A few months ago I spoke to the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking about The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.
After I finished, Zulma Velez-Estrada came up to me practically in tears and said she wanted to help.
Honestly, the help we need involves funding, and within a week Zulma called me back with a plan. She and artist Berto Henriquez offered to host a silent auction of Berto's beautiful architectural photographs of old San Juan, Puerto Rico--all to raise money for The Born2Fly Project.
Berto and the tireless Zoom-Zoom-Zulma (as we lovingly call her) have put together a great event. If you're in Orlando next week, I hope you'll join us:
24 Moments in Old San Juan
Silent auction and exhibit of 24 photographs by artist Berto Henriquez
To benefit The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking
Thursday, August 19, 2010 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Offices of La Prensa Newspaper 685 S. Ronald Reagan Blvd. Longwood, Florida 32750 (suburb of Orlando) map
50% of sale of each framed photograph will be donated to
This video of Craig squirming silently in the face Amber Lyon's questions--and then finally walking away--is priceless. And it says more than any words could say:
Not surprisingly, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster also denies any connection:
UPDATE #1: Took only 30 minutes after I posted this to get a Twitter response from @craignewmark himself: "Folks, get honest, help stop traffickers!" with a link to Jim Buckmaster's article above.
Uhh, gee, Craig, I think that's what we're trying to do.
UPDATE #2: Another tweet from Craig Newmark to me: "Folks, please check facts & honestly help children!"
Uhh, you mean like you're doing? Help them by selling them on your site?
People think they have to travel overseas to a 3rd-world country and raid a brothel to rescue kids.
You can if you want, but really -- just look in your own community. Kids are waiting to be rescued around the corner from your house.
In my city of Orlando, Florida, for example, our unfunded human trafficking task force, the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), just had its first successful domestic trafficking prosecution using Florida Human Trafficking State Law.
It involves a young woman and her 5-month-old child--both of whom were rescued. I've posted the details below if you want to read them and be inspired.
So what can YOU do to stop child trafficking?
Google the name of your city and "human trafficking" to see if you have an anti-trafficking coalition, like the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking that helped with the recent rescue, arrest, prosecution in Orlando.
If you find one, get involved. If you don't find one, start one.
It doesn't take experts.
"A lot of people sell themselves short," stresses Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director of the US State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking. "They say, 'I'm not the attorney general, so I can't put together a task force in my state.' You can do a lot more than you think."
Read the case below...be inspired...and then go help rescue someone.
You can do it.
Really.
* * *
Lori's Story
Here are the highlights of the case involving an underage woman and her 5-month-old child. Remember, the rescue and prosecution were done with the help of a city-wide task force that included not just police officers but individuals like you and me who chose to get involved.
This case involves a college-educated young woman we'll call Lori and her child.
Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation and the Osceola County Investigative Bureau conducted a joint prostitution/escort detail in Orlando. They called out an escort advertising on either Craigslist or Backpage and made a prostitution case on Lori.
During the interview with law enforcement, Lori told them she'd borrowed some money from a man (we'll call him Greg) to help her fix her car. She was slowly paying him back when she got arrested for shoplifting. She called Greg to help bond her out and he did -- but he said she had to work for him to pay him back.
Greg already had a juvenile whom he had been prostituting. Now he posted Lori on the internet and sent her to prostitution calls.
To make sure Lori would comply, Greg and his "colleagues" made her drop off her 5-month-old child to them as collateral while she went on prostitution calls.
At the end of the day, she had to bring the money to them and they would return her child to her.
Lori felt she had no choice but to comply with Greg and the other men.
Once she told law enforcement officers her story and showed them text messages confirming it, they set up a team at the hotel where the suspects were staying. The men noticed something was wrong and told Lori not to come, but she convinced them to meet at a Walmart parking lot to exchange the money for the child.
Agents set up in the parking lot, arrested the suspects, and rescued Lori's child.
Lori, who was a victim of force, fraud, and coercion (the signs of human trafficking), was not arrested.
Greg and the other men were charged with sex trafficking. One of them was a juvenile himself and made a plea deal for lesser charges.
A jury found Greg guilty of sex trafficking. Lori chose to speak at sentencing. The state prosecutor asked for least 5 to 8 years time for the crime, but the judge was so moved by Lori's testimony that he sentenced Greg to 12 years.
Last week I was in Washington DC where I met with a number of people about child trafficking and what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop it.
Here are some quick quotes from some of them:
"The whole issue of human trafficking is not taken seriously by governments. They ratify the treaties but don't follow through and do anything. The US is the only country with an ambassador heading their anti-trafficking office. More countries need to do that."
"Many countries have a very 1880s view of what human trafficking is. For them it simply means 'moving prostitutes across borders.' The US and UK focus on the exploitation nature of human trafficking. You can't just relegate women to be prostitutes. These women are exploited."
-- Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director, Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking, US State Department
"Corporations must recognize there is a real vulnerability if they don't recognize these issues. They can be trailblazers on these issues."
-- Mark Lagon, former ambassador-at-large with the Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking, US State Department; now consultant to corporations
"The exemplar of this is Avon [and their foundation to stop domestic and gender violence]. We must build a message that philanthropic goals are going to shape a corporation's name, brand, and profits. It's doing well by doing good."
-- Paula Stern, former chairwoman of the International Trade Commission
I also met with Amy O'Neill Richard at the State Department, one of the authors of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report; Julie Stricker at the State Department, who works with international programs fighting human trafficking; and Dr. Laura Lederer, former head of the Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking and now director of Global Centurion, which works to stop the demand side of trafficking.
Laura invited Born to Fly to join Triple S Network (Stop Sex Slavery), a coalition of 100 anti-trafficking organizations. (We accepted, of course!)
I've had some follow-up conversations with Baroness Goudie, and she'll be guest-posting on this blog (and graciously invited me to write for hers).
"We must keep writing articles and blogging about human trafficking," she stressed. "That is the place to make changes."
Amen. Thank you for reading this blog and wanting to make changes.
I'm sitting on a chair I bought on Craigslist. I even bought a Christmas tree one year from this popular site.
You can buy anything on Craigslist. Even a person. Even a child. In fact Craigslist is one of the top sponsors--and benefactors of--human trafficking.
This video by the Rebecca Project describes how young girls are lured into prostitution and how Craigslist has become the primary marketplace for trafficking.
I've written about this in the past (here, here, here, and here) and have stopped patronizing Craigslist. The company claims to monitor the site, but anyone can easily find children (and adults) to abuse.
"It's just like Ebay--only it's a human being."
I hope you're as outraged as I am by Craigslist's continued refusal to do anything to stop their flagrant trafficking of women and children. Later this week a massive coalition of 75 anti-trafficking organizations and other groups will protest in front of Craigslist headquarter in San Francisco:
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Craigslist headquarters
1381 9th Avenue (Between Judah and Irving Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94122
12:00 – 2:00 PM
“Craigslist continues to cynically profit by functioning as an online
pimp,” says Norma Ramos, executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, one of the organizers of the event.
“Craigslist is the
new stroll where pimps traffic, johns buy, and Craigslist profits,” adds Melissa Farley, executive director, Prostitution Research and Education.
Massive money-maker for Craigslist
According to statements released by organizers of this week's protest:
Craigslist is projected to realize a 22% increase in revenue--an estimated $36 million in 2010--largely because it functions as a virtual red light district for pimps/traffickers and johns.
Craigslist displays a reckless disregard for human rights by increasingly becoming a part of the sex industry.
Craigslist could act to create a sex trafficking free internet by no longer hosting prostitution ads and thereby setting an industry standard.
What you can do about it
Here's what the Rebecca Project recommends:
1. Read the Dear Craig letter from two survivors who were trafficked on Craigslist.
2. Place a free ad on Craigslist and include this message: "Dear Craig: Don’t turn your back on young girls. They should be safe, not sold. Shut down the Adult Services section."
3. Post this message on your Facebook page: “Don't let Craigslist put profit above protection. Tell Craig to quit selling sex with kids" and put a link to Craig Newmark and Jim
Buckmaster on Facebook
Remember: Slavery exists in the darkness, so the more we can do to shine a light on it through awareness and education, the faster we can uncover it and free those enslaved.
12.3 million: Number of adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world. [Note from Diana: This is less than half the number usually quoted--27 million--but there is no way of obtaining an accurate number, of course.]
