It's been a great week for The Born2Fly Project! We completed 2 milestones on the road to publishing our picture book to help stop child trafficking.
Early in the week, artist Leah Wiedemer finished the last illustration for the book. You can read about that here and see some photos of the day.
On Wednesday, Leah and I worked with the great staff at Eurografix, who took digital images of the illustrations.
Here's photographer Marnie Burkett setting up for the photo shoot:
It took a while to photograph the first illustration, of course, as Marnie made sure the lighting and settings were right.
Once we were all happy with it, the 3 of us went into action. First, Leah handed Marnie an illustration...
which Marnie carefully tacked up on the wall. Leah used soft pastels, which are very fragile; we joked about dropping one of the illustrations and watching all the chalk fall off. Thankfully that didn't happen.
As soon as Marnie shot one illustration, she gingerly removed it from its perch on the wall, handed it to me to put back into the box, and took the next one from Leah's waiting hands. It took about 2 hours to shoot all 75 illustrations.
The next day, Marnie popped the memory card into her computer and color-corrected every illustration, making sure it was as close to the original as possible.
Late this afternoon I picked up a DVD with all the illustrations and gave it to graphic designer Cathleen Kwas, who'll now turn everything into a book.
I'll have more photos for you next week as we continue to document the process of producing this book that will keep many, many kids from being lured into child sex slavery.
Our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do, so we want to print truckloads of these books and the companion curriculum to teach kids about the lies that traffickers use. The more funds we have, the more books we can print.
You can donate by clicking the orange Chip-in button at the top right or here and donate safely by credit card or PayPal. All funds go to The Born2Fly Project to help stop child trafficking. Thank you for partnering with us to make this happen.
* * *
Donations are still coming in from the 09-09-09 fundraiser for The Born2Fly Project--thanks, everyone! Here are the latest totals:
Total donors: 595
Donations via Chip-in: $12,396.46
Donations via check: 3,457.99
TOTAL: $15,854.45 (as of 10/3)
How to donate: Click the orange Chip-in button at the top right or here and donate safely by credit card or PayPal. All funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.
This is great! Wow, what a creative way to combat child trafficking and sexual exploitation. I sincerely appreciate seeing journalists use their gifts for the good of others!
After taking a closer look at your work, it is evident that you are passionate about seeing modern-day slavery come to an end. My colleagues and I at International Justice Mission are as well.
To this cause, I'd like to invite you to take a look at www.AttheEndofSlavery.com and view the film’s 2-minute trailer, narrated by Danny Glover and produced by International Justice Mission.
After learning more about the documentary, it is IJM's hope that you will decide to play an integral part in participating in the "At the End of Slavery" blog tour. You can take part by writing a short post about the film and linking to www.AttheEndofSlavery.com between October 26 – October 30, 2009. On the same day you post, we will link back to your site on the News/Updates section of the film's site, and reference it as a place to go to learn more about modern-day slavery - particularly human trafficking.
Our hope is that "At the End of Slavery" would help catalyze the broader movement to end modern-day slavery worldwide, and we would greatly value your involvement as we take on this exciting endeavor.
Please reply to kskulborstad@ijm.org or keszqd@mail.mizzou.edu before Monday, October 19 to let us know whether or not you would like to take part in the "At the End of Slavery" blog tour.
Also, if you or someone you know are interested in hosting a watch party on November 14, 2009 – "The Weekend to End Slavery" – please feel free to learn more and sign up on the Web site.
Thank you for considering partnering with us, and for the heart-felt work you've been doing to combat modern-day slavery. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Gratefully,
Kyrsten Skulborstad
Communications Department
International Justice Mission
"A film alone cannot end slavery, but all of us together – we can." – International Justice Mission
Posted by: Kyrsten Skulborstad | October 12, 2009 at 05:49 PM