A: She believed the guy with the too-good-to-be-true story.
Q: How did he get in that mess? A. He clicked on a Craigslist ad.
Q: And why doesn't she just leave? A: Uh, she's a slave now.
MTV's college station, mtvU, just released a brilliant interactive digital experience called The Backstory, which answers these and many other questions -- and shows exactly what can happen if you too buy the lies that traffickers tell.
The Backstory is the latest component of mtvU's Against Our Will campaign. It was inspired by four James Madison University students who won mtvU's Against Our Will Challenge.
The Backstory interactive experience begins as you read a list of ads that resemble Craigslist posts. Click on one of the ads, titled "No Questions No Papers Just EZ Money," and you'll see the following post:
Free Rent and Money for School in Exchange for Housekeeping. Large, clean room. Looking for honest, HARD WORKING person. Duties: vacuum, dusting, laundry, shop for groceries, and occasional cooking. Serious Inquiries Only. No Papers Needed. Please call 555-1313 for further information.
Sounds intriguing, right? Harmless enough.
If you were a college student needing some quick cash, you might click on it too.
To find out what happened to the young man who did answer the ad, click on the "backstory" button...and then begins his sad story.
The Backstory doesn't work in all browsers; it worked better for me in Safari than in Firefox, so just check around.
Creativity and awareness
I absolutely love The Backstory and how mtvU has combined a creative, digital experience to educate tweens, teens, and college students about the lies that traffickers tell.
Our goal at Born2Fly is reaching kids before the traffickers do -- so you know I applaud anyone else who's doing that, too.
I also love the mix of creativity, art, and even dance. The videos feature silhouetted reenactments with dancers from Ailey II. They starkly portray the emotions that trafficked victims go through...and why we must make sure no child ever goes through this again.
The report was produced by the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) at the University
of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and
Journalism.
“Increasingly, the business of human trafficking is taking place online and over mobile phones,” says CCLP research director Dr. Mark Latonero. “Mobile devices allow traffickers to expand their criminal networks in new ways."
Adds Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, “Human trafficking has moved from the streets to
online. It is easier, less risky and more
profitable."
Some good news
But as traffickers increase their use of technology, that same technology "can be used to target traffickers, reach vulnerable communities, and raise public awareness," says Latonero.
I've seen some of this technology in meetings with law enforcement, and it's astounding.
And look what creative app designers came up with in Colombia: If someone sees a child working illegally, they can take a picture with their phone and log the location, which the app sends to the country's child welfare agency.
Trafficking and social media
Cell phones are not the only digital channels that make exploiting
children just a few clicks away. Others include social networking sites
like Facebook, as CNN reported this week on Pimps hit social networks to recruit underage sex workers.
Of course, if you read this blog regularly, you already knew that 5 months ago :-) when you read my report, Parents, please wake up.
Anti-traffickers in China recently produced this riveting video to warn young Chinese women about the lies that traffickers tell...and what can happen if they believe them. (It's in Mandarin with English subtitles.)
Of course, the ploys these traffickers use are not limited to China. They're the same lies told by traffickers all over the world.
At Born2Fly we're launching a digital library of resources on our website. We'll include this video. The library will be live in a few weeks so watch this space for an announcement. And if you'd like to recommend some anti-trafficking resources we should include, please leave a comment below.
People always ask me, "How can I stop child trafficking?"
One of my answers: "Don't let your kids post pictures of themselves online. Don't even post them yourself."
People look at me like I'm crazy. They really think social media sites like Facebook are lock-tight secure. As if porn peddlers (aka child traffickers) would never ever in a million years think of downloading pix of kids online and reselling them.
A new study by the Internet Watch Foundation found otherwise. IWF tracked explicit online images and videos of kids and teens and found that a whopping 88% of them came from social media sites -- photos that the kids themselves posted.
In less than 48 working hours, IWF found more than 12,000 images and videos spread over 68 websites.
Wake up, parents.
“During the course of our work we encounter large quantities of self-generated sexual content [that] has been copied from its original location and then uploaded elsewhere to form collections," said Sarah Smith, IWF technical researcher, "but this is the first time we’ve been able to demonstrate the extent to which this occurs.”
Adds Susie Hargreaves, IWF CEO, “This
research gives an unsettling indication of the number of images and
videos on the internet featuring young people performing sexually
explicit acts or posing.
“It also highlights the problem of control of these images," she continued. "Once an image has been copied onto a parasite website, it will no longer suffice to simply remove the image from the online account. We need young people to realise that once an image or a video has gone online, they may never be able to remove it entirely.”
Here's what happened to one teenager as a result of posting pix online:
“I came to regret posting photographs of
myself naively on the internet and tried to forget about it, but strangers
recognized me from the photographs and made lewd remarks at school. I endured
so much bullying because of this photograph and the others...
"I was eventually
admitted for severe depression and was treated for a suicide attempt.”
Remember, the originating photos don't have to be explicit. One anti-trafficker who works with victims in Florida told me she won't post pictures of her children online because traffickers can easily download them and manipulate them. They take your child's head and put it on someone else's body, and voila, an explicit photo of your child that's then sold all over the internet.
Yes, she was talking about Facebook and other supposedly secure social media sites. I don't have a personal Facebook account yet I can get on many Facebook pages. Including kids. Facebook is absolutely positively not secure.
Parents, please teach your kids internet safety. Here are resources you can use:
Our expanded website is now live! All the Born2Fly anti-trafficking materials are uploaded on it.
Organizations around the world have begun to download our curriculum, wordless book, and more--all absolutely free.
Yup, I'm pretty excited about it!
Here's what they're telling us:
South Africa:
"We are the national coalition of counter-trafficking organisations in South Africa. Trafficking is rife country-wide involving foreign and local victims and perpetrators...We hope B2F will help us raise awareness about human trafficking so that the children know how to protect themselves...You guys are doing amazing work; keep it up!"
Australia:
"[We expect B2F will] give our children a 'heads up' in a way that doesn't frighten them, giving them some options for situations they might otherwise be unprepared for."
US:
"I'm a freshman in college studying nursing. My goal is to become a gynecological nurse and help girls saved from trafficking. Not only do I want to provide medical support, I want to learn how to provide for their mental, emotional, and spiritual needs."
Kenya:
"We have a home for orphans with 32 children and 10 more on the way. I want to educate our children on human trafficking before it's too late."
