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2013 Schedule of Events

By on January 27, 2013 in blog, Solutions, What you can do

Imagine Foundation 2013 schedule of events

 For further info please email: info@imaginefreedom.org

January:

BOD meeting Sunday January 27 1pm, Independence Panera

February:

Design & print public library and school bookmarks

Barhopping info drop with volunteers SaturdayFeb 2nd at 8pm Happy dog

Initial Delivery of survivor bags

Hotel bookmark drop east side (Mentor, Euclid, Willoughby) Saturday February 23 12:00pm Mentor Panera 7357 Mentor Ave Mentor, OH 44060

March:

BOD meeting Sunday March 24th at 1pm, Independence Panera

Public library bookmark drop off Saturday March 23 at 12:00, Independence Panera

Barhopping info drop with volunteers Saturday Mach 30 at 8pm Rocky River Brewing Co.

April:

2nd batch survivor bags assembled & delivered

JB & Courtney in Iowa at Dubuque Univ. & training Dubuque police April 3-6

Fundraiser Saturday April 27th  8pm Venue TBA

May:

BOD meeting Sunday May 12 at 1pm, Independence Panera

Barhopping info drop with volunteers Saturday May 18th at 8pm Willoughby Brewing Co.

June:

Bike night Quaker Steak & Lube Wednesday June 12 at 6pm Quaker Steak, Valley View

Public library bookmark drop off Saturday June 15th at 12:00

July:

BOD meeting Sunday July 14th at 1pm, Independence Panera Mid Year Review

Bike night Quaker Steak & Lube Wednesday July 10 at 6pm Quaker Steak, Valley View

August:

Sturgis South Dakota Aug 6-12 info drop **

September:

BOD meeting Sunday September 15th at 1pm, Independence Panera

3rd batch survivor bags assembled & delivered

Browns Tailgating Sunday 9-22 7am -3pm Municipal Lot

October:

Browns Tailgating Sunday 10-13 7am – 3pm Municipal Lot

Family Friendly Halloween party & fundraiser Saturday October 6th 6pm TBD

November:

BOD meeting Sunday 11-17 at 1pm, Independence Panera

Hotel bookmark drop West side Saturday November 23 12:00pm Strongsville Panera 1304 Southpark Ctr.

December:

Imagine Foundation BOD & volunteer Christmas party Saturday 12-21 at 6pm TBD

Imagine Foundation BOD Meetings:

Imagine foundation Board of Directors meetings will be held bimonthly throughout the year. It is imperative that all Board of Directors and interested stakeholders attend these meetings. All attempts will be made to have meetings last one hour, however at times meetings may run over.

Imagine Foundation survivor bags:

The Imagine Foundation survivor bags are a new initiative attempting to give rescued individuals a fresh start upon leaving or being rescued from human trafficking situations. Initial bags were purchased and assembled in the year 2012. Our goal is to distribute 10 survivor bags in the year 2013 to law enforcement as needed.

Imagine foundation hotel/motel Bible bookmarks:

The purpose of the Bible bookmark is to place a piece of anti-trafficking literature in every Bible in every hotel room in northeastern Ohio. In the year 2012 we distributed 5000 anti-trafficking bookmarks in and around Northeastern Ohio. In the year 2013 we hope to equip hotels and motels with 10,000 additional Bible bookmarks.  During scheduled times volunteers will meet at the pre-prescribed areas, be given a list of hotel/motels and quantity of Bible bookmarks to be distributed. Volunteers will have a letter explaining the program and will report back to the volunteer coordinator with what hotels/motels agreed to or did not agree to the anti-trafficking literature.

Imagine Foundation barhopping night out:

The purpose of the Imagine foundation barhopping is to equip drinking establishments with anti-trafficking literature within targeted areas. Volunteers will meet at the pre-prescribed areas and will be given a quantity of anti-trafficking crop cards to distribute in and around the drinking establishment.

Imagine Foundation bike night:

The imagine foundation will set up a booth at Quaker steak and Lube’s bike night to distribute anti-trafficking literature, sell T-shirts, and seek support of the biker community.

Imagine Foundation public library information drop:

Traffickers target 12 to 16 year old adolescents on the Internet who are online often, have young sounding and provocative screen names and inquire about sex online. The public library bookmarks are intended to get out information directly to those at risk of sex trafficking. Volunteers will meet at the pre-prescribed locations, be given a letter of support from the imagine foundation and a quantity of public library bookmarks to be given to local libraries.

