My first day at Freeset I got to go with Kerry, one of the founders of Freeset, and one of the women who’s on the leadership committee of Freeset women to interview some women who were interested in working at Freeset. We went to the brothel homes of three women who’d walked in the front door of Freeset asking for employment. The goal was to find out about them to make sure they were eligible for employment at Freeset and anticipate what challenges they’d face leaving the sex trade. Freeset only employees women who are over 18 and are in the sex trade or highly at risk of entering the trade.
The first room we visited had a twin bed—and that’s how wide the room was. There was about a foot of space at the end of the bed by the door. In this small space a young woman trafficked from Bangladesh lived and worked.
The three of us sat on the bed while the woman, her friend, and her madam stood in the door. They spent an exorbitant amount of money to buy us Sprite. I sat in surreal silence, sipping Sprite and watching everyone’s faces as the conversation progressed in Bangla. I watched the women laugh and smile, and I watched fear and shame wash over their faces when the questions turned to where they’d come from and who was currently pressuring them to stay in the trade. Through the conversation, they found out about her boyfriend who took much of the money she earned. They also got to look at a meager medical report she had from a doctor she’d visited at a free clinic. She couldn’t read, so she had no idea what the doctor had found: HIV.
Later that afternoon, we went to another larger brothel room. Inside lived a husband and wife and their eighteen-year-old daughter. They had a bed and a dresser and a little floor space. The mother had worked in the trade, but was now to old; the father wasn’t working; the girl had never been in the trade and had never been to school. It was clear that as soon as an illness struck her one of her parents this young girl would be standing on the street. Her eyes had a fear and earnestness; and her mother spoke with devastating firsthand knowledge of what her daughter’s life would be like if she didn’t find a way out—now. I watched their faces and tried to imagine what it would be like to grow up for eighteen years in this room, and watch your future play out in vivid detail through the life of your mother.
The very next morning both of these young women started work at Freeset. The very next morning they took a bold step toward health, hope, and freedom.
The first got a chance to get health insurance and guidance that will help her through the tough years ahead. She got to chance to take charge of a life where so many decisions had been forced upon her.
The second got a chance to escape the fate that had been hovering over her since the day she was born. She got the chance to dare to imagine a different life for herself and her kids.
Keep reading over the next few days for more about Freeset—and stay tuned for the unveiling of our new Freeset tees!
Our benefit concert on Friday night is in support of Hagar International. If you can’t attend in person, please consider giving today via Global Giving. Today only, your gift of up to $1,000 will be increased by 30%! If you’re looking for ways to make your money go further in today’s economy then this sounds like a perfect opportunity!
Help Hagar provide quality services to girls rescued from situations of sex trafficking and other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation in Cambodia. Please take advantage of this one day opportunity to increase your impact. Together, we can provide a place of refuge, a message of hope, and a journey of restoration.
You can also support the women of Hagar in Cambodia by purchasing their bags!
Sonagachi is the largest red light district in Kolkata. It’s home to thousands of prostitutes and their families. It’s frequented by thousands of men every day. All day and all night, there are women lining the streets, waiting. All day and all night, there are men walking, leering, touching, paying. All day and all night, there are children smiling, laughing, playing in the streets.
In just under a week, Stop Traffick Fashion will launch a line of t-shirts made by women in Kolkata, India. Freeset bags have been a staple of our inventory from the very beginning, so we’re thrilled to extend our partnership with Freeset into t-shirts.
Freeset is a business in Kolkata, located in Sonagachi, the largest sex district in the city. For nearly ten years, Freeset has been employing women who’ve been trapped in the sex trade—giving them a choice, often for the first time in their lives. (more…)
Our T-shirt Launch & Benefit Concert is just one week away! We are getting very excited about the event and hope that you can make it out to see our new T-shirts, hear great music, see great art and have some fabulous coffee.
In the upcoming week Melissa will be sharing with you first hand accounts of her visit to Freeset in Kolkata, India. The women of Freeset make our new T-shirts and also some of our bags. This will be a great way for you to find out more about the women who work at Freeset and their journey of freedom. It will also show you how you can become part of their journey. So stay tuned!