England:
"We're experiencing a growth in trafficking of Roma children for petty crime and prostitution and also internal trafficking of young girls. We hope B2F will help us empower young people to resist exploitation."
In addition to these countries, B2F is also headed to Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, England, Greece, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and more. And we're already in Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Russia, and Thailand.
If you know someone who works with children, please tell them about our B2F trafficking prevention program. Just send them to www.born2fly.org where they can register to download the materials without charge. Once we approve their request, we'll send them a password so they can download whatever they need.
And of course if you want to see them, just go to that same site and register.
Free but not cheap
We give away our anti-trafficking materials without charge. Most organizations working with kids around the world couldn't afford to pay anyway. So we give them away freely--and rely on the generosity of donors (that would be you!) so that we can continue doing this.
If you'd like to keep these materials going around the world protecting kids from trafficking, just click here to make an instant tax-deductible donation.
Remember, our goal is to cut off the supply line of kids. Awareness training is the best way to do this.
Thank you for partnering with us as we educate children in more and more countries every month. You really are helping us reach kids before the traffickers do.
That's what my Twitter buddy @MichelleVan always says. Her full name is Michelle Vandepas and she hosts a program on Blog Talk Radio called Talking Purpose.
Michelle always says she hopes I'll be out of a job someday -- meaning there will be no more child trafficking left for me to fight, and I can go on to something less gruesome for the rest of my life.
To hasten the day, Michelle interviewed me this morning about what you can do about human trafficking in your own town.
Yes, there is human trafficking in your town. You just don't know it. We cover the signs and what to do about it (like call the national human trafficking hotline, 888-3737-888).
We recorded the program this morning and already more than 500 people have downloaded it. You can, too; just click here:
Apparently I like hanging out with people of purpose because another purpose person, John Stanko, also interviewed me about the fight to stop the traffic -- on his radio program, Threads.
John is director of PurposeQuest, a B2F board member, and happens to be my brother-in-law. He's @JohnStanko on Twitter.
John and I talked a lot about my recent trip to Russia, the trafficking situation there, and what Born2Fly is doing to stop it.
I just returned from 10 days in Russia meeting with the young people who've been testing the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. It was a great trip and the feedback they gave me was invaluable.
Russia has one of the highest rates of child trafficking in the world, so it was a strategic place to test B2F. Russian orphans are particularly at-risk because once they leave the orphanages at age 16, they have nowhere to go, no job, no money, no contacts, not even a place to stay that night.
Traffickers are waiting to befriend them and lure them into the highly lucrative sex trafficking industry. It's a multi-billion industry so you can imagine the fight for these kids.
Our goal at Born2Fly has always been to cut off the supply line of kids -- to reach kids before the traffickers do.
Thankfully a group of young adults in Russia is making sure that happens. They are the interns, staff, and young people who've been part of the B2F test program at youth centers in 3 cities throughout Russia.
Former orphans protecting orphans
The interns who taught B2F are former orphans themselves. They were passionate about B2F and took their role in the test program very seriously. We spent hours meeting with them, listening to their feedback and ideas, and hopefully encouraging them.
The information they shared was priceless. I never could have done this simply by email so I'm very grateful to the many partners of B2F who helped send me to Russia to meet with these young people in person.
Where do we go from here?
This past Wednesday was the final day of the test in Russia -- and our year-long 5-country test phase is now officially over. (Woo hoo!)
Based on feedback from Russia, Thailand, Bulgaria, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, here is B2F's upcoming agenda:
Next 60 days:
1. Produce finalized versions of B2F wordless book and kids curriculum based on feedback from 5 test countries.
2. Translate B2F kids curriculum into more languages (currently in English, Spanish, Russian, and one of the languages of the Philippines).
3. Begin distributing these materials (digitally and in print) to groups all over the world who've been patiently waiting for them.
This summer:
4. Develop the "Dream Big Campaign," an anti-trafficking program specifically for teens and young people including Powerpoint customized for different countries. This was the recommendation of the interns in Russia.
5. Distribute via YouTube, websites, etc.
Next year:
6. Create B2F and "Dream Big" apps and other digital material. Some of these will be country-specific.
7. Work with tablet developers and manufacturers to create a B2F "One Tablet Per Child" program (similar to the One Laptop Per Child program) with low-cost tablets pre-loaded with B2F and "Dream Big" anti-trafficking materials for kids, teens, and young adults. (If you're a tablet developer/manufacturer and want to partner with us, please email me.)
As we say in the south, I have a "full plate." I'm very excited about this focused direction for B2F's future.
Thank you for partnering with B2F to make it all happen. Together we will accomplish our goal of reaching kids before the traffickers do.
Yesterday I was in a meeting with one of the detectives responsible for the arrests of 40 men this week in central Florida for attempting to buy children online. (You can read about the arrests in yesterday's post: If you buy children online, we will post your name online.)
He spoke to us about internet crimes against children. I wanted to wash in Clorox after he finished.
Here's what he told us:
Of the 40 arrrested, only 1 was a registered sex offender.
Two years ago in the same county where these 40 men were arrested, traffickers targeted 11 kids at a local karate school.
Child traffickers are professional. He showed us the cover of a professionally produced booklet--a how-to guide for buying children and what to do once you have them. [Bring on the Clorox.]
Most of the men arrested were once victims themselves of childhood sex abuse.
Investigators use sophisticated computer programs that monitor who is trading images and videos of children online. Think Google maps, but click on the red pins and instead of all the nearby Starbucks, voila--the name, location, and IP address of everyone looking for children online. All in real time.
Law enforcement in numerous states worked together on the 40 arrests--members of Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a nationwide network of 3,000 federal, state, and local agencies.
Since 2009, his local department has helped with 188 arrests in state and out of state including:
~High-level executive at a national insurance company ~High-school teacher ~Pastor of a 1,500 member church ~Father of 4, including a child who was the age of the child he was propositioning online ~Federal corrections officer ~Youth pastor ~Doctor
Buyers use a complicated grooming process to lure children and teenagers via Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, and other sites.
Parents can minimize risk by actively and strategically monitoring their children's social network usage.
In a few days I'll post some of the resources he shared.
If you're new to this blog, our goal at The Born2Fly Project is to reach kids before the traffickers do. We do this through an awareness and prevention program that we're testing in 5 countries. You can read more at www.born2fly.org. And you can donate to our work on that site, also.
I know this is not easy reading. Thanks for not turning away.