56%: Victims who are women and girls
49,105: Victims identified worldwide (59% increase over the last reporting year, 2008)
4,166: Successful trafficking prosecutions in 2009 (40% increase over 2008)
335: Successful prosecutions related to forced labor
49,105: Victims identified
8.5%: Ratio of convicted offenders to victims identified, as a percentage
0.4%: Ratio of victims identified to estimated victims, as a percentage
62: Countries that have yet to convict a trafficker under laws in compliance with the Palermo Protocol
104: Countries without laws, policies, or regulations to prevent victims’ deportation
1.8 per 1,000 inhabitants: Prevalence of trafficking victims in the world
3 per 1,000 inhabitants: Prevalence of trafficking victims in Asia and the Pacific
23: Countries that received upgraded rankings in the 2010 TIP Report
19: Countries that were downgraded
2: Countries ranked for the first time in the 2010 TIP Report--United States and Kiribati
A few years ago I was in northern Thailand visiting a safe house filled with women rescued from human trafficking.
The director of the home told me that the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act--and the annual TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Report that accompanies it--has made an enormous dent in the multi-billion dollar industry of human trafficking.
This morning the US State Department released the 2010 TIP Report, which ranks 170+ countries according to their efforts (or lack of effort) to eliminate human trafficking within and across their borders.
There are 3 tiers and a "watch-list" tier--Tier 2 countries that are in danger of being demoted to Tier 3 unless they make substantial efforts to get rid of trafficking within their borders.
US now ranked
This is the 10th annual report--and the 1st one that includes a ranking of the United States. Thankfully the US is in Tier 1. That is not to say we don't have a trafficking problem in the US. We do, but efforts are being made to eliminate it.
"[The US ranking is] based on the same standards to which we hold other countries," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this morning when the 2010 TIP Report was released. "The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America.
"This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it," she emphasized. "Human trafficking is not someone else's responsibility."
Heroes in the fight
I was in tears watching the live event online this morning when Laura Germino of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was honored as one of the heroes of the fight to stop human trafficking. She talked about forced field labor in the US.
When she began the fight 20 years ago, things were so bad that "there was nowhere to go but up," she said. "It takes a whole community to fight slavery. It is our collective fight to wipe slavery off the face of the earth. We are fighting for tier zero."
Trafficking follows disasters
One of the additions to the 2010 report is a section on the need to quickly mobilize to prevent human trafficking (particularly child trafficking) following natural disasters.
As you know if you read this blog regularly, the earthquake in Haiti was a prime example of the need for this kind of strategy. (See February post here.)
Child traffickers were in Haiti before the ground even stopped shaking, and they quickly scooped up children and carted them around in wheelbarrows selling them to the highest bidder. (I wish I were making this up.)
Hopefully this report, and the many "best practices" that it spotlights, will do more to eliminate that kind of disaster-related trafficking--as well as many other forms of it.
Links if you want to read more
I'll have more to share with you as I peruse the 372-page report. Meanwhile, here are links if you want to see the report yourself:
If you live in central Florida, you're invited to the soft opening on Monday of a brand-new restaurant called Line Drive Burgers.
Here's the cool thing:
When you place your order, you get to pick from a short list of non-profit organizations, and manager Rob Swanson will donate 5% of your total order to that charity.
Yup, Born to Fly is one of the sponsored charities! Just let your server know you want 5% of your order to go to B2F to help stop child trafficking.
You can check out Line Drive Burger's fun website and menu. Everything is baseball themed with gourmet burgers, brats, and more.
Then come to the soft opening when almost everything is half price while Rob trains the team, or the grand opening a week later:
Soft opening Monday, June 7 (continues through June 12) 10 am - 8 pm
Since MTV launched the EXIT campaign in 2004, it's created programming that's informed millions of young people from source and destination countries about trafficking and empowered them to take action within their communities.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that you can watch EXIT programming all over the world EXCEPT in the US, where MTV doesn't air it.
Instead MTV US airs a lot of programming that actually promotes sex trafficking of children and adults.
The Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking just launched a petition drive to encourage MTV to air EXIT in the US and be a little more responsible about what else they do air.
You can sign the petition here. It takes about 30 seconds. (Warning: The video clip with the petition is graphic.)
Want to know more about how to fight modern-day slavery in your community?
This Saturday the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking will begin monthly trainings for anyone who wants to get involved and equipped in
practical ways.
There are 2 sessions in Orlando this weekend, both free. One is community based and the other is faith based:
Human Trafficking 101 - Community-based training Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Orange County Central Library Magnolia Room - 3rd floor 101 East Central Blvd. Orlando, FL. 32801 (If parking on street bring change for meters or city of Orlando parking garage across the street - $2 per hour)
Human Trafficking 101 - Faith-based training (Includes prayers and references to spiritual factors) Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM Orlando House of Prayer Main Sanctuary 495 West Silver Star Rd. Ocoee, FL. 34761 Free parking
For more information, contact fcahtorlando@gmail.com.
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Get additional information on how to stop the traffic by following me on Twitter: @DianaScimone.
This is why I love Twitter. (Please take note, people who think all we tweet about is what we eat.)
A few days after the earthquake in Haiti last January, I saw a tweet from someone standing outside an orphanage in Haiti where traffickers were soliciting orphans. The person was desperately tweeting for someone to send law enforcement or media to stop what was happening.
I knew my colleague Pat Bradley, prez of International Crisis Aid, was already on the ground in Haiti. Pat has rescued kids from slavery in many countries; you may remember what I wrote about him in Begging last year.
As soon as I saw that tweet, I retweeted it (forwarded it) to Pat in Haiti and he got back to me within moments. His team was understandably overwhelmed at the orphanage where they were already helping kids--and sadly could not get to this one.
Side note: Someone did get some international media attention on what was happening at the original orphanage--all thanks to Twitter.
Flash forward to this week. Here's what Pat emailed me:
Hey Diana
Since you sent me an email in Jan regarding trafficking in Haiti it never left my mind. Please read below, you are responsible for this happening.
Bless you Pat
Well I'm not sure if I'm responsible, but here's what happened:
Dear all
Dennis and I just found a red light district that is as bad as Addis [Ethiopia], if not worse. We saw several small girls also.
The place is located on the road to the orphanage in Leogane, Haiti.
Girls are paid $1.00 for services, there are several hundred girls. To say these are horrible conditions is a gross understatement.
Not sure what we will do about it yet because we just now left the place BUT WE WILL DO SOMETHING.
The experience was like I had in Ethiopia. I felt led to ask about sex trafficking/prostitution and we found ourselves right in the middle of it.
Pray for wisdom that we know what to do and resources to do it.
Bless you Pat
Then the next day:
Dear all
We went back to the red-light district yesterday and gave out the gift packs to about 200 girls. They told us it was the first time anyone did something nice with no strings attached. It went very good.
Today we returned with a group from Trinity Fellowship from Amarillo Texas. While walking around I felt God point 2 different girls out to rescue.
We are going to set them up with a roadside kiosk selling a variety of different products. We explained that if they are successful it will make it possible for us to rescue others from this horrible situation. I also explained to them that God picked them out specifically to be the first ones that He is rescuing. We explained that His heart breaks for them and all the other girls and He wants them to be set free to live His plan for their lives.
So all that to say we now have a Safe Campaign in Haiti. I had no plans to do this but God saw differently.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this possible.
Pat
Pretty amazing, huh? You can read more here:
ICA's blog Follow Pat on Twitter: @IntlCrisisAid Follow me on Twitter: @DianaScimone Learn how Born to Fly International works to reach kids before the traffickers do: www.born2fly.org
"You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so people can no longer terrify them" (Psalm 10:18).
You = you. And me. Thank you for making stories like this possible.
"It's not a popular [issue]," said actress Demi Moore. "There isn’t anyone who disagrees that it's unacceptable [but] people don't treat it like a top priority. In general, it's like the dirty little secret."
Moore was talking about child trafficking — "the dirty little secret."
She spoke yesterday in Washington DC at a panel discussion at the US Capitol and said sex trafficking of US children is a
domestic issue that should be viewed with a greater sense of urgency.
When she said, "We are focusing on the effect and not the cause," I
wanted to cheer. Yes, we need to rescue kids who are already
trafficked — absolutely. But at the same time we need to stop the
pipeline that feeds it.
That's what The Born2Fly Project does.
Our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do.
