Diana Scimone

Born2Fly part of team announcing launch of Greater Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force

At Born2Fly, our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do—not just around the world, but around the corner, too.

That’s why B2F is a charter member of the new Greater Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force (GOHTTF).

 [video: Orlando Sentinel]

At a news conference this morning in the hot Florida sun, we stood arm-to-arm with a coalition of law enforcement from all levels (local, state, and national), government agencies, service providers, the faith community, and non-profits.

[photo: WMFE]

That’s me on the far right with my anti-trafficking colleagues. What I love about this group is the sense of partnership and our focus on working together to rid our community of human trafficking.

These are professionals who already excel in their fields -- law enforcement, therapists, attorneys, safe houses, non-profits such as Born2Fly, and many others. What you see in this photo is the tip of the iceberg. Through GOHTTF, we are maximizing our efforts in a united front. I'm honored to partner with them.

#3 in the nation

Florida is #3 in the nation in the number of cases reported to the Polaris Project's national anti-trafficking hotline. (That doesn’t mean the state is #3 in trafficking, just in reporting.)

According to Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, who kicked off the news conference, in the past 18 months, 125 adults and children have been victims of human trafficking in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties.

Keep in mind that Osceola County is home to Disney World, where families bring their children for fun and entertainment. A few miles away from Disney’s gates, children are being trafficked.

You will remember my report about an undercover child trafficking operation I was part of in Orlando — also a few miles from Disney’s gates.

“We have to be proactive to ensure that [trafficking] does not proliferate in this community,” Demings emphasized, which is the goal of the new task force.

Larry Zweig, director of the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI), also spoke at the news conference and said that the number of tips and complaints to MBI has increased “significantly” in past years.

As a result, Zweig announced, MBI is expanding its vice unit from 4 agents to 7 who will focus on human trafficking. The FBI, ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and Florida Department of Law Enforcement are all also assigning full-time staff to the task force.

“This will significantly increase our ability to investigate these tips that are coming in regularly now,” Zweig said.

Florida is a "safe harbor" state, meaning that children rescued from prostitution are treated as victims, not as criminal. By law they get help from child welfare professionals instead of being placed in juvenile delinquency. William D'Aiuto, central Florida director of the state's Department of Children and Families, reiterated his agency's commitment to helping these children.

Creating a network of services

As you can see, services to rescue victims, bring traffickers and buyers to justice, reduce demand, and prevent trafficking in the first place are not centered in one agency or organization but spread out among many.

“There’s a great need for a collaboration of services," added Tomas Lares, chairman of GOHTTF, "and that's exactly what this group intends to do by bringing together more than a dozen subcommittees on a variety of topics ranging from law enforcement to legal aid to housing.”

Born2Fly is a member of 2 of those subcommittees. And as a result of being part of GOHTTF, we’re also getting strategic input as we develop additional curriculum and other materials designed to reach kids before the traffickers do — in Orlando and all over the world.

If human trafficking is organized crime — which it is — we have to be even more organized than the traffickers are to fight it.

In Orlando, we now are.

The photo that changed my life: 12 years later

 

                 May 26, 2001 -- Mumbai, India

"Do you see the cages in that window?” my contact asked.

“Cages?” I repeated with horror. “What’s in them?”

“Five-year-old girls.”

I wanted to throw up. With that one sentence, my life was about to change.

It was early on a Saturday evening in Mumbai, India -- May 26, 2001. Exactly 12 years ago today.

I was doing research for an article about forced prostitution of women. My contact was taking me through the city’s red-light district, which is one of the largest in Asia.

As a journalist I had been to dozens of countries covering everything from starving refugees in Sudan to people living under the brutal dictatorship in Zimbabwe to throw-away babies abandoned at an orphanage in China.

I had seen a lot — but never cages that held little girls.

My contact went on to tell me that these little girls are smuggled across the border from Nepal into India, and held in cages for 30 days. They’re raped, tortured, starved, and urinated on until they no longer have a will to rebel or run away.

Only then are they fit to be sold as child sex slaves.

I got my photo

“You can take a picture,” my contact cautioned, “but don’t let the pimps see you or they’ll steal your camera.”

I got my photo. It’s not the best in the world but you can clearly see the bars on the cages.

I call it the photo that changed my life.

I learned there are millions of girls like the ones held in those cages. They’re raped for profit 30 or 40 times a night — night after night after night.

Did I mention there are millions of them?

They’re not just “over there” but “over here,” too. Child trafficking happens not only in 3rd-world countries, but all over the world -- yes, including in the United States in small towns and large cities.

With a few clicks of your mouse, you can book a child-sex tour — to Atlanta and other cities around the U.S. Pick your child, hair color, sex and age, and she or he will be waiting for you in a hotel room near any major airport.

You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not.

Child trafficking is organized crime. It’s a $37-billion-a-year industry — the 2nd-highest grossing illegal industry on the planet after illegal drugs. (In eastern Europe it’s already number 1.)

It’s very lucrative with very little risk. You can sell a drug once, but you can sell a child over and over again. 

What's happened since I took that picture?

I came home from that trip and couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d seen. A few years later I launched the organization that became Born2Fly.

I had the crazy idea that a children's book and curriculum could warn kids and parents about the lies traffickers tell. If we could reach kids before the traffickers do, maybe we could help stop child trafficking. 

12 years later we have an anti-trafficking curriculum and wordless children's book that nearly 300 organizations in 65+ countries have downloaded -- including in India and Nepal.

12 years later we broadcast an anti-trafficking radio program in India heard by 80 MILLION kids and parents a week -- including in Mumbai where I took the photo that changed my life.

12 years later our curriculum is in 7 major languages -- including Hindi, the national language of India.

12 years later -- this past week, in fact -- we've made plans to translate our materials into Nepali, the national language of Nepal. Our goal is to get them into villages where traffickers lure girls, like the girls in the cages.

12 years later we have exciting stories in many other countries too -- Uganda, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Russia, Thailand, Botswana, and many others -- but today you will understand why India and Nepal are on my heart. 

Those countries have been on my heart for 12 years. 

Along with the unseen girls in those cages.

***

At the Born2Fly Project we give away all our anti-trafficking materials without charge to organizations all over the world that work with children -- in India, Nepal, and many other places. We can do this -- and everything we've accomplished -- because of the support of our wonderful donors who keep it all going. You can help, too: just click here.

 

All photographs (c) 2001 Diana Scimone.
Reproduction prohibited.

 

Special announcement: Born2Fly is heading to India!

We’re so excited to announce that Born2Fly is now broadcasting a weekly anti-trafficking radio program throughout India -- based on our curriculum for kids.

India has an extremely high rate of child trafficking so this is a strategic place for us. Our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do, so a radio program that does that is a perfect fit.  

In fact our program on All India Radio reaches 80 million people every week -- including poor and illiterate children and their parents who have no other way to hear the anti-trafficking message.

Did you catch that? 80 million people! Amazing, huh? Radio is HUGE in India!

Our weekly 15-minute radio program is called Baat Pate Ki, which means “a subject of importance” in Hindi -- as in, "This is something you need to hear!"

Recording 1st episode

Each episode is based on our popular B2F anti-trafficking curriculum -- complete with stories, characters, "edu-tainment," teaching, and yes even original Bollywood music.

The program airs every Sunday afternoon at 12:15. Episode #1 was Sunday, May 5, and episode #2 aired yesterday. We’ve already gotten great feedback from listeners and from the network itself.

Here’s the episode that aired yesterday. Yes, it's in Hindi but play a few minutes so you can hear the production quality and enjoy our beautiful Bollywood theme song in the opening. Just click the arrow to listen: 

12_MAY_13 Baat Pate Ki -- Born2Fly

We’ll broadcast a new episode every Sunday afternoon for the next 6 months.

Perfect timing

There’s absolutely nothing like this radio program anywhere in India.

In fact until recently no one even talked about child trafficking even though India has one of the highest rates of trafficking in the world:

• 1.2 million children are trafficked in India.
• Every day 200 girls and women are lured into prostitution.
• There are millions of street children in India who are extremely at-risk for trafficking.
• Tens of thousands of them are sold for sex and forced labor every year in India.
• 11% of the country's workforce is child labor.

Add to this the horrible status of girls in India and you have a situation ripe for intervention.

 Our experienced partner

We’re partnering with the Disha Foundation to produce and air our radio program in India. Disha’s wonderful founder, Vinita Shaw, has more than 2 decades of experience on radio in India.

Vinita Shaw, CEO of Disha Foundation
and our partner in India

Last week I met with Vinita while she was in the US. We were like 2 peas in a pod. She totally recognizes the need for prevention.

And Disha has a home for 92 rescued girls in New Delhi -- so Vinita knows first-hand that it's a lot more effective to keep girls from being trafficked than to try to rescue them after the fact.

"The B2F curriculum is a blessing from God for such a time as this," Vinita told me. "Only eternity will reveal the impact we're having as we prevent millions of children from being lured into trafficking. "

Thank you for your financial support that helps us protect children -- by radio and many other creative ways. Because of you, together we really are reaching kids before the traffickers do. 

 

14 myths about human trafficking (how many can you spot?)

Myth 1: Women in prostitution and pornography are there because they want to be. They can leave at any time.

Reality: Some women have chosen that path, but the majority have not. They were coerced into it under false pretenses, and they are controlled and cannot leave. They are being trafficked.

Myth 2: Children in prostitution and pornography can leave at any time.

Reality: No child in prostitution or pornography is there because she chose it; someone made the decision for her and she is there by force.

Myth 3: She’s not being trafficked; she’s just ________.

Reality: “Trafficking victims may be mislabeled as victims of sexual abuse, rape, or domestic violence. Though these crimes are a part of a trafficking situation, they do not encompass the extent and complexity of the exploitation that has occurred in sex traffi cking.

"When mislabeled, victims do not receive the entire range of services or victim rights that are necessary for restoration. Further, perpetrators are not held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” (Source: Shared Hope International, The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children)

Myth 4: Pornography has nothing to do with trafficking. Everyone should be free to look at what they want.

Reality: This has nothing to do with “freedom.” One hundred percent of children who are in pornographic photos or films are trafficked; they were not free to choose to be in it. If you buy, sell, or look at child pornography, you are participating in child trafficking. You are committing a crime. This has nothing to do with freedom.

Myths 5-14: See the Polaris Project's Top 10 myths and misconceptions about human trafficking in the U.S.

 

1..2..3..4..5..6..7...our anti-trafficking curriculum is now in 7 languages

We're in a race: Who will reach kids first -- the traffickers or us?

Traffickers speak the language of kids they lure. We absolutely have to do the same.

That's why we're translating the Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum into more languages each month. In fact I just uploaded another translation to our website.

The Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum is now available in English, Chinese (Mainland simplified), Hindi, Russian, Spanish,  Bisayan, and our latest: Thai, the national language of Thailand.

I've been to Thailand 3 times. I've visited safe house for teens and young girls and seen the devastation that child sex trafficking causes.

That's why I'm thrilled we now have a Thai translation of our popular anti-trafficking curriculum. Teachers can use it throughout Thailand to reach kids before the traffickers do. 

Thai joins our other languages being used around the world -- just look at these beautiful titles:

Pretty awesome, isn't it?  Imagine how many kids will never be trafficked because someone taught them Born2Fly in their own language.

Three cheers to our fantastic donors who cover the cost of these translations.

Reaching the world

With our current translations, we can reach all the countries in blue, whose mother tongue is one of our 7 languages:

Make your own map at BigHugeLabs.com

If you know someone who works with children in any of these areas, please tell them about our free anti-trafficking curriculum for kids and teens. They can download it at www.born2fly.org.