**Sturgis 2013:

Going to Sturgis rally and race is dependent on financial donations to send a team there. This trip is not included in the yearly Imagine Foundation Budget. If there is to be a team to go there will be a proposed addendum to the 2013 budget to allow it. Sturgis, South Dakota is home to one of the largest biker parties in the world. Between 500,000  and 750,000 converge on the small town yearly.  Our goal in going to Sturgis is to set up pop up water distribution centers giving away free bottled water with anti-trafficking literature on the bottle, distribute anti-trafficking drop cards of the local bars, and to distribute anti-trafficking shirts to the bar girls and commercial sex workers in the area. This will be a weeklong venture; volunteers will be traveling to Sturgis, South Dakota and camping at a local campground.

Browns tailgating:

The Cleveland Browns is known for its tailgating antics and is a perfect place to recruit individuals for anti-trafficking efforts. The Imagine Foundation will set up a tailgating booth during the prescribed times to hand out anti-trafficking information, sell T-shirts and generally have a good time. Volunteers must be at the tailgating area at 7 AM to set up the booth and are expected to stay until the start of the game. At the booth, the imagine foundation will be projecting the Browns game, hosting a tricycle race for free T-shirts and giving away grilled hotdogs.

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3-pillars of human rights work

By on January 26, 2013 in blog, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions, The Cleveland backpage report, What you can do

Lately I’ve been feverishly writing in my notebook. I’m a little somebody might find it, it looks like the writings of those raving lunatics you see in the movies. There’s diagrams, arrows, circles and paragraph after paragraph of sloppily written cursive…. Out of all of the gobbledy-gook that I’ve been writing down, a few coherent thoughts have emerged and here’s one of them: There are 3-pillars which human rights work must be based on.

Our work must be ethical, economically sustainable, and repeatable.

Ethical:we have to do what is right, always. (read about the difference between morals and ethics here). The ends can not ever justify the means. Case in point: I heard someone say that he would do what is right, even if it meant doing what was wrong (what an awful idea, isn’t that how wars get started???). American culture was born out of oppression and stigmatization and unfortunately we still hold that cultural lens today. Our empire was built on the extermination of native cultures, a lower-skilled and exploitable working class and an easily corruptible consumer class. Don’t call me Un-American for saying this, I’m red, white and blue through and through. I also believe in  capitalism and free market economy. It’s just incredibly important to realize that our standing and national character is built on the ethics of manifest-destiny or expansion at all costs. To end human rights violations and human trafficking we need to see past previous flaws in our national character, acknowledge them and form a new standing culture wherein doing what is right and just is cool and respected.

Economically sustainable: The economic model of charity is not sustainable. For the better part of human history people have been giving money to try and end the worlds wrongs. It hasn’t gotten us anywhere. Sure, giving money feels good (sometimes) and in the short-term it does make some differences. But what does simply giving money do to promote human rights in the long-run? I’m not much for quotes. Personally I think that if you’ve got something to say, use your own words; but the Chinese Proverb got it right. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats a whole bunch of fish… (or something like that). If someone wants to make a difference they use their money to promote a model which is economically sustainable. For example, work with a food kitchen to fund and raise a community garden so they’re not constantly in need of financial donations to purchase food; they’re growing their own and may even generate a surplus income to help support their work. A great model is the company “Made by survivors”; they’re working with survivors of human trafficking to generate a sustainable income through the manufacturing of cottage-industry products. When someone purchases one of their products they’re not giving to charity, they’re investing in a successful economic model that helps to end human trafficking.

Repeatable: As many people know, I’m a teacher by day (and awesome ninja by night...). As a teacher, I’ve watched every inspirational teaching movie out there where some middle-class nobody heads into the inner-city and turns around a rag-tag group of students (cue movie montage). In just about every one of those movies at the end there is some update where the teacher quit, was fired, forced to retire or left to take another job. In short, they were a shooting star and fizzled out once they achieved short-term success. In a book written about Geoffrey Canada (awesome educational theorist) he said that he didn’t need any more superstar teachers; what he needed was a model that worked. He’s right, it’s great that one or two people can achieve drastic and dramatic results; but what about all the others? Any human rights work needs to be based on a model, written down and shared with others so that it can be made repeatable. Unfortunately as of yet I don’t see that happening in the advocacy world. The software world is amazing with it with their concept of opensourcing; but in the human rights world, we’re still contending with some pretty hefty ego’s and budgetary constraints that keeps much of our work secretive. We’ll get there in time though.