In January, Moore and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, launched the Demi and
Ashton Foundation to bring attention to the commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
"We've bought into the myths," Moore said, "I think, collectively as a society that the girl is choosing it, she likes it, she's making a lot of money. And, I tell you, you go into a room of 13-year-old girls and ask them to raise their hands if they want to be a prostitute and then tell me if they're gonna choose it, and I guarantee you that none of them will be raising their hands."
The panel discussion was organized by the DNA Foundation and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights.
"When can we see the Born to Fly book? When, when, WHEN???"
Okay, you win! I'm trying to keep the book under wraps until the companion curriculum is complete, but I WILL give you a tiny sneak peak at the cover.
So here for the 1st time ever (drum roll) is the cover of the wordless book that's the centerpiece of The B2F Project to stop child trafficking:
The words you see are the only words in the entire book! They are the title of the book in about 40 languages ranging from A to Z (Arabic to Zulu -- really!).
Shout out to many people, including the Twitterverse, for helping to get all those translations. We have so many translations in fact, that they spill over to the back cover (which isn't shown here). The actual cover is about 8x10" so it will be a lot easier to "read" than the tiny image you see here.
Why wordless?
We're going wordless so that we don't have to translate the
book into thousands of languages. We tell the story in 400 illustrations by artist Leah Wiedemer -- about 80 pages in all.
That's Blossom on the cover -- a caterpillar who has a dream to fly. In her quest to follow her dream, she gets kidnapped by the Dream Thieves, who are out to steal everyone's dreams (including hers). In the process she learns 4 important lessons that will help keep kids from getting trafficked:
1. Choices have consequences. 2. It's important to know who your true friends are. 3. You are valuable. 4. You were born to fly; don't settle for less.
Want to see more? You'll just have to wait!
Companion curriculum
Meanwhile, for the past 6 months we've been working on the companion curriculum that will teach kids the important concepts in the wordless book. It's about 75% finished -- and a whole lot longer than I ever thought it would be, but the more material we can include for teachers, the better. This will have to be translated into major languages, of course.
Remember, most kids get taken because they don't know the lures that traffickers use (their parents don't, either). We can dramatically reduce the number of kids being trafficked simply by educating kids and their parents ahead of time.
If you'd like to partner with us to do that, you can make a tax-deductible donation via PayPal or credit card by clicking here. Thank you for helping us reach kids before the traffickers do.
My brother-in-law, friend, purpose coach, and Born2Fly board member, John Stanko, turns 60 on 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. On a recent trip 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.
Through his just-launched Operation Petticoat, he's collecting underwear for girls, and next month he'll deliver it in person when he goes back to Kenya. (A few months ago, he brought 100s of children's books, part of the work of his Deborah Foundation, which establishes children's libraries and learning centers in Africa.)
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 the "make a donation" button on his website. Or mail a check to his parent foundation, PurposeQuest International, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221.
Just let John know your contribution is for underwear in honor of his birthday :-).
Happy 60th birthday, John, and may it be the best year you've ever had!
My Twitter buddy Pam Mandel (@nerdseyeview) is one smart cookie. Pam is a travel writer and blogger (and one of the first people I ever followed on Twitter).
For the month of April, she's opened up her blog, Nerd's Eye View, to 29 people to write a guest post -- as long as it's about some aspect of travel.
I jumped at the chance and today she features my guest post about the photo that changed my life. You can read it here.
This is the photo, by the way, but you'll have to click on over to Pam's blog to read why it changed my life.
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 3 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).
More precisely, former slaves. Former child slaves. Former child slaves from Haiti.
Their stories got me--not just what they went through as slaves, but what they've done with their lives in spite of it all.
Take Bill, for example. When he was just 2 months old, his father died. When he was 6, his mother died. An aunt came to his small village and promised him a home and schooling in Port au Prince. He went with her, believing his life was about to turn around.
But instead of the the dream life he was promised, Bill became a restavek -- a child slave working for his aunt's family. There was no school for him. He didn't even have a bed. He slept on the floor and was the first one up in the morning and the last one to sleep. In between he worked like a slave for the family--at 6 years old.
Yet Bill had a dream inside him--to be a drummer. When he would walk to fetch water in large plastic containers, he'd turn the empty containers upside down and play them like drums.
His aunt severely abused him, but one day a nun discovered him at a market and brought him to a home for boys called St. Joseph's. There he had a place to live and go to school--and people who encouraged his artistic talent. They arranged for him to study at a special program for drummers at Duke University. Eventually he went to Africa where he studied with the finest drummers in the world.
Today he is numbered among them--a world-class drummer who is now the director of St. Joseph's Home for Boys and co-director of the home's community art center and the Resurrection Dance Theatre of Haiti.
I watched RDTH perform yesterday--Bill who is now in his 20s along with other men and boys, including the youngest member of the troupe, 9-year-old Didi who stole everyone's hearts. They are raising funds to rebuild the home and community center, which were severely damaged during the January 12 earthquake.
I love RDTH because they have the same vision we do at Born to Fly--not just to rescue kids from slavery but to set them free to dream big dreams and be who God created them to be. They are not only drummers, but dancers, artists, writers, and more.
Everyone deserves that.
* * *
You can watch a video of RDTH here. (Bill is the drummer on the left.) You can donate at www.htflive.org.
1. Child traffickers have recruiters in your kids' schools--yes, even in the US.
2. Recruiters are other kids.
3. Child traffickers monitor Facebook, Flickr, and other social media sites looking for vulnerable kids.
4. They work in malls all over the US, including in your city.
5. There's money to be made buying and selling children. Each year more than 100,000 kids are trafficked for sex and labor slavery in the US.
6. Human trafficking is organized crime. It's the second most lucrative illegal industry on the planet (after illegal drugs) and rapidly becoming the top one.
7. These are not "bad" kids, just vulnerable ones.
8. Most kids are rescued because someone saw something that didn't look right and knew where to call.
9. Warning signs you can look for
10. What to ask if you think someone is being trafficked
11. Your city probably already has an anti-trafficking task force.
12. There's plenty of information on the web to keep you aware and help you protect your child. Your child does not have to be a victim.
* * *
Don't tell the traffickers, but here's the information they don't want you to have:
Tuesday evening, March 16, I'm going to be a panelist on a live Twitter "girls night out" (GNO). Hundreds of women from all over the world will be tweeting at the same time about the same topic.
The subject this time is a bit heavy--violence against women--and I've been asked to be a panelist and tweet about child trafficking, answer questions, etc. My goal is to show that there IS something we can do to stop the traffic--by reaching kids before the traffickers do.
The corporate sponsor for this GNO is Avon, which last week gave an amazing $1.5 million to stop violence against women in various areas. I don't know if any of it was specifically targeted to stop human trafficking, but Avon supports worthwhile and needy organizations that work to stop violence against women in many other areas. For example, they fund Cornell Law School's Avon Global Center for Women and Justice--very impressive. Avon reps will be tweeting also (so maybe they'll think B2F is a worthy non-profit to help support!).
It's this Tuesday eve, March 16, from 9-11 ET. The last time I joined in there were women tweeting live from all over Africa (it was about a project there) -- it was very cool!
If you're on Twitter...
Register here to be part of #GNO. And then click here for the TweetGrid where you can follow along. (I'm in the 2nd column.) TweetGrid lets you follow along and see everyone's tweets. (You can't see this in the regular Twitter feed because we don't of course follow all the women who will be tweeting, but this allows us to see all their tweets. And you can find more interesting women to follow.)
Last night, in the space of about an hour, 2 people on opposite sides of the planet emailed me to ask what to do about suspected cases of human trafficking.
One is a friend teaching English in Asia. She went to a respectable spa for a massage, but felt something more was going on behind the scenes and that the massage therapist who helped her was being trafficked. What were the signs, my friend wanted to know, and what should she do?
A few minutes later another friend emailed me about a suspected case of trafficking--this time in the US. Was there a number she could call? Someone to report it to? (Yes; read on.)
A few years ago I wrote a post for this blog about how to tell if someone is being trafficked--and what to do about it.
That post has received more hits from all over the world than anything I've written on this site. With so much in the news about trafficking, people are keeping their eyes and ears open--which is great.
I'm re-posting the information here. You may never need it, but just in case, you'll know where to find it. Meanwhile, please forward this to others so they'll be aware, too. You can send them to this link: http://bit.ly/aoFdn0
* * *
Some slaves are kept out of the public eye. Others are right in front of you--waitresses, nail salon workers, kids in your neighborhood, laborers you see every day. I'm not talking about illegal immigrants, but actual slaves.
