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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.

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.

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?

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

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

It's January 11th--National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.  Let's not let this day just pass by as if it were any other.  Here are a couple of things you can do to mark 1/11/10.  

Take a moment to read Benjamin Skinner's recent article in TIME: "South Africa's New Slave Trade and the Campaign to Stop It."  Even now, child sex traffickers are preparing for major business during the upcoming World Cup.  If anyone you know is traveling to South Africa for the games, bring this up.  Ignorance and silence always works in favor of traffickers.

Check out some of the events taking place around the country today in honor of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, listed courtesy of Change.org.

Visit the Polaris Project Action Center for ways to keep informed and ideas to be actively involved.

Do a Google News search today on "human trafficking" "child sex trafficking," and read up on this week's news.  Social networks are one of the best opportunities to get the word out and raise awareness--consider Tweeting or sharing these articles on Facebook to help open your friends' eyes.   Or even set up Google Alerts for these terms to stay up-to-date every day.

Here's a chance to honor those who are enslaved by making the most of this awareness day.

Photo by herby_fr

January: National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

 Image by Axlot

In all of the news today about Google's "Super phone," I hope you didn't miss an important announcement from the White House.  President Obama has declared January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

You can read the official proclamation here, and I've pulled my favorite part below:

"We must join together as a Nation and global community to provide that safe haven by protecting victims and prosecuting traffickers. With improved victim identification, medical and social services, training for first responders, and increased public awareness, the men, women, and children who have suffered this scourge can overcome the bonds of modern slavery, receive protection and justice, and successfully reclaim their rightful independence.

Fighting modern slavery and human trafficking is a shared responsibility. This month, I urge all Americans to educate themselves about all forms of modern slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Together, we can and must end this most serious, ongoing criminal civil rights violation." - President Barack Obama

As we begin our first week of resolutions, I have a new one to throw in to the mix: becoming increasingly aware of the suffering of others and what we can do to ease that suffering.  To get you started, check out this great list of actionable items that you can do to help end human trafficking and slavery in 2010: http://www.endslaverynow.com/take_action.  There's something on there that every single person has the power to do.  Use this honorary month as motivation to lend a hand and get started!

Change My Christmas

I've been thinking for awhile about putting together a holiday shopping list that benefits survivors of child/human sex trafficking or organizations that support the cause.  Since so many of my blogger friends had the same idea, I'm going to list a couple of the things that I'm personally asking for this year, and then point you to their sites for some really great additional places to look.

•  The SOLD Project DVD

• Va-Va-Voom Necklace from the River Kids shop 

• These pretty earrings and bracelet from Original Good
• This AWESOME shirt from WeAreOverlooked.com.   $5 from each shirt goes to Love146.  The front says, "Because some things were never meant to be caged."  

• Terrify No More by Gary Haugen 

And here are some other great places to check out for your holiday shopping (keep these links in mind for birthdays and other celebrations throughout 2010!):

• Diana Scimone: Making a List, Checking it Twice: Gifts Made by Women and Girls Rescued from Trafficking 
• Kiva.org: Anti-Trafficking Loans
  
• Change.org: Holiday Gift Guide: How to Help Human Trafficking Victims
• World Vision: Hope for Sexually Exploited Girls
• Love146 Holiday cards
• Emancipation Network: Made by Survivors
  

But before you go, take a minute (well, two and a half minutes) to watch this video from ChangeMyChristmas.com.

Change My Christmas from MZM Cornerstone on Vimeo.

Happy Hannukah, Advent and "Season of Light" to you all!

Love It

Head on over to Love146's newly unveiled website --it looks SO GOOD.

I was especially blown away by the revamped education section.  You can see it here: http://love146.org/slavery.

Bravo guys, and keep up the very good work!

GEMS Girls and You Will Survive

GEMS Girls and the Council of Daughters are asking for your photos of support.