So there it is: Ethical, Economically Sustainable and Repeatable. The 3-pillars that we need to base future work on.

What do you think?

- JB

 

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How not to end human trafficking

By on January 19, 2013 in blog, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions, What you can do

As a human rights advocate I subscribe to just about every social media feed out there to learn what others are doing and how we can do our job better. In the process, I’ve learned quite a bit on how not to end human trafficking. I thought I would share a few of them with you.

Let’s call these the “three pillars of how not to end human trafficking”.

1. Scaring people won’t make caring people

2. Celebrity endorsements are a joke.

3. Stop looking to the government.

 

While these may sound harsh, please allow me a moment to explain.

1. For some reason when people get turned onto human rights or animal rights for that manner, the natural inclination is to inundate their fiends via social media with horrid stories of abuse, frightening statistics and a general alarmist tone. THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!

Case in point: The ASPCA and Sarah McLaughlin. By this point we’ve all seen the video and we’ve all felt helpless and sick when we see the pictures and hear the sad sad styling of “eyes of an angel”. The youtube video garners about 300,000 views give or take. Compare that to the great video “Ultimate Dog Tease” which is a clip of a guy messing around with his dog and adding a voice over track to it. At last count that video has 128,358,369 views on youtube. Imagine if the positivity and fun of Dog Tease was combined with the message of the ASPCA. You’ve got a winning combination.

If you want to end human trafficking, don’t focus on all of the horrific aspects of the crime, focus on tangible positive aspects that people can do. During an interview a couple of years ago a gentlemen told me about the concept of “buycot”, not boycot. You tell people to avoid a product and it’s inherently negative, but if you promote a product people are more likely to hear your message. If you want more info, check out our 3ways blog post or New Years Resolution Post on positive things you can share to end human trafficking.

2. Celebrity endorsements are a joke. Ok, I know already that I’ll catch some flack for this but I don’t respect celebrity and I know many others don’t as well. Within the human rights movement I’ve seen celebrity after celebrity lend their names to items only to be trashed sooner or later by some indiscretion. It’s great that they want to be a part of something and testify before congress or make a PSA but the simple fact of the matter is that celebrities aren’t experts in the field and many make their money in some pretty unethical ways. Case in point Jada Pickett Smith who learned about human trafficking through her daughter and the KONY2012 video in the spring and by summer is testifying before congress regarding the passage of an intense and integral piece of human trafficking legislation. If a celebrity is truly serious about human rights issues, where is the ethically made clothing line they endorse, the viral music video about promoting literacy and ending poverty and their continued message of peace and good will. There is a serious difference between wanting one’s name associated with doing good and actually doing good.

If celebrities want to make a difference they should use their status to promote sustainable, ethical and repeatable solutions to making the world a better place; not just lend their name to a cause.

3. Stop looking to the government for leadership and guidance in human rights issues. For some reason the American public has forgotten that we play an inherent role in the government, the formation of policy and the enforcement of laws. Each presentation I do on human trafficking someone naturally asks “why isn’t the government doing anything about human trafficking”? I instantly respond with “if you’re not doing anything to end human trafficking why should the government care”? Slavery in all of its forms is illegal as outlined by the U.S. Constitution and numerous supporting court cases. To respond to the illegalities as outlined, numerous government agencies work on a daily basis to end human trafficking including ICE, HHS and the Department of Labor. In short, the government is doing quite a bit to end human trafficking. We the people need to step up and take some responsibility for our human rights issues and stop looking to the government to do it for us. The government has what, a couple of million employees? The US population is well over 300million, which group of people will have a greater impact if they choose to act?

 

I know that this blog post is a bit more cynical than most of what I write. I’m in a bit of a cynical funk right now after contacting numerous media agencies regarding the 8 missing girls in Youngstown, Ohio. I was told that it really wasn’t a story, or it wasn’t in their coverage area… yeah, who would care about 8 teenage missing girls in 9 months in one city.

So that’s it for now, I’ll try to be less cynical in the coming weeks.