When you look at that map, we're covering a lot of the world, but we still have some major holes to fill in, especially in Africa, Europe, the middle east, and central Asia. Child sex trafficking is very high in all these locations.

That's why we need to translate our curriculum into even more languages. 

More languages mean we can reach kids before the traffickers do -- in their own language.

More languages mean we can teach kids how to stand up to the lies traffickers tell -- in their own language.

More languages mean we can equip parents and teachers -- in their own language.

If you'd like to help sponsor a language to reach more kids, let us know  -- info@born2fly.org. Your contributions make it all happen.

Traffickers speak the language of kids they lure. We absolutely have to do the same. 

 

Why I'm giving my bro-in-law underwear for his birthday. (You can, too.)

My brother-in-law, friend, purpose coach, and Born2Fly board member, John Stanko, turns 63 this Friday, April 19 -- and I'm giving him underwear to celebrate.

Why?

John has been to Africa more times than I've been to the grocery store.

A few years ago he learned that little girls there often don't go to school simply because they don't have any underwear.

Girls who don't get an education are much more likely to be trafficked than girls who do.

How sad that something as simple as some underwear could make such a huge difference in a little girl's life.

So John decided to take them some.

He launched the Petticoat Project (love it!), started collecting underwear for girls, and he and a team delivered everything in person to an orphanage in Kenya. (He's also brought 1000s of children's books, part of the work of his Deborah Foundation, which establishes children's libraries and learning centers in Africa.)

It's made a huge difference in the lives of many girls.

It's birthday time again...and John is collecting more underwear for the next delivery later this year...so guess what I'm giving him for his 63rd birthday? Wow, if all shopping was this easy.

If you'd like to join me in this special birthday gift for John, you can donate some underwear (actually the funds to buy it) by clicking here.

Or mail a check to his foundation, PurposeQuest International, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882.

Just let John know your contribution is for underwear in honor of his birthday :-).

Happy 63th birthday, John, and may it be the best year you've ever had!

Mary, on her way to school. John's organization, PurposeQuest International, raised funds to cover her education.

Parents, please wake up! (part 2)

Hello? Hello? Is anyone listening?

Sometimes I feel like a broken record trying to warn parents -- American parents -- that child sex trafficking is happening right in their own backyards.

Parents, please wake up!

Maybe this will do it: a 15 year old raised in a good family by loving parents -- who still got lured into trafficking:

Child sex trafficking: as easy in Seattle as ordering a pizza

This girl was a soccer star and played the violin. The sound you hear is the myth shattering about kids who get lured into trafficking.

Read what the mom of this girl said:

"You warn them about the boogeyman and you warn them about the dangers of crossing the street without holding an adult's hand when they're younger, and you talk about the dangers of texting while driving...

"These are the things that you are worried about when your children are growing up. I don't think the thought ever crossed my mind that I'd have to warn my daughter about being a child sex slave...

"I thought I was so in tune with my children and did everything I could to keep them safe. If this can happen to me, it can happen to you. It can happen to anyone."

Parents, please read that article. Read this about kids, social media, and trafficking. Have your kids read them. Discuss what you read with them.

Use the Born2Fly curriculum to teach them. It's age appropriate (separate tracks for children and teens) and you can download it free on our website www.born2fly.org.

Child sex trafficking is not just "over there." It's right here. It's not "those kids." It's all kids.

Parents, please wake up!

 

The new normal: The mindset of a trafficking victim

You’re probably reading this in a nice warm room, a comfy chair at Starbucks, or somewhere else that we could describe as normal. Normal for you is what you're used to.

The only way that trafficking victims can endure what they’re going through is to convince themselves it's normal.

The lies that traffickers tell them become the truth. Trauma, abuse, control, torture, not to mention rape for profit night after night have so messed with their brains and emotions that their normal has been redefined.

I once heard Sharon Cohn Wu of International Justice Mission say, “It’s easy to rescue someone who wants to be rescued. These kids don’t want to be rescued.”

That may be impossible for you to understand, but if you want to fight child trafficking, you have to understand the mindset of victims:

• Victims are told that traffickers are their daddies. They are now part of a new “family” that loves them and cares for them. Only the traffickers have their best interests at heart, they’re told; everyone else is against them, particularly law enforcement.

• Traffickers lie to victims and threaten their families. “If you try to run, I’ll kill your mother. Or your little sister.”

• In many cases victims are told that the money they’re earning is being sent to help their families back home. This is particularly prevalent in Asia. Needless to say, the families don’t see a penny.

• Many victims are constantly drugged, further messing up their minds.  Add to that constant inhumane treatment and nightmare conditions, physical and mental abuse, threats (often carried out), and more.

• Often victims don’t know what city, state, or even country they’re in because they’re moved around so often.

• Many victims are from other countries. They don’t speak the local language and don’t understand the local culture. They may come from countries where police are feared so they'd never think to run for help.

• If they’re brought across international borders illegally, they have no papers so even if they run away, where would they go? They have no cell phone, no money, no papers, no one to call.

• Many victims do not even realize they’re victims.

For them this is the new normal. They've redefined it.

They had to in order to keep from going insane.

* * *

To learn more:

Why don't they just leave? (part 1)

Why don't they just leave? (part 2)

 

Absolutely nothing

I'm taking a break this weekend: I'm not posting anything about child trafficking. Instead I'm reprinting something I've posted for the past few years on Easter Sunday called "Absolutely nothing." Here it is -- along with a question for you to answer at the end.

***

I recently had an opportunity to spend 10 days in Israel to write two feature stories for Charisma magazine and to research Adventures With PawPaw: Israel (hopefully published soon).

Visiting a country with 6,000 years of history can be a dizzying experience, and I came home with a notebook full of information, sights, sounds, and quotes. One of the most memorable quotes was from the tour guide at the garden tomb:

"Millions of people come here from all over the world to see absolutely nothing."

Our tour guide spoke those words outside the tomb where Jesus' body was laid to rest. Three days later on a Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead -- and 2,000 years later the tomb is still empty.

I always wondered why many of my friends who go to Israel come home with the exact same photo:  a picture of themselves peeking out of the empty tomb with a big grin on their face.

Now I know why; there's something about looking into that empty tomb carved out of the side of the hill and seeing the evidence of your faith. It's empty! It's true! He is risen!

Naturally I had the same grin on my face and had to have the same photo.

So here, direct to you from Jerusalem, is my Easter photo, along with my prayer that the hope represented by that empty tomb will fill your life with joy and meaning this day and forever.

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26).

 

Miriam, midwives, and modern-day slavery

It’s Passover and my friend Sheri invited me to speak at a seder at her synagogue. She thought there was a great tie-in between the slavery of the Jews 3,500 years ago and one of the forms of slavery that’s happening today—child trafficking.

I loved the idea—and was amazed I never saw the connection myself. I love Passover (and yes I’m Christian; I think all Christians should celebrate Passover since it’s in our Bible, too) and the tie-in Sheri suggested made so much sense to me.

When I reread the story in the Bible to prepare for what I was going to say, I didn’t get more than a few verses before I was struck by the role of women in the story:

• The midwives who refused to kill the newborn Jewish boys
• Moses’ mother who hid him in a basket and sent him down the river
• Moses’ sister, Miriam, who watched to see where her brother would go
• Pharoah’s daughter who spotted the basket, rescued the baby, and raised Moses

Sure, years later God used Moses to free his people, but He also used women.

Interestingly, the seder that Sheri invited me to speak at was for women—130 of them. And guess what they were focusing on? Yup, the role of women in the story. From the midwives to Miriam, they were all right there.

What awesome confirmation.

When I spoke, I told the women about the modern-day slavery happening in their own neighborhoods, malls, and middle schools. Children were being trafficked within a few miles of where we were meeting (like this arrest and conviction a few days ago, and these arrests a few months ago).

I told them my standard line (thanks, @MichelleVan) that I’m trying to work myself out of a job. I don’t want to be fighting trafficking for the rest of my life.

I told them that Passover is the story of how the God of justice will go to miraculous, ridiculous, audacious lengths to free people from injustice.

If He did it then, He does it now. And if He used women to do it then, He uses women to do it now.

So if you're a woman, go partner with the God of justice who is still in the business of freeing slaves.

Happy Passover!

Q: How did that happen to her?

A: She believed the guy with the too-good-to-be-true story.

Q: How did he get in that mess?
A. He clicked on a Craigslist ad.

Q: And why doesn't she just leave?
A: Uh, she's a slave now.

MTV's college station, mtvU, just released a brilliant interactive digital experience called The Backstory, which answers these and many other questions -- and shows exactly what can happen if you too buy the lies that traffickers tell.

The Backstory is the latest component of mtvU's Against Our Will campaign. It was inspired by four James Madison University students who won mtvU's Against Our Will Challenge.

The Backstory interactive experience begins as you read a list of ads that resemble Craigslist posts. Click on one of the ads, titled "No Questions No Papers Just EZ Money," and you'll see the following post:

Free Rent and Money for School in Exchange for Housekeeping.
Large, clean room.
Looking for honest, HARD WORKING person.
Duties: vacuum, dusting, laundry, shop for groceries, and occasional cooking.
Serious Inquiries Only. No Papers Needed. Please call 555-1313 for further information.

Sounds intriguing, right? Harmless enough.

If you were a college student needing some quick cash, you might click on it too.

To find out what happened to the young man who did answer the ad, click on the "backstory" button...and then begins his sad story.

The Backstory doesn't work in all browsers; it worked better for me in Safari than in Firefox, so just check around.

Creativity and awareness

I absolutely love The Backstory and how mtvU has combined a creative, digital experience to educate tweens, teens, and college students about the lies that traffickers tell.

Our goal at Born2Fly is reaching kids before the traffickers do -- so you know I applaud anyone else who's doing that, too.

I also love the mix of creativity, art, and even dance. The videos feature silhouetted reenactments with dancers from Ailey II. They starkly portray the emotions that trafficked victims go through...and why we must make sure no child ever goes through this again.

 

Child trafficking--it's as close as your cell phone

Want to buy a child?

Want to sell one?

Just pick up your cell phone and click away.

Mobile phones and devices are regularly used to traffic children for sex in the US, according to The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion of Technology-Facilitated Trafficking. 

The report was produced by the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.  

“Increasingly, the business of human trafficking is taking place online and over mobile phones,” says CCLP research director Dr. Mark Latonero. “Mobile devices allow traffickers to expand their criminal networks in new ways."

Adds Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, “Human trafficking has moved from the streets to online. It is easier, less risky and more profitable."

Some good news

But as traffickers increase their use of technology, that same technology "can be used to target traffickers, reach vulnerable communities, and raise public awareness," says Latonero.

I've seen some of this technology in meetings with law enforcement, and it's astounding.

And look what creative app designers came up with in Colombia: If someone sees a child working illegally, they can take a picture with their phone and log the location, which the app sends to the country's child welfare agency.

Trafficking and social media

Cell phones are not the only digital channels that make exploiting children just a few clicks away. Others include social networking sites like Facebook, as CNN reported this week on Pimps hit social networks to recruit underage sex workers. 

Of course, if you read this blog regularly, you already knew that 5 months ago :-) when you read my report, Parents, please wake up.

 

Polaris Star award to B2F founder, Diana Scimone

I recently spoke at Florida Awareness Day, a large anti-trafficking rally in Orlando sponsored by the Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force.

More than 1,500 people attended and found out that trafficking is happening right in their own backyards.

After I spoke, the organizers called me back on stage and presented me with the Polaris Star award given annually to a modern-day abolitionist.

Polaris Star
Diana Scimone
Modern-Day Abolitionist

The Polaris Star, also known as the North Star, is the star that slaves used to find their way north to freedom along the Underground Railroad. 

