What to do when mistaken for a stripper

Yes, I write this from my middle-class pedestal. I’ve never fallen on life-threatening hard times, but I know this: Women, every single one of them, are worth more than their bodies. In an ideal world, everyone would see that.

-Amberly McAteer

I woke up and reached for my phone to check the time.  I had missed a call and received a text while I slept.  From a local number not saved in my phone.  No voice message, but the text came an hour after the call.  Simply, Hey.  I had a couple people in mind of who this might be, but didn't know for sure.

So, I replied: Hi. Who is this?

Derek

Now I had no idea who this could be.  This is where I may have made my first mistake (though some of you may be thinking I had already made a mistake), but it was early and my head was hurting and I reasoned this guy had heard my voice -- and my name -- when he got my voicemail. 

I'm sorry. Derek?... I'm Amy... Were you meaning to reach me?

His answer: Platinum

My stomach dropped.  That sounds like the name of a strip club, doesn't it?  I replied with a question mark, and then did an internet search.  Turns out there's a Platinum Salon in the area and a Platinum Plumbing Company.  But you don't normally make hair appointments at 2 am nor handle water emergencies via a one-word text. 

Most likely a local Platinum Club where sugar daddies meet sugar babies.

I figured my punctuated reply would be the last I heard from Derek, but I still couldn't help but think about who he might be -- his character.  His intentions with the girl the call and texts were meant for.  And what kind of life he must have to engage in that type of behavior.  And what about her?  Who was she?  Did she feel desperate?  Or unloved?  Or worthless?  Or was she feeding some addiction?  Or just trying to feed her babies?

In college, I worked the night shift at a hotel next to a similar type of establishment.  The small pieces of that industry I was exposed to there -- when greasy men and mostly-naked women would check in late at night -- was enough to make my skin crawl.

Another message box: Did i meet u at platinum

Okay, this guy was leaving less and less room for doubt.  I felt sorry for my secret sister.  I wondered if this guy had been such a creep she gave him the wrong number, or if he had just fumbled the number himself and got me.  I also felt sorry for him.  He obviously wasn't taught love or self-worth appropriately, either.  (And... well... I don't think this whole phone thing was going the way he had planned.)

And though I was safe at home on my couch I felt like I had come face-to-face with a man set on taking advantage of a woman.

Some disagree with me that an adult consenting to sexual acts in exchange for money is being taken advantage of.  Some might also argue that I really had no idea what Derek's true intentions were.  Still, I felt compelled to respond:

No, I have never been to Platinum.  Is that a "gentleman's" club?  I am sorry if I am being presumptuous, but I hope you were not trying to contact a woman to use her body.  I understand the allure of physical looks and pleasure alone, but women are so much more than that.  If that is all you are after, I would encourage you to seek out a woman who you can value and cherish and love and enjoy fully and completely, who will also value and respect you for all of who you are.  Commit to one another fully and for life.  It really is so much better that way.  I am speaking from experience.  Again, sorry if I misinterpreted this interaction.  I just feel passionately about this issue.

I usually am pretty agreeable and flexible on most issues.  I take a live and let live stance in my life and occupy a world filled with gray.  But for me, the commercial sex industry -- pornography, prostitution and all that goes with it -- is just downright unacceptable.  Intolerable.  I believe we can never, ever be okay with anyone trivializing sex to a business transaction.  (Which I also believe is actually impossible to do -- it will always be MORE than that, even in those one-time instances when money or goods change hands.)  It's even more deplorable when it is used to deliberately exploit and abuse.

I know many of my fellow humans, many of my fellow Americans, even many of my fellow women disagree with me on this.  That a little fun never hurt anyone.  That boys will be boys and it's one of womankind's longest-standing "professions."  But it is never okay to objectify and reduce a woman (or man, for that matter) down to just something pretty to look at or play with.

The more people who stand together on this one point, the better our world will be.

Please join me in taking every opportunity you can -- even those instances when you may be mistaken for a stripper -- to send a clear message about the true value and full worth of a woman.
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To read more about my thoughts on the commercial sex industry as it relates to human trafficking, visit this previous post. (Explicit content warning)

Thankfulness Project: Day 4

Today I am thankful for those who are fully committed to justice and to mercy.  Not in some statutory way, but in waging war against the outrageous wrongs of our world and working to make them right. 

I am thankful for those people who devote their energy, their lives, their very well-being to love and fairness and balance in our world.  Who sacrifice their own rights and privileges to help others gain freedom from whatever chains bind them.