March 11th will mark exactly 2 months since Ohio observed Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
It will mark 1 month since Ohio Attorney General Cordray’s Trafficking in Person Study Commission published the Report on the Prevalence of Human Trafficking in Ohio, the first study of its kind.
March 11th is the day we will keep the issue of human trafficking fresh in the minds of our politicians, by sending them an email blast to ensure they know we’re still paying attention!
On March 2nd, 26 of 33 senators stepped up alongside Sen. Fedor to sponsor S.B. 235.
S.B. 235 will allow Ohio to join the other 43 states that have made human trafficking a stand-alone felony under their state laws; it’s time for Ohio to address it’s rampant human trafficking problem by empowering local law enforcement with a state law instead of continually pushing these cases onto the FBI, scrambling to find some other crime to prosecute traffickers under, or ignoring these cases entirely.
As S.B. 235 enters the Criminal Justice Committee of the Ohio Senate, it enters a critical stage in the editing and amendment process. Encourage your senators to continue supporting the bill by keeping it strong and comprehensive! You can find your legislator here: http://www.ohiosenate.gov. Once you find their contact information you can use the email template below.
Today is International Women’s Day! There are many great ways to empower women around the world and shopping at Stop Traffick Fashion is one of them. Our products are made by survivors of human trafficking and enable them to earn a sustainable income in order to support themselves and their families. In addition to the financial benefit, the accompanying work and sense of accomplishment give the women a new sense of dignity and confidence!
We also came across this great note from World Vision about how a former sponsored girl in their program is now tutoring children in the slums of India. It’s all because someone sponsored her that she was able to accomplish what she has and move on to help others! Sponsoring a young girl can change her life and cause a ripple effect for years to come. Sponsor a child today.
What are some other ways you can empower women? We’d love to hear them! Please leave some comments and let us know your ideas. Remember, a small step can lead to big change!
Bipartisan Bill Will Make Human Trafficking a Felony Offense
Senators Fedor and Grendell Partner to Fight Problem
ColumbuS – Senator Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Senator Tim Grendell (R-Chesterland) jointly introduced Senate Bill 235 today creating a second-degree felony for human trafficking in the State of Ohio. Ohio is one of only seven states lacking felony-level language for human trafficking in-line with federal standards. A bi-partisan group of twenty-six senators have co-sponsored the legislation.
“Ohio needs legislation that will attack human trafficking criminal enterprises and put them away for a very long time,” said Senator Fedor. “Children are trafficked within Ohio’s borders every year because the traffickers know our laws are weak. It is about time Ohio joined the 43 other states with human trafficking laws on the books and let traffickers know – our children are not for sale.”
The bill comes on the heels of a report by the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, of which Senator Fedor is vice-chairwoman. The report found that over one thousand children are trafficked in Ohio each year, while several thousand more are considered to be at risk.
“Ohio’s Criminal Justice system needs a new tool to fight the growing travesty of human trafficking in our great State. We can not sit by while hundreds of people are victimized every year by what equates to modern day slavery,” said Senator Grendell, the joint sponsor who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
Demi Moore has won the Pepsi Refresh Challenge! Thanks to all of her fan votes, Demi won a $250,000 grant for GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services). GEMS is an organization based in New York designed to empower young women in America who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. GEMS will use the money to train 10 survivors as outreach workers to serve in their communities. Congratulations to Demi and GEMS! You can also check out Demi & Ashton’s new anti-trafficking organization The DNA Foundation.
Also, if you are free this Thursday night you should plan to find your local theater that is showing Half The Sky Live. It’s a one night movie event based on the book, Half the Sky, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Join the movement, celebrate International Women’s Day and be inspired to help women around the world turn oppression into opportunity!
We’ve been writing a lot about trafficking in the US and in Ohio lately. If you want to read another perspective, read this interview with the author of the new book The Slave Across the Street, Theresa Flores. Theresa is an activist and is also a Director for Gracehaven House in Ohio, one of the few shelters for survivors in America.