I'm greatly honored to receive this award and even be mentioned in the same breath as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, and other freedom fighters.

The Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force, which sponsored the event, is a strategic central Florida partnership of law enforcement (local, state, national), government agencies, schools, non-profits (including Born2Fly), the faith-based community, safe houses, embassy consulates, and many others.

It's one of the most effective local coalitions in the U.S. and it's why there are so many arrests of traffickers throughout the area.

"Be audacious"

At the event, I spoke specifically to young people and encouraged them to be "audacious abolitionists." (Audacious is my new favorite word.) If traffickers are audacious -- and they are -- we have to be even more audacious to stop them.

150 years after the official end of slavery, it's sadly still alive and well right here in the US -- so we still have plenty of work to do.

You know my goal is to work myself out of a job, so thank you for helping me do that.

 

The connection between the Super Bowl and human trafficking

Yes, there is a connection.

My friend Lucy Ann Moll posted something about this on her blog -- and apparently upset some people who think she was a little extreme.

They left some nasty comments saying she was out in left field (I know, I'm mixing sports metaphors, but you know what I mean).

So Lucy Ann asked me to comment on the comments.

You can read what I wrote here -- scroll down for my comment. I list 6 sources, posts (including my own), and other evidence that as much as we love the Super Bowl (and I do, I do), there's documented evidence that like many major sporting events (World Cup, Olympics, etc.), it attracts traffickers.

We can hide our heads in the sand. We can pretend trafficking doesn't exist at major sporting events. Or we can wake up and start dealing with it.

Which do you want to do?

 

5th annual Human Trafficking Awareness Rally

5th annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Saturday, January 26, 2012
11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Lake Eola -- Walt Disney Amphitheater
101 N. Rosalind Ave.
Orlando, Florida 32801

www.floridaawarenessday.org
Facebook
Twitter

• Free fingerprinting and picture I.D. for children
• Kid-friendly -- special games and activities for kids
• Anti-human trafficking booths -- domestic and international agencies (including Born2Fly :-)
• Memory Exhibit –- "Where are all the missing children and adults?"
• Guest speakers and abolitionists sharing their stories and experiences
• Raffle
• CALL TO ACTION –- Stand with those ending slavery!
• Art Stroll and Silent Auction
• Live entertainment, food vendors, fair-trade vendors, and more

Yours truly is one of the speakers this year.

So come on by and cheer me on as I challenge young adults to be audacious. And Born2Fly will have a booth along with many other organizations working to fight trafficking in Orlando and overseas.

          

If you live in central Florida and want to know more about human trafficking -- and how to stop it -- this is the place to be.

 

 

Be audacious

It's Human Trafficking Awareness Day -- Friday, January 11.

150 years after the official end of slavery, it's still alive and well. In your backyard and mine. Look at these sad statistics:

1.2 million
Number of children trafficked each year for sex around the world. (UNICEF)

11 years old
Average age of sex workers around the world. Some are as young as 5 years old. (CIA)

100,000
Number of children and young women who are trafficked in the U.S. today. The average age is 11. (FBI/ABC News)

200,000
Number of U.S. children at risk for commercial sexual exploitation. (US Department of Justice)

$9.5 billion
Amount of money generated annually by human trafficking. (FBI)

2nd
Ranking of human trafficking among all income-generating syndicates (illegal drugs are #1; illegal arms are #3) (Stop the Traffic)

We can change these statistics.

“Given all the power and resources that God has placed in the hands of humankind," writes Gary Haughen, president of International Justice Mission, in his book Terrify No More, "I have yet to see any injustice of humankind that could not also be stopped by humankind."

My goal is to work myself out of a job.

I really don't want to be fighting child trafficking the rest of my life. The only way that will happen is for all of us to work togther to end it now.

Audacious, you say? Yes, it is.

In the words of my fellow abolitionist Rob Morris, director of Love 146, "Ending human trafficking is not idealistic or naive. It is audacious. And it is people of audacity who change the world."

So on this day, 1/11/13, I ask you to be audacious.

Be a world-changer.

Dream big dreams that are so beyond you that only God can help you accomplish them.

Work to stop human trafficking in your city.

If we all do that, we won't have to have a Human Trafficking Awareness Day ever again.

* * *

To learn what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop child trafficking, visit www.born2fly.org.

Can I quote you on that?

This post begins my 7th year of blogging.

It's also what I share at the beginning of each new year. For 12 months whenever I need some quick inspiration, I just look at the top of my daily to-do agenda where I keep a list of motivational quotes I gather.

All year long whenever I find a new quote, I add it to the list. I post them front and center to inspire me as I work on the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

When the fight seems impossible, I read what Einstein said. Or Edison. Or Zappos.com.

Today I start a brand-new list, so enjoy these now. I hope they motivate you as much as they do me. Most of these come from my fellow Twitterati, so I've included their Twitter names after each quote in case you want to follow them.

Got a fav quote of your own? Leave it as a comment. I've already begun my 2013 list and could use a few good quotes to start the year right.

* * *

"Do the thing you think you cannot do."—Eleanor Roosevelt

"If Plan A fails, remember you have 25 letters left."

"A year from now you may wish you had started today."

"History shows us that the people who end up changing the world are always nuts, until they are right and then they are geniuses.”—John Eliot via @JohnStanko

"We were trained to finish our homework, our peas and our chores. Today, we're never finished, and that's okay."—@Seth Godin

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."—Henry Ford via @JohnStanko

"If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse."

"This is a people plundered and despoiled; all of them are trapped in caves, or are hidden away in prisons; they have become a prey with none to deliver them, and a spoil, with none to say, 'Give them back!'”—Isaiah 42:22

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“God only gives three answers to prayer: 1. 'Yes!' 2. 'Not yet.' 3. 'I have something better in mind.” —@WayneHilsden

"May victims of inhumanity and injustice not find us merely curious, but furious."—@JamieMcIntosh

"Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom."—Frederick Douglass

"Rescue those being led away to death."—Proverbs 24:11

"He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it."—God

"Difficulty is the very atmosphere of miracle. It is miracle in its first stage."—L.B. Cowman via @JamieMcIntosh

And my #1 quote from 2012....This is from a group of children in the Philippines who were approached by traffickers. The kids had already gone through the Born2Fly program to stop child trafficking so when the traffickers tried to lure them with cell phones, the kids yelled:

“We’re more valuable than cell phones!”
—B2F kids in the Philippines

Thanks for making 2012 such a quote-worthy year...and now on to 2013! Be sure to leave your fav quotes in a comment.  

"I had no idea of the magnitude of this problem."

I never get tired of reading the requests from organizations all over the world who've registered to download our Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum and wordless book. More than 190 organizations in 60+ countries have already registered. 

Here's what they're saying and how they plan to use B2F to keep their kids safe:

Indonesia: “We began with 3 former sex workers who with the help of our organization were able to get out. Now they spend their lives helping those still trapped in this kind of life. We heard about B2F on Facebook and hope we can incorporate your materials into our work here.”

NGO working in many countries: “This resource is a great gift and I am anticipating with excitement the impact it will have on the communities where we work.”

Cameroon: “I just downloaded the program lessons to stop children trafficking and it is wonderful. I am glad to have it and I believe it is going to be a great blessing to our children.”

Papua New Guinea: “I am in incredibly remote village where the culture includes bartering of women and children along with other wares.”

Botswana: “I had no idea the magnitude of this problem. I have been in a state of shock. This is going to be a learning experience for me as well. Thank you for taking the lead in this battle and assisting me and so many others.” 

Nepal: “Every year 12,000-15,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal. Our organization has a children’s home, does anti-trafficking work, and investigates traffickers.”

Thailand: “I finally had a chance to browse the training package. It is great stuff! I am so humbled to have been given such a gift. Thank you so much for compiling it and also being willing to share it with others.”

South Africa: "I would definitely recommend you start using the Born2Fly curriculum to teach your kids about what trafficking is and how to protect themselves from being victims." (From the National Freedom Network, an anti-trafficking coalition in South Africa)

And in case you don't believe child trafficking happens in the US, we're getting registration applications from all over the country. A few excerpts:

US: “There are 200+ brothels (massage parlors) in our city. Our vision is to liberate those trapped in human trafficking.”

US: “I hope to learn warning signs and behaviors, how to try to prevent [trafficking], and most of all how to try to heal.”

US: “Trafficking is getting worse in our area with girls as young as 12 or so forced into prostitution and porn films.”

US: “We work with women rescued from trafficking. We do awareness training and are starting a Citizen Task Force.”

You can read more excerpts here from Kenya, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Haiti, and many more countries where organizations have registered to teach B2F.

If you know a group that works with children anywhere in the world, please tell them about our free anti-trafficking materials. They can find them at www.born2fly.org.

 

Teaching B2F in the Philippines

 

 

 

The Slave and the Porn Star: Sexual Trafficking and Pornography

Those of us working to stop child trafficking have always known about the strong link between trafficking and pornography.

Now there's proof.

Johns Hopkins' just published an excellent scholarly research article showing the connection: The Slave and the Porn Star: Sexual Trafficking and Pornography.

My friend and colleague Laura Lederer, director of Global Centurion and former State Department senior advisor on trafficking, co-wrote the article with Robert Peters, president emeritus of Porn Harms, and attorney Shane Kelly.

Here are a few key findings, as noted by Porn Harms:

• Pornography fuels the global sex trade by driving demand into the mainstream of society.

• Pornography is used as a tool to train young children and women so that they will know what to do in performing sex acts.

• Often, the forced sexual acts between the prostituted woman/child and the John will be filmed and photographed and then shared elsewhere.

• Studies show that pornography users often seek to act out what they have viewed in porn. Often their partners will not engage in such acts, so they seek it elsewhere –- increasing the demand for trafficked women and children to be prostituted.

• Pimps are operating more and more online as it becomes easier to connect with potential buyers and to remain anonymous. Popular websites like Craigslist and Facebook have become virtual brothels where one can quickly find prostituted women and children to engage in sex acts.

• As addiction to pornography increases, users seek harder and harder material. There is a recent boom in the availability of live porn as trafficked children and women are forced to perform on-demand sex acts in front of web cameras as Johns or porn users watch.

• Porn users do not and cannot distinguish between trafficked women, prostitutes, and porn stars.

That last point is key.

When people ask me, "What can I do to stop child trafficking?" one of the things I tell them is, "Stop watching porn."

They look at me like I'm crazy.

Please read the last bullet point above. Most women and all children do not go into porn because it's something they've dreamed of doing all their lives. Most women and all children in porn are trafficked.

If you're watching porn, you're supporting trafficking. In fact, you are a trafficker because you are buying trafficked women and children.

 

 

Is there child trafficking in your state? (Yes)

After 7 years working to stop child trafficking, I'm still amazed by how many Americans don't know it's happening in their own states and cities. So I'm going to take a few posts to report on trafficking in the US. (Apologies to my international readers.)

Today Shared Hope International released their end-of-year state-by-state Report Card on trafficking in the US.

Click on the map to read about the efforts to stop child trafficking in your state:

IMPORTANT: This is NOT a report on how bad child trafficking is in each state because it's bad in ALL states. This is a report on each state's efforts to get rid of child trafficking within and across their borders.

Sometimes my Twitter feed sounds like it's a contest with tweet after tweet about whose state is worst. There's absolutely no way to quantify which state is worst--and it doesn't matter one bit.

The point is that child trafficking happens everywhere in the US. Yes, in your city. Yes, in your schools.

Shared Hope International and the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) analyzed each state's laws and then created a national standard of protection against domestic minor sex trafficking or DMST (that is, trafficked US citizens who are underage). This national standard is called the Protected Innocence Legislative Framework.