In conjunction with the launch of a song re-recorded specially for GEMS by Sinead O'Connor and Mary J. Blige called "This is to Mother You," the organizations are collecting encouraging photographs from people all over the country with the message "You will survive."

Here's how it works:
Go to this website and download a PDF sign for printing.  Take a photo of yourself or a group holding signs and email it to motheryousong (at) gmail.com by November 25th.

I LOVE this idea.  Given all of the harm that has been done to girls trafficked for pornography, I hope that by turning the camera on ourselves we will send a visual encouragement to these girls that they are survivors and that we are behind them.  (Side note--due to reflections you'll probably need to use a mirror to take the picture so it's readable!)

"This is to Mother You" will be available for digital download from GEMS and at select retailers on December 2, which is the international date for the abolition of slavery.

So with Shaniya Davis fresh in our minds and the eyes of the U.S. suddenly focused on human trafficking, whip out those cameras, mobile phones or webcams and send a message of support to those who have been exploited on our streets and in our backyards.

At the End of Slavery

...where will you be?

At The End Of Slavery - Extended Trailer from International Justice Mission on Vimeo.

See the film on Nov. 14.  Presented by International Justice Mission.

For more information go to http://www.attheendofslavery.com.

Ten Dollars and a Bicycle for Love146

Image by Georgios Karamanis

This is one of those posts that is going to get tagged "things that make me cry."

You might remember me writing about a community we saw in Phnom Penh that has been horribly mistreated by the government. They were stripped of their housing and whatever possessions they had and trucked off to a no-man's land beyond the airport, away from potential jobs, schools, and shelter. Many simply live under blue tarps and have no healthcare, privacy, sanitation or running water. I saw it with my own eyes, and it made me want to weep. Whenever I am lying in my warm bed when it rains or feel grateful when I'm taking a hot shower, I think of that place.

Last week, about 80 children living in this area were given bicycles by Love146. This is crucial because they now have a way to get to school, earn an education, and therefore decrease their chances of being trafficked. You can read more about the event here and here. I only wish I could have been there to witness the ceremony where these children were given such a small but significant gift.

I recently learned that Love146 is part of this year's Giving Challenge. Basically, whichever charity receives the most number of unique donations (starting at $10), they will win. So the more people who give $10 or above, the better chance Love146 has of winning.

And if they win, they'll have $50,000, to keep on doing some more beautiful things for the children who need it the most.

Please consider giving $10 today. I just did, and it's extremely easy to do--just click right here. And one more small favor to ask: will you please spread the word and tell someone else?

09_09_09

Today's the day we're going to raise $90,000 to put a stop to future trafficking of children.

Would you give $9 to help stop one childhood from being spent in sex slavery?

Please, and thank you! <3

Update: as of 1:30 p.m. ET, Born 2 Fly is at $11,000. That's incredible! Please keep giving! :)

Reading and Writing Against Trafficking

Here are two things for your consideration on this Friday before Labor Day:

Recommended Reading:
Hat tip to Sarah Coenen for finding this one. This is a great Washington Post op ed on human trafficking today. You can read it here. The article talks about the uniting power of diverse groups crossing religious, political, and geographical lines to combat trafficking and exploitation. It also looks at what's currently being done and why the need to address underlying causes of trafficking is so important. Here's a sneak peek (I was especially excited to see the mention of Chab Dai's Helen Sworn, who is one of my heroes):

"Helen Sworn, the English woman who founded Chab Dai, talks a language of partnership and cooperation - with government and private companies, women's groups and police. The challenge is to educate people about their rights, and to protect those who fall victim to circumstances or to crime. But she also sees the issues as an integral part of development and social change. As corridors for transportation open up, as borders are easier to cross, as tourism gains momentum, the pressures for trafficking increase. She argues that at the same time that we work to protect and help victims directly and prosecute those who break the law, far more effort should go to addressing the underlying causes.

