Change unlocking chains
Every day, in every nation on the planet, children are sold and bonded into slavery. Thousands of children. I know, I was one of them.
When I was seven years old, a woman approached my family promising to give me a good education and a better life. My mother agreed because, she was told, she could visit me on a regular basis close to our home. But instead of giving me a better life, this well-respected woman in our community turned around and sold me to a man in a bordering state.
I was taken from my family in India to a place I didn’t know. A place with strange people and a strange language. My trafficker, Paul, was in the business of children. He bought and sold us, exploiting our vulnerability and innocence, forcing us to work as maids, servants, and in brick and cement factories. He ran an “orphanage” that was registered with the government as a humanitarian charity, but which instead served as a barracks for children he trafficked, including me.
I remember crying for my mother. Paul told me that I never would see her again. “She is dead,” he said.
(Rani Hong for Huffington Post)
It was reported yesterday that eight people are under investigation for trafficking Korean women into The Blue Moon, which was described as a Korean room salon. After arriving in the US, the women were then expected to have sex with men for money. As much as the Korean government has cracked down on trafficking, Korean women are still be trafficking in other countries. Click for the full story!
News report on The Blue Moon trafficking scene.
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(via humantraffickingexists)
This is the trailer for the documentary being screened in Washington DC on the 14th!
SEX + MONEY, a documentary about child sex trafficking in the United States and the modern-day movement to abolish it, will be screened at Barracks Row Theater, National Community Church, 535 8th Street Southeast, Washington DC 20003 from 7:00pm to 9:30pm in honor of Human Trafficking Awareness month. Admission is free! The event will be hosted by Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST) and the National Community Church (NCC). Please RSVP to events@faastinternational.org, providing your name, email, contact number, and the date of the event. Submit questions to nicolewood@faastinternational.org
Click to visit www.sexandmoneyfilm.com!
(Please be aware that the film contains adult content and is unrated and may not be appropriate for children under 16. Parental discretion is advised)
The From Survivor to Thriver, From Awareness to Action event will also be held in Washington D.C. on the 9th hosted by Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST) and National Community Church. This will be from 6:00-8:00pm at Ebenezers Coffeehouse at 201 F Street. Please RSVP to events@faastinternational.org, providing your name, organization or church affiliation, e-mail address, contact number, and date of the event. Please submit questions to nicolewood@faastinternational.org
Click to view the Living Water for Girls website and to preorder Lisa C. Williams’ book, Beautiful Layers!
Hi all! I would like to let everyone know about the January 10th Baltimore human trafficking awareness event, From Survivor to Thriver From Awareness to Action, that is being hosting by Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST- where I’m interning), World Relief: Women Who Stand/Baltimore, and The Araminta Freedom Initiative (a rising Baltimore organization). Lisa C. Williams is a trafficking survivor who has both written the book, Beautiful Layers, and founded the the Georgia organization Living Water for Girls. It is from 6:30 to 8:30 at Grace City Loft on 3701 Bank Street. It will be a night of both worship and awareness. Please RSVP to events@faastinternational.org, providing your name, organization or church affiliation, e-mail address, contact number, and date of the event. Please submit questions to nicolewood@faastinternational.org
Click to view the Living Water for Girls website and to preorder Lisa C. Williams’ book, Beautiful Layers!
Police will get a new tool to crack down on child sex trafficking next year, when the penalty for offering to pay for sex from a minor will be a $10,000 fine the first time and $20,000 for a second offense. Perhaps even more significant, prosecutors won’t have to prove that a defendant knew the victim was underage.
The change is part of an effort to combat sex trafficking by cracking down on “johns” who solicit sex from prostitutes.
(JONATHAN COOPER for AP via register guard)