How can you tell if someone is a victim of human trafficking and slavery? What do you look for?
Accompanied by a controlling person or boss; not speaking on own behalf
Lack of control over personal schedule, money, I.D., travel documents
Transported to or from work; lives and works in the same place
Debt owed to employer/crew leader; inability to leave job
Bruises, depression, fear, overly submissive
Asking the right questions will help to determine if the person is a victim of trafficking. Here are key questions to ask:
What type of work do you do?
Are you getting paid? Anything taken out of your pay?
Can you leave your job if you want to?
Can you come and go as you please? Are you afraid to leave? Why?
Have you or your family been threatened?
What are your working and living conditions like? How are you treated?
Do you have to ask permission to eat/sleep/go to the bathroom?
Are there locks on your doors/windows so you cannot get out?
Has your identification or documentation been taken from you?
In the US, if you think someone might be a trafficking victim, call the National Trafficking Resource Center hotline at (888) 373-7888. It's open 24/7. In another country, call one of these hotlines.
To learn what Born to Fly International is doing to stop child trafficking, visit www.born2fly.org.
The dangers are so bad that the DOE is actually warning schools about child trafficking and telling them what signs to look for.
"Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and some U.S. territories," according to the fact sheet. "Victims of human trafficking can be children or adults, U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, male or female."
Please note this is not just in "those" schools but in all schools. Child trafficking happens everywhere on both sides of the tracks.
How does human trafficking happen in our schools?
"Trafficking can involve school-age children—particularly those not living with their parents—who are vulnerable to coerced labor exploitation, domestic servitude, or commercial sexual exploitation (i.e., prostitution).
"Sex traffickers target children because of their vulnerability and gullibility, as well as the market demand for young victims. Those who recruit minors into prostitution violate federal anti-trafficking laws, even if there is no coercion or movement across state lines.
"The children at risk are not just high school students—studies demonstrate that pimps prey on victims as young as 12. Traffickers have been reported targeting their minor victims through telephone chat-lines, clubs, on the street, through friends, and at malls, as well as using girls to recruit other girls at schools and after-school programs."
How can you identify a school-age victim of human trafficking?
According to the fact sheet, a victim:
Has unexplained absences from school for a period of time
Demonstrates an inability to attend school on a regular basis
Chronically runs away from home
Makes references to frequent travel to other cities
Exhibits bruises or other physical trauma, withdrawn behavior, depression, or fear
Lacks control over her or his schedule or identification documents
Is hungry, malnourished, or inappropriately dressed (based on weather conditions or surroundings)
Shows signs of drug addiction
Additional signs that may indicate sex-related trafficking include:
Demonstrates a sudden change in attire, behavior, or material possessions (e.g., has expensive items)
Makes references to sexual situations that are beyond age-specific norms
Has a “boyfriend” who is noticeably older (10+ years)
Makes references to terminology of the commercial sex industry that are beyond age specific norms; engages in promiscuous behavior and may be labeled “fast” by peers
Remember this list is not comprehensive of all signs
of human trafficking, nor are all students who exhibit these signs trafficking victims.
What should you do if you suspect a child is being trafficked?
In cases of immediate emergencies, call your local police department or emergency access number.
Report suspected trafficking crimes or get help by calling the national 24/7 toll-free Human Trafficking Resource Center at 888-373-7888.
For sexually exploited or abused minors, call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s hotline at 800-THE-LOST or www.cybertipline.org.
Contact the FBI www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm or the Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Office at 888-428-7581.
Want more resources? They're available here or as a PDF.
Note from Diana: I asked my colleague and fellow red-headed abolitionist Julie Taylor
Shematz if she would guest post here about yesterday's Senate hearing on
domestic minor sex trafficking. Julie has a perspective that most of
us do not--because she was trafficked in the US herself.
Yesterday the Senate Human Rights and Law Subcommittee had a hearing on domestic minor sex trafficking entitled "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States."
It was NOT filibustered and absolutely demanded the undivided attention of anyone watching. They not only addressed the lack of resources for specialized, comprehensive victim services, but they also went into detail why existing government funded foster care and group homes are high recruitment areas for pimps and traffickers.
Evidence was presented why domestic violence and youth programs are NOT working for these victims and what is needed to get the victims stabilized in order for them to be key witnesses. They even discussed why we should NOT separate the adult victims from the minors [see more on this below] and that 70-90% of adult victims were sexually exploited as children.
Additionally, they addressed the demand and the need to arrest and prosecute johns -- versus arresting the victims (prostituted children) and treating them as criminals. Currently 80% of victims arrested for prostitution versus 20% of johns.
Here is a link to the entire hearing including the 4-minute video they opened with called "Playground."
[Warning:
graphic content.)
* * *
I asked Julie for more information on her comment above that we should not separate adult and minor victims of human trafficking. Here's her reply:
They discussed how when a minor is a victim of sex trafficking, they are embraced [and helped] by the adult victims while in captivity and once they are rescued. When we separate them (after rescue), it is not in either of their best interests. Restoration services, shelters and safe homes need to be created that allow them to remain together (if the relationship is not going to hinder their healing process) throughout their healing journey.
This is EXACTLY what I have learned from working with both the minors and adults. It's advantageous to put them together for healing and restoration. They relate and can support one another like NO ONE ELSE CAN. Placing a minor who has been raped for profit 8 to 30 times a day for only God knows how long, into a home with typically "rebellious, bratty and cruel" minors is NOT an environment that will be conducive to their healing.
I remember a 15-year-old international victim of sex trafficking with 2 children of her own (one was 3 days old and the other 1 year old). Because this victim was only 15, we had to remove her from the women's shelter she was placed in and relocate her to a teen pregnancy home.
A Department of Children and Families investigator said to me, "That is too bad she has to be removed from a loving environment with adult women that embraced her and her children, to be placed into an environment filled with rebellious, bratty and cruel minors."
I asked him what he meant by that. As he explained how mean children are to other children, I just cried as his comment sunk in.
The model we have developed includes allowing minors to coincide with adults for their restoration journey.
Julie and the BFA team have done a fantastic job working to abolish sex slavery in the United States and to provide the holistic services needed to restore the victims. They are in the process of building a specialized emergency shelter, long-term safehome, and walk-in resource center that will serve domestic victims of trafficking in the US.
I encourage you to read more on her website, www.BeautyFromAshes.org. You can follow her on Twitter @JulietheArtist1 and @BeautyFrmAshes.
On Sunday federal officials arrested a man from Hawaii and charged him with prostituting an underage girl in Miami Beach. Fred Quinton Collins brought the girl with him from Hawaii, booking her air travel under a false name, paying for her hotel, and directing the prostitution operation.
Collins was charged with transporting and causing a minor to engage in commercial sex acts, according to the U.S. attorney's office--aka child trafficking. If convicted, he faces 10 years to life in prison. You can read the Department of Justice report here.
If you want to know how human trafficking is a sad part of Super Bowl week, please read Joy Engdahl's blog, Binding the Broken. Joy was there all week as part of the coalition of anti-trafficking organizations.
She had some pretty horrific encounters--including seeing a number of underage girls on the streets. Her blog posts are very enlightening about the not-so-super-side of the Super Bowl, how organized crime is involved, and how some major corporations indirectly promote trafficking.
I'm sure we'll hear more results from the week-long outreach. Stay tuned.
* * *
UPDATE (Feb. 11, 2010) Law enforcement officers in Miami arrested 84 people in a three-day Super Bowl sweep aimed at finding underage girls who have been forced into prostitution, according to the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (@FreeAllSlaves).
A few hundred feet over my head the planes keep coming--all day and all night. They're cargo planes arriving from Haiti and so far they've brought more than 8,000 people to Orlando--orphans, injured, and more.
My first thought when the earthquake hit was "child trafficking." Haiti has always had a huge problem, and when disaster strikes, the traffickers flock to the rubble for easy pickings.
I've gotten report after report of kids being openly trafficked--even a hospital that was selling kids.
That's why I personally have supported 2 organizations that are getting kids off the streets and into safe houses.
These are not high-profile organizations that get the big bucks from telethons or Hollywood celebs. They're just laboring away doing good work without a lot of attention or fanfare--and are very effective at it.