I am thankful that it is work that is seeing progress.  Sometimes I forget this.  I was reminded when I read Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place.  The Holocaust was sickening and tragic and horrible beyond words.  But devoted people saved persecuted lives despite it.  Sometimes at the cost of their own.  And their work, their prayers, their unwillingness to back down brought an end to a cruel and gruesome regime. 

I must be reminded: Things are better today than they have been.  I'm thankful for that.  But there is still work to be done and I am thankful for those who have suited up to do it. 

My eyes were opened earlier this year to the proliferation of modern day slavery.  There are all types of slaves of all ages all over the world (yes, even still in the United States of America).  I keep wanting to do more to help all the slaves, but my eyes, my mind, my heart, my actions are drawn back to the unspeakable horror of child sex trafficking. 

Though my words feel too weak, I am thankful for those who are committed to ending this injustice.  A friend offered the most fitting description I have heard of these brave souls: They're going right up to the very gates of hell to battle.

Since the Tread on Trafficking fundraiser this summer to benefit Love146, I've continued to follow this one agency's efforts at the gates of hell.  I'm thankful they're willing to go there and I'm thankful for the children they're saving.

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His Name Was David. from Love146 on Vimeo.

A year ago, we opened a feeding center in the heart of a community in the Philippines where child slavery was thriving — where pedophiles preyed on impoverished families and even some parents felt compelled to sell their children for sex.

We wanted to close the gap between desperation and exploitation, so we began to provide food, medicine and education… some of the needs that push families and their children into the bondage of sexual exploitation. And we began listening to the children.



Of the many children who came through our doors, it didn’t take us long to spot four girls that were in especially serious danger. We began to notice heartbreaking injuries that could only come from sexual exploitation. In their childlike ways, they disclosed that their parents were selling them to pedophiles.

Hands tied by protocol, hearts torn to intervene. We’ve faced this before:

 

Not knowing what happened to
the girl who wore 146 haunts us everyday.
We vowed this story would end differently.

Everything inside of us wanted to take these girls out of their community. But it’s never as simple as snatching a child up. At the time, we could only legally provide so much care and it was gut-wrenching to know that when they walked out of our feeding center, they were walking into a horror that no child should ever face.



Love is tenacious…
After months of partnering with local law enforcement and working with the Philippines Department of Social Welfare & Development, we gained full custody of Camila, Claudia, Sonya and Ariel. They’re safe and sound in our Round Home, and we’re looking forward to celebrating this holiday season with them in our family.

-Love146 blog post, Love is tenacious, by Ryan Day

I'm also thankful we can support such amazing work.

The End of Sex Trafficking

***WARNING: GRAPHIC ADULT CONTENT IN POST AND LINKS*** 

If there were no demand for commercial sex, sex trafficking would not exist in the form it does today.  This reality underscores the need for continued strong efforts to enact policies and promote cultural norms that disallow paying for sex.

-2013 Trafficking in Persons Report, page 27

The 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report goes on to give concrete suggestions to end sex trafficking as we know it:

Government Policies to Address Demand for Commercial Sex: Zero-tolerance policies for employees, uniformed service members, and contractors paying for sex -- even if legal in the country where these individuals work -- and commensurate training for such individuals can help raise awareness regarding the subtle and brutal nature of sex trafficking and how individuals subjected to this crime are victimized through coercion.  Moreover, by implementing these policies in procurement activities, governments can have an impact on a wide range of private-sector actors as well. 

Beyond Government: Cultural Leadership in Addressing Demand: Rejecting long held notions such as 'boys-will-be-boys' and sending the clear message that buying sex is wrong is not just a task for governments, but will require partnerships throughout society, including the faith and business communities.  Business leaders can adopt codes of conduct that prohibit purchasing sex.  And leaders in civil society -- from teachers to parents to ministers -- must foster the belief that it is everyone's responsibility to do their part to reduce the demand for commercial sex.  It is especially important to reach young men with a strong message of demand reduction to help them understand the exploitation that permeates the commercial sex trade. 

It is every person's individual responsibility to think about how their actions may contribute to human trafficking.  Laws and policies, partnerships and activism will continue to be critical to this struggle, but it will also be the day-to-day decisions of individual men and women to reject exploitation that will bring an end to modern slavery. 

