Did you know that currently 27 million people around the globe are in slavery and sex trafficking? Yes, right now in AMERICA and all over the world? This could be your daughter. This could be your son. This could be your sister. This could be your wife. This could be your niece or nephew. There are more slaves in America than there were 150 years ago when slavery was eradicated.
I chose to pick sex trafficking because I went to a conference in January called Passion. It was here that my eyes were opened to what I thought was impossible. I desire to be an advocate for sex trafficking. “Advocacy includes action taken in support of a cause or an idea. It may include, for example, providing education, distributing information, or holding events to dramatize an issue or the effects of a problem on people or a community” (Worth, 2012, pg. 353). There are many organizations that are fighting to end slavery. The organization I chose to research is an organization called “Love146”. The passion for the fight against child sex trafficking was ignited in September of 2002. The Co-Founders Rob Morris, Lamont Hiebert, Desirea Rodgers, and Caroline Hahm went on trip to Southeast Asia in search of helping sex trafficking. “We became an official Public Charity in March of 2004 under the name of Justice for Children International and later changed our name to Love146” (love146.org). The reason for the changed happened when they went to Thailand. The co-founders encountered a child with a number on her shirt that read “146”. It was then their work began. They have increased to many areas of Europe, Asia, and the United States. The mission and goal of this organization is “Abolition and Restoration! We combat child sex slavery and exploitation with the unexpected and restore survivors with excellence” (love146.org)
The issue, as you can tell, is child slavery in the form of sex trafficking. As I have previously stated, there are 27 million people who are currently enslaved. Here are a few statistics provided by International Crisis Aid on sex trafficking in America and around the world:
- Almost 300,000 American children are at risk for trafficking into the sex industry
- There are girls as young as 5 and 6 years old in the U.S. that are forced to do sexual acts for economic gain by their pimp
- Between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the U.S. each year; the CIA estimates 45,000-50,000
- One in 12 (82 of 1000) youth experienced sexual victimization, including sexual assaults (32 per 1000) and attempted or completed rate (22 per 1000)
- 1.2 million children are being trafficked every year; this is in addition to the millions already held captive by trafficking
- Every 2 minutes a child is being prepared for sexual explotation
- The average age of a trafficked victim is 12-14 years old
- UNICEF reports approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past thirty years
- People are trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries
- And if that is not enough, the total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 BILLION
This is a heartbreaking issue and because of organizations such as Love146 and Passion there has been progress.
Love146 is dedicated to help change the idea of slavery and sex trafficking through prevention and aftercare. To aid in prevention Love146 realized that to assist in sex slavery and exploitation prevention work is essential. “Love146 takes a diversified approach in Prevention by working across the globe to reduce the risk for children in high traffic areas, strengthen prevention networks, empower youth, and empower advocates” (love146.org). In aftercare strategies, Love 146 provides a holistic approach: biological, psychological, and social. They provide Aftercare through three different projects, safe-homes, training in aftercare, and reintegration research. These different projects are ways to change the exploitation of children. In a nutshell, safe-homes are used in order to provide housing, safety, and facilitate restoration and health. Love146 has a 5-day thorough preparation for grassroots caregivers already working with freed children. As defined in the text, “grassroots lobbying refers to any attempt to influence legislation by affecting the opinion of the general public and that asks individuals to take action (Worth, 2012, pg. 356). The caregiver are encouraged and empowered with the proper knowledge and certification. “The Love146 Certificate Training Program in Aftercare (CTPA) seeks to empower caregivers with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to provide children with specialized care. The program provides a certified qualification through an on-site training course and post-course evaluation” (love146.org). Last but not least, they use reintegration research in order to best place the children back with their families or back in the community. They do extensive research to find the outcomes of placing them back with their families. It may not always work out, as they may want. If could have been the family that sold them into slavery from the beginning.
We all know that finances are a major part in an advocacy program. In our text Worth stated, “There are restrictions on the use of government or foundation funds, but unrestricted revenues from gifts, grants, or earned income may be used to fund a lobbying effort” (Worth, 2012, pg. 359). Different expenses for Love146 are often managed and distributed by the region it works with. They depend solely on people or organizations that want to help. There is no federal money coming to Love146. Below are pictures of their revenue:
Again, I chose this organization because is it captures my heart for the world. I have such a heart for children with different needs. I never thought this would be an issue in the world especially in America. Hopefully, even after this assignment is over my I will still be proactive in finding information and assisting different organizations with different skills that I posses.
References:
- Worth, Michael J. (2012). Nonprofit Management: Principles and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- http://www.crisisaid.org/ICAPDF/Trafficking/traffickstats.pdf
- http://love146.org/history
anteelahm 
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