A year ago Shared Hope issued a challenge to each state to improve their laws to fight DMST. Here's what happened in 2012 as a result:

• 240 state and 38 federal bills were introduced that relate to DMST.
• 78 laws were passed that relate to DMST.
• 40 states introduced legislation that relates to the Protected Innocence Framework.
• 33 states enacted legislation related to the Protected Innocence Framework.

Pretty awesome. You can read specifics here about new efforts to criminalize DMST -- for sellers and buyers (not the children themselves). It's hard to believe that some of those old laws were ever on the books, but they were.

Kudos to Shared Hope and ACLJ for their excellent work to stop DMST in the US. More helpful links from Shared Hope:

Track legislation in your state

Contact your legislator

Send a letter about trafficking to the editor of your local media

White Paper on Federal, State Racketeering and Gang Crime Laws

 

 

 

Warning to young women in China

Anti-traffickers in China recently produced this riveting video to warn young Chinese women about the lies that traffickers tell...and what can happen if they believe them. (It's in Mandarin with English subtitles.)

        

Of course, the ploys these traffickers use are not limited to China. They're the same lies told by traffickers all over the world.

At Born2Fly we're launching a digital library of resources on our website. We'll include this video. The library will be live in a few weeks so watch this space for an announcement. And if you'd like to recommend some anti-trafficking resources we should include, please leave a comment below.

 

 

Parents, please wake up!

People always ask me, "How can I stop child trafficking?"

One of my answers: "Don't let your kids post pictures of themselves online. Don't even post them yourself."

People look at me like I'm crazy. They really think social media sites like Facebook are lock-tight secure. As if porn peddlers (aka child traffickers) would never ever in a million years think of downloading pix of kids online and reselling them.

 

A new study by the Internet Watch Foundation found otherwise. IWF tracked explicit online images and videos of kids and teens and found that a whopping 88% of them came from social media sites -- photos that the kids themselves posted. 

In less than 48 working hours, IWF found more than 12,000 images and videos spread over 68 websites.

Wake up, parents.

“During the course of our work we encounter large quantities of self-generated sexual content [that] has been copied from its original location and then uploaded elsewhere to form collections," said Sarah Smith, IWF technical researcher, "but this is the first time we’ve been able to demonstrate the extent to which this occurs.”

Adds Susie Hargreaves, IWF CEO, “This research gives an unsettling indication of the number of images and videos on the internet featuring young people performing sexually explicit acts or posing.

“It also highlights the problem of control of these images," she continued. "Once an image has been copied onto a parasite website, it will no longer suffice to simply remove the image from the online account. We need young people to realise that once an image or a video has gone online, they may never be able to remove it entirely.”

Here's what happened to one teenager as a result of posting pix online:

“I came to regret posting photographs of myself naively on the internet and tried to forget about it, but strangers recognized me from the photographs and made lewd remarks at school. I endured so much bullying because of this photograph and the others...

"I was eventually admitted for severe depression and was treated for a suicide attempt.”

Remember, the originating photos don't have to be explicit. One anti-trafficker who works with victims in Florida told me she won't post pictures of her children online because traffickers can easily download them and manipulate them. They take your child's head and put it on someone else's body, and voila, an explicit photo of your child that's then sold all over the internet.

Yes, she was talking about Facebook and other supposedly secure social media sites. I don't have a personal Facebook account yet I can get on many Facebook pages. Including kids. Facebook is absolutely positively not secure.

Parents, please teach your kids internet safety. Here are resources you can use:

• IWF: Hotline for the public to report inadvertent exposure to child sexual abuse content
• UK Safer Internet Centre: Helpline providing esafety advice for professionals working with young people
• SafeKids.com: Kids rules for online safety (specifically for pre-teens)
• FBI: Safety tips for kids online
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Basic internet safety for kids

 

 

 

 

B2F anti-trafficking curriculum now in 50+ countries

I can barely keep up with my inbox--and I couldn't be happier.

As of today, more than 140 organizations in 50+ countries have registered to receive our Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum and wordless book. Their registrations pop up in my inbox; once I approve them (and make sure they're not traffickers themselves), I send them a password to download the materials without charge.

We ask these partner organizations to estimate how many kids they'll teach B2F to, and the conservative estimate is 70,000 kids!

That number could go up dramatically because one organization in South Africa is already in 6,500 schools, so that could easily add thousands more children!

Pretty cool to know we'll get to those kids before the traffickers do.

These organizations are from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, England, Fiji, Ghana, Greece, Haiti, India, Ireland, Kazakstan, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Moldova, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Ukraine, the US, Vietnam, and many other countries.

Here's what they're telling us:

Kenya: "There's daily news of the sudden disappearance of school children. Trafficking is rampant. We'll teach Born2Fly to 1,500 rural children."

Kazakstan, Ukraine, Moldova: "Trafficking among teens is very high here. We'll teach B2F to 1,000s of teens from November 2012 thru June 2015."

Philippines: "We have 85 free kindergartens for poorest of the poor kids—below poverty level so they are very vulnerable. We'd teach B2F to them—2,000 kids."

Togo: "The zone where we minister is very exposed to child trafficking. We'll teach B2F to 200 children as soon as we receive the materials."

South Africa: "In our area there's enormous amount of trafficking especially young teens trafficked from rural areas to urban cities with the promise of a better life. They end up being prostituted locally and abroad. We speak to 10,000 students a year and could teach B2F to them."

Thailand: "We'll teach the B2F anti-trafficking program to 300 children ages 10-16." // Note from Diana: This is a safehouse that pilot-tested B2F for us last year. Now they're reaching out to their community.

Philippines: "We feed at least 100 street people a day. We will teach Born2Fly anti-trafficking program on the streets where the people are."

US: "Our city is very slow to respond [to awareness & prevention]. We need this program!"

Philippines: "We're building a safehouse for cybersexually abused girls ages 1-12 and trafficked girls usually sold by parents and relatives and can teach B2F to them."

Ghana: "An estimated 7,000-27,000 children (no one knows for sure) are trafficked in Ghana for fishing and agriculture. We desperately need curriculum for them."

Haiti: "We're planning a 2-day conference in September on the rights of children and the child servitude problem here. Your materials will be helpful."

US: "We are a group home in the US that works with teen girls. We deal with many issues including trafficked girls and can teach B2F to them."

India: "We want to raise awareness about child trafficking here and warn all those involved that we will not allow this to go on!"

Malaysia: "We provide awareness to kids and parents. Kids have been kidnapped and killed after a few months and some even disappeared with no news of them."

Philippines: "Our city is destination, source and transit city for trafficked children. We work with street kids every Saturday. We’ll teach B2F to 800 kids."

Pretty exciting, huh? Whoops, gotta go. Three more registrations just popped up in my inbox...

 

B2F anti-trafficking curriculum ready to download

Our expanded website is now live! All the Born2Fly anti-trafficking materials are uploaded on it.

Organizations around the world have begun to download our curriculum, wordless book, and more--all absolutely free.

Yup, I'm pretty excited about it!

Here's what they're telling us:

South Africa:

"We are the national coalition of counter-trafficking organisations in South Africa. Trafficking is rife country-wide involving foreign and local victims and perpetrators...We hope B2F will help us raise awareness about human trafficking so that the children know how to protect themselves...You guys are doing amazing work; keep it up!"

Australia:

"[We expect B2F will] give our children a 'heads up' in a way that doesn't frighten them, giving them some options for situations they might otherwise be unprepared for."

US:

"I'm a freshman in college studying nursing. My goal is to become a gynecological nurse and help girls saved from trafficking. Not only do I want to provide medical support, I want to learn how to provide for their mental, emotional, and spiritual needs."

Kenya:

"We have a home for orphans with 32 children and 10 more on the way. I want to educate our children on human trafficking before it's too late."

England:

"We're experiencing a growth in trafficking of Roma children for petty crime and prostitution and also internal trafficking of young girls. We hope B2F will help us empower young people to resist exploitation."

In addition to these countries, B2F is also headed to Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, England, Greece, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and more. And we're already in Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Russia, and Thailand.

If you know someone who works with children, please tell them about our B2F trafficking prevention program. Just send them to www.born2fly.org where they can register to download the materials without charge. Once we approve their request, we'll send them a password so they can download whatever they need.

And of course if you want to see them, just go to that same site and register.

Free but not cheap

We give away our anti-trafficking materials without charge. Most organizations working with kids around the world couldn't afford to pay anyway. So we give them away freely--and rely on the generosity of donors (that would be you!) so that we can continue doing this.

If you'd like to keep these materials going around the world protecting kids from trafficking, just click here to make an instant tax-deductible donation.

Remember, our goal is to cut off the supply line of kids. Awareness training is the best way to do this.

Thank you for partnering with us as we educate children in more and more countries every month. You really are helping us reach kids before the traffickers do.

B2F reaching teens & young families in Russia

Help Diana lose her job

That's what my Twitter buddy @MichelleVan always says. Her full name is Michelle Vandepas and she hosts a program on Blog Talk Radio called Talking Purpose.

Michelle always says she hopes I'll be out of a job someday -- meaning there will be no more child trafficking left for me to fight, and I can go on to something less gruesome for the rest of my life.

To hasten the day, Michelle interviewed me this morning about what you can do about human trafficking in your own town.

Yes, there is human trafficking in your town. You just don't know it. We cover the signs and what to do about it (like call the national human trafficking hotline, 888-3737-888).

We recorded the program this morning and already more than 500 people have downloaded it. You can, too; just click here:

Listen to Talking Purpose on Blog Talk Radio

 

Purposely protecting children

Apparently I like hanging out with people of purpose because another purpose person, John Stanko, also interviewed me about the fight to stop the traffic -- on his radio program, Threads. 

John is director of PurposeQuest, a B2F board member, and happens to be my brother-in-law. He's @JohnStanko on Twitter.

John and I talked a lot about my recent trip to Russia, the trafficking situation there, and what Born2Fly is doing to stop it.

You can listen to the podcast here:

Listen to ACAC Threads on Blog Talk Radio

 

 

An Olympic way to stop the traffic

I love the Olympics. I love art. I hate human trafficking. Here's a brilliant way anti-traffickers are using public art to teach people about the lies that traffickers tell--and they're doing it in London during the Olympics.

Visitors see signs like this one:

Earn more money and
support your family!

They're attached to giant sculptures shaped like gift boxes:

GIFT boxes are walk-in pieces of public art displayed all over London. They entice people inside by luring them with promises...but once inside they see a different reality:

And that, of course, is exactly what traffickers do--lure children and adults with false promises.

"During the summer of 2012 thousands of hopeful athletes will choose to travel from around the world to win gold at the Olympics," says Stop the Traffik and the UN Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking (UN.GIFT), which have teamed up to launch GIFT Box. "But every minute, of every hour, of every day, men, women and children are forced to travel around the world to make gold for someone else. They have been trafficked.

"Even as the athletes prepare for their arrival in the United Kingdom in pursuit of their dream of winning gold, other men and women are being forced into coming to the country in search of a better future, only to find that for them there is only ever one winner: their trafficker."

GIFT boxes are all over London for the Olympics and Para-Olympics. There's a map here.

Learn more at Stop the Traffik and UN GIFT. To read about the increase of human trafficking surrounding sporting events such as the Olympics, click here.

The Born2Fly Project educates at-risk children and their parents about the dangers of child trafficking through a strategic 6-week community campaign. Deets at www.born2fly.org.

 

Who knew there's a bill of rights for trafficking victims?

Did you know there's a "trafficking victims' bill of rights" -- and that it's US federal law?

I didn't...

...until I went to a special training last week led by my friend and colleague Giselle Rodriguez. Giselle is state outreach coordinator for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, of which I'm a member. 