Yesterday the Sheriff's Office of Osceola County, Florida, arrested 40 men for attempting to buy sex with children.
The arrests include a swim coach, a professional golfer on the Senior PGA Tour, an 8th-grade teacher, business professionals, 8 college students, and many others.
I just came from a meeting with one of the detectives involved in the sting and I'll report on that tomorrow. I'm still processing the mind-boggling information he shared.
Meanwhile, to the men buying children, here is our promise: If you buy children online, we will post your name online. And here you are--all 40 of you including your photos and occupations.
(This information is publicly available on the Osceola County Sheriff's Office website here, along with more information about each person arrested.)
Frederick David Adams, Naples, FL. Occupation: High School Student
Samer Japer Al-Hubaydi, Daytona Beach, FL. Occupation: Student, Embry-Riddle
Milton Benjamin Richardson, Palm Bay, FL. Occupation: Engineer
Kegan Ritchie, Port Orange, FL. Occupation: Student
Alexander Roy, Port St. Lucie, FL. Occupation: Eighth Grade Teacher
Kenneth Sinisi, South Daytona, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
Andrew Louis Skinner, Windermere, FL. Occupation: Vendor
Jay S. Soni, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Sales Representative
Frederick Charles Spreng, Windermere, FL. Occupation: Manager
Warren Lee Staples, St. Cloud, FL. Occupation: Public Works
Winston Alexander Stephens, Shreveport, LA. Occupation: Student, Full Sail University
Christopher Stewart, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Truck Loader
Ryan Stickle, Sammamish, WA. Occupation: Consultant
Samuel Dean Straitiff, Deland, FL. Occupation: Information Technology
Stephen Wesley Thomas, Meridian, MS. Occupation: Professional Golfer
Bryan Allan Woodward, Gainesville, FL. Occupation: Head Swim Coach, Gator Swim Club
Please check back here tomorrow when I'll post Part 2 -- a report on the meeting with one of the undercover investigators involved in the sting. Or subscribe to this blog by using the "Get email updates" button in the upper left.
This is a great example of how the next generation is taking up the fight to stop human trafficking--a video produced by a group of high school kids:
I'm convinced their generation will be the ones to stop the horror of human trafficking. I know we refer to the World War 2 generation as "the greatest" generation, but I believe these young kids and many like them all over the world will also bear that title.
Hat tip to Jon Swanson (@jnswanson) for letting me know about this video and the young people who produced it. If you know of other kids working to stop the traffic in creative ways, please leave a comment to let the rest of us know about them.
* * *
UPDATE: They raised more than $1,000! The funds will help Tiny Hands International rescue children being trafficked across the border between Nepal and India. You can see the video here. Great job!
You tweeted, you emailed, you blogged, you told people about the Twitterthon--and you donated. Here's what you helped us raise to stop child trafficking:
Donations via ChipIn: $3,789.88 Donations via other PayPal: 1,250.00 Donations via check: 1,295.00 TOTAL: $6,334.88
Even though it's not 10/10/10 anymore, you can still donate to help stop child trafficking. Just go to www.born2fly.org. Or mail your donation to "Born to Fly International, Inc.," PO Box 952949, Lake Mary FL 32794. Born to Fly International is a 501c3 non-profit organization and your donation is tax deductible in the US.
Thank you for your generosity as together we work to reach children before the traffickers do.
October 15 is Blog Action Day when thousands of bloggers all over the world write about the same subject. This year it's water.
And you're wondering how in the world I'm going to connect water with child trafficking. Oh yes, there is a connection.
About 5 years ago when I knew Born to Fly wanted to get involved with the fight to stop child trafficking, I talked with Rob Morris, head of Love 146. Rob told me about some villages on the border of Cambodia and Thailand where little girls walk a long distance from their village to the nearest well.
Child traffickers know their routes. It doesn't take much planning to find a little girl walking by herself. And voila--another innocent child joins the worldwide trafficking trade. Her destiny is to be raped for profit 30 or 40 times a night for the rest of her life. All because she had to walk to find water.
Rob told me how Love 146 was working to dig wells in these high-risk villages so that little girls didn't have to walk far to get water. In the villages where they'd dug wells, the rate of trafficking was going down. And girls could spend time in school instead of lugging water jugs.
No water = child trafficking.
Water = No child trafficking.
This isn't just a problem on the Thai/Cambodia border, of course, but all over the world.
There are so many things we can do to help stop child trafficking. Who knew that digging a well would be one of them?
Now you do.
UPDATE from Rob Morris at Love146: "Thanks Diana. The children in those communities are now in school & getting an education. No longer prey for traffickers." Pretty awesome!
* * *
A big thank-you to everyone who donated to the 10/10/10 Twitterthon to stop child trafficking. We've raised more than $5,600. Even though 10/10/10 has passed, you can still donate by clicking the orange "ChipIn" button above (or here if you're reading this by email).
Thanks Diana. The children in those communities are now in school & getting an education. No longer prey for traffickers.
Many of you emailed or tweeted me on September 9 in honor of last year's 09-09-09 Twitterthon for The B2F Project to stop child trafficking -- and asked if I was doing another one on 10/10/10.
By popular demand, yes, there WILL be a
Twitterthon on 10/10/10. And no, you don't have to be on Twitter to be
part of it!
Click on the orange Chip-in button above (or here if you're reading this by email) and donate $10 via PayPal or credit card.
Then email 10 of your friends about 10/10/10. Just send them here.
If you're on Twitter, tweet about 10/10/10 to your followers.
That's what made last year's Twitterthon a success. YOU got behind it and told people about it--and it went viral. Let's see if we can do it again, okay?
Why we're doing this
Each year more than a million kids are lured into modern-day slavery where they’re raped for profit 30 or 40 times a night—night after night. Some of them are just 4 years old. Many are right in the U.S.
If that makes you angry, there IS something we can do about it.
Most kids are tricked into sex slavery because they don’t know the deceptive tactics of traffickers. What if we could warn children and their parents ahead of time?
What if we taught them about the lies traffickers use—and how to stand up against them? The rate of trafficking would drop and millions of kids would never enter the dark world of trafficking.
Reaching kids before the traffickers do
The B2F Project educates at-risk children and their parents about the dangers of trafficking through a strategic 6-week community campaign. The project's centerpiece is a wordless book that teaches kids to make wise choices—wordless so we don’t have to translate it into hundreds of languages. A 70-page companion curriculum reinforces the important concepts in the book.