- JB

 

 

 

 

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Explination of our 3ways posts

By on January 13, 2013 in blog, Education, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Prevention, Solutions

One of our Imagine Foundation supporters asked us to clarify on our popular 3ways to end human trafficking social media posts.

Here you go:

While many people advocate against sex trafficking, it is only one small part of the whole of human trafficking and one in which human rights advocates participate in the least. So our 3ways postings represent simple ways to act locally to change globally.

Many Ways that you can end human trafficking:

Plant a tomato garden (or any vegetables/produce for that matter): Agriculture is an area known to use both child and forced labor. By producing your own food locally, you are helping to remove the financial incentive growers and agricultural producers have to financially exploit workers. Check out the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for a great organziation striving to remove exploitation in our food stocks.

Drink/eat/buy anything fair trade: The Fair Trade moniker means that the grower/producer recieves a fair wage for their product. This helps to remove the financial incentive involved in exploiting workers. It’s important to note that fair trade does not mean exploitation free, it just represents a way to lower the possibility for exploitation to occur within the product lines. Check out Fair Trade USA to learn more.

Buy from Companies that prescribe to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act: In 2010, California passed an act that “requires companies to report on specific actions taken to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in their supply chain. Your company must report if it meets these three criteria”:

  1. Your company files its California taxes as a retailer or manufacturer.
  2. Your company does business in California as defined in the California Revenue and Taxation Code.
  3. Your company earns more than $100 million in worldwide gross receipts

Learn more about SB 657, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.

Purchase Vintage Jewelry: Gold, precious metals and gemstones are known to use child and forced labor. Everybody watched Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie “Blood Diamond“, and a bunch of people remember KONY2012. These situations exist because we buy the items that allow such exploitation. If we remove the finances that warlords use to enslave and exploit workers, their tyranny folds. By going with vintage jewelry, the bad guys don’t get the money to do future damage.

Don’t buy sex: We’ve got an unhealthy relationship with sex. Now don’t get me wrong, sex is an inherently good thing, but when kids are getting sold to meet customer demand, something is horribly wrong. Commercial sex involves any form of porn, prostitution or stripping/exotic dancing. Sex trafficking is hidden within preexisting commercial sex markets. It is near impossible to tell the difference between a willing consensual prostitute and a scared little girl who’s being forced into it. Now the uneducated commercial sex consumer would say that they could tell if someone was being forced into it and therefore wouldn’t partake. Unfortunately one can’t discern the difference between willing and unwilling partners. Buy removing the financial incentive to exploit others for sex, the system folds and there isn’t sexual exploitation.

Education & Sharing: I’ve been talking about human trafficking for around 5 years now and am constantly amazed by others who say “that’s going on around here”? We have to peacefully pollute the Internet and airways with the information that people need to end human trafficking. Without education, exploitation will flourish.

That’s it for now. I’ll continue to update this and add more as we figure out more easy ways that we can end human trafficking together.

Imagine what’s possible if we just try.

- JB

 

 

 

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What’s your footprint?

By on November 6, 2011 in blog, Education, Solutions

A new website went live the other day and it’s intense.

It’s Slavery Footprint and it asks you quite a few questions to find out appx. how many slaves work for you. It’s rough information to hear and the majority of people won’t do it. After all, if we know something it makes it real doesn’t it.

Even as an anti-slavery, anti-trafficking advocate; I know that I inadvertently contribute to the problem. Unfortunately as of today it’s near impossible not to be a part of the global slave machine. Our consumer based society and drive for ever lower prices leads to the exploitation of others.

See The List if you don’t believe.

Even though it’s illegal to purchase/import slave made goods into the US, the Department of Labor publishes a list of commodities known to be manufactured as such.

So, how do we stop it?

Responsible consumerism and investing will go a long way.

Purchase fair trade items. While it doesn’t guarantee slave free, it’s a big step in the right direction.

Purchase items that have been made by survivors. Your dollars can support people rescued from the slave trades

Invest in companies that support anti slavery efforts. They may have signed “The Code” or The Luxor Protocol

Tell others. How many people in the world don’t know that slavery is worse now than at any point in human history. Awareness spreads incrementally, tell two whom tell four, whom tell 16. The media isn’t covering it; its up to us.

We didn’t start slavery but we are part of the reason it continues. We also represent the best possible solution to ending it

How many slaves work for you?