And the underlying causes are ferociously complex. First and foremost it's about poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity. Grinding need drives desperate families to sell a daughter. Uneducated girls more easily fall prey to promises of a glittery life, only to end up trapped in a brothel. And simple greed exacerbates the problems. Weak government institutions and corrupt systems make it hard to enforce laws. Unequal relations between men and women are corrosive realities that translate into low priority to the work needed to bring about change."

Go visit the article and give it some link love if you can! I always like to show editors just how interested we are in keeping updated on the battle against trafficking. It's one of the most simple things we can do to ensure that these kinds of stories continue to be published and get attention.


Get Your Voice Out There:
Chances are if you're here, you're interested in the issue of child sex trafficking/human slavery and exploitation. And you probably want to do something about it. If writing's your thing, why not give this a thought?

There's a great blog on Change.org, run by Amanda Kloer, and they're actually looking for some additional writers. Check out "Want to Blog for Change.org?" for more information and an application. We need more voices like yours to bring attention to human trafficking and add even more momentum to making it a thing of the past.

Have a great long weekend.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heycoach/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

This Must Change!

Wow, this is equal parts convicting and incredibly inspiring.

Meet Jason. He, along with a large percentage of American citizens, has a goal to lose weight. And he's identified 6 great causes that fight injustices and inequalities around the world--from child sex trafficking with Love146 to Doctors Without Borders and Soles for Souls, an organization that helps people get something as simple as one working pair of shoes--to benefit from his hard work in working out. On his site This Must Change!, Jason asks for people to consider sponsoring each of the pounds he loses to go toward one of these six causes.

I dare you to watch this video and not feel humbled, inspired, encouraged.

And hey Jason...

You can do it, and you rock.

This Must Change! Intro from Project Church on Vimeo.

09_09_09: A Personal Favor

Something amazing is going to happen on September 9, 2009. We are going to raise almost $100,000 to have a major impact on preventing future children from being trafficked. That's right--you, and me.

My friend Diana Scimone is holding a one day fundraiser on 09-09-09. The goal is to have 9,000 people donate $9 so that we can get the Born2Fly wordless book into the hands of the children who need to see it.

The gist of it:
Most kids are lured into sex slavery because they don’t know the deceptive tactics of traffickers. What if we could warn children and their parents ahead of time? What if we could teach them about the lies traffickers use—and how to stand up against them? The rate of trafficking would drop and millions of kids would never enter the dark world of trafficking.

That’s exactly what the Born2Fly Project is all about: educating kids and their parents about the dangers of trafficking, with the ultimate goal of ending it. The centerpiece of B2F is a wordless book that teaches kids to make wise choices—wordless so we don’t have to translate it into hundreds of languages. A companion curriculum will reinforce the important concepts in the book.

Born to Fly is at the critical moment. The books and curriculum are nearly complete. We need to print these strategic materials and give them to at-risk kids and parents around the world. The 1-day fundraiser will raise money to do that—and prevent millions of kids from being trafficked. Traffickers think kids are commodities. On 9/9/09, tell kids they’re priceless. All it takes is $9.

What you can do:

• Donate: Go to www.born2fly.org and use the Chip-in widget to donate $9--or simply click on the link below.
  
• Email: Tell 9 people about 09-09-09 and send them to www.born2fly.org.
• Social Media: Use Facebook, blogs, and Twitter to tell your friends. Follow @09_09_09, and add a Twibbon after you've donated: http://bit.ly/xml6t
• Check Diana Scimone's blog for the latest, including daily updates on the awesome prizes you could win by being a part of this fundraiser--everything from beauty products to Chris Brogan's new book, "Trust Agents."
  

I'd like to ask you to consider donating $9, either today or on 09-09-09 itself, to make this book happen. Diana is a tireless abolitionist against child trafficking and even sent me a generous check to make sure I was able to go on the Love146 partner trip this year. I would love to repay the favor and have you join with me in blessing Diana and the thousands of children that would benefit from this book. A personal thanks from me to you!

Love,
Emily

Something to Think About