A lot of people in the audience were service providers who work with rescued victims -- yet honestly most of them didn't know that federal law mandates specific protocols for victim assistance.

Giselle told us, for example, that if you work with rescued victims you legally have to offer them:

• Shelter
• Privacy and safety
• Medical and psychological attention
• Legal representation
• Translators (if they speak another language)
• Mandatory restitution
• The right to seek residency
• And many other protocols

They can refuse any of these but you do have to offer them.

They're all part of the "trafficking victims' bill of rights," which you can find in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Scroll down to Section 107, Section C. 

TVPA is US federal law. According to Giselle, TVPA's bill of rights mirrors the one found in the UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, an international treaty that mandates protection for trafficking victims.

"Once you learn about the issue of human trafficking," Giselle told me, "it's important to read the TVPA. It serves as a guideline of (a) what human trafficking is defined as, (b) what the US has stated are its goals to combat human trafficking, and (c) what the federal government mandates us, especially service providers, to do when working with a victim of human trafficking.

"TVPA is a victim-centered law yet too many of us are not following the bill of rights that the TVPA has set," she added. "In fact we may be causing harm to the very people we all want to help."

The fact that we even had this training shows:

1. How far the anti-trafficking movement has come. A few years ago, most people didn't see trafficking victims as, well, victims. (You'd hear comments such as, "She asked for it" and other ignorant remarks.) (OK, we still hear that and more.)

2. How far we still have to go.

BTW, Giselle is an expert on anti-trafficking and travels all over the country giving trainings on this and other aspects of stopping the traffic. You can contact her at gisellefcaht@gmail.com to speak to your organization.

 

 

 

Born2Fly 5-country test phase concludes in Russia

 

I just returned from 10 days in Russia meeting with the young people who've been testing the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. It was a great trip and the feedback they gave me was invaluable.

Russia has one of the highest rates of child trafficking in the world, so it was a strategic place to test B2F. Russian orphans are particularly at-risk because once they leave the orphanages at age 16, they have nowhere to go, no job, no money, no contacts, not even a place to stay that night.

Traffickers are waiting to befriend them and lure them into the highly lucrative sex trafficking industry. It's a multi-billion industry so you can imagine the fight for these kids.

Our goal at Born2Fly has always been to cut off the supply line of kids -- to reach kids before the traffickers do.

Thankfully a group of young adults in Russia is making sure that happens. They are the interns, staff, and young people who've been part of the B2F test program at youth centers in 3 cities throughout Russia. 

Former orphans protecting orphans

The interns who taught B2F are former orphans themselves. They were passionate about B2F and took their role in the test program very seriously. We spent hours meeting with them, listening to their feedback and ideas, and hopefully encouraging them.

The information they shared was priceless. I never could have done this simply by email so I'm very grateful to the many partners of B2F who helped send me to Russia to meet with these young people in person.

Where do we go from here?

This past Wednesday was the final day of the test in Russia -- and our year-long 5-country test phase is now officially over. (Woo hoo!)

Based on feedback from Russia, Thailand, Bulgaria, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, here is B2F's upcoming agenda:

Next 60 days:

1. Produce finalized versions of B2F wordless book and kids curriculum based on feedback from 5 test countries.
 
2. Translate B2F kids curriculum into more languages (currently in English, Spanish, Russian, and one of the languages of the Philippines).
 
3. Begin distributing these materials (digitally and in print) to groups all over the world who've been patiently waiting for them.

This summer:

4. Develop the "Dream Big Campaign," an anti-trafficking program specifically for teens and young people including Powerpoint customized for different countries. This was the recommendation of the interns in Russia.

5. Distribute via YouTube, websites, etc.

Next year:

6. Create B2F and "Dream Big" apps and other digital material. Some of these will be country-specific.
 
7. Work with tablet developers and manufacturers to create a B2F "One Tablet Per Child" program (similar to the One Laptop Per Child program) with low-cost tablets pre-loaded with B2F and "Dream Big" anti-trafficking materials for kids, teens, and young adults. (If you're a tablet developer/manufacturer and want to partner with us, please email me.)

As we say in the south, I have a "full plate."  I'm very excited about this focused direction for B2F's future.
 
Thank you for partnering with B2F to make it all happen. Together we will accomplish our goal of reaching kids before the traffickers do.

 

"We heard her screaming but we didn't do anything..."

One of the lines we heard at the undercover investigation I participated in a few months ago is still ringing in my head.

A hotel manager told us about some guests who checked out of the hotel one morning and told him they heard a young girl being beaten all night long. She was in the room right next to theirs. They heard her screams but DID NOTHING. Didn't call the desk. Didn't call 911. Didn't do a thing. Except complain to the desk the next morning as they checked out.

What in the world? The girl was undoubtedly being trafficked, beaten, raped for profit, terrorized.

"We heard her screaming but we didn't do anything..."

But...but...but...

A few days ago I was driving by a popular mall in Orlando. There standing in the median strip was a teenage girl with a cardboard sign begging for money.

Red flags went up as I realized she was probably a runaway and her sign might as well have said, "Attention all traffickers: I'm homeless and penniless. Take me in for the night."

Or a lifetime.

I called the National Human Trafficking Hotline: 888-3737-888. (I have it in my phone and you should, too.)

They told me to call 911 to report what I saw, get a case number, then call back the hotline to let them know what happened. And then call the local police department during the week to follow up (which I will do).

I could have driven by...it was an evening where I was rushing to go somewhere...

But...but...but...

Dawn Hawkins could have looked the other way too. She was on a Delta flight recently when the man in front of her was openly watching child porn on his iPad.

Violent horrible images of children being abused and beaten.

She asked him to stop. He wouldn't. She asked the Delta flight attendants to do something. They wouldn't.

Finally a woman a few rows in front of her stood up and told Dawn to stop making such a fuss because "no one cares."

No one cares that children are being trafficked and this guy paid money to watch? I care. And I hope you do, too.

He picked the wrong person to sit in front of because Dawn is director of Porn Harms. As soon as the plane landed, she reported him to airport security who followed him to his connecting flight.

Meanwhile she recorded the video below and is already working to make sure that Delta and every other airline does not allow passengers to openly view child porn. (Like we even need to put that into law?)

But...but...but...

I heard her screaming but...I wanted to pick up the phone but...I saw the violent images but...

4th annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day

4th annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Free event
Saturday, January 28, 2012
12:00 - 4:00 pm

Lake Eola -- Walt Disney Amphitheater
101 N. Rosalind Ave., Orlando, FL. 32801
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• FREE finger printing & picture I.D. for children - Child Rescue
• Educational games and activities for children - Releasing
• Anti-Human Trafficking booths - Domestic & International
• Memory Exhibit - "Where are all the missing children &
• Guest speakers & abolitionists sharing their stories &
• NEW - Freedom Walk (around Lake
• Raffle
• Stand with those ending
• Live entertainment, food vendors, fair trade vendors, and MUCH more

Last year more than 1,000 people attended. This free event is presented in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign, City of Orlando, the Orlando Rescue & Restore Coalition, non-profits combating human trafficking, and many others.  

If you live in central Florida and want to know more about human trafficking -- and how to stop it -- this is the place to be.

Part 2: If you're buying children online, buyer beware

Yesterday I was in a meeting with one of the detectives responsible for the arrests of 40 men this week in central Florida for attempting to buy children online. (You can read about the arrests in yesterday's post: If you buy children online, we will post your name online.)

He spoke to us about internet crimes against children. I wanted to wash in Clorox after he finished.

Here's what he told us:

• Of the 40 arrrested, only 1 was a registered sex offender.

• Two years ago in the same county where these 40 men were arrested, traffickers targeted 11 kids at a local karate school.

• Child traffickers are professional. He showed us the cover of a professionally produced booklet--a how-to guide for buying children and what to do once you have them. [Bring on the Clorox.]

• Most of the men arrested were once victims themselves of childhood sex abuse.

• Investigators use sophisticated computer programs that monitor who is trading images and videos of children online. Think Google maps, but click on the red pins and instead of all the nearby Starbucks, voila--the name, location, and IP address of everyone looking for children online. All in real time.

• Law enforcement in numerous states worked together on the 40 arrests--members of Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a nationwide network of 3,000 federal, state, and local agencies.

• Since 2009, his local department has helped with 188 arrests in state and out of state including:

~High-level executive at a national insurance company
~High-school teacher
~Pastor of a 1,500 member church
~Father of 4, including a child who was the age of the child he was propositioning online
~Federal corrections officer
~Youth pastor
~Doctor

• Buyers use a complicated grooming process to lure children and teenagers via Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, and other sites.

• Parents can minimize risk by actively and strategically monitoring their children's social network usage.

• In a few days I'll post some of the resources he shared.

If you're new to this blog, our goal at The Born2Fly Project is to reach kids before the traffickers do. We do this through an awareness and prevention program that we're testing in 5 countries. You can read more at www.born2fly.org. And you can donate to our work on that site, also.

I know this is not easy reading. Thanks for not turning away.

 

 

 

 

If you buy children online, we will post your name online

This is Part 1 of a 2-part post.

Yesterday the Sheriff's Office of Osceola County, Florida,  arrested 40 men for attempting to buy sex with children.

The arrests include a swim coach, a professional golfer on the Senior PGA Tour, an 8th-grade teacher, business professionals, 8 college students, and many others.

I just came from a meeting with one of the detectives involved in the sting and I'll report on that tomorrow. I'm still processing the mind-boggling information he shared.

Meanwhile, to the men buying children, here is our promise: If you buy children online, we will post your name online. And here you are--all 40 of you including your photos and occupations.

(This information is publicly available on the Osceola County Sheriff's Office website here, along with more information about each person arrested.)

1. Frederick David Adams, Naples, FL. Occupation: High School Student
2. Samer Japer Al-Hubaydi, Daytona Beach, FL. Occupation: Student, Embry-Riddle
3. Jason Bacchus, Winter Garden, FL. Occupation: Sales Representative, Cell Phone Distributor
4. Christopher Baker, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
5. Christopher Batman, Wesley Chapel, FL. Occupation: Self-Employed
6. Marvin Alfonson Bell, Valrico, FL. Occupation: College Student
7. Dennis Bluemke, Clermont, FL. Occupation: Fencing
8. Charles James Buffington, Deltona, FL. Occupation: Construction
9. Sergio Cardenas, Auburndale, FL, Occupation: Unemployed
10. Lucas Bartholomew Clarke, Winter Park, FL. Occupation: Student, Golf Academy of America
11. Shane Daniel Cousins, Kissimmee FL. Occupation: Soldier, U.S. Army Reserves
12. Gary J. Durso, Palm Coast, FL. Occupation: Areole Technician
13. Josean Javier Gaston, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Student
14. Carlos Gomez, Winter Park, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
15. Justin Joseph Hall, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Student
16. Dell Rio Highsmith, DFargo, GA. Occupation: Retired Bee Keeper
17. Cornellus Eugene Hunt, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Student
18. Phillip Dale Jones, Winter Haven, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
19. Roger Dale Mathews, Lakeland, FL. Occupation: Plant Manager
20. Joseph Matz, Williamstown NJ. Occupation: Unemployed
21. Carl David Brooks Newsome, Fairhope, AL. Occupation: Unknown
22. Ryu Nolin, Edgewater, FL. Occupation: Personal Trainer
23. Craig Alan Parsel, Jr. Occupation: Warehouse Clerk
24. Eric Dennard Payne, Jr., Orlando, FL. Occupation: Dispatcher
25. Ahmidullah Popal, Flushing, NY. Occupation: Wholesale Dealer
26. Nigel Rattan, Mt. Dora, FL. Occupation: Self-Employed
27. Milton Benjamin Richardson, Palm Bay, FL. Occupation: Engineer
28. Kegan Ritchie, Port Orange, FL. Occupation: Student
29. Alexander Roy, Port St. Lucie, FL. Occupation: Eighth Grade Teacher
30. Kenneth Sinisi, South Daytona, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
31. Andrew Louis Skinner, Windermere, FL. Occupation: Vendor
32. Jay S. Soni, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Sales Representative
33. Frederick Charles Spreng, Windermere, FL. Occupation: Manager
34. Warren Lee Staples, St. Cloud, FL. Occupation: Public Works
35. Winston Alexander Stephens, Shreveport, LA. Occupation: Student, Full Sail University
36. Christopher Stewart, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Truck Loader
37. Ryan Stickle, Sammamish, WA. Occupation: Consultant
38. Samuel Dean Straitiff, Deland, FL. Occupation: Information Technology
39. Stephen Wesley Thomas, Meridian, MS. Occupation: Professional Golfer
40. Bryan Allan Woodward, Gainesville, FL. Occupation: Head Swim Coach, Gator Swim Club

Please check back here tomorrow when I'll post Part 2 -- a report on the meeting with one of the undercover investigators involved in the sting. Or subscribe to this blog by using the "Get email updates" button in the upper left.