Sadly, our culture has grown increasingly comfortable with the X-rated industry.  To expect an end to prostitution and pornography -- if such an endeavor is even possible -- seems absurd to them.  While you'd be hard pressed to find people who are okay with sex trafficking in any form, many believe that treating sex as a business exchange between two consenting adults (whether on-screen or in-person) is perfectly acceptable. 

The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons makes it clear that it is not at all acceptable because it perpetuates modern-day slavery.  In a very real sense, when you are paying for sex you are enslaving people.

I hold personal beliefs that make consumption of commercialized sex in any form unwise, unhealthy and unacceptable on a moral level for many reasons.  If you happen to be one of many who disagree with me, I would hope the realization that contributing to the industry also contributes to the bondage of women (and men) and children would be enough to compel you to abstain.

I did some very uncomfortable -- and at times, nauseating -- research on this. 

This 11 page fact sheet on prostitution, pornography and trafficking blatantly states the undeniable dangers of commercial sex.  Consider these statistics (all taken from the link):

• 85 - 95% of those in prostitution want to escape it, but have no other options for survival.
• 70 - 95% were physically assaulted in prostitution.
• 65 - 95% of those in prostitution were sexually assaulted as children.
• Early adolescence is the most frequently reported age of entry in any type of prostitution.
• The death rate for women and girls in prostitution is 40 times higher than the average death rate for females.
• Countries with legalized prostitution also have a greater inflow of human trafficking.

***All statistics are cited in the link.

According to researcher Donna Hughes, the average age of girls in prostitution has declined each year for the past decade. 

For those who believe viewing pornography is a different and maybe even more acceptable act, I must emphasize that pornography and prostitution are inextricably woven together.  Both are equally contributing to the human trafficking problem.

According to that same fact sheet from above, more than half of all prostitutes in one study reported that pornography was used to teach them what was expected.  And more than 80% were shown pornography by customers to illustrate the types of activities they wanted to engage in.

In a 2005 report in the Michigan Journal of International Law, Catherine MacKinnon effectively posited that when you make pornography of a woman, you make a prostitute out of her.  Not to mention countless studies are reporting  that pornography is increasingly showing activities in which women are slapped, beaten, tortured, raped and degraded in a variety of ways.

Here's the scary part about that: While I was in college I attended a guest lecture by a man who said he lost everything to pornography.  He had an addiction which most people who view pornography do not suffer from.  But he still spoke candidly about the dangers of viewing pornography.  He, and others I have heard since (including a Men's Health article I found when researching for this post), talk about a "mirror neuron" effect that happens when men view pornography.  They then are inclined to act out what they watch.  You can see how the connection between more violent images and mirror neurons is frightening.  For all women.

I will conclude by quoting a columnist, Amberly McAteer, whose words I stumbled across in my research.  After reading just two of her posts I learned that we disagree on the monogamous, marital relationship, but we are both firm, firm believers in the grave dangers -- to men and women -- of prostitution:

 Yes, I write this from my middle-class pedestal. I’ve never fallen on life-threatening hard times, but I know this: Women, every single one of them, are worth more than their bodies. In an ideal world, everyone would see that.

And so, it really is that simple.  Stop consuming commercial sex.  Pornography and prostitution in any form.  No exceptions, no excuses.  Stand for that. 

Sex trafficking will end.  Women will be valued.  And society will be much, much better off for it.

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If you or someone you know suffers with inappropriate sexual urges or desires or would like help managing abstention from pornography or prostitution, contact a professional trained to help.

What now?

1,018,831 steps.  1,300 dollars.  We did it.    More than fifty people donated.  More than twenty walked with me.  And around a hundred or so promoted my personal campaign through social media.  678 treaders raised $52,329 for Love146 to continue the fight against child sex trafficking around the world.

To everyone who helped, thank you!

Tread on Trafficking is over, but the work continues.  I hope those of you who joined me in this fundraiser will not stop your efforts there.

While protecting children is at the top of my priority list, adults bound by forced labor are just as worthy of freedom.  Child sex trafficking is just part of the modern day slavery problem.  We must work to free all 27 million of the world's slaves.  Men, women and children.

Here are some of my suggestions to continue the fight for freedom:

• Educate yourself about the problem.  I wrote a blog post in April that includes several links, books and resources offering information about modern-day slavery.  Since that post, the  Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons released its Trafficking in Persons Report for 2013. 

• Consume wisely.  For many reasons, we would all do well to critically evaluate all we consume.  Do we really need those clothes or that gadget?  Should we make changes to our diet -- for our health, for the environment, to save food for our neighbors?  I could probably write a whole series of posts about our culture of consumption, but will stop with just those three sentences.  The focus here is not on the quantity we consume but the quality. 