The B2F wordless book and curriculum are complete and ready for testing next month in the Dominican Republic.
Once we have feedback from teachers and kids, we’ll begin distributing these amazing materials all over the world. The 1-day fundraiser will raise money to do that—and prevent millions of kids from ever being trafficked.
What you can do
Donate: Use the Chip-in widget above (or here) to donate $10. (You don't have to wait til 10/10/10 to donate of course.)
Email: Tell 10 people about 10/10/10 and send them to www.born2fly.org or this blog.
Blog: Post about 10/10/10. Include the Chip-in widget (see code below).
Facebook: Talk about 10/10/10; include the Chip-in widget.
Twitter: Tweet about it. Follow me, @DianaScimone, director of The B2F Project.
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?
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
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.)
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.
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.)
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).
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!
We're well into the 31-day countdown to the 09-09-09 1-day fundraiser for the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. Our goal is 9,000 people each giving $9 on September 9.
Trust agents aren't necessarily marketers or salespeople; they're the digitally savvy people who use the web to humanize businesses using transparency, honesty, and genuine relationships.
As a result, they wield enough online influence to build up or bring down a business's reputation. This book will show you how to build profitable relationships with trust agents, or become one yourself.
Trust Agents isn't even officially on the market yet (it debuts August 24)--and it's already #43 on Amazon's best-seller list. Amazing, huh? I know Chris from Twitter (@ChrisBrogan) and read his blog and newsletter a lot. If his book is anything like his daily writings, you're in for a treat.
Yes, Chris and Julien will sign it for you if you win.
BTW, one of the best tools in the fight against human trafficking is being a trust agent. For too long, kids and parents have been held hostage by traffickers who act like they have the children's best interest in mind, but have anything but. Talk about needing trust agents.
* * *
Here's the answer to yesterday's question:
Q: Which 3 countries improved their efforts to stop human trafficking within their borders and were moved off Tier 3 this year?
A: Algeria, Moldova, and Qatar all moved to the watchlist on the 2009 TIP List. This means they've made improvement, but are still in danger of moving back to Tier 3 if they don't keep it up.
Today's question:
Q: Police recently broke up a human trafficking ring in Botswana. What country were most of the people headed to, had they not been rescued?
Answer tomorrow...along with another prize we'll give away on 09-09-09.
We're on our way: The very first $9 donation came in yesterday for our 09-09-09 fundraiser!
Now, most people are waiting til September 9 to donate, but this person simply could not wait. And who am I to stop her? If you want to donate ahead of time, I won't stop you, either. Just use the Chip-in widget here or here.
Her donation was followed by another from some good friends. Our goal is 9,000 people each giving $9 on 09-09-09--so we need only 8,998 more people to donate. Between you and me, I think we can do it.
Lots of companies have provided great prizes for us to give away on 09-09-09. Anyone who donates (whether on the day or ahead of time) will be entered into a drawing for the prizes.
Here's the latest one: TwitterWalls.com is giving away customized Twitter backgrounds to 4 lucky people.
If you don't want the same old Twitter background as everyone else on the planet, TwitterWalls will give you a unique look AND provide all the information you want to make available to your readers.
Customized Twitter backgrounds retail for $24.95 each--and TwitterWalls will give away four of them on 09-09-09. (Thanks, Robert, @TweetWalls, and @CoffeeDaze!)
* * *
Here's the answer to yesterday's question:
Q: What's the average age of sex workers around the world?
A: 11 years old. That's also the average age in the US. Remember, if that's the average, there are plenty of kids even younger.
Today's question:
Q: What's the only illegal industry that brings in more money than human trafficking?
Watch for the answer tomorrow...when we announce another prize to be given away on 09-09-09.
By the way, mega-thanks to Cathleen Kwas (@CathleenKwas) for designing our cool 09-09-09 logo. (She also designed the logo for Born to Fly and everything else I've ever done.) Nice work, Cathleen!
Make sure kids don't get trafficked in the first place.
What if we could warn children and their parents ahead of time? What if we could teach them about the lies traffickers use--and how to stand up against them?
The rate of trafficking would drop and millions of kids would never be trafficked.
That's the goal of The Born2Fly Project--educating kids and their parents about the dangers of trafficking through a strategic global campaign of books and printed materials.
On 9/9/09 we'll host a 1-day fundraiser to raise money for B2F: 9,000 people each giving $9 on 9/9/09 to stop child trafficking.
Day 29 Prize give-away
I'm announcing a prize a day to give away on 9/9/09. The latest? Five $25-gift certificates to PartyBeans.com.
This is a cool website where you can easily create customized gifts and party favors with your own color photos. Pick a container, upload your own photo and text, add candy (Jelly Belly beans, M&Ms, or mints), and you're done.
On 9/9/09, we'll give away 5 $25 gift certificates to random donors. Thank you, PartyBeans, for the donation!
Here's the answer to yesterday's Q&A:
Q: How can you tell if someone is being trafficked, and what can you do about it?
It's Day 30 in our countdown to the 09-09-09 Twitterthon.
So a friend emailed me and asked, "Can you explain this Twitterthon? I don't get how it works."
Good question. A Twitterthon is like a telethon, except it's on Twitter--and in this case on Facebook and this blog, too.
The goal of this particular Twitterthon is 9,000 people each giving $9 on September 9 (09-09-09) for the B2F Project to help stop child trafficking.
There's just one little problem...
I don't know 9,000 people.
Enter the power of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. I follow about 1,400 people on Twitter, and a bunch more follow me (not necessarily the same people, BTW).
Take any one of those people; they might follow another 100 or even 10,000. So when I tweet about 09-09-09, they can "retweet" (forward) it to their followers. Same with Facebook.
And voila.
Suddenly we're talking huge numbers of people who learn about the B2F Project--and will hopefully donate $9 on 09-09-09.
If you're not on Twitter or Facebook, you can still donate on 09-09-09 via the Chip-in widget on the Born to Fly website -- and you'll automatically be entered into the drawing for all the prizes we'll give away that day.
All 09-09-09 donors entered in drawing for wonderful prizes
MetaLace jewelry just donated a beautiful handcrafted sterling-and-gold-filled bangle bracelet. This is a gorgeous work of art, and retails for $125+ at art galleries around the country. (I have one in sterling and another in gold-filled, and wear them constantly.) Shout-out to artist Kathryn Stanko (who happens to be my sister) for donating this wonderful prize. Someone will win it on 09-09-09--maybe you!