If you're looking for places to give, I highly recommend these 2:
Danita has long had a presence in Haiti, where she set up an orphanage that until January housed 75 orphans. It was not damaged by the earthquake, thankfully, and has since been taking in many more kids and getting them off the streets.
Danita can use your support and I can attest that her organization is a good one to invest in.
I've known ICA founder Pat Bradley for 12+ years and wrote about him in my post called Begging. As soon as the earthquake hit, Pat was on a plane and has been there ever since.
His small team has single-handedly repaired a totally destroyed orphanage and got it going again. They're working with the US Marines, who wrote this to Pat:
Your ability to locate the people in need and get them the supplies
they so desperately needed has been nothing short of remarkable. The
partnership that our Marine unit [has] formed with ICA has become the
blueprint for success in this devastated region.
Our ability to bring
the resources ashore and provide the necessary security, coupled with
your complete devotion to an efficient, honest and timely distribution
has saved thousands of lives and will positively shape and influence
generations in Haiti.
I would be remiss if I didn't beg ICA to remain in Haiti for the foreseeable future and continue to set the example for the other NGOs.
You can read the full letter from the Marine sergeant on ICA's blog--where you can also donate. Follow ICA on Twitter @crisisaid and get Pat's real-time updates. Here's a story that NPR did about ICA this afternoon.
Whether kids are orphaned or not, whether they get adopted or not--the critical and immediate need is to get them off the streets and away from the hands of traffickers. Thank you for helping these 2 organizations do that.
I love football and am thrilled the Super Bowl is just around the corner.
I’m not at all excited, however, about what will come to Miami the same week: A huge increase in human trafficking.
"Every time we have a big event like the Super Bowl," says Anna Rodriguez, founder of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), "you have pimps that move people across the nation to where there is a large activity and a quicker way to make a lot of money."
Human trafficking is the 2nd most profitable crime on the planet, after illegal drugs. You can sell a drug once but you can sell a human being over and over again.
Traffickers know there’s money to be made so when there's an international sporting event like the Super Bowl or World Cup, they show up in force.
Remember, we're not talking about voluntary prostitution. Human trafficking involves force, fraud, and coercion. Women and girls are forcibly trafficked to cities where events like the Super Bowl are held.
There's nothing voluntary about it. It's human slavery. And in some cases child slavery.
The human trafficking industry may be getting ready, but so are abolitionists and law enforcement.
Anti-trafficking organizations are mobilized to reach out to Miami hotels and business owners who might come in contact with victims of commercial sexual exploitation. They'll also reach out to minors in areas known for commercial sexual exploitation.
These organizations include:
Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking KLaasKids Foundation Global Child Rescue Stand Up for Kids Kristi House Free International Florida Abolitionists Local, state, and national law enforcement
Last year a similar coalition provided 13 leads to law enforcement—one of which turned out to be the “Treasure Island” case in St. Petersburg, Florida. Six pimps were arrested and 4 domestic victims were rescued.
This year’s outreach in Miami includes a week of training and outreach for team members and volunteers along with an army of people praying for their success.
Today is a national holiday in the US to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I wrote this a few years ago about how he inspired me in the 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'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.
"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?"
“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.”
This is why I launched The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking--and why I am pressing through against all odds to get our awareness materials into the hands of girls like Maria:
Maria described how at the age of 16 she was lured off the streets by a young man who promised the world, but delivered nothing but pain.
She was raped, drugged and sold for sex. "They took a gallon of gasoline and started pouring it over a girl," Maria said.
"One of the men told me if you don't do as I say I will do the same to you.
"I wanted to look away, but they didn't let me. Even though the girl was on fire they kept hitting her and they were laughing as if they were enjoying what they were doing."
The report describes a cross-border trade between Mexico and the US--a trade in children and babies. Please understand these babies are not for adoption. They are part of the child sex trade. Yes, babies.
Little-known fact about Diana: The very first thing I ever published was a travel article.
It was way back in the 1970s (I was 2 years old at the time, of course), and it was a newspaper article about the week I spent eating fantastic foods while visiting relatives in Sicily.
The Washington Star graciously published it (and I suspect my atrocious first attempt at writing contributed to the demise of the Star a few years later).
I still love to travel (41 countries and counting). There are many things I do not like about travel, however:
Jet lag
Tummy trouble
Child sex tourism
You can guess which one this blog post is about.
This is about organized tours that you can book on the internet so you can fly to a another country—or another city in the US, like Atlanta—and pay a few dollars to repeatedly rape a little girl (or boy).
Why would anyone want to do that? How's this for justification:
"On this trip, I've had sex with a 14-year-old girl in Mexico and a 15-year-old in Colombia. I'm helping them financially. If they don't have sex with me, they may not have enough food. If someone has a problem with me doing this, let UNICEF feed them."
"Some Americans take advantage of prostituted children while traveling to impoverished countries for business, tourism and other legitimate reasons. Others travel abroad specifically for a 'sex tour.'
"Sex tourists travel to countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil, expecting anonymity, low-cost prostitution, easily accessible children and impunity from prosecution.
"Notably, it is estimated that one-third of the prostitutes in Cambodia are children. The United States has laws that prohibit sex with minors in other countries and has greatly increased government efforts to combat this problem. Under the Protect Act of 2003, United States citizens or residents who engage in sexual activity abroad with a child under 18 can face 30 years in a U.S. prison. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now actively investigating American sex tourists abroad and making arrests.
"Sexually exploited children are severely wounded physically and emotionally. Many acquire diseases such as HIV and AIDS, and almost all experience rejection by their families and communities in addition to fear, shame and despair."
Under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2423), it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to travel abroad intending to engage in sexual activity with a child younger than 18 that would be illegal if it occurred in the U.S. Individuals who commit these crimes are subject to prosecution in the U.S. even if the crime was committed on foreign soil. (National Center for Mission and Exploited Children)
You don’t have to fly around the world to find child sex tourism. It happens in the US, probably in your city. The documentary Playground reports on this horror in Atlanta. (Warning: graphic content.)
Traveling? Here's what you can do about it:
Whatever your profession or interest, here’s a comprehensive list of what you can do: www.endslaverynow.com (hat tip blogger Emily Bain Murphy at Season of Light).
Call or e-mail your representative to voice your support for the Child Protection Compact Act (HR 2737).
If you’re planning an international trip, look up your destinations in the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report and learn about the child sex tourism industry there.
How India is cracking down on the tourism industry for promoting child sex tourism
Google “human trafficking awareness day.” There are more than 1.5 million entries listing events, resources, and stories.
Google “how to stop child sex tourism.”
Google “what hotels are doing to stop child sex tourism.”
Google "Olympics child trafficking."
Google "World Cup child trafficking."
Travel blogger Pam Mandel (@nerdseyeview) has a great post on BlogHer about her own experiences in Cambodia seeing the horrors of child sex tourism all too up-close-and-personal. I'd love to see more travel writers cover this not-so-nice side of travel. (If you do, leave a link in the comments.)
In spite of huge challenges, The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking made huge gains in 2009. And you were a part of that.
If you gave to B2F, prayed for B2F, tweeted about us, blogged about us,
posted about us on your Facebook page, emailed me, or encouraged me in
the fight--you helped make 2009 a strategic year.
Here's what you and I and the B2F team accomplished in 2009 to help stop child trafficking:
1. Finished writing the manuscript for Born to Fly, a story to warn kids and parents about the ploys that traffickers use.
2. Completed nearly 500 illustrations to turn that manuscript into a wordless book; artist Leah Wiedemer did a brilliant job.
3. Designed the wordless book and prepared it for print. Hat tip to book designer Cathleen Kwas for fantastic work.
4. Continued writing the B2F curriculum that goes with the book; we'll give this to teachers around the world free of charge.
5. Partnered with educators to help write the curriculum.
6. Linked with translators around the world who'll translate the curriculum into Russian, Thai, French, and many other languages. 7. Heard from 20-25 organizations around the world who've asked to distribute the B2F materials as soon as they're ready. (We're working on many other distribution avenues, too.)
8. Teamed with 2 web developers as we prepare to put the entire wordless book and curriculum online as an additional distribution vehicle.
9. Launched the 09-09-09 Twitterthon: 9,000 people giving $9 each on September 9 to stop child trafficking. We didn't reach our financial goal for the Twitterthon, but we...
10. Increased our reach and number of partners, thanks to 09-09-09.
11. Collaborated with dozens of bloggers who wrote about B2F and the fight to stop child trafficking. (See partial list here.)
