Today was a big day for Born to Fly International. Artist Leah Wiedemer finished the final drawing for the wordless picture book that is the centerpiece of The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. Can you hear us celebrating?
Now, you may ask, "How in the world can a wordless book keep kids from getting trafficked?"
Good question.
Most kids are lured into sex slavery because they don’t know the deceptive tactics of traffickers. Wherever awareness training takes place, the rate of trafficking plummets. There’s just not enough, nor is it available in the languages of most at-risk kids.
The B2F Project is a strategic plan to educate kids, parents, and teachers about the dangers of child trafficking—with the ultimate goal of ending it. Our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do--and we'll do it with a wordless book.
Why wordless? So we don't have to translate it into a million languages.
Leah did a brilliant job of taking my storyline and retelling it completely in pictures--no words. All in all, she did 75 pages, each with 4, 5, or even 6 individual illustrations.
I have to tell you I had tears in my eyes as I looked at the last illustration. I've worked on this project for 4 long years, including 2 trips to Thailand to research it.
Tomorrow Leah and I have digital images taken of all 75 illustrations. Then the baton passes from Leah to designer Cathleen Kwas, who'll take all those images and turn them into a book. (OK, so we didn't have a baton, but we used one of Leah's paintbrushes.)
By November, we'll be ready to print. How many books will we print? Right now we have funds to print about 400. That's not nearly enough. We want to blanket the globe with these strategic books and the companion curriculum. Remember, our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do. That means printing a lot of books (at least 100,000).
If you'd like to partner with us to do that, just click the orange Chip-in button at the top right or here, and donate safely by credit card or PayPal. Born to Fly International is a 501c3 non-profit organization and your contribution is tax deductible.
Watch this space for more photos as The Born2Fly Project prepares to take flight.
Diana, Leah and Cathleen: I can't find words to express my appreciation for what you are doing. You're absolutely amazing ladies! May God continue to direct your steps towards the marvelous goal that He is enabling you to reach for Him. Thank you!!!
Posted by: Charles Berdet | September 30, 2009 at 08:44 PM
Congratulations you guys! I'm sure heaven is rejoicing with you!
Posted by: cindy | September 30, 2009 at 10:44 AM
FANTASTIC!!!
Great job ladies.
Judy B
Posted by: Judy Braland | September 29, 2009 at 10:21 PM