 

 

 

The dream is still alive

"Administer justice every morning and deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor" (Jeremiah 21:12).

Today is a national holiday in the US to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I wrote this post a few years ago about how he inspired me in my fight to stop child trafficking.

* * *

Five decades ago, my sisters and I set up a little store in the playroom of our house in New York. When we invited our parents to come and shop (i.e. to spend their money), they were aghast to see the sign we had hung in our store:

"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."

My parents explained to us the meaning of this sign, which we must have seen in a real store, and why it was wrong--that it was racial discrimination designed to keep out blacks. (As Italian-Americans, my parents had their own encounters with injustice and discrimination, particularly my father.)

I had no clue. I went through the 1950s and, I regret to say, the 60s and still had no clue.

What was happening in the south didn't seem to affect me--Little Rock, Birmingham, Memphis, the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. It was all something on the pages of newspapers, but didn't really involve me.

When I was 17, I moved to Washington to attend college during the years when race riots scarred the streets. The events of the day began to get a little closer to home.

A decade later, I moved to Alabama and met people personally affected by injustice. The struggle for justice got closer.

Then I moved to central Florida, where one morning I looked out my window and saw five men cloaked in white sheets protesting outside the Jewish Community Center across the street, claiming the Holocaust was all a myth. Now the struggle for justice was just outside my front door.

Yet another decade later, I was co-writing a book called The Dream Is Alive about the struggle for racial justice within the Christian church. The title, of course, refers to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. While researching information for the book, I read his speech on the internet and listened to scratchy on-line recordings of many of his other speeches--and they powerfully impacted me. Now the struggle was right at the tip of my fingers.

Today, five decades after taking down that sign, I think I'm finally getting it. Injustice has many forms and faces, and they're all ugly. In my travels, I've seen the injustice of child trafficking face to face--girls in cages, boys sold on streets, and more. As I took down that sign 50 years ago, now I'm working to take down a different form of injustice through The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

Dr. King's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds, along with his profound words that documented it, are part of the inspiration that has propelled me.

Here are some of his words from his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." I hope they inspire you the way they inspire me.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed."

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."

"Was not [the biblical prophet] Amos an extremist for justice? 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream' [Amos 5:24] . . . So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?"

--excerpts from "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To read and hear more:

• "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963 (audio clips)
• "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963 (text and audio versions)
• "I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech, April 3, 1968, the night before Dr. King was killed (text and audio versions)
• The King Center

 * * *

A few more great quotes (hat tip @charlestlee):

“A minister cannot preach the glories of heaven while ignoring social conditions in his own community that cause [people] an earthly hell.”

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of a conforming majority but from the creative maladjustment of a transformed minority.”

 

 

13 things I learned about child trafficking from an undercover operation

Wednesday, January 11, is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

In honor of this day (which I hope we soon don't have to commemorate), I want to tell you about my recent experience as part of an undercover operation in a large US city. 

Our focus was Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST). These are minors (under 18) and US citizens.

It was an eye-opening, two-day operation. Here's what I learned, in part from Giselle Rodriguez, state outreach coordinator for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, who trained us, and in part from my own experiences on the street:

1. We were not in the "bad" part of town but in a area popular with tourists and families.

2. We worked with undercover investigators who regularly monitor DMST happening throughout the city.

3. We saw at least one minor being trafficked, right in the open. We knew there were many more we couldn't see.

4. We talked to hotel owners about DMST and watched their varying reactions. Some said they'd seen girls being trafficked and reported it to the police. Others denied ever seeing anything--but their body language and quick, furtive glances told us otherwise. 

5. Girls are controlled by a network of pimps, handlers, and others who are watching her at any given moment from hidden locations. (This is why we were told NOT to try to rescue girls we saw but to get as much information as possible and report to the investigators at our control center.)

6. We must see these girls as victims. They are doing what they do because of force, fraud, and coercion--not because they've made a lifestyle choice.

7. 2,500 children go missing every day--in the US alone. That's 1.6 million a year. Not all of them are trafficked--but they are all at-risk for trafficking.

8. Within 48 hours of running away, a teenager will be approached by traffickers. Most runaways don't bring cash, lunch, or other necessities, so they are easy pickings for traffickers who offer all that and more.

9. Today the average age of a trafficked person is 12 years old. That's the average age, so many are much younger. Traffickers are going after younger and younger children because they are easier to manipulate.

10. One of the common recruiting locations that trafficking recruiters frequent are the halls outside juvenile justice courtrooms.

11. Trafficked children don't call their controllers "pimps" but rather "Daddy" or "Boyfriend." And that's how they really see them. Traffickers work to create a feeling of family because who isn't looking for a family to belong to? Children will ignore the abuse, violence, and control because trauma bonding is so strong. In fact, if you try to rescue a victim of DMST, she will fight you because you have just ruined what she sees as a perfect world.

12. Victims of DMST are trained to lie for their pimps, to take the fall for their "knight in shining armor," and to distrust everyone else (that would be you and me).

13. Once a child is trafficked, her average life expectancy is 7 years.

It is very difficult to rescue a trafficked child--not to mention help them heal. That's why our goal at The Born2Fly Project is to reach kids before the traffickers do. Our goal is to cut off the supply line of kids by educating them ahead of time about the lies that traffickers tell.

My other goal is that some January in the future we will not need a Human Trafficking Awareness Day. My goal is that one day the world will be free of child slavery.

 

 

 

Can I quote you on that?

I took a blogging break in December (you noticed, right?). This post begins my 6th year of blogging!

Here's my annual first post of the year. All year long whenever I need some quick inspiration, I just look at the top of my daily to-do agenda where I keep a list of motivational quotes I gather. Whenever I find a new one, I add it to the list. I post them front and center to inspire me as I work on The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

When the fight seems impossible, I read what Einstein said. Or Edison. Or Zappos.com.

Today I start a brand-new list, so enjoy these now. I hope they motivate you as much as they do me. Most of these come from my fellow Twitterati, so I've included their Twitter names after each quote in case you want to follow them.

Got a fav quote of your own? Leave it as a comment. I've already begun my 2012 list and could use a few good quotes to start the year right.

* * *

"They didn't know it was impossible, so they did it.”—Mark Twain

“Ending human trafficking is not idealistic or naive. It is audacious. And it is people of audacity who change the world.”—Rob Morris (@RobLOVE146)

“Justice, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”—@jujulee89

"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair."—G.K. Chesterton (via @RobLOVE146)

"Endure. In the wilderness, either your issue will die or you will."—Casey Doss (via @theramp)

"When I look at the [pruning] work Nancy did with the roses today, I realize that there is a sense of relief. No need to support the branches that will no longer flower. It was good, but now is a burden."—Jon Swanson (@jnswanson)

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."—Milton Berle (via @gailtiv)

"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline."—Jim Collins, from Good to Great

"The start and finish are easy. It is in the long middle of the race where preparation and commitment matter most."—Doug Picirillo (@doug_picirillo)

"Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."—Conrad Hilton

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?"—Proverbs 24:11-12

"You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea."—Pablo Picasso

"I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done."—Steven Wright (via @PhilCooke)

"The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done."—Arnold Palmer (via @Jenny_Shain)

"Art is what we call...the thing an artist does. It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human. Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist."—Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog)

“Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."—1 Chronicles 28:20

“There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”—Nelson Mandela (via @HopeMore)

“A year from now you will wish you had started today."—Karen Lamb (via @JohnStanko)

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”—Mario Andretti

“We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.”—Queen Victoria (via @BeAuthor)

 

Can an ebook for kids help stop child trafficking?

I hope so! In fact, I'm counting on it.

Each year more than 1 million kids get lured into trafficking all over the world, including in the U.S. Some of them are just 5 years old.

If you read this blog regularly, you know that The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking is smack in the middle of pilot-testing our innovative program to reach kids before the traffickers do.

Now we're hoping to fund expansion of the program through sales of a new ebook for kids:

It's called Born to Fly: The tale of a dream that would not die. And it features the same storyline as in the wordless book that's the centerpiece of The Born2Fly Project.

It's a delightful tale about what it takes to pursue your dream. I like to say it's a novel for children--and adults who can still think like children.

Born to Fly costs just $5.99. What a deal, huh? And proceeds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

Blossom shows kids how to go after their dreams

OK, so I'm biased, but Born to Fly is one of the cutest children's books you'll ever read. Here's a little teaser on the plot:

Blossom is in big trouble. Her grandfather warned her not to go beyond the village gates. After all, no caterpillar in Twig Valley has ever ventured there and returned to tell.

For centuries the caterpillars of Twig Valley have lived with a Dark Cloud over the land. For as long as anyone can remember, no caterpillar has ever become a butterfly. In fact, no one thinks about being anything more than a bug that crawls in the dust of the ground.

Until Blossom...

A companion website, www.borntoflybook.com, has games and activities for kids and a free reading guide/curriculum for teachers and schools.

The storyline is by yours truly with 43 charming illustrations in soft pastel by artist Leah Wiedemer:

 

You don't need an iPad, Kindle, or Nook to read it!

If you don't have an ereader, just download Kindle for PC on your computer (it's free) and you can read Born to Fly (and any ebook).

So click here to order your copy today:

• Amazon (for Kindle)
• iBooks (for iPad or iPhone)
• Barnes and Noble (for Nook)
• Sony (for Ereader)
• And many other readers

And remember, proceeds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

Give a gift for Christmas or Hanukkah

If you know a child who likes to dream big, you can give Born to Fly for Christmas or Hanukkah. Just click the "give a gift" tab on each of the bookstore sites to send a gift ebook.

One more thing...Blossom has her very own Facebook page, so please be her fan, okay? She'll be thrilled. And maybe she'll tell you what in the world she's doing in this picture:

 

18 reasons why Born2Fly is thankful for YOU

It's Thanksgiving weekend in the US and we've got lots to be thankful for at Born2Fly--and you're at the top of our list!

Through your contributions, prayers, reading this blog, and sending lots of encouraging words and comments, here's what you've helped us accomplish in 2011 (and we still have a month to go!):

1. Completed successful test of the B2F anti-trafficking program in Bulgaria this summer with more than 100 at-risk gypsy children.

2. Launched the test phase in Russia at 3 orphanages (continuing through spring 2012).

3. Began testing in Thailand at a safe house near the Myanmar border.

4. Started testing in the Philippines in villages with plans to expand to public schools.

5. Trained parents and teachers in all these locations

6. Translated B2F anti-trafficking curriculum into Spanish, Russian, and one of the largest languages spoken in the the Philippines.