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Your dollar is your voice, spend wisely.

 

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The truth hurts

By on September 27, 2011 in blog, Human Trafficking, The Cleveland backpage report

The Cleveland Backpage report launches on October 1st. It’s our first public study (Thank you to Operation Broken Silence for co-authoring) and we’re very proud of all the work that went into it. I only wish that it wasn’t necessary.

Backpage.com owned by Village Voice media is at a minimum profiting from illegal enterprises (commercial sex) and at the most may be a vessel for human trafficking to take place. I’m not even asking you to take my word for it, listen to a consortium of State Attorney Generals . Backpage responds with freedom of speech and internet censorship, never mentioning that at a minimum they are profiting from an illegeal enterprise (prostitution) and at most may be a vessel for modern day slavery to take place. Just fyi, they’re making about 2 million/month for hosting the advertisements the State Attorney Generals are calling for them to censor.

We spent three months investigating the commercial sex advertisements on Cleveland.backpage.com to see if there were patterns, to learn what was really going on. Unfortunately we found human trafficking. We also found that there were an unusually high number of commercial sex advertisements coming out of some unexpected places in Northeast Ohio.

For the last 6 months we have been quietly compiling data, researching and writing. The day has come to be loud. Our children are being sold, our sisters, our aunts our women and girls are subject to being sold for sex and a major media corporation is profiting from it.

The time has come for it to stop.

I am asking for your help. On Saturday at noon our study goes public on our website. Share it, spread it, read it etc… It has to go viral. Make sure that it can’t get buried. We’re about to take on a media giant who buys ink by the barrel and accepts that part of their paycheck comes from the suffering of women and children.

To show the severity of the situation, please watch our video “The Cleveland Backpage Report” this is just one of the stories we uncovered during our research. Imagine all of the stories we weren’t able to catch.

This isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning.

We now know what to look for and where, who’s doing this and where they’re doing it. How much they’re charging and who’s profiting.

The truth hurts, but now that we know that there is truly a problem, we can take effective steps to stop it.

 

Backpage.com profits from the sale of women and children

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I/Me & Us/We

By on August 18, 2011 in blog, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints

When it comes to human rights there can’t be any ego. It feels good to say “I did that” or “I’m in charge” but at the end of the day it’s not about the self. It’s about we as a human people.

I struggle with ego all of the time, I’d love to say that I didn’t but I’m a product of modern society. We’re taught from an early age that we’re special and different, that each one of us is the center of our own universe. I don’t see it like that anymore.

We’re in the center of us as a collective. When one of us is enslaved, we all are.

Developing empathy has been one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do, and it’s something that I struggle with still today.

Empathy is powerful.

If there’s one thing to take away from this blog posting, it’s to use less I/Me and more Us/We

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Two things you can do today to end human trafficking

By on July 25, 2011 in blog, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Slavery, What you can do

There is an ugly side to fashion. There doesn’t have to be.

#1: Purchase clothing from manufacturers who use fairtrade/freetrade policies and/or who have statements clearly outlining that they do not use child or forced labor.  Levi’s  is a leader in the industry with open and transparent processes. Alternative Apparel also has an excellent social responsibility statement.

#2: Purchase items from organizations that train human trafficking survivors in a vocation. Check out Made By Survivors an amazing non-profit helping survivors of human trafficking empower themselves.

We can ensure that there is no longer an ugly side to fashion

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Three things you can do Today to end human trafficking

By on July 24, 2011 in blog, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Slavery, What you can do

Here are three things that you can do today to end human trafficking:

#1: Only purchase diamonds mined from Canada. So many diamonds come from conflict zones they quite often are harvested through slavery. Canada’s strict labor laws prohibit forced labor

#2: Purchase gold mined from the US or Canada. Gold is one of the commodities known to the US State Department to be harvested by forced and child labor www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/pdf/2010TVPRA.pdf

#3: Upcycle/recycle vintage jewelry to be made into new items. There is no such thing as a used diamond.

There is an ugly side to jewelry, luckily there doesn’t have to be. We can stop it, together.

Don't give your love something made through pain. There are better alternatives.

