Slavery is one of the fastest growing business ventures in the modern era. After reading an article about twelve years ago in a well-known magazine I found the facts strange; people were actually being bought and sold like cattle? People were being forced into prostitution, pornography and to work in erotic massage parlous? The startling article caused much debate in my ring of friends, people thought this was a conspiracy and these people wanted this lifestyle. There obviously must be a way to free these innocents, and actually show the reality of this evil, but how? Some marketing breakthroughs in the non-profit sector are revolutionizing the way solutions to this problem are approached.
Today the abolishment movement is in full swing. Well, should we say at least it has become a movement? There is massive push back as the realties of this atrocity are to unpalatable for the average American to question. This is something that is very real, it is happening and we need to face it, so to put an end to it, but first we have to understand it.
Modern slavery is a quickly growing enterprise. The Polaris Project is one of the chief organizations fighting against Human Trafficking. They define this abuse as such: “Human trafficking is the modern day practice of slavery. Also known as trafficking in persons, human trafficking comprises the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, based on the recruitment, harboring, and transportation of people solely for the purpose of exploitation”. They are actively pursuing to abolish this type of slavery and have been since 2002.
Currently the average American is a consumer. Not only do people have full control over what TV shows they watch with the introduction of recorded TV, but also with social networking the ability to filter what you see has taken over. RSS feeders capture a massive amount of information, but only if you subscribe to the feed do you get wind of the information. The urge for people to cut out bad or negative information has reached an all time high in this post 9/11 world. This poses a problem for organization such as the Polaris Project to inform the masses. Basically if people do not want to hear the negative they are easily able to filter it out.
The need for information to adapt to the virtual reality that has become America is on the forefront of the abolishment movement. In the past the mindset of the social justice movement has been one of shock and awe. This type of marketing brings publicity, but has a very negative effect on the overall integrity of a corporation. A very cautious line has become the balancing act of these organizations ability to communicate a need. An impasse has been met: how do you speak about devastation and ruin to a people who don’t want to hear or feel it? How do you create a market for hurting people and sell it, to an overinflated America? The answer may be found in shoes.
In 2006 Blake Mycoskie started a company called TOMS shoes, initiating the One-for-One movement, “with every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need”. Blake understood the need, shoes, and saw a direct application to the issue. Give consumers something to buy, and also give them the opportunity to learn about the movement. Instead of trying to get people to give money to a fund, also give them something to buy into. When there is a tangible item that they have as a reminder they are more likely to care about any issue.
Social justice movements across the board are starting to crack into the tight fist of consumerism. One such organization is carving into the monster that is slavery one purse, scarf and wallet at a time. In-His-Steps International has started an outreach to young girls who have been sold into slavery. Sak Saum, the Khmer word for dignity and also the face of their organization reaching out to girls in need of restoration, is a based in Cambodia. Cambodia is a harsh place to be born, as a female slavery is illegal, but thriving here. There are unspeakable things being done to all different types of people here. Sak Saum provides young women who have been able to get out a safe haven; they are taught “education and vocational training, job skills and development, counseling based on Christian principles, health and nutrition education, future enterprise opportunities”.
In-His-Steps International has a comprehensive approach to helping young men and women:
We recognize that treating the symptoms of poverty is not enough: true compassion ministers to the needs of the individual. Our mission is to restore lives in every way – physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, spiritually and socially. Each woman who enters the Sak Saum program is offered unconditional love and the resources she needs to become independent and successful.
Part of the rehabilitation they take part in is learning how to sew. These young women are given a skill that will support them after they leave the program. Taking after the “One-For-One” model they are selling the final product with proceeds going straight into the ministry. The attention to detail they have is exquisite; the product when finished is shipped to America to be sold at house parties, conferences, and is also available online.
Buy a purse; help free a girl in slavery. The implications of this type of social impact are moving quickly through the world. This is changing how people decide on what they are spending their money on. Where does every penny toward this necklace go? By buying from a certain company am I actually promoting slavery? This type of marketing is creating a real solution, to real problems. It gives people a good feeling when they purchase a product, and actually helps those in need.
TOMS shoes just reported their shoe drop campaign to have reached the one million mark. Sak Saum just recently celebrated the life of a new baby born to a recovering mother, who has finally found her dignity. With purpose and intention these organizations are effecting change. There is a new direction that the fight for social justice is taking on.
There can be nothing worse than a heart so broken it cannot weep. There is no feeling so low as the abyss of loneliness. There is no cut so deep as the wound of sexual abuse. For millions in the world we live in, this is a part of day-to-day life. They are not the orphans or the widows, they are not the lost; they are the stolen. They could be anyone; they could be your neighbor or the little girl next door. “They” are modern slaves. This atrocity is also known as Human Trafficking and it is closer to you than you may want to believe. This atrocity must stop.
Some links that will inform:
www.humantraffickingclinic.org
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS PLEASE REPORT IT! This is not simply a foreign issue. People are being trafficked right before your very eyes. If you see something please do your part. Call the police or 1(866)455-5075 This is the Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CoNEHT). www.coloradocrimevictims.org/human_trafficking.html
Buy fair trade! Every dollar spent is like a small rudder on a vast ship that will effect the direction of consumerism. You could be choosing to support slavery with your pennies. Check out www.Free2Work.org for more information on how to spend for freedom.
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