's Day

Love146 is once again doing something very cool.  (See why I love them so much?)

Do you want a really original, sweet, and productive way to celebrate the day of love?

Start by reading Diana's story here: http://love146.org/Diana.

Then break out your creative juices and make a valentine for the girls in Love146's Philippines safe home: http://love146.org/valentines

And for some really cool ideas for Valentine's Day, read this PDF of suggestions from the Love146 office: http://love146.org/sites/default/files/I%20Shall%20Not%20Be%20Moved.pdf.

Not to be a holiday Debbie Downer, but typically Valentine's Day often means a lot of depression for the singles and a lot of pressure/let downs for the coupled... That's $14 billion annually that Americans spend, and that--IMHO--just doesn't pay off.  I applaud taking the time to celebrate love/your loved ones.  But how about, in place of focusing on ourselves this year, we sent a big wave of love together on February 14th to celebrate some of the bravest girls I know?

Super Bowl XLIV

I will be rooting for the Colts with all my heart tomorrow... but this will be on my mind, too.


CNN: Volunteers try to help young sex workers on Super Bowl weekend

"I don't want the idea [of fighting underage sex trafficking] to go away when Super Bowl ends. The reality is that it's more concentrated on Super Bowl weekend, but they're still out there come Monday morning." - Eddy Ameen, StandUp For Kids Miami

It's funny how important a football game can seem until you remember what's going on outside of the stadium, tomorrow and every day thereafter.  That's when it becomes clear that there is a much more crucial battle to be won.

Time to Refresh the World

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are supporting GEMS for the Pepsi Refresh challenge--hopefully you will, too. (It's easy!)

Mr. and Mrs. Kutcher have been very vocal advocates against human and child sex trafficking over the past several years.  Their latest step in this area was to launch the DNA Foundation--D and A, get it?--on January 25.  As part of this initiative Demi Moore submitted her Refresh Idea on behalf of GEMS to win Pepsi's $250,000.  The grant would go toward 10 outreach workers to help thousands of girls get help, counseling, etc. for exiting the sex trade and be reintegrated into society.


Go to http://www.facebook.com/refresheverything to learn more and cast your vote.

Special thanks to my sweet Aunt Martha for telling me about the DNA Foundation after seeing it on the Today Show!

Hearts for Haiti

It's been almost a month since I last posted.  I apologize for such a long absence, and I plan to be blogging much more regularly.  Since my last post, I've started a new job, went home to Indianapolis to visit my family, and turned 26.  But all of those things are silly and fleeting compared to what else has occurred since my last post... the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

One of the first things that went through my mind, as well as through the minds of many others who have interest in fighting child trafficking/exploitation, was what was rumored to have happened in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami: traffickers taking advantage of the chaos and newly orphaned children.  The news surrounding the "trafficking/adoption" controversy of Americans in Haiti this week serves to highlight the other risks children face after such a massive natural disaster. The bottom line is that extreme poverty already made child and human trafficking a reality in Haiti in the years before the earthquake. Now that the world has turned to look, I hope we can make some bit of good come out of the immense suffering by standing with Haiti and rebuilding the country with a traffick-free future.  You have probably been overwhelmed with requests to give, but if this moves you to give just a little more, consider donating to a trusted organization like World Vision, Partners in Health, World Relief, or the Red Cross.

I have so many things that I want to blog about that have piled up during my blogging break, but this one tops the list.  To keep both you and me from being overwhelmed by TMI, I'm going to try to post briefly on the things I think are worth taking a minute or two to check out.  So there might be a flurry of posts after this one.  Or at least to follow over the next week or so.

Thanks for sticking it out with me. <3