We live in a time when we can be more informed than ever before about the products we consume.  We can ask questions about where something came from and get answers.  Ask those questions and strive not to contribute your finances to slave owners.

Free2Work did a survey of the apparel industry and graded them on  the practices in place to prevent and address forced labor in their supply chain.  I've looked at the report and checked out the stores with the highest grades.  I'll admit, some of them offer not much more than white cotton t-shirts for $30.  We need more than white shirts and not all of us can afford those prices.  (Though I encourage everyone to reflect on the reasons behind higher prices of fair-trade products.)

But not all were obscure speciality companies.  Hanesbrands received an "A" grade.   (Read their Corporate Social Responsibility Statement here.)  Beyond Hanes, this includes Champion, Bali, Playtex, Just My Size, Beefy-T, C9, Celebrity, J.E. Morgan, One Hanes Place, Rinbros and others.  I haven't heard of all of those, but I have heard of Hanes.  And in my experience, they offer a wide range of quality apparel at affordable prices.  I remember picking out things from the Hanes catalog as a child (and we were poor). 

Check out their website -- I'm sure they won't be able to meet every single one of your clothing needs, but you'll probably be surprised at their prices and selection.  (And no, I'm in no way getting a commission.  I've just always loved their products and love them even more after learning how fair they are.)

• Watch for slavery.  One of the biggest lessons I've learned by studying modern day slavery is that it is all around us.  That sounds like some kind of overly-zealous scare tactic, but it is all across the world, including right here in America.  It's in your state and could even be in your neighborhood. 

This means we must be keenly aware of the people around us.  Trafficked people are in our service industries here in America.  Befriend your manicurist, hair stylist, housekeeper and maintenance worker as much as you can.  Most of these people are not being forced to do their job, but some are. 

I've also been more aware at airports, keeping my eye out for people who may be trafficked right in front of me.  If you do suspect trafficking or for more information on warning signs, contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center .

• Continue supporting abolition.  I personally felt an instant connection to Love146, but they are not the only agency fighting slavery.  I have also been quite impressed by Free the Slaves and have been looking for ways to become more involved in their agency.  They were co-founded by a prolific modern-day abolitionist, Kevin Bales, and work internationally to educate entire villages of slaves, empowering them to free themselves.  Isn't that beautiful?  Freeing multi-generation slaves through education and empowerment?  As little as $56,000 can fund the several-year work to free an entire village.  Their model is amazing to me.  I would love to one day organize a campaign to fund those efforts.  Or better yet -- support the Free a Village,  Build a Movement campaign YOU organize.

I feel compelled to talk about one crucial piece of abolition.  Many experts say this one thing would totally eliminate sex trafficking.  It would eliminate the root of the problem.  I have given this simple solution a separate post, linked here, with an adult content disclaimer.

Week Seven Update

Taken from usps.com

My definition of freedom is deeper than most.  For so long my freedom was nonexistent.  My every move was watched, my every conversation was observed.  My clothing and food portions and options were at the mercy of another.  Living in fear and terror, I had no ability to make or understand decisions and my physical self seemed to belong to everyone but me.

- Withelma "T" Ortiz Walker Pettigrew, Human Trafficking Survivor, as quoted in the 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report

Today Secretary of State John Kerry released the 2013 Trafficking in Persons report.  I have only skimmed a couple sections.  It is not for the faint of heart.  It is hard for me to grasp the magnitude of slavery we face more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.  If the hardcore abolitionists of the 1800s couldn't wipe this out, I feel altogether incapable.

In remarks at the release of the report, Mr. Kerry said that abolitionist efforts can seem daunting.  They most certainly are.  He followed up that statement with this one: But it's the right effort.  Though I sometimes feel overwhelmed by human trafficking, and altogether sickened by child trafficking, I whole heartedly agree.

And I am encouraged by friends, family and co-workers who stand on the side of freedom, too. 

For the previous weeks that I secretly worried that I was doing Tread on Trafficking mostly alone, I have been overcome with an unbelievable outpouring of support this week.  People have stepped up in amazing ways -- with their feet, with their words and with their finances.

With each step taken by someone else, with each dollar donated and with each word of encouragement I was reminded just how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.

