The Safe Haven

My background/inspiration:

I have always been a compassionate, feminist (who believes in equal rights for everyone). I firmly believe that I chose this life, the people and events in them, for a reason. My own personal history of childhood abuse (sexual, mental, and physical) has enabled me to be extremely compassionate toward others who have suffered or who are suffering. It has also made me determined to make a difference in this world; in this lifetime, and beyond, creating a ripple effect of joy, peace, compassion, and love. If I can positively influence as many girls and women as possible in this lifetime, I will have considered my life a success, full of fulfillment and joy; knowing that I have impacted so many as I possibly could.

I believe it’s my legacy to create a safe haven for girls and women, worldwide, where kindness, love, compassion, joy, empowerment and encouragement to live their life on purpose, embracing their own unique gifts and passions is the priority. Just as I set a good example for others through my honesty, authenticity, kindness, compassion, loyalty, creativity and passion; I cultivate this in others so they can be their best selves. In doing so, I am the change that I want to see in the world.

My vision/mission:

I am looking for strong collaborators/investors/mentors/facilitators, strategists/visionaries/people on a similar mission for my vision to create a NGO and safe haven for girls and women. The organization would be a cross between TOMS (the charitable shoe e-commerce site) and Amnesty.org (more humanitarian focused versus product based), about anti-sex trafficking/slavery.

It would be one, large network so anyone and everyone will know exactly who to contact for help, reports, training, prevention, education, victim emotional and financial support, as well as the ability to buy products (most proceeds go to victims who have jobs in the organization's global workshops and each shoe or product would have a back story to one of the girls/women in the textile workshop), so that this global challenge starts to become a problem of the past.

Prevention (awareness and training) is the primary key here, and then closely followed by resources, such as an international hotline (or at least by country until it becomes an international hotline). Organizations such as Cast already have a hotline, but it’s only for the U.S. (http://www.castla.org/human-trafficking). The EU has international hotlines for several countries, but the information is hard to find. With global data now available for human trafficking (https://www.ctdatacollaborative.org/), we can narrow down where to focus first, and how to best strategically address those specific areas. “It facilitates an unparalleled capacity for cross-border, inter-agency data analysis to provide the counter-trafficking movement with greatly improved evidence for policy and programming. Equipped with up to date data and analytics, decision makers will be empowered to design and implemented more targeted and effective intervention strategies to combat this crime.1”

I have found some initiatives that are addressing training, such as Shared Hope International (https://sharedhope.org/what-we-do/prevent/) and Stop the Traffik has created a great app, called The Stop App (https://www.stopthetraffik.org/intelligence-led-prevention/the-stop-app/) that sends information directly to the Centre for Intelligence-Led Prevention (CfILP) where it’s analyzed alongside global data on human trafficking and modern slavery, but there needs to be a real global push for people to recognize the signs of trafficking right away and to know exactly who/where to contact for their region, otherwise, it simply isn’t enough.

For the e-commerce side of the website, the target audience would be female consumers as well as heart-based consumers/advocates for the cause. The proceeds help create necessary jobs for the women that have been trafficked already, as well as provide them with other necessities, such as a place to live, food, and healthcare (including mental), so that they are able to reintegrate back into society and regain their dignity and freedom. There are already workshops such as Ampramp (https://apramp.org/job-training/?lang=en) and AFESIP (http://www.afesip.org/programs/education-training) already in place, but there should be even more, everywhere, to help these girls and women reintegrate back into society more fully and quickly, until this problem is eradicated. The remainder of the proceeds would go to training, reports, and administration.

While there are several organizations and initiatives already in place to stop human trafficking and/or to help victims, this problem is growing exponentially and doesn’t seem to get nearly enough attention. According to According to "The Global Coalition To End Human Trafficking Now," there are currently 10 Million child prostitutes worldwide.”2I believe that if all the existing anti-sex trafficking organizations in the world collaborated together, to work as one, to create this amazing hub, it would not only make the current solutions available that much more effective and powerful that are already in place, but also create a formidable powerhouse that would to end this heinous crime.

Come join me to create my vision of peace for 2018 and beyond:

Please let me know if you have something to contribute, know of someone that could help create this vision, or if you would like to help make this vision become a reality. Together we can help create a safe haven for girls and women where they are safe and empowered. Please send me a private message, if you can help.

1The Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC) is the first global data hub on human trafficking, with data contributed by counter-trafficking organizations around the world. https://www.ctdatacollaborative.org/

2 The Global Coalition To End Human Trafficking Now, http://enough.org/stats-sex-trafficking