Diana Scimone

Day 12: Taking a Slice Out of Child Trafficking

We're announcing a prize a day for 31 days (not counting weekends--ya gotta give me a little break).

We'll give them all away on 09-09-09 during our 1-day fundraiser for The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

The prize-du-jour is a set of 3 uber-cool slice products for home and office. What makes them so sharp? All the cutting surfaces are high-tech ceramic. 

Ceramic is the most durable substance on earth after diamonds. Unlike stainless, these ceramic blades won't dull, rust, pit, or get discolored.

Plus they'll look pretty cool in your kitchen or office. Karim Rashid designed the slice Y-Peeler (right) and slice Precision Cutter (left) with fun kiwi-green lightweight and ergonomic handles. 

Karim's products hang out in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, so your kitchen and office will be in very nice company.

Also included in this prize is a handy slice Safety Cutter (below). It's got a ceramic blade, too. I keep one in my kitchen and another in my office, and they're put to good use all week long. 

Our thanks go to Slice, a great company that donates a portion of its profits to autism research. The cutting-edge prize package they've provided is worth $28, and it could be yours. 

Everyone who donates to the 09-09-09 fundraiser (either on September 9 or before) is eligible to win.  

Remember, our goal is 9,000 people each giving $9 on 09-09-09. All funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking and will help us print and distribute these strategic materials to at-risk kid and parents all over the world. 

* * * 

Here's the answer to yesterday's question:

Q: A reporter leaves his office in New York and flies to Haiti. How long does it take before 3 different people offer to sell him a 10-year-old child?

A: 10 hours from the time he left his office in NY. It happened to ABC Nightline reporter Dan Harris, who was working on a story about child slavery. You can read what happened here.

Today's question is:

Q: A young girl named Rosa testified before Congress about how she was smuggled into the US. What country was she from, and what US city did she end up in?

Watch this space on Monday for the answer--along with another prize in the 31-day countdown to the 09-09-09 fundraiser to stop child trafficking.

One Person: Drink Some Tea, Help Us Out

Actually that headline should read, "Help us out and you can drink some tea." Some wonderfully exotic and absolutely free tea.

Remember I promised to post stories about how one person can make a difference? Meet George Constance, CEO of Indonique Tea and Chai. 

Indonique gives a portion of their proceeds to organizations around the world that help children.

When George found out what Born to Fly is doing to stop child trafficking, he offered to send some of Indonique's wonderful imported teas to B2F donors.

So the first person who reads this and donates $20 gets a box of Indonique's lovely Assam Breakfast tea.

And the first one to donate $100 gets a box of fragrant Makaibari Estate Darjeeling Green tea.

So have a cuppa and help stop child trafficking at the same time. Just go to www.born2fly.org and click on the donate page. 

First $20 and $100 donors get the prizes! (Thanks, George!)

No Children Were Trafficked in the Making of This Fundraiser

So I'm standing in the grocery store staring at the chocolate and battling guilt. No, no, not that kind of guilt. I never think twice about eating chocolate, but suddenly I'm reading all these reports about how most of the world's chocolate is harvested by...kids.

Slave labor.  Child slaves. 

Gulp.

OK, so here I am head of an organization working to stop child trafficking.  And here we are planning a fundraiser this weekend that involves an awful lot of food with chocolate as the main ingredient. 

"Fair-trade" chocolate--which is not made by child slaves--is more expensive and hard to find.

What to do?  I searched around the aisles and found 4 measly packages of fair-trade chocolate chips in the organic food section. They were almost 3 times the price of that famous brand, and I had no idea what they tasted like.

So I'm staring at them and having a conversation with myself. How can I host a fundraiser to stop child trafficking if I'm serving chocolate made by child slaves?  Can't do that. But how can I pay $22 for 4 bags of chips?

I bought them. And I have to say it was $22 well spent. I just hope the chocolate peppermint bark tastes good. And the chocolate almond cookies. And the chocolate brownies. 

And that we raise a lot of money to help kids so they can spend their lives enjoying chocolate instead of harvesting it.  

Meanwhile, here and here are stores and restaurants that sell fair-trade food products not made by kids (including Publix, where I found Sunspire chocolate chips). To learn more, Google "child labor chocolate." Or go to YouTube where there are 40 videos on the topic.

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