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Guerrilla Marketing

By on February 19, 2011 in blog

Currently reading “Guerrilla Marketing for Non-Profits”. It’s an amazing book and it’s really showing me how little I know on how to get the word out about our work. The book lists different demographics and methodology to reach our supporters. It’s a wealth of knowledge. One of the most effective forms of reaching people is through blogs. It’s suggesting to blog 3-4 times a week on different subjects and to encourage people to subscribe to the blog. For the longest time I thought that blogging and social media was narcissistic… it’s not. How else can we talk to our supporters???

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The questions

By on January 17, 2011 in blog

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to talk with hero’s in the abolition movement. I’ve decided that I need answers. I’m no expert in this field, I’m just figuring out the questions for myself. Here we go:

What is slavery?

What is Trafficking in Persons?

Does Slavery and Trafficking in Persons still exist?

Is it only an international problem or are there domestic cases as well?

What are the different forms of Slavery/Trafficking in Persons?

Is the problem only “Sex Slavery”?

Is it possible to end Slavery/Trafficking in Persons?

What is/are the solutions to end Slavery/Trafficking in Persons?

How would a normal person help in the fight against Slavery/Trafficking in Persons?

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On the phone with a hero.

By on January 7, 2011 in blog

I had the opportunity to speak on the phone today with a true abolitionist. E. Benjamin Skinner, author of “A Crime so Monstrous”. He risked his life to bring out the stories of modern day slavery and it was an honor to get to talk to him.

I got over my gushy 13 year old girl statements I made “Oh… I loved your book, it’s amazing (I’m not proud of myself for that one).

The ending of his book challenged readers, he asked what the reader was going to do with their new found knowledge. Would they put down the book and walk away, or would they rise to the challenge and join the abolitionist movement.

I told him that I was ready to meet the challenge. We talked for close to an hour on the phone, about the situation in Nepal, Cuba, Haiti and everywhere else I had read about. He turned me on to a couple of people who were active in Ohio, I’m going to be contacting them soon. Big things are happening. I hope to show that little girl in Cuba that her life made an impact on the world.

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How many are there?

By on January 3, 2011 in blog

Between 12.3 million (Beate & Belser, 2009) and 27 million people (Bales, 2004) find themselves in modern forms of slavery. This translates into roughly 1 in 350 global citizens in bondage, many of them children. No exact numbers are known regarding the amounts or ages of individuals in slavery.

The numbers can be mind numbing. These are children, not statistics.

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Am I involved in slavery?

By on December 27, 2010 in blog

Most research suggest that all global citizens partake in slavery directly or indirectly. We do so through products which are purchased, places which are visited or companies that are used. This participation may be through “discreet” means; i.e. the bricks which constructed the factory were made through slavery whereas the items manufactured inside the factory were not. The food for the factory workers was grown and processed by slaves whereas the products manufactured inside the factory was not. The cotton that was grown to be turned into thread was tended by slave labor, the manufacturing of the clothing was not. The use of slave labor to manufacture items for sale is a cost cutting measure. Slave produced imports were outlawed in The United States by the Tariff Act of 1930.

As slavery is a form of economic exploitation, it can be fought through peaceful means. We just need to find those means.

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What is slavery?

By on December 20, 2010 in blog

For so many years I wondered what slavery was. I always thought it was some mystical force we learned about in middle school. I heard the word but didn’t really understand it.

Slavery is a form of economic exploitation. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s a black and white issue. To expand, a slave is someone who is forced to work through fraud or threat of violence for no money beyond subsistence.

This is the most simplistic definition I’ve ever heard. I adapted it slightly from Kevin Bales, one of the nations foremost experts on slavery.

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Some light reading.

By on October 20, 2010 in blog

I’m spending my free time right now learning everything I can about Slavery and Human Trafficking. I ordered a few books from Amazon on them, and I’m blown away from what I’m learning. I knew about the problem, and have dedicated the last few years of my life to the Kamlari of Western Nepal, but I’m learning so much more. There are more Slaves now then in any time in human history. 12.3 million. That’s roughly the population of Ohio.

Right now I’m reading ” A Crime So Monstrous” by E. Benjamin Skinner. The opening of his book lists room S-3800 of the UN Secretariat, Manhattan as the starting point. On exiting that room, it takes exactly 5 hours to get to Port Au Prince Haiti, where children are sold in the open.

I’ve seen children sold before, the look in their eyes. It’s awful. Words will not do justice to the feeling of heartache and helplessness.