Here's the answer to yesterday's question:
Q: How many underage girls are involved in child labor around the world?
A: 100 million (via International Labour Organisation). You can read more here.
And here's today's question:
Q: How can you tell if someone is being trafficked--and what can you do about it?
Know the answer? Leave it as a comment. I'll give the answer tomorrow, along with another question. And info on another prize.
If you're on Twitter, here are some wonderful anti-trafficking tweeps (Twitter people) to follow. If I left you off or if you have someone to recommend, please leave a comment and I'll update the list.
And if you're not on Twitter, you should be! Twitter is a fantastic way to network with people
literally all over the globe. As a result of tweeting, I've been
interviewed on Blog Talk Radio about Born to Fly, guest posted on
blogs, networked for anti-trafficking awareness, and LOTS more. (If
you're on Facebook, let me say it's the exact opposite. Facebook helps
you connect with people you DO know. Twitter opens up your world to
people you don't know--but should.)
Just go to www.twitter.com and sign up. It's free. Tip: Make your user name your real name. You want to reserve it so some spammer doesn't grab the rights to your name. (I'm @DianaScimone .)
In honor of "Follow Friday" on Twitter, when everyone shares good tweeps and tworgs (people and organizations) to follow, here are my Follow Friday recommendations. The first group are mostly anti-trafficking organizations:
Remember, if I missed you, please leave your Twitter name in a comment and I'll update the list. See you on Twitter!
UPDATE #1: I've added a new category to my Follow Friday list -- my own personal cheerleaders. These are people who don't necessarily tweet 24/7 about human trafficking issues, but who regularly encourage me and support me in what I do to stop the traffic. So meet my own personal cheerleading squad. (Follow them and I'll bet they'll cheer you on, too.)
@AngelaMunizzi (Born2Fly board member) @brokerkathy @BurgessCT @CathleenKwas (graphic designer who did the B2F logo, the @09_09_09 logo & my children's books) @cfpdx @DivinePurposeMV @dpicirillo @easton @Ebain @4kingdomkidz (member of my writer's group) @jgraziani @jeffpower @JohnStanko (Born2Fly board member) @jnswanson @jyl_MomIF (and the Mom It Forward moms) @kibler @lucyannmoll @lynnmosher @northernchick @RoamingArtist (artist who's illustrating the B2F wordless book)
UPDATE #2 (August 28, 2009): Adding more great abolitionists to follow. If I've somehow left you off the list, leave a comment and I'll add you:
You know how you reeeealllly want a Flip Video? You know how I always say that you (yes, you) can help stop child trafficking? Here's how you can do both.
First let me introduce you to artist Leah Wiedemer, who did the adorable illustrations in my children's book series, Adventures With PawPaw. Right now Leah is busy illustrating the wordless picture book for the Born to Fly project to stop child trafficking.
The other day she came up with an idea to help raise funds to get the B2F materials printed and into the hands of kids around the world. She uploaded onto CafePress some of the illustrations from the Adventures With PawPaw books--and she's donating 100% of the proceeds to Born to Fly. Pretty cool, huh?
If you've never seen CafePress, check it out. Leah has 50 different items with adorable PawPaw illustrations on them -- everything from baby onesies to mouse pads to (you guessed it) Flip Videos. Really cool stuff. Here are some samples and you can find more on CafePress:
So, about that Flip Video you've been wanting? Why not order it with a cute PawPaw illustration on it? (Leah can customize it for you with any of the illustrations you see; just leave me a comment and I'll get it to her.) Whatever you order--whether it's a Flip Video or a magnet--Leah is donating 100% of her proceeds to stop child trafficking.
In the coming week, I'm going to post more examples of people like Leah making a difference. (If you know one, leave a comment here.)
Last November thousands of people got together in Birmingham, England, to do something about human trafficking. The event, called The Stand, brought together leading musicians, artists, and the public--all to take a stand against human trafficking and learn what they could do to stop it.
If you (like me) weren't there, we can watch The Stand this weekend on God TV:
Friday, January 30, 10 pm ET
Saturday, January 31, 9:30 pm ET
Sunday, February 1, 5 pm ET
In the US, you can watch God TV on Direct TV channel 365. Or catch it on www.god.tv where it will be streamed live and later on demand. If you're outside the US, check God TV's schedule for broadcast times in your country.
The Stand is organized by Hope For Justice and includes music from bands like Delirious?, YFriday, Bluetree, Jon Foreman (Switchfoot), Paul Field, thebandwithnoname, and many others. It also includes speakers like Steve Chalke, who's the UN.GIFT special adviser on community action against human trafficking.
"The Stand wasn't an easy event to be at," according to Hope for Justice. "It took people on a journey into the world of human trafficking with hard-hitting video footage showing the impact it has on innocent lives."
I'm sure The Stand won't be easy to watch...but then again it's not easy being trafficked either, right?
Yesterday I shared with you a list of people to follow on Twitter who are involved with non-profits, human rights, and social justice.
How could I leave off the amazing Beth Kanter who writes a super blog on how non-profits can use social media? You can read Beth's blog here. You can follow her on Twitter @Kanter.
Want to see what social media can do in just 3 hours to make a difference? Here's what Beth wrote this morning:
The theme for Social Media Breakfast #11 in Boston this morning was "Social Media for Social Good." To kick off the event, Bob Collins and I organized a call to action for the group. Tyson Foods was willing to donate 100 pounds of protein to the Boston Food Bank per comment on its Hunger Relief blog.
As everyone at the breakfast took their 1st sip of coffee, Beth and Bob asked them to get on Twitter and ask their followers to leave a comment on the Hunger Relief blog. Within 90 minutes, they had 300+ comments--enough for 1 truckload.
Within 2-1/2 hours, they had 800+ comments and a 2nd truckload. I think they've since filled a 3rd truck.
Amazing. The power of social media.
Now doesn't that just get your creative wheels turning? Notice no one talked about a recession, "the economy," or all those other phrases I'm growing to hate.
Want to read more? Emily Bain Murphy was at the breakfast and contrasts it with a talk-only meeting she'd been to the evening before.
How can you use social media for change in your world? Got ideas? Share them here.
Today is Blog Action Day 08. More than 9,000 bloggers around the world with an audience of 10 million are all posting about the same issue on the same day. This year's topic is poverty, and we’re writing about how it relates to the focus of our blog.