12. Networked with 100+ anti-trafficking organizations and individuals on Twitter. (See partial list here.)
13. Produced a new brochure on The B2F Project.
14. Posted on this blog 1-2 times a week to increase awareness about child trafficking around the world and in the US.
15. Guest-posted or was interviewed on others' blogs about how to stop child trafficking (here and here, for example).
At the top of my daily to-do agenda, I keep a list of motivational quotes I've gathered. I post them front and center to inspire me as I work on The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. All year long, whenever I find a new one, I add it to the list.
When the fight seems impossible, I read what Einstein said. Or Edison. Or Bono.
On January 1, I'll start a brand-new list, so enjoy these now. I hope they motivate you as much as they do me.
Got a fav quote of your own? Leave it as a comment. (I'll begin my 2010 list on Saturday and could use a few good ones to start the year right.)
1. “God has a plan to help bring justice to the world—and his plan is us.” —Gary Haugen
2. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." —Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
3. “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the children." —Isaiah 1:17
4. “The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” —Anais Nin
5. “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.” —Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens
6. "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." —Paulo Freire
7. "Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely." —Erma Bombeck
8. "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
9. “When you choose to look past the horizon, the sky is the limit.”
10. "Glance
up to the summit, know that you're worthy of journeying there, and
focus down on your feet, and just take the next, simple step." —Jamie Clarke
11. "You do the ridiculous, God will do the miraculous." —Jaeson Ma
12. "Dream the dreams that alter the course of world history." —Bill Johnson
13. "If God answered all your prayers of the last 7 days would anything in the world change or just your world?"
14. "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." —Exodus 14:14
15. "It is not safe to play it safe."
16. “My very greatest asset was that I simply did not understand what was impossible.” —Wendy Kopp, founder, Teach 4 America
17. "This is what the Sovereign Lord says to you, dry bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life." —Ezekiel 37:5
18. "Isn't 'Love thy neighbour' in the global village so inconvenient? God writes us these lines, but we have to sing them." —Bono
19. "How would you treat a friend who lied to you as much as your fears do?" —W.P. Young
20. “God...gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." —Romans 4:17
21. "When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this—you haven't." —Thomas Edison
22. “It will cost us heavily to stand for the right when the wrong is in the majority, which is 100 percent of the time.” —A.W. Tozer
23. "A time comes when silence is betrayal." —Martin Luther King, Jr.
24. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." —Martin Luther King, Jr.
25. “It’s not that I’m so smart. It’s just that I stick with problems longer.” —Albert Einstein
26. “It always seems impossible until it's done.” —Nelson Mandela
Nicholas, a 3rd-century bishop who lived in what is now Turkey, learned about a poor man with three daughters to marry off.
The man was too destitute to pay the dowry for the girls, meaning they would be sold into slavery (aka child trafficking).
Nicholas heard of the girls' plight and late one night quietly waited outside the family's meager home and threw coins into their window--making sure no one, especially the father, saw him.
The father found the money and used it to pay off his debts--and his girls were rescued from a life of slavery.
OK, no one knows for sure if that truly happened, but according to the Saint Nicholas Center there's good reason to believe it did:
This story, distinct to Nicholas, can be regarded as historical in its essence. There are three very ancient accounts which only differ in regard to the number of maidens and other detail.
This event reveals important aspects of St. Nicholas's personality, namely, his charitable nature and humility. This story is not found in hagiographic accounts of other saints' lives.
Saint Nicholas, of course, became the model for modern-day Santa Claus.
It's 11:49 pm and I'm out of creativity. I have so many things to tell you about that I'm just giving you links and a little info -- click thru to read more.
1. After conducting the 09-09-09 one-day Twitterthon last September, I
have a lot of respect for anyone who organizes an online fundraiser--and I have 2 great ones to tell you about:
John Stanko (@JohnStanko), who's not only a Born2Fly board member but also my brother-in-law, has got two great causes going on: The Sophia Fund, which is raising money to feed orphans and widows in Kenya, and the Deborah Foundation, which will help establish learning centers at 3 orphanages in Kenya.
The goal of the learning centers is to instill a love for books and learning in the minds of these young orphans.
Orphanages are prime targets for traffickers looking for kids, so anything we can do to strengthen orphanages and educate kids, I'm all for.
You can donate on John's blog, and you can also send an educational toy or a book to John (that's him on the left with some of the kids), and he'll get it to the orphanages. Read more here.
This
year all the funds go to building a school in Cambodia. More schools mean
less kids will get trafficked as a result. So please support this
great cause. Check out PWP and look at some of the amazing prizes you
could win.
If you live in Texas, it will shock you. If you don't live in Texas,
don't worry; Christopher is planning to look at other states, too.
Remember, child trafficking happens EVERYWHERE. I feel like a broken
record saying that over and over again, but it's true.
Please look at Christopher's report. You don't have to read every
word, but please read some of it. He's got some other excellent posts
on his site, too.
4. Finally my fellow Twitterer @StacyBrice told me about 31 Days of Wishes. The idea is throughout December people are making a wish a day.
Here's mine: I wish that in 2010 I'll be out of a job. No more child trafficking means Diana can find something else to do. A good wish, huh?
One more site to check out: Free2Work, a project of the NotForSale campaign, helps shoppers find great gifts that do not have forced or child labor in their production.
If you know of other sites selling gifts made by trafficking survivors, leave a comment and I'll add them to the list.
Today came the tragic news that little Shaniya Davis' body was found. The 5-year-old had been trafficked by her mother--not in some far-away country but in North Carolina.
Police charged her mother with human trafficking and felony child abuse, saying Shaniya was offered for prostitution.
Could her death have been prevented? Could someone have kept her from being trafficked?
For 3 years, KlaasKids Foundation has been pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve a proposal that would unleash major resources to help recover
missing children and adults--at no cost to government.
The proposal would set up an independently run system (ie, no government funds) that would quickly publicize missing children and adults via a TV network at truck stops all over the country.
It would enable drivers--who are out on the roads and at highway rest stops, convenience stores, gas stations, and fast food restaurants where persons on the run frequently go--to receive news flashes, special reports, and full-length programming about unresolved missing person cases from local television stations, national cable and satellite channels.
The case has
suffered from prolonged delays, and KlaasKids is asking everyone to contact the FCC and push for approval.
You can read more here: www.klaaskids.org/pg-truckerTV.htm Just click the orange "reply" button at the bottom of that page and you can send an email to the FCC urging passage of this proposal.
Could Shaniya's trafficking and death have been prevented? No one knows...but we do know that enacting this proposal would definitely prevent other children and adults from the same tragic end.
Anti-Trafficking Resources (including list of abolitionists on Twitter), Charisma Magazine, November 2009
Orange TV interview, October 2009 (link coming)
7 Ways to Change the World, by Troy Anderson, Ministry Today magazine, November/December 2009 (Born to Fly and yours truly are profiled in the cover story--link coming)
And here's some of the extensive coverage that Born to Fly received thanks to our 09-09-09 fundraiser to stop child trafficking. As a result of these stories, thousands of new people learned about child trafficking and how to stop it:
Prevention and awareness are huge parts of stopping the traffic, so I'm grateful to all these publications, blogs, and writers for featuring Born to Fly and our work.
That lovely thought is from the mouth of a human trafficker, talking about his victims.
He mentions it a number of times in Lives For Sale,a documentary that traces the story of 2 young women who cross the
US/Mexico border illegally and end up being trafficked--one in
California and the other in Florida.
Lives For Sale shows the strong connection between immigration and human trafficking, and why immigrants are willing to risk everything--even slavery--for the American dream. Many, of course, have no idea they are signing up to be slaves.
Human trafficking is the 2nd most profitable illegal industry on the planet, after illegal drugs. You can sell a drug once, but you can sell a person over and over again--and that's what happens to the women in Lives For Sale.
Here are some of the notes I scribbled in the dark while I was watching the film:
There is an increasing "feminization of immigration." 54% of immigrants around the world are women--and many pay their way with their bodies--willingly or unwillingly.
One young woman in the film was brought from Mexico to Phoenix to Los Angeles. When she arrived at a dark and dirty home, she was asked, "Do you know why you are here? To work. This is a brothel." To which she replied, "What is that?" This innocent young woman was forced to work as a prostitute.
