Not for Sale is fighting to educate people about the worldwide human trafficking issue and how all of us can take part in helping find cases of trafficking in our own backyards and local communities, and help fight to get slaves free.
A recent email that I received from them:
"NOT FOR SALE NEEDS YOUR HELP TO BUILD A SAFE HOUSE IN LIMA, PERU THAT WILL SAVE KIDS FROM EXPLOITATION
By the end of September we need to raise $100,000, and we are already over half way there!!!
Thousands of children live in the streets of Lima, some trafficked from the rainforest or the Andes, others fleeing abuse at home, yet others the victims of financial despair. They live in constant danger. In October, 2008, if our funding campaign is successful, hope will arrive with the opening of a safe house that will shelter twenty kids at a time. Our Not For Sale team in Peru, Generacíon, will run the safe house - they have over 20 years of experience working with at-risk and trafficked kids in Peru. The shelter will be called Veronica's House, to honor the loss of a precious child in Lima who could not find shelter.
Here's how to help:
We can match every dollar you give up to $50,000 with a grant generously donated for Veronica's House.
Give now so that we can begin offering safety to the exploited kids of Lima in October 2008!
Why "Veronica's House"?
Veronica's death earlier this year serves as a reminder of the high danger children face on the streets of Lima. In her honor, Not for Sale is building an emergency shelter in Lima and that will hopefully rescue the next "Veronica" from slavery.
When Veronica turned 13 she desperately wanted to go to school but her family did not have enough money to buy her the books and school uniform. She decided to support herself by selling candy in the streets with the hopes of eventually landing a better job.
A friend that she met while selling candy told her that she needed nicer clothes if she wanted to find a better job. So one friend gave her a skirt, the other a shirt, another the shoes. She was looking sharp. At the end of the day the friends asked her if she had found a job because she had to pay for the clothes she had gotten from them. If she did not pay that day, the friends warned, the clothes would be more expensive the next day. Without knowing it, Veronica had fallen into a trap.
A team from Generacíon met Veronica at a weekend beach camp it organized for street kids. Veronica told the team how the "lenders" of the clothes were forcing her to be a sex worker and she had to serve numerous clients each day. Veronica had been in that situation for three months and needed a safe house where she could live and be protected from the pimps, but our team did not have a place to take her. Just one week later, Veronica's tiny body was found in a hotel room, strangled to death by a john with whom she'd been forced to have sex."
The Not for Sale website has a lot to offer in terms of information about human trafficking around the world; things we all can do to take action; a blog to talk with others; creative ideas to educate and motivate others to join in the cause; and even an opportunity to open up your own Freedom Store Outpost, selling products to support victims of trafficking and helping more people be aware of the issue all at once!
Let's not be the kind of person who just sits back and say to ourselves, "What can I possibly do?" We all can do something and be a part of one of the most important issues of our time...helping to fight for millions upon millions of victims of trafficking and abuse and evil around the world. We can make a difference!
Blessings,
Tonya
Not for Sale
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
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