You don’t have to look far to find the connection between child trafficking and poverty. You just have to meet Butterfly Girl.
I met her in a very poor village on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. I call her "Butterfly Girl" because when we arrived in the village, I had my usual supply of stickers to pass out to kids, this time with butterflies on them. You can see she's wearing one:
This is where she lives:
Butterfly Girl wasn’t trafficked that I know of, but like millions of kids all over the world, she's sure at risk for it. And poverty is one of the reasons.
Who wouldn’t want something more from life than a dirt floor to sleep on and a hopeless future to look toward? Traffickers know that, and when they come to a village promising the moon, it doesn’t take much for kids to follow.
There are two things that drew me to Butterfly Girl. One is the look on her face—there was still hope. The other is the color of her t-shirt—Tiffany blue. If you buy a diamond ring at Tiffany & Co., it comes packaged in the famous Tiffany-blue box—almost the exact shade of Butterfly Girl’s shirt.
How appropriate. This child is valuable. She may live in crushing poverty, but somehow that Tiffany-blue shirt says, “I’m valuable. I’m precious. And I’m showing you.”
The goal of Blog Action Day 08 is to raise awareness about poverty and raise funds to fight it. You can give to one of the bad08 charities, or you can give to any charity you choose. If you’d like to give to the Born to Fly Project to help stop child trafficking, we’d be thrilled. You can do it here; just let bad08 know so they can tally the amount of funds raised.
Meanwhile, be sure to tune in to Blog Talk Radio on October 15 at 1:30 pm ET where yours truly will be interviewed during the 12-hour Blog Action Day talkathon.
Have a great one!
UPDATE: 10,357 blogs now participating. 11.2 million readers!
Visit the site and you'll see the video first thing.
Born to Fly International replaces PawPaw's Pals, Inc. PawPaw has served us well for 5 years, and it's now time for a name that reflects our focus and vision. (If you miss PawPaw, you can always visit him at www.adventureswithpawpaw.com, where he lives on in the Adventures With PawPaw children's travel book series.)
After you've watched the video, leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
Alltop--as in "All the top news"--just added this blog to its listing of blogs and websites about trafficking and slavery. And they gave us very nice placement front and center. Thanks, Alltop!
If you've never visited Alltop, give it a whirl. It's sort of a digital magazine rack of every subject you can think of with the latest news and info from around cyberspace. There are listings in gazillions of categories like work, living, culture, tech, people, good, sports, geo, education, and more. Just click here, then type in what you're looking for--or scroll through the categories.
If you're looking for info on a certain subject (as opposed to looking for a specific website), Alltop is actually more focused and organized than Google (who can wade through 188,000 entries?). Listings are updated every hour.
Check it out. And a big shout out to Alltop for saying we are:
It's to tell you that this Wednesday, October 15, is the 2nd annual global Blog Action Day. More than 7,700 blogs all over the world (including yours truly) are participating. That's a whopping 9 million readers.
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world's bloggers, podcasters, and videocasters to post about the same issue on the same day. This year's focus is on poverty. Participating bloggers will write about how poverty relates to the focus of their blog. Poverty is a huge contributor to child trafficking, so you know what I'll be blogging about.
I'll be a guest on blog talk radio on Blog Action Day; as soon as I have the details, I'll let you know.
Don't believe me? Read Mark Hayward's motivating and inspiring post on Successful-Blog.com.
Mark and his wife served with the Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea. What they did there--and couldn't do--affected them so much that Mark determined to do something about it when he got home.
At the time I didn't know what I would do exactly, or how I would do it, but I was determined and serious.
I love when people don't let their present get in the way of their future. Mark didn't have a clue what he could do or how he would make it happen, but he didn't let that stop him. Mark adds:
Think about what is important to you, to society. In this blogging and social media age you don't have to be associated with a huge humanitarian organization or educational foundation in order to take action.
That's music to my ears, Mark.
Read his post. Read his 6 steps. Be inspired. Be motivated. Be creative. And be sure to share with the rest of us what you think. Just click here or click "comments" below.
I know, I know, this blog certainly has an odd mix of subjects--a post here about writing, a post there about child trafficking. What can I tell you? That's me: I'm a writer, writer's coach, children's book author, travel writer, and founder of a non-profit that works to stop child trafficking. You get it all right here.
Today I have on my writing hat. I want to recommend 2 great sources and 1 I'll-never-do-that-again tip.
Source #1:www.highlightsfoundation.org. Lots of great stuff for children's authors, and an every-so-often email tip. (Today's tip: "In a successful story (read 'marketable'), your protagonist must 'own' both the problem and the resolution.") Click here to receive email tips.
Source #2:www.copyblogger.com. This just won best blog for writers (3rd year in a row). 41,000 writers subscribe to the posts--and you can, too. Just look for the box on the upper-left corner of the home page.
My avoid-at-all-costs tip: If you write a blog, do not (repeat: do not) copy and paste text from Word. I knew this, but did it anyway, and for a while I got away with it. But then one day...oh the problems. Pasting non-HTML text into an HTML environment can cause problems you don't even want to know about. It messed up all the fonts on all my previous posts. I finally fixed them all...and will never do that again!
Remember, if you need a writer's coach, I'm here to help you get that book out of you and on to paper. Just fill out the contact form here and I'll send you info.
Time, that is, to end the outrageous amount of human trafficking that takes place on the internet (including on sites that you and I visit regularly).
I learned more than I care to know about the subject when I participated in a live online presentation sponsored by the End Internet Trafficking Coalition. You can watch it or download the notes here.
EITC is a partnership of organizations that might never cross paths--everyone from the National Organization for Women to the Salvation Army. They're all concerned about the proliferation of online human trafficking--and are working together to do something about it.
Here are some of the highlights of the online presentation (or low-lights, depending on how you look at it):
Slavery is illegal everywhere in the world--yet more people are enslaved today than any time in history.
Internet trafficking includes not just forced pros titution but forced slavery, mail-order brides, child po rn, s ex tourism, slave labor, and more.
Weak laws and lax enforcement mean trafficking is less risky for perpetrators.
Internet child trafficking is organized crime.
20,000 por nographic images of children are posted on the internet--each week. Most come from eastern Europe. (That's why PawPaw's Pals is networking with organizations that work in eastern Europe to stop child trafficking.)
In one orphanage alone, 30% of the kids said they'd been approached by someone outside asking them to participate in child po rn.