Another young woman was held hostage in a home in a middle-class neighborhood in the US--which was actually a brothel. A neighbor noticed what was going on and called the police, but it took many calls before anyone believed her and rescued the young woman and others held hostage in the same house. "Finally someone believed my story," the neighbor said.
Quote from a state attorney in the US who prosecutes traffickers: "One of the first things I have to do is convince a jury that slavery actually exists."
500,000 undocumented people enter the US illegally every year. 70,000 of them will be trafficked. Desperation and crushing poverty lead them to believe the lies of traffickers who promise them the moon.
Whatever you think about illegal immigration, no one deserves to be a slave.
The film showed two programs in Guatemala that help people out of poverty -- which means they are less likely to become illegal immigrants and be trafficked:
One program gives kids economic incentives to go to
school and stay in school. This is particularly important for girls. 80% of women in Guatemala are illiterate.
Another program--a coffee co-op--gives farmers a place to sell their coffee beans, make money, feed their families, and get out of poverty.
BTW, this excellent documentary has been shown on television only a handful of times. In Florida where much of it was shot, it was shown on a Sunday night at 12 midnight--not exactly prime time.
Why? Why don't more media show this type of film and expose the horror that is going on in our backyards?
To learn what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop child trafficking, click here.
Yesterday the FBI announced it had rescued 52 children over the weekend from child sex trafficking throughout the US.
Today we have more information. The youngest child was 10 years old--sold into prostitution by her mother. Her customers were migrant workers.
The investigations typically target places where minors are likely to be sold for sex, including truck stops, casinos, public streets, and Internet websites.
According to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, these are the cities and numbers of children rescued:
Atlanta - 2
Chicago - 4
Cleveland (Toledo) - 7
Dallas - 2
Houston - 3
Las Vegas - 4
Los Angeles ( Riverside) - 2
Miami - 1
New York City - 5
Portland - 4
Sacramento - 4
San Diego - 3
Seattle - 9
Tampa - 2
Remember, there are still more than 100,000 children enslaved in the US. Let us work and pray for them to be rescued, too--and for millions more never to enter this nightmare world.
It was pretty good for 52 children who were rescued from prostitution all over the United States.
The FBI conducted a 3-day undercover operation that rescued children in 36 cities around the U.S.
Surprised? Don't be.
“Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our
country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the
continued efforts of our crimes-against-children task forces,” notes Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative
Division.
“These kids are victims,” adds Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which partnered with the FBI to rescue the children. "They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st-century slavery.”
You can read more about the rescue operation here, and read more about child trafficking in US schools here and here.
Can you guess how many other children and young women are trafficked in the US each year?
100,000
They range in age from 9 to 19. Their average age is 11.
I met someone this week who adopted 501 unwanted little girls. He legally adopted every one of them, built homes for them, and even built schools--elementary through Ph.D.--for them to attend.
Yeah, I was pretty amazed, too. His name is Dr. P.P. Job, and he is from India.
In India, almost no one wants a daughter. Here are some of the tragic statistics that Dr. Job shared:
2,000 girls go missing in India--every day.
5,000,000 girls are aborted in government hospitals in India--every year--simply because they are girls.
"From abortion and infanticide," says Dr. Job, "it goes on to denying education to the girl child, later to abuse of women. When a boy is born, there is celebration. When a girl is born, there is mourning."
The story for these 501 girls is doubly tragic. They were orphaned when their parents were murdered. Their parents were Christians and were killed for their faith.
Dr. Job and his wife know something about that; their 2 sons were killed for their Christian faith. Michael was 21 and in medical school, and his older brother, John, was murdered a few years later. Dr. Job and his wife started this amazing orphanage in their honor.
In India, there is no lack of children for the insatiable child-trafficking industry, and 501 suddenly orphaned little girls would have been prime targets for recruiters. Thankfully Dr. Job and his wife took them in--and continue to take in others.
Each one is one more little girl off the streets and in school.
One more little girl who will not be trafficked for sex or labor.
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 hereand donate safely by credit card or PayPal. All funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.
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.
It's been busy around here! Here's what has been happening since the 09-09-09 fundraiser to stop child trafficking:
1. You donated more than $15,600 for The Born2Fly Project! That's donations via Chip-in, PayPal, and check. Fantastic--thank you! Every penny goes to reaching kids before the traffickers do.
2. Any day now, I expect a call from artist Leah Wiedemer saying she's finished the last illustration for the wordless children's book that's the centerpiece of the B2F project. The book will be about 75 pages with more than 400 illustrations. (You'll love it!)
3. I'm almost finished writing the companion curriculum that will teach kids the important concepts in the book.
4. We're getting quotes from the printer on the final cost to print the books and curriculum.
Since we didn't reach our full financial goal of $81,000, we can't print nearly as many books as we want, but we'll print what we can.
Remember, our mission is to reach kids before the traffickers do.
Most kids get lured into trafficking because they don't know the ploys that traffickers use.
Wherever awareness training takes place, the rate of trafficking plummets. There's just not enough, nor is it in the languages of most at-risk kids.
That's the beauty of The B2F Project. Through a wordless book, we can educate kids and parents all over the world about the dangers of child sex trafficking -- no matter what their language or country, nor how remote their villages.
After working on this project for 4 long years, I'm thrilled we're almost ready to go to press and print these precious materials. I'm anxious to hear back from the printer telling us how many books we can print.
If you want to see that number go up, you can still donate via PayPal or credit card by clicking the orange Chip-in button at the upper-right or here.
On behalf of the many children we'll reach before the traffickers do, thank you.
Remember, most kids get lured into child sex slavery because they don't know the tactics traffickers use. The B2F Project is a strategic 4-stage plan to educate kids, parents, and teachers about the dangers of child trafficking—with the ultimate goal of ending it.
Thank you for helping us reach kids before the traffickers do.
Welcome to the 09-09-09 fundraiser to stop child trafficking. All funds go to The Born2Fly Project, which works to stop child trafficking through awareness and prevention. Learn more at www.born2fly.org.
HOW TO DONATE: Click the orange "Chip-in" button to the right and donate safely by credit card or PayPal.
UPDATE: Although September 9 has passed, we are still very grateful to receive donations to help meet our goal--thank you!
Total donors: 554
Donations via Chip-in: $12,095.46
Donations via check: 2,719.00
TOTAL: $14,814.46 (as of 9/12)
All funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. That's our passion--and this is what we do:
Thank you for helping us reach children before traffickers do. The 09-09-09 fundraiser will help us print and distribute strategic awareness materials to kids all over the world. You are helping us do that--$9 at a time.
* * *
11:36 pm ET update: Thank you all for making 09-09-09 a big success. Thousands of people who didn't know about child trafficking now do. Thousands of others who knew about it and felt helpless now know what we can do to help stop it.
These are success stories--and you're part of them. Thank you for your love, prayers, donations, tweets, Facebook posts, blogs, emails, and words of encouragement. I couldn't do it without you!
10:26 pm update: And the winners of our final prizes are....
Tracey Solomon: 2 nights at any Aqua Resorts in Hawaii courtesy of AquaResorts.com (value $895)
Julie Dobson: Sterling silver and 14-karat gold-filled bracelet from MetaLace artist Kathryn Stanko (value $125)
Daniel and Shellie Hoffman: Pumpkin Patch original watercolor painting by artist Leah Wiedemer (value $350)
Congratulations to the winners and huge thanks to all the donors! I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes (or promotional certificate for the resort stay). You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
10:06 pm update: We're about to award the Hawaii resort stay...so if you're thinking of donating, this is the time!
9:09 pm update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Donna Standridge: $25 gift certificate for PartyBeans.com
Carolyn Rowan: $25 gift certificate for PartyBeans.com
Emily Hill: $35 gift certificate for AnnouncementsGalore.com
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something nice.
9:05 pm update: It's almost 9:09 pm on 09-09-09. Time to award a few more prizes in honor of the moment...
7:40 pm update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Melinda Howard (@MelArt): Custom Twitter background from TwitterWalls.com
Jon Swanson (@jnswanson): Custom Twitter background from TwitterWalls.com
FC Kibler (@Kibler): Premium membership to BreakPal.com
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something nice.
7:05 pm update: We have lots more great prizes to give away, so stay tuned.
6:19 pm update: Huge thanks to everyone who's donated so far! You are amazing. Our goal? To reach kids before the traffickers do. Your donation will help us print the B2F awareness materials and get them to at-risk kids and parents around the world. How great is that? You've just changed a life.