Thank you all for all you've done so far.  We have 11 more days to finish this strong.  I've set a new stepping goal of a combined one million steps.  You've already walked more than 200,000 steps alongside me and we have less than 300,000 steps to finish that new goal.  I'll do more than 100,000 of those myself -- you all please join me in the other 200,000.

$575 in donations poured in this week.  Amazing.  I am only $375 from reaching my original fundraising goal.  As I said on the very first day -- I am open to blowing that goal. Out. Of. The. Water.

Freedom!

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This fundraiser benefits www.love146.org. You may donate at www.stayclassy.org/amyrosekarr . If you can't donate, you can still 'like' and share my page on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about modern-day slavery here.

Why 10,146 steps? In honor of the girl who wore number 146 .

Week Six Update

But the girls are okay now.  They can afford to forgive.
-Love146 blogpost about survivors being reunited with their father

More than 200 miles logged so far with only 18 days remaining in the campaign.  When I took my first step I thought the steps would eventually come easier.  10,146 steps has been a challenge every day.  I'm thankful for all my friends and family who have taken some of those steps with me.  Who have encouraged me through words, hugs, treats and prayers. 

Thanks for your support.

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This fundraiser benefits www.love146.org. You may donate at www.stayclassy.org/amyrosekarr . If you can't donate, you can still 'like' and share my page on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about modern-day slavery here.

Why 10,146 steps? In honor of the girl who wore number 146 .

Weeks 4 & 5 Update

My idea of a safe home is where we nurse the bird's broken wing.  If we do well with our nursing, then the bird should be able to fly again and out of the safe home, and soar to the heights it was meant to reach.
- Dr. Gundlina Velazco, quoted in the Love146 blog post She Will Not Walk Alone*
*This linked blog post gives some graphic details of a rescued victim.

I am more than halfway finished with the fundraiser with more than 178 miles logged so far.  Four friends joined me in walking during week 4 when we visited them in Arizona.  I walked steps in two additional states, and at my favorite place on earth: Natural Bridge, KY. 

I am still at only 5% of my fundraising goal.  Please consider helping with these efforts.  I understand that many of my friends who are financially able to give already pour a lot of money into other worthwhile causes.  If you cannot make a monetary donation, please consider passing along my fundraising page.

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This fundraiser benefits www.love146.org. You may donate at www.stayclassy.org/amyrosekarr . If you can't donate, you can still 'like' and share my page on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about modern-day slavery here.

Why 10,146 steps? In honor of the girl who wore number 146 .

Week Three Update

Stats and stories can be overwhelming.  That is why Love146 chooses to focus on hope.  Lives can and are being restored.
-Love146 slavery book





Sometimes it is difficult to focus on hope.  This is one of those times.  It feels like there is too much hate, too much greed, too much wrong.  Too many filthy, nasty people free to do filthy, nasty things.

I would prefer to wallow but I continue to walk.  And cling to the hope that it will make a difference someway and things will get better someday.  Even when I can't see the details of how.

More than a quarter-million steps with nine people and three dogs across five states.

At five percent of my fundraising goal with five more weeks to go.

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This fundraiser benefits www.love146.org. You may donate at www.stayclassy.org/amyrosekarr . If you can't donate, you can still 'like' and share my page on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about modern-day slavery here.

Why 10,146 steps? In honor of the girl who wore number 146 .

Week Two Update

Walk boldly on that road ahead, no matter where it takes you.
-First Lady Michelle Obama

I walked a few of this week's steps into the gymnasium of my college alma mater to hear the First Lady address Eastern Kentucky University's College of Business and Technology and College of Education graduates.

I was excited when I first heard Mrs. Obama had chosen to come to EKU to honor their outstanding commitment to veterans.  But when the day arrived to actually hear her speak, I was feeling a bit indifferent about the whole thing.  I was exhausted and wondered if the effort was worth the trouble.

On the hour-long drive to campus, I decided it was.  I began reflecting on how poignant it is that I, a poor little girl who grew up in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, could graduate from college and then return to that college to hear an address from the wife of the leader of our country.  How even in this country founded on freedom and equality we would not have had the freedom or the equality to complete such a feat if this was Eastern Kentucky University's 1913 commencement.

That's beautiful progress.  Countless women took countless steps to make that possible.

I hope my steps will make progress toward freeing other little girls to achieve their dreams and goals.

142,044 steps across Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas with five people, two dogs and one sweet little neice who literally ran circles around me.  I'd be afraid to say how many steps she took.

I am still at five percent of my fundraising goal.