Craigslist continues to be a major source of human trafficking. Every 10 days, 25,000 new ads are posted on the site promoting some form of trafficking.
Social networking sites are also a prime source for human trafficking.
Child trafficking through the internet happens not just "over there" but all over the US--probably in your own town.
EITC also has a web forum where you can download articles, find volunteer opportunities, and network with others around the world who are working to stop child (and adult) trafficking.
The End Internet Trafficking Coalition
(EITC) is hosting a live audio and video presentation about how human trafficking has flourished
on the internet both worldwide and in the U.S. (You may remember my posts here, here, and here about how Craigslist was promoting online trafficking of women and children.)
You can participate in EITC's presentation from anywhere in the world. It's this Tuesday,
August 5, at 11:00 am EST.
You'll have to email your name and contact information ASAP to info@eitcoalition.org. EITC will send you a confirmation email the day before the
presentation, which will include a PDF of the presentation and
instructions on how to access the call.
Internet trafficking includes illegal mail-order bride services, ads for jobs that turn out to be human slavery, se x tour operators, ads for child s ex, and more.
I'm going to participate in the presentation and will let you know what I learn. If you participate, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments here.
John Stanko's guest on Your PurposeQuest was Bruce Binkley. Bruce is from Dallas, but I met him in Zimbabwe in 2005. It was right after Operation Restore Order, the Zim government's euphemistic phrase for rounding up 220,000 street kids and dumping them in the countryside. (Nice, huh?)
So where are all these kids? I visited an AIDS orphanage and met about 40 of them (pix in the Zimbabwe photo album to the left or here if you're reading this by email)--but where are the rest?
Now I know where at least some of them are. Bruce was in Zim 2 weeks ago and went to a "resettlement community" where he discovered more than 2,100 kids shivering, without shoes, blankets, or proper clothing. (It's winter there right now.) No food, no bathrooms, no running water.
You have to hear Bruce tell what happened and how he provided blankets for all of them. (Go here and click on the 7/30/08 show.)
It's a great story of encouragement, faith, and perseverance. (Sort of motivating for someone who's, say, trying to raise $500K for her campaign to stop child trafficking...)
Keep in mind that Zimbabwe has a huge child trafficking problem (more here; scroll to page 264). A quarter of a million children uprooted and living on their own who-knows-where is not a good thing. If you'd like to do more to help these kids, many of whom are AIDS orphans, you can contact Bruce here.
When it comes to putting a stop to human trafficking, I'm all about awareness.
That's why I'm glad to see the brand-new SlaveryMap.org. It's an interactive, easily updated map showing instances of human slavery around the world--including child trafficking.
"Slavery thrives in the shadows," the site notes. "An estimated 27 million live in bondage
today--yet we know about the plight of so few of them. The battle to
end slavery begins by revealing it."
The site is interactive, so if you know of an instance of human slavery, you can add it to the map yourself. (If you suspect an unreported incident, you should immediately call the U.S. National Human Trafficking hotline (888) 373-7888.)
I think it went well; at least John didn't pull the plug on me halfway through the program, and I'm assuming the web station will let him back on for next week's program.
If you missed the show, you can catch it here on demand.
If you did listen and found your way to this blog, welcome! My website has all the tools and resources for writers that we talked about during the program including:
You can also scroll through past posts on this blog and find lots of resources for writers (click on The Writer's Workshop link under "categories" on the right).
If you'd like to learn more about PawPaw's Pals or donate to Not For Sale, the project we talked about to help stop child trafficking, just click here for all the details.
Meanwhile, John will be back live every Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. ET. His guest next week is Sheila Hunt who made a major mid-life transition from education to corporate America.
Sheila and I were in Zimbabwe together 3 years ago this month. She and her husband along with my sister Kathryn and I visited a children's hospital and an AIDS orphanage. (You can see some of the photos in the Zimbabwe album to the left, or if you're reading this as an email, just click here.) If Sheila is as dynamic on the air as she was in Zim, it's going to be a great show.
This Wednesday morning, I'll be interviewed live on the premiere of a new internet radio program called Your PurposeQuest: The Power of a Focused Life, with Dr. John Stanko.
Thanks to internet radio, you can listen live on your computer from anywhere in the world (or listen later on demand). You can even call in a question--it's live!
The host of the program, John Stanko, is my
brother-in-law. John has helped tens of thousands of people all over the world (including me) find their
purpose and be more focused, creative, and effective at what they do. (He and I have a running competition about who's been to more
countries; sadly, he's slightly ahead...for the moment.)
If you know
John, you know he's a fantastic speaker and motivator (and very
funny). If you don't know him, you're in for a treat. Here's what we'll be talking about:
Episode One: Write a Book, Save a
Child
Have you ever thought about writing a book? Ever wanted to travel or start a company that
will make the world a better place to live?
If so, then you won’t want to miss John Stanko’s inaugural program with
his guest, Diana Scimone. Diana is a
publisher, author, world traveler and founder of PawPaw's Pals, a nonprofit
organization working to alleviate the child trafficking problem around the
world. Join John and Diana as they talk
about writing, travel, purpose and how you can be a person of purpose, too!
I invite you to listen live on VoiceAmerica's website this Wednesday, May 21, at 9:00 am Eastern time. That's 8:00 am Central, 2:00 pm in the UK, 3:00 pm in Zimbabwe, 9:00 pm in
China--or for your own city, click here for a world clock.
It's really easy to tune in. Just go to VoiceAmerica's website, click on the "networks" tab, then "VoiceAmerica," and you'll immediately hear the program. The program will be repeated 12 hours later, then archived on the site for on-demand play.
You can call the show while it's live at 1.866.472.5787 or email your questions to John before, during, or after the show.
John will host a new episode of Your PurposeQuest every week in the same time slot. Join me on the premiere this Wednesday. (And if you call in a question, please make it an easy one, okay?)
To comment on this blog post, click "comments" below (or if you subscribe to this blog, click here or go to my blog site and click on "comments" at the end of this entry).
Here's some good news regarding the boycott against Craigslist, the global online classified ad service.
In earlier posts (here and here), I quoted Love146, a non-profit organization that, like PawPaw's Pals, works to stop child sex trafficking:
"Craigslist...has now become a vehicle for the trafficking and
exploitation of women and children. There have been numerous
reportings of children falling prey to traffickers advertising on
Craigslist, and victims as young as four years old have been sold on the site."