5:00 pm update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Clifford Sumner: Purpose assessment with purpose coach Dr. John Stanko
Rockey Measom: $25 gift certificate for PartyBeans.com
Sue Henderson: Adventures With PawPaw children's book series, by yours truly
Erin McKennah (@McKennah): Sterling silver Twitter name necklace from Survival of the Hippest
Lisa Bergren: Slave Hunter, book by Aaron and Christine Buckley
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
4:45 pm update: Announcing 3 more prizes momentarily...Donate now by clicking the orange Chip-in button to the right.
4:27 pm update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Alison Tishenko: DISC profiling with purpose coach Dr. John Stanko
Katrina Cole: $25 gift certificate for PartyBeans.com
Christine Moore: Trust Agents, book by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
4:14 pm update: Just ignore that Chip-in total! It hasn't updated on here for hours, but I can see the update on their site. Between Chip-in donations and checks, we're well into $12,000. Can we reach $13K by the bottom of the hour??
More prizes coming shortly. Tell 9 people.
3:47 pm update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Julie Taylor Shematz (@JulietheArtist1): Custom Twitter background from TwitterWalls.com
Stacy Brice (@StacyBrice): Custom Twitter background from TwitterWalls.com
Stephanie Hamilton (@Nowhere2Hide): $25 gift certificate for PartyBeans.com
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
3:11 pm update: You pushed us over $12,000! Time for more prizes...
1:43 pm update: And the winners are:
Patricia Stallings: Original watercolor from artist Leah Wiedemer
Dirk Nebbeling: My Pittsburgh, book by Ed Folino
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of your prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
1:37 pm update: Ready to give away more prizes...
1:09 pm update: We passed $11,000! That's the Chip-in total + checks received. Keep it coming!
12:20 pm update: We have some just-for-Twitter prizes. If you're on Twitter and you've already donated, DM or tweet me to let me know so you'll be included in the drawing. (Plz RT)
12:09 pm update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Steve and Francine Heiks: Set of Karim Rashid-designed kitchen and office tools from slice
Diana Day: Custom-made sterling silver charm bracelet from The Charm Factory
Norm Anderson: Beyond Purpose, book by Dr. John Stanko
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of the prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
11:58 am update: Coming up on 9:09 am Pacific Time--so time to award more prizes. Watch this space...
11:16 am update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Bob Korzeniewski: MetaLace sterling silver circle earrings from artist Kathryn Stanko
Randy Arrowood: Julbo Kitty sunglasses from Traveling Mamas and Kara Williams
Sally Bard: Original charcoal portrait by artist Melinda Howard
Melissa Godshall: I Wrote This Book on Purpose, book by Dr. John Stanko
Margaret Buckley: The Quiet Place, music CD by Nancy Scimone
Janie Graziani: Long Time Coming, book by Ed Folino
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of
your prizes. You can see details of the prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes soon.
Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
11:09 am update: It's 9:09 am Mountain Time--and we're ready to award more prizes. Watch this space in a moment... BTW, the Chip-in widget is waaaay behind. We have 317 donors; I'll total the $$ and post it here.
9:27 am update: The total showing on the Chip-in widget is really behind. There are 283 Chip-in donors, and total should be around $7400. Plus $2200 from donations made by checks. We're nearing $10,000--can we do it by 10 am??
9:09 am update: Congratulations to these prize winners!
Nina Long: Plane Quiet Platinum Headset
Jim and Beth Herman: 2 small topiary plants from Shubert Nursery
Rebecca Anzelone: Essentials Skin Care Set from Saphoros
Charlene Elwood: The Power of Purpose book from Dr. John Stanko
Victor and Janice Danz: Adventures With PawPaw children's book series, from Diana Scimone
I'll email winners and prize donors so you can arrange for delivery of your prizes. Congrats! You can see details of the prize by scrolling below.
We'll award more prizes later this morn. Everyone who donates is eligible, and all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. So chip-in $9 and you might win something!
8:30 am update: Here are the prizes we'll award at 9:09 am:
Plane Quiet Platinum Headset, from Shannon Hurst Lane
2 small topiary plants, from Shubert Nursery
Essentials Skin Care Set, from Saphoros
The Power of Purpose (book), by Dr. John Stanko
Adventures With PawPaw (children's books), by yours truly Diana Scimone
Scroll down for complete descriptions. Everyone who donates is eligible to win!
8:03 am update: We'll award prizes starting at 9:09 am. Watch this space... (Scroll down to see all the prizes.)
7:46 am update: I slept, you donated! The total is now $9,428.49 (Chip-in total + checks). Donor Andrew N. says, "Raise the bar to 90k if you hit the 9k before you even launch. :-)" Let's do it!
1:36 am update: You donated $8,832.49 in advance donations (Chip-in total + checks) even before the fundraiser officially started! (You are awesome!)
1:20 am update: All prizes are listed here. Everyone who donates is eligible to win. 1:08 am update: Just posted a late-breaking prize to give away later today--a customized sterling silver Twitter name necklace.
12:01 am update: The 09-09-09 fundraiser to stop child trafficking is officially underway!
Slave Hunter, by Aaron Cohen and Christine Buckley
Adventures With PawPaw children's book series, by Diana Scimone (2 sets)
Unlocking the Power of Your Purpose, by Dr. John Stanko
I Wrote This Book on Purpose So You Can Know Yours, by Dr. John Stanko
Beyond Purpose, by Dr. John Stanko
The Quiet Place (CD), by Nancy Scimone
Long Time Coming, by Ed Folino
My Pittsburgh, by Ed Folino
How to Write a Book (e-book), by Diana Scimone
Everyone who donates to the 09-09-09 fundraiser is entered to win these prizes.
Remember, all funds go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. Our goal is 9,000 people giving $9 each on 09-09-09. That's today! (So tell 9 of your friends!)
How to donate: Click the orange "Chip-in" button at the top right and donate safely by credit card or PayPal.
We've got one more super prize to announce: A sterling silver customized necklace with your very own Twitter name!
It's from SurvivaloftheHippest.com. Twitter ID necklaces are a cool twist to the nameplate trend for social media aficionados. Why leave your Twitter name stuck on the screen when you can wear it proudly in sterling silver?
The necklace you could win is part of the "Social St@tus Collection" from Survival of the Hippest. Survival prez Phoebe Jonas says this collection has rescued legions of Tweeters from Twittername obscurity and helped them increase their social net worth.
All necklaces are custom made from .925 sterling silver. Phoebe suggests a chain length of 14" long (to bring the total length of the necklace to 16").
Follow Phoebe on Twitter @thehippest. (She's the one with the cool necklace.)
We'll give away this prize on 09-09-09. All funds raised go to The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.
How to donate: Click the orange "Chip-in" button at the top right and donate safely by credit card or PayPal.
It's the day before 09-09-09 when we'll do something never done before: raise $81,000 in a single day to stop child trafficking.
It may seem odd at this moment to be thinking about my high school biology teacher.
Mr. Bateson spent a lot less time teaching us about frog innards than he did teaching us life lessons. At the time, his monologues about life used to annoy me because I knew tests were coming and I wouldn’t know the difference between a lung and a liver.
Flash forward a number of decades. I can’t remember a thing about frogs—but I still remember one of Mr. Bateson’s favorite lines: “It’s better to aim for the moon and miss than to aim for the gutter and make it.”
Today, 24 hours before trying something that seems like aiming for the moon, I’m remembering his words. And the words of someone else who told us just to step out on the water and trust Him.
It’s absolutely crazy to think we can raise $81,000 in one day. It’s totally foolish to think we can someday see the end of child trafficking. It’s ridiculous to hope I’ll be out of a job someday.
Sometimes the things that are foolish in the eyes of the world are pretty sane and normal and business-as-usual in the eyes of God.
So, thank you for being part of such a crazy, foolish, ridiculous thing.
Thank you to everyone who has already donated $9 or is ready to donate...posted something on their blog about 09-09-09...tweeted about it...Facebooked about it...emailed 9 friends about it...prayed for me...prayed for the kids we’re trying to keep from being trafficked...and more.
Thank you for joining me as together we aim for the moon.
Reminder: All day on 09-09-09, I'll post updates here, including prize give-aways.
If you subscribe to this blog by email, remember you normally receive it the day after I've posted. So you don't miss anything, please visit www.dianascimone.com throughout the day on 09-09-09 and keep refreshing the page to read the latest.
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