7. Spoke with a translator about a possible Arabic translation of the curriculum.

8. Teamed with an organization to possibly test B2F in India (still looking into this).

9. Networked on Twitter with 200+ local, national, and international anti-trafficking organizations and 2,600 individuals.

10. Posted regular updates on this blog to increase awareness about child trafficking around the world and in the US.

11. Guest-posted or was interviewed on other blogs about child trafficking, particularly regarding the tragic death of the child in the Philippines last month.

12. Continued posting on B2F's cause page on Facebook with nearly 1,000 fans. (If you're not one of them, please like us!)

13. Promoted the prevention work of B2F in many publications and websites including Reject Apathy and others.

14. Profiled in The Dragonfly Effect, new book on using social media to drive social change.

15. Talked with numerous reporters for stories, interviewed on TV and radio, and spoke frequently about the efforts to stop this pandemic.

16. Met regularly with the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking to help stop child trafficking.

17. Spoke at Human Trafficking Awareness Day outdoor rally in downtown Orlando attended by 1,500+ people.

This is all possible because of you!

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for you and all that you've enabled us to accomplish this year at The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. We never could have done it without you.

On behalf of all the children who will never be trafficked because of B2F: Thank you!

* * * 

Yes, I said "18 reasons" and only gave you 17! I've got even more good news. Click here for reason #18....

 

Life in prison for child trafficker--in suburban Washington DC

If you still think child trafficking happens in other countries, here's your wake-up call:

In suburban Washington DC, a man was just sentenced to life in prison for prostituting a 12-year-old girl to clients throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Jose Ciro Juarez-Santamaria, 24, an illegal alien from El Salvador, would take this little girl to locations where customers would be lined up waiting for her. And there's lots more horror that I won't even go into.

Remember, this didn't happen across the globe but across the street And this is by far not an isolated event. He just got caught.

The healing process begins

“With today’s sentence Mr. Juarez-Santamaria will spend the rest of his life behind bars," said Neil MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, "while his child victim will spend the rest of her life working through the pain he inflicted.  

"Through aggressive efforts by the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force, we’re working together to fight this reprehensible form of exploitation," MacBride added.

Hats off to the coalition of law enforcement and non-profit agencies that got the job done--"the aggressive efforts by the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force."

My organization, Born to Fly, is a member of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, and I know firsthand what a powerful combination it is when local law enforcement, non-profits, faith-based organizations, children's agencies, and just plain interested citizens all work together.

You can read the Department of Justice report here: MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex Trafficking a Child.

Child kidnapped, beheaded in village where B2F anti-trafficking program being taught

When I tell you that child trafficking is organized crime, I'm not kidding. Trafficking is very, very lucrative with very few risks. Organized crime has made it the 2nd-highest grossing illegal industry on the planet.

So what happens when you threaten the traffickers' livelihood?

Let's say you want to cut off the supply line of kids...

Let's say you start to teach the Born2Fly anti-trafficking program to kids and parents, and you teach them how to stand up to traffickers...

And let's say you do this in an area where kids are regularly kidnapped and trafficked...

What happens?

This is what happened in a village in the Philippines where our brave partners have been openly teaching the B2F Project anti-trafficking curriculum to children and their parents.

First, our Philippines director was attacked by a trafficker who broke one of her ribs. (He was arrested.)

Then this happened, as reported by the Philippines director:

"One of the children who we have worked with for over a year was kidnapped this week and later returned with all his organs gone and head cut off.

"His mother is obviously traumatized and is uncertain where to go from here and to be honest I just don’t have answers for her. My heart is breaking and I feel angry all in one breath.

"We have had so many children taken from our village in the last couple of months that our team is in shock and the government is searching for answers and help.

"Our course is set to expand whether we are ready or not. Prevention is what we are aiming for."

I am outraged and shocked by the murder of this child and I condemn it in the harshest possible terms. This was a warning shot from the traffickers. No traffickers bother to return a body; they did it as a warning to the team to stop interfering with their livelihood.

Did it work? Has the team pulled back?

Here's what the Philippines director emailed me a week after this child was murdered:

"After many setbacks physical and emotional, being run off the road and vandalism, we are still standing and focused probably more than even before. Our team members are more determined than even before to protect these children and youth especially.

"Two weeks ago I was involved in a [trafficking] intervention, which saved several young girls and was an exceptionally rewarding experience.

"Our most recent test of Born2Fly is going great. The kids are loving it and the teachers and parents numbers are increasing too. Thank you, blessings and strength to you as you spearhead this movement. We are with you all the way."

What an absolute honor to partner with brave warriors such as this director and her team who are standing up to the despicable actions of these traffickers.

Please keep this team in your prayers as they continue to fight on the front lines. They are my heroes.

Daughters who work so their fathers don't have to

This weekend I went to the Orlando screening of Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, a new documentary produced by Exodus Cry about human trafficking and the sex industry.

 

The producers filmed in 19 countries in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The film includes dozens of riveting interviews with trafficking victims and those who help them--and those who buy and sell them. It weaves a picture of the complex cultural, economic, social, religious, and political factors that can influence trafficking.

I've seen a lot of films and documentaries about trafficking, but I always learn something new. For example, I had no idea that 10% of the current population of Moldova has been trafficked. That's a shocking statistic.

Or that in some parts of Asia when a girl is born it's actually cause for rejoicing (unlike in other parts of Asia where boys are more valued than girls) -- because parents know their daughter will generate a steady supply of income when she's old enough to be trafficked. 

"Old enough" means about 4 years old, by the way.

There are a lot of graphic images in Nefarious, but to me the most horrendous was a group of fathers in Cambodia playing cards and drinking--which they do all day, every day--all funded by selling their young daughters to sex tourists.

The fathers don't need to work because their daughters do. 

I'm all about getting angry over the issue of human trafficking, and Nefarious will make you angry. I strongly encourage you to see it. The Incurable Fanatics* screening tour dates and cities are here.

 

* "If to be feelingly alive to the suffering of my fellow creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large." -- William Wilberforce, 19th-century British politician and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade.

 

 

 

Look what I found in my inbox (and no, it's not spam)

ПРОГРАММА И ПОСОБИЕ ДЛЯ ПРЕПОДОВАТЕЛЯ

Проект «Рожден летать»
- остановим торговлю детьми

Диана Скимон, Карен Армистед, Джорджия Ана Ларсон

Can you guess what it is? It's the cover of the Russian translation of the Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum--our very 1st translation!

In case your Russian is a little rusty, it says:

CURRICULUM AND LEADER'S GUIDE

The Born to Fly Project
to stop child trafficking

By Diana Scimone, Karen Armistead, and Georgia Ana Larson

Pretty exciting, huh? This week Russia joins our test phase as we begin testing B2F at 3 orphanages there (more details here). 

Orphans everywhere are extremely high-risk for trafficking, particularly when they age-out of the system. Once they reach 18, they're on their own--and traffickers are all too willing to befriend them.

Remember, you can sell a bag of drugs once but you can sell a child over and over again. That's why organized crime is so involved in child trafficking.

Here's what the Russian director of the group we're partnering with told me:

"It's a relational luring. These kids are easy prey because they're not educated well and [when they leave the orphanage] they're looking for ways to live independently.

"Criminal groups exist in Russia [that are involved in human trafficking] and orphans are extremely high risk.

"Kids with families have a support group that will say, 'Who is this person who's befriended you? Let's check him out. Did you ask him this or that?' Orphans don't have anyone to stand up for them or protect them or even be interested in what's going on."

The team that's test-teaching B2F in Russia is serving as that support group for these older orphans. They'll train them in the B2F program so that they can go back to the orphanages and teach B2F to the younger kids.

That's the model we've built into the B2F curriculum: Trusted adults teach B2F to "junior teachers," who in turn help teach the younger kids. That way the junior teachers learn the material and also learn a skill (teaching).

Our goal is to compile all the feedback from the tests in Russia, Bulgaria (complete), Thailand and the Philippines (going on now). We'll tweak the curriculum and by early next year begin printing and distributing it all over the world along with the companion wordless book.

Thanks for sticking with us through the process and helping us reach kids before the traffickers do.

 

 

 

Blossom is in the Philippines (who knew?)

I think I should get Blossom a frequent flyer account. All summer she's been in Bulgaria and Thailand, this month she heads to Russia, and surprise, surprise, she's also been in the Philippines.

Blossom is the main character in the Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum and wordless book. We've been testing the materials all over the world to teach kids about the lies traffickers tell and how to stand up to them.

Last spring an NGO in the Philippines emailed me to ask if they could be one of the test places.

Their local school district had already given them permission to teach anti-trafficking in the schools and they were about to write their own curriculum when they found out about ours.

Could they use it? Of course!

We had a few emails back and forth, and then I never heard from them. (This often happens with emails lost in cyberspace, as you know.)

So imagine my delight to receive an email from them this week that the tests have already begun!

Here's what the director wrote:

We have finished the first trial in the Philippines. [It was a small group setting] and allowed us a platform to trial it, along with getting familiar with the program and also train our staff.

Our next trial begins the last week of September and will be right here in our village with children who are 10-12 years of age. The following trial will be in November in a tribal village where the Datu or chief will be assisting us.

We have taken these trials very seriously and debriefed after every session. We want to give you a picture of how it will work in a variety of settings, with a variety of languages.

In addition to that I am almost finished the massive task of registering the program with the government department, which will certainly make the job easier for anyone else wanting to run the program in schools.

Really wonderful, isn't it? I'll let you know how it goes.

We're so grateful to all the people helping with these tests for the time and effort they're putting in to them. Their input will help thousands of others who use the materials after them--and countless children will never be trafficked as a result.

 

 

Bulgaria finished...on to Thailand!

So much good news to tell you! I've waited 5 years to have information like this to share with you!

We finished our 1st test of the B2F anti-trafficking materials in Bulgaria among gypsies and orphan children of various ages--and the 2nd test is well underway in Thailand at a safe house for very young children.

The reports are all great!

 
Remember, our goal in this phase is to test the 6-session wordless book (above) and 70-page companion curriculum with kids of all ages to find holes or anything we need to change. Once we get feedback from children and students, we'll make changes and begin printing.

Here's what the kids and teachers have told us:

Bulgaria

From the director: "Last week we finished testing your book and curriculum, and everyone is so impressed with it. Valeria kept their attention well; these children were orphans, ages 6-18. She taught three different classes. Here is a picture of those in attendance last week:

"We are all a part of Born2Fly now. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of this process."

From the teacher: This skilled teacher took the story about Blossom [main character in the book], her life and her friends and ran with it! She found so many areas to expand on the lessons we taught in the curriculum and customized it for the specific situations that her children face--exactly what we wanted to happen.

This teacher, who is Bulgarian, even offered to help us expand the lessons if we want to add to the curriculum. She also offered to help us condense the material to a shorter format since she did not have 6 sessions with the kids. We're thrilled by her offer, of course!

From the director just today: "We used Born2Fly again this week as we hosted a new group of orphans from the northwestern part of Bulgaria. A sponsor brought them up here for a week at the Black Sea. They heard the lessons and did not want to leave here.  So Born2Fly continues to 'blossom' in Bulgaria."

 Thailand

We're testing at one of the safe houses that I visited when I was researching the B2F Project, so it's very exciting to know that the kids I met are now reading about Blossom. This is the home where one of the little boys spoke of the van that goes around the neighborhood taking children.

Here's what the teacher emailed me:

First report: "We did our first lesson last night. The kids enjoyed making up their own names for the characters. I'm telling the story in English. We had 3 kids who seemed to turn their attention elsewhere and I'm thinking it may be the language so, I thought I'd try it again with just those 3 in Thai.  