Six more weeks to go! Thanks, everyone, for your support so far.

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This fundraiser benefits www.love146.org. You may donate at www.stayclassy.org/amyrosekarr . If you can't donate, you can still 'like' and share my page on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about modern-day slavery here.

Why 10,146 steps? In honor of Girl 146 .

Week One Update

We are the orphan boys and the forgotten girls.
We are lost and far from home.
We are the fatherless, born of dust and nothingness.
We are lost and far from home.

There is no love like yours in all the earth.
There is no love like yours in the universe.
There is no love that heals my broken heart.
There is no love like yours at all.

-Orphan's Song, Karla Adolphe, www.entertheworshipcircle.com

This song came on tonight as I was walking my steps for Tread on Trafficking and I couldn't help but think of the children I am walking for and the hope I have for them.

This first week has been challenging and rewarding.

I have walked 71,022 steps in five different states.  Five people and two dogs walked 29,514 steps with me. I am at five percent of my fundraising goal.

I also watched my husband walk across a stage to mark the completion of one of his goals: A college degree.  And it is my hope that our steps will help free enslaved children to take their own steps toward their own dreams.

Seven more weeks to go!  Thanks, everyone, for your support so far.

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This fundraiser benefits www.love146.org.  You may donate at www.stayclassy.org/amyrosekarr .  If you can't donate, you can still 'like' and share my page on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about modern-day slavery here.

Why 10,146 steps?   In honor of Girl 146 .

For those who have no choice. (yet)

God is good, and one day I won't be a [slave] anymore.
-Bill Nathan, Haitian child slave at age 8 -- after a beating -- to his owner, as shared by Ben Skinner in A Crime So Monstrous



There are more people living enslaved on our planet today than ever before.  27 million men, women and children.  In the United States of America, where we pledge liberty and justice for all, and 160 other countries.

To clarify, that number is not based on a loose definition of slavery.  But rather of one human completely controlling another human person through violence or threat of violence, with no pay and no ability to leave. Usually for forced labor or forced sex.

In the time since you started reading this, another sweet little innocent child has been sold into that definition of slavery.  For as little as 50 U.S. dollars.

What will her life be like? What will she be used for?

I try to imagine what it would feel like to be a slave. I try to imagine the depth of evil, or cultural complacency, it would take to enslave and use a fellow human in such a grisly manner. But I can't handle it for very long and always come up short.

The snippets of modern-day slave stories I've been able to stomach lead me to believe her experience will most likely be horrifically gruesome, to say the least.  I can't bring myself to type it.

If you were not aware of Earth's persisting slavery epidemic, this is not news meant to overwhelm you.  Though you may be feeling overwhelmed.  And I actually tried to keep the shock-factor as minimal as one possibly can when dealing with a topic as horrendous as human trafficking and slavery.

Because I want to focus on the flip-side to the modern-day slavery story.  It is a story of hope.  Well-founded hope.

Said another way, the percentage of people living enslaved on our planet today is smaller than at any other time in history.  Yes, there are more slaves in number, but it is also true that there are more of us free and capable of freeing them than ever before.  Some who are better informed on this issue than I am say we can free every last one of them in one generation.  And completely prevent the bondage of future generations.

Free people are rising up -- in groups and individually -- and doing the work to free others.  Entire organizations are devoted to the effort.  And they are making a difference.

Bill Nathan's words proved prophetic.  He was freed and now works to free others through a boys' orphanage in Haiti.  All 27 million brothers and sisters in bondage can say those same words.  It is true for each of them.

One day no one will be bought or sold, chained or beaten.

One day all children will keep their childhoods and their innocence.

One day every little girl will be cherished, every woman valued for her full worth, every boy nourished, every man respected.

One day there will not be any slaves any more.

The only question is, what part will you play in realizing that day?

END IT.

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This post is in honor of Shine a Light on Slavery Day.

I am so thankful to say that there are far more organizations, people and efforts to end slavery and human trafficking than could ever be included in a blog post.  To learn simple (or not-as-simple) ways that you can get involved, visit www.enditmovement.com .  They provide a lot of helpful information and links to some (but not all) organizations working to free people.

If you would like a peek into the reality of modern-day slavery, the END IT Movement website also contains a list of informative books.  A quick internet search will yield plenty of reading material.  Be warned, it's worse than you think.

Statistics and information used in this post were taken from the END IT Movement campaign, the CNN Freedom Project, and the writing of slave-advocates Kevin Bales and Ben Skinner.