Late last year, Love146 called a boycott against Craigslist, which makes its money not from the free ads for garage
sales and the like, but for its lucrative resume and job-placement services.
Recently, Connecticut Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal demanded that Craigslist purge solicitations for prostitution that are rampant on certain sections of its
website.
Craigslist has now implemented a phone verification system, which they say has drastically lowered the volume
of these ads.
As a result, Love146 has called off the boycott:
"Though, we haven’t noticed any dramatic difference in the quantity and
presentation of the advertisements ...so far, nevertheless we are enthused at Craigslist’s initiative towards reforming its
(in)famous section.
"We applaud [Craigslist CEO Jim] Buckmaster’s gesture towards
rectification. Therefore, Love146 will officially call off the boycott that we
initiated at the onset of this year. However, we want to encourage you to
continue supporting our campaign to eradicate child sex trafficking and
exploitation completely on Craigslist site. Visit our Take Action page on more ways you can engage Craigslist."
To comment on this blog post, click "comments" below (or if you subscribe to this blog, click here or go to my blog site and click on "comments" at the end of this entry).
Two months ago, I blogged that Craigslist, the online community-based classified ad service, has a dirty little secret: Craigslist promotes child sex trafficking.
You can read what I wrote by scrolling down to the December 17 post (or if you subscribe and are reading this as an email, go to the blog itself).
In that post, I quoted Love146, a non-profit organization that, like PawPaw's Pals, works to stop child sex trafficking:
"Craigslist...has now become a vehicle for the trafficking and
exploitation of women and children. There have been numerous
reportings of children falling prey to traffickers advertising on
Craigslist, and victims as young as four years old have been sold on the site."
Late last year, Love 146 organized a boycott
of Craigslist, which makes its money not via the free ads for garage
sales and the like, but for its lucrative resume and job-placement services.
Here's the latest:
Thousands of people sent emails and petitions to Craigslist asking them to shut down the offending pages. Numerous organizations have joined the boycott ranging from
PawPaw's Pals and the Barnabas Institute to the Salvation Army and the
National Organization of Women. (You won't often find such a wide array
of organizations agreeing on one topic.)
Yet in spite of that onslaught of public outrage, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has yet to withdraw offending pages from Craigslist or at the very least even respond. (If you emailed him and did hear back, please let me know.) If you haven't emailed Buckmaster or signed the petition, you can do so here (click on "petition").
Meanwhile, there's been a related arrest. In Minnesota, a woman was recently sentenced to five years in prison
for operating a prostitution ring employing high school students--which she advertised on (you guessed it) Craigslist.
Please note that this woman is practically a child herself--she's 19--and she was selling high school students. This surely is a new low: children selling children.
When I speak about child sex trafficking, people automatically assume I'm talking about somewhere "over there," in some far-flung third-world country across the globe. No, no. It's right here in our backyard, as I've said many times on this blog.
You can read more about this arrest involving Craigslist at ThisWeek Online.
Meanwhile, Love146 has helped to form a new coalition called End Internet Trafficking, and is sponsoring a public forum in San Francisco next month. Guess who they've invited to speak? Yup, Jim Buckmaster.
"This will be the public opportunity," according to Love146, "to challenge Mr. Buckmaster about Craigslist's lackluster efforts to eliminate human trafficking from its site and to have a diplomatic and productive discussion on how to move forward. A successful meeting will end our boycott."
Watch this space for details.
To comment on this blog post, click "comments" below (or if you subscribe to this post, just go to my blog siteand click on "comments" at the end of this post).
One year ago today marked the very first post on this blog. Thanks for sticking with me (especially during those weeks when I've been mono-tasking and didn't post a single word).
In honor of this momentous occasion, I want to share a super-cool, super-techie, oh-so-2008 way to publish your book--for a mere $20.
In recent years, mega-leaps in technology have allowed writers to publish their own books via print-on-demand. Blurb goes one step further (and is even cheaper). With Blurb's free software (which you can download for either Windows or Mac), you can actually design your own book yourself, one page at a time. You choose the layout and drop in your glowing text.
When you finish, click the "submit" button, and a few days later a copy of your very own book will arrive in your very own mailbox. It's a real, live printed paperback or hardback book complete with shiny bound cover, just like you'd find in a
bookstore (so it's more than a "photo book" like you would print on Snapfish,Shutterfly, and other sites, although you can add photos and illustrations if you want).
Your copy of your book will be the only copy in the entire universe, of course (what do you expect for $19.95, or $29.95 for hardcover?), but you can order more at volume prices. You can even sell your book on Blurb's website, where friends, family, and others can buy it.
But if you want to quickly and cheaply get a single copy of your own book in your own two hands, Blurb sounds like a great idea.
Of course, you know what I always say: "You can't publish a book you haven't written." Blurb is great, but it won't write your book for you. Only you can do that.
So, will 2008 be the year that you not only write but also publish your own book?
To comment on this blog post, click "comments" below (or if you subscribe to this post, just go to my blog site and click on "comments" at the end of this post).
I'm a fan of Craigslist, the online community-based classified ad service. I have chairs from Craigslist. I even bought my Christmas tree from Craigslist this year.
But according to a recent report, Craigslist sells more than just Christmas trees and chairs. Craigslist also sells children. And I am not a fan of that.
According to Love146, a non-profit organization that works to stop child trafficking:
"Craigslist...has now become a vehicle for the trafficking and exploitation of women and children. There have been numerous reportings of children falling prey to traffickers advertising on Craigslist, and victims as young as four years old have been sold on the site."
Three adults have already been arrested in Illinois.
I've written many times on this blog that child trafficking is not just around the world, but around the corner--and this is strong evidence. Through Craigslist, child trafficking could be going on in your backyard and mine.
"take responsibility for the role its site is playing in facilitating child trafficking and exploitation. In light of the New Year, we are asking Craigslist to make a New Year's resolution: to follow in the footsteps of MySpace and Google and implement better preventative policies and monitoring efforts to protect its site from being used as a resource for child traffickers."
You can email Craigslist and strongly encourage them to stop selling children on their site. Download the petition on Love146's website as aWord documentorpdf,or compose your own letter expressing your outrage.
On behalf of all the children who are being bought and sold around the world, thank you.
To comment on this blog post, click "comments" below (or if you subscribe to this post, just go to my blog site and click on "comments" at the end of this post).
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