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A missed Yoga class

By on October 15, 2010 in blog

I got back to America, floored by the previous months. A trip that I had hoped, would get this do-gooder stuff out of my system did the exact opposite. I was lost. I didn’t know where to go or what to do.

I tried to go through my daily life but couldn’t. That thought of all the children I hadn’t met weighed in on me. I began to do research, I learned everything I could about modern day slavery. I was petrified with what I learned.

By luck I was working my part time job at Cleveland yoga when a girl happened in. Her name was Candy, I really didn’t know her too well. She asked how my trip went, all I could muster was that there were these little girls and people did awful things to them. She missed her Yoga class that day, she sat at the desk with me as I poured out everything that had gone on. She just listened, one of the first people to actually do so with me.

She cried and I cried, she missed her Yoga class and I didn’t know where to go.

She asked a question of me. What was I going to do about it, and how could she help.

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My new sidekick

By on October 2, 2010 in blog

Every time I stopped, my beard needed braiding

I spent the next few weeks in Lawajuni with my new sidekick, Sita. She was never more than arms length from my side, constantly being mischievous, giggling and causing me grief. Every time I sat down she braided my beard. I was happy, for one of the first times in my life; really truly happy. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. It was hot, wet, smelly and I didn’t understand the language. Everyone stared at me and I couldn’t stomach the food anymore; and I absolutely loved it. I loved my new sidekick, Sita.

My days started at 6am walking about a mile from my hosts house, to where the girls lived. Along the way everyone in the village waved at me and greeted me with a respectful Namaste. I made a pit stop at Gunga’s shop and ate a couple of eggs and drank a pop, then onto the morning lessons with the girls. Morning lessons lasted around an hour or two until it got to mid-day nap time. In the afternoon it was too hot to operate so we would sleep.

Every day was similar, broken up only by the monsoon rain, the odd cobra in the classroom or the runaway ox.

I made progress with the girls there, helping them to learn to read and write, add and subtract. I meant something to someone.

Then I had to leave and go back to America.

On my final day my friend Krishna was walking with me and said “You did an amazing job working with these girls, you’ve changed their lives and shown them that someone actually cares about them. But I want you to Imagine all the children you haven’t yet met.”

I silently got on a bus and headed back to Kathmandu. The word Imagine hung over my head.

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Traveling to the west of Nepal

By on October 1, 2010 in blog

Every time she saw me, she laughed.

I headed out to the Western part of Nepal, to work with what are called Kamlari’s (child slaves/indentured servants). I took a 16 hour bus ride through the most amazing rainforest to the plains of Nepal, the Terai. I stepped off of the bus with my handler, Krishna. We walked about a quarter mile from the road and I noticed that I was being watched by little pairs of eyes. They came out of every nook of the run down building. I could tell they had never seen someone like me before. I was tired so Krishna took me into a room and sat me down. It was all so incredibly awkward. The kids slowly started advancing out of the shadows towards me, they were scared and intimidated and didn’t know what to make of me. Then I saw the littlest one of them all. She had thin hair, a huge head and a stare that shot through to my very soul. She walked up to me and just looked. I was totally nervous, I could tell that even though she was tiny, that she was the alpha girl of the group.

Her little hand poked my leg, she ran back and hid behind the other girls. She slowly advanced and poked me again, this time I answered with a fart noise; a real good one too. I’ve been practicing this particular type of noise since I was her age. The sound startled her, she took a few steps back and chuckled which caused me to smile. My smile caused her to laugh, her laugh caused me to start laughing which caused her to completely lose control with snorting and giggling and chuckling and tears coming out of both of our eyes. All of the other children looked at each-other, confused and oblivious to why we were laughing.

I tried a Nepali phrase I had just learned.

“Tapai Ko Naam Ki Ho?” (What is your name)

She answered, “Mero naam Sita ho”

Her name was Sita, and she laughed when she met me.

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A little background continued.

By on September 30, 2010 in blog

I didn’t know anything about Nepal at all, I only knew that I needed a change. I came home from Cuba, after seeing the young girl selling herself and knew I couldn’t ever be the same person, I couldn’t live the same way. As so many people before me, I went to Google. The globe pointed me to Nepal, the search engine pointed me to the first website about volunteering with trafficked victims in Nepal. Nepal Orphans Home. I e-mailed Michael Hess,  the director of the young organization and a couple of months later I was stepping off of the plane and into a new chapter of my life.

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