More on Human Trafficking

The last two days I’ve had conversations about the issue of human trafficking. If you are not familiar with this issue you will certainly be hearing more and more about it with the different advocacy efforts taking place.

Today I visited with my friend and non-profit partner David Batstone. I’ve known David for about 13 years now I think. Wow, I’m feeling old. I’ve long admired his commitment to teaching ethics and the passion and energy that David brings to solving global problems. David is the ED for the Not For Sale Campaign that is teaching advocacy efforts on the issue of human slavery. But NFS is also carrying out projects around the world. One such project is in partnership with Giving Children Hope to establish a new medical clinic in Northern Thailand to care for children that have been rescued out of slavery.

Yesterday I met with Peter from the Asia Innovative University that is located in Cambodia. Peter came to me looking for medicines for orphans and he’s now in search of funding for this project. When I asked Peter why there were so many orphans in Cambodia he explained to me that because there is a lack of economic opportunities so many of the adults are being tricked into slavery outside of the country. Others are willfully going to Thailand to be sex workers because they have no other choice. Unfortunately this is leaving a large orphaned community in Cambodia. The children are at their most vulnerable as they are picked up by gangsters and forced to work for no wages. Often times these children have no other choices. So AIU is creating safe houses with medical care for these vulnerable children.

An organization like Giving Children Hope can be a hard sell for people. Distribution of product isn’t a sexy thing to fund. But David said it best to me today as he toured our center “It’s amazing that you guys exist. Organizations on the ground need exactly what you do. You are really helping to address global problems in a practical way.” And as we say here at Giving Children Hope, we are only as strong as those who we partner with. We’re in it together. And together we can fight global issues like those of human slavery.

Human Slavery

Last night I was able to watch the film, Call + Respond which will come in theaters in October. My friend of 5 years Justin Dillion is the director and has partnered with another friend, David Batstone of the Not for Sale Campaign. I have been well aware of the issue for years now, and known both of these gentleman apart from each other. It's funny how small and connected the non-profit sector is. We all know each other. But we need more people getting involved to make a difference.

If you don't know, there are over 27 million slaves in the world today - more than any other time in history. Wow, really! Did you think slavery is an issue from the past? Well, it is isn't! And you probably support the $32 billion industry without even knowing it. Justin is a doer and he's bringing awareness to this issue to say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! And at Giving Children Hope we agree!

So we hope you'll see the film when it goes into theaters soon. And we hope you'll do something you are passionate about in this world to make a difference.

As we say at Giving Children Hope - this is YOUR world and we are YOUR organization. Don't just be educated - do something!