"They were all very interested in the story. So far so good. Thanks again for giving us a chance to participate in this. I really appreciate it."

Second report: "We just completed the second part of the first lesson. When I got to the part where Blossom put the note on the door, I thought the kids were going to rip the book right out of my hands to find out what happens next. They were so interested.

"I spoke in Thai this time and all eyes were fixed on the pictures. I think using their mother tongue really helped the kids who weren't paying attention the first time.

"[Kim] asked me if she could have a copy of the book when I was finished teaching it to them. Some kids have books they like to read over and over again. I think this is one of them. It's safe to say it's going well so far."

* * *

Thank you for making all these wonderful reports possible through your encouragement, prayers, and financial support. You really are helping us reach kids before the traffickers do.

 

 

First feedback from B2F testing in Bulgaria (and it's fantastic!)

We've gotten the first feedback from Bulgaria from our beta test of the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking--and it's fantastic!

Below is what the teacher wrote us. (She's Bulgarian, and her English is a lot better than my Bulgarian.)

You can imagine how thrilled I am to get this glowing report after 5 years of work on this project. Enjoy it as you read it and see the pictures of these kids, knowing that many of them will be saved from being trafficked because of Born2Fly. Thank you for making this all possible.

* * *

From the teacher:

"I taught three lessons on the Born2fly book between 07.18.11 – 07.21.11 in children camp “Heaven."

"I emphasized on the basic idea – to protect the children from child trafficking but at the same time I tried to help the children to start thinking about:

• What is choice? How our mistakes can hurt the others and what is the price we pay when we do a mistake?
• How can we ask for wisdom when we have to make a decision?
• Why sometimes the fruits of our mistakes are so bitter? (Example: cutting down the moon trees and the decision Blossom made to leave the village when she wasn’t prepared yet)
• Why do we have to take our time when we have to make an important decision? What do we gain when we sacrifice from our time on it?
• How to recognize your real friends? What do our real friends do when we are in trouble? (support us, help us, let us know they are there for us)
• What is a dream? Why do the dream thieves are trying to take our dreams and future?
• Why do we have to be patient and work hard for our dreams?
• Why waiting is so hard?
• What does the school give us? – knowledge, preparation, skills. It’s more difficult for someone to trick you if you have all that. The school teaches us how to live a safe life.

 "The second lesson I taught was with older campers. We talked about:

• The value system of a young person and what are their goals in life.
• We talked about the dream thieves – how they may look (good, attractive), what may they offer us (money, easy life, etc.), what they may want in return; why they want to steal our dreams (future)?
• We discuss that a dream thief may an idol  in our life like – expensive things, modern technologies, even close friends whom we trust too much, different addictions, etc.
• The common thing about all of the above is their purpose – to steal our dream, our future, our life. That’s why the tree in the prison where Blossom is kept is ugly and dead.
• We talked about the good friends we have – people who want to give, not to receive. The children were making very smart comments.

"At the end I gave them paper where they were able to write down their dreams. The children think positively and dream beautiful dreams.
 
"I think that the message of the book worked well and provoked them to be more careful for the dangers in their lives and to know what has real worth. It’s another stage in our prevention work against the evil in this world."

 
 

Blossom is heading to Russia

Blossom is the main character in the Born2Fly wordless book and curriculum--and this fall she's heading to Russia. It's all part of a program to reach kids before the traffickers do.

In this case, Russian orphans. 

We're partnering with a non-profit organization that offered to translate the B2F trafficking-awareness curriculum into Russian and then teach it to teens at 3 different centers for orphans who have "aged out" of the system.

Orphans all over the world are extremely at risk for child trafficking. Traffickers actually wait outside orphanages and watch for kids they'll target.

In Russia as in many places around the world, when orphans reach 18 years old, they have to leave the orphanage. Most don't have any skills that can help them hold down a job, or even know how to look for one.

It doesn't take long before the traffickers introduce themselves to the kids. They offer them the moon, and with no other options in sight, the kids take it. Only to find themselves enslaved.

Training kids to stand up to the traffickers

Two different groups of kids will go through the B2F anti-trafficking program:

1.  Orphans who are 17-21 years old and recently left the orphanages--a high-risk population

2.  Younger teen-aged orphans who are still residing in orphanages

Several full-time orphan-interns will help teach the program. This is exactly the way we've set up the B2F Project--adults train teens, who in turn serve as mentors to younger kids going through the program.

The program begins this fall. Watch this space for details and photos.

 

 

orphans who are aged 17-21 who have recently left the orphanages – high risk population, and (2) younger teen-aged orphans who are still residing in orphanages. 

Reaching at-risk kids in Bulgaria

Yesterday was Independence Day in the US…and also hopefully the start of independence for a group of orphans and other at-risk kids in Bulgaria who will never be lured into child trafficking because of a summer camp they started on July 4. 

Part of their daily activities? Swimming, crafts, and oh yeah, learning how to stand up to traffickers--via The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

About 140-200 kids come to this 6-week summer camp near the Black Sea. The kids are 7-15 years old. 

"The Born2Fly wordless book and curriculum will be so helpful for our children at summer camp and in all the surrounding villages and towns," the director of the organization we're partnering with in Bulgaria told me. 

The Black Sea is a prime tourist area in eastern Europe and “we know there’s so much damage and abuse here," she added. "Your books will be a big help to us.”

 
In most of the world, human trafficking is the #2 highest-grossing illegal industry (after illegal drugs).  But in eastern Europe—including Bulgaria—it’s #1. Kids, particularly orphans, are regularly lured into child trafficking from which there is almost no escape.

So this is a very strategic place to test the B2F anti-trafficking materials.

I’ll share more information and hopefully pictures as soon as we get them.

Meanwhile if you'd like to donate to Born2Fly to help us continue our critical work of reaching kids before the traffickers do, just click here.

Thank you for the great response!

Mega thanks to everyone who left comments on "A plea for help from fellow abolitionists."  Julie Taylor Shematz, founder of Beauty From Ashes, and I really appreciate all the great insight.

At Born2Fly, we're still looking into places in the US where we can test the B2F Project to stop child trafficking.

Meanwhile here's what Julie came up with for her program:

Last week we appealed to our fans, partners and fellow abolitionists to help us come up with a creative way to speak about human trafficking to children ages 3-11 for a local church's Vacation Bible School (VBS) program.

The huge challenge was to not use words like "human trafficking," "sex," "abuse," "victim," "rape," "prostitution," "stripping," etc.  Our objective was to come up with blurbs to be read every day for VBS's 'Ministry Minute'.

The church is having Beauty From Ashes (BFA) be their support ministry for VBS and wants to tell the children everyday about us, what we're doing, why, and ultimately educate the children to prevent them from becoming victims of human sex trafficking. 

The response was awesome and we thank everyone that contributed. We want to especially thank Sanibel (Florida) Community Church for boldly going, to our knowledge, where no other children's program has ever gone before. 

With the the numbers of domestic minors being forced or lured into human sex trafficking an alarming 100,000-300,000 a year and the average age of entry into prostitution being 11-14, they recognized the need to implement preventative educational measures and we applaud them for doing such! 

To read the five days of 'Ministry Minutes' for VBS, click here.

If you have additional ideas on how anti-trafficking organizations can teach awareness to very young children, we'd love to hear from you. Just leave a comment below.

 

A plea for help from fellow abolitionists

I just got off the phone with my fellow red-headed abolitionist Julie Taylor Shematz, who is head of Beauty From Ashes. When Julie talks about child trafficking, I listen -- because she was trafficked herself.

Today she heads a strategic outreach and counseling program for women and girls all over the country who are trying to break free from the shackles of trafficking.

So here's the challenge that Julie and I discussed...

...and where we need your help:

• Julie was asked to talk to a group of children next month about child trafficking, but the program directors don't want her to mention sex trafficking. Some of the girls are as young as 3, but others are as old as 11.

• Julie met with a group of high school kids who put together a riveting drama about human trafficking--but most high schools won't let them present it because of the topic.

• Meanwhile I can't find a school or community center in the US that will test the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. Schools all over the world are begging for it--but no takers in the US. I suspect it's because (1) they don't think there's a child trafficking problem here and/or (2) they don't want to deal with "offensive" subjects.

Okaaaaay.

So it's okay for kids to watch borderline pornographic dancing on network TV, listen to R-rated music and more...but it's not okay to warn them about sex traffickers recruiting them right now in their middle schools and malls? 

We have a national crisis in the US. The average age of kids entering prostitution in the US is between 11 and 14. That's the average age. Each year 100,000 minors are trafficked in the US--in your towns and ours.

We know that awareness leads to prevention, intervention, and restoration.

So Julie and I decided to throw this open to you.

"We need strategic and creative ideas," Julie explains. "This is a problem that we as abolitionists, especially educators, are facing. We all recognize the need to deliver this message to children and teens, but how do we do this other than the Internet? And how do we do it without sensationalizing or sanitizing it?"

Would you give us your ideas?

1. How can Julie talk to young kids about trafficking without mentioning sex?

2. What should that high school drama group do?

3. How can Born2Fly find schools and groups in the US to test our awareness program?

Tell us what you've done. Share your ideas with us. Or just vent if you want. Let us know in a comment below or here. And thanks.

 

BraveGirl: Standing up to con-artists of the child sex industry

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times:

Most kids get lured into child trafficking because they don't know the lies that traffickers tell. If we educate kids ahead of time, we'll help shut off the supply pipeline.

That's the goal of BraveGirl, a short about-to-be-produced film exploring con-artists of the sex industry in India through the lens of a young Nepali girl named Bumika.

When a man shows up in Bumika's village in Nepal offering to take her to Kathmandu where there is work, her parents give her permission to go. The journey from Bumika's simple home life in a Himalayan mountain village quickly leads not to the capital of Nepal but to the chaos of urban India. She sadly discovers the rules of this world are different than her own--and that she is a pawn in a much greater game.

You may remember my blog post about the photo that changed my life. I took the photo in Mumbai, India, the exact moment I first learned about child trafficking--when my contact showed me cages that hold 5-year-old girls smuggled across the border from Nepal to India.

Girls like Bumika.

The producers of BraveGirl are in the final weeks of raising the funds to make this important film. "This is about the issue of female human trafficking across the Nepal-India border," explains the film's producer, Stephanie Bousley. "We're working with a local Nepali production crew and are currently trying to raise production funds for the project."

The group is trying to raise $30,000 USD and is a little over 60% of the way there. The campaign ends on May 19 at 8:00 am EST (US). "So we have only have a few weeks left to raise the rest of the money or we won't be funded at all," adds Stephanie.

I've donated and you can too by clicking here. You don't need to donate a lot; the starting donation is just $10, and as I know from the Born2Fly Twitterthons, when a lot of people donate a small amount, we can reach seemingly unreachable goals.

You can read more about BraveGirl here:

www.bravegirlmovie.com
www.facebook.com/BraveGirlMovie
Twitter: @BraveGirlMovie

 

 

"Sometimes we must interfere."

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. May we never forget.

Here are the words of survivor Elie Wiesel at his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1986. As you read them, think how they apply to the attrocity of child trafficking. I don't know if the boy he is talking about is himself or another child, but it doesn't matter. Weisel's words are as provoking and moving in 2011 as they were in 1986.

"[The boy] asked his father: 'Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?'

"And now the boy is turning to me. 'Tell me,' he asks, 'what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?' And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.

"And then I explain to him how naïve we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

"Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must--at that moment--become the center of the universe...

"What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs...

"Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately."

Sometimes we must interfere. Child trafficking is a very good place to do that.