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/
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Christian Ministry for those involved in the sex industry in Las Vegas, Nevada: Hookers for Jesus, founded by Annie Lobert
Annie Lobert was involved in the sex industry as a prostitute for 11 years. She currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, reaching out to others. She founded and runs the ministry Hookers for Jesus, and has recently decided to address the horrific practice of human trafficking of minors in the sex industry, which she is calling The KISS Project --which stands for Kindred Spirit Support. Check out her website on Myspace to read more about her testimony and the things she is doing to educate people the truth about the sex industry, too. She shares on her website:
"ANYTHING THAT WE HAVE TO HIDE HAS POWER OVER US!!!
I was a prostitute in the escort services in LAS VEGAS, (the public calls it "HIGH CLASS CALL GIRL") in the casinos, on the street, and I was an exotic dancer in the clubs. I did everything that you can imagine, saw and met people that I would never have thought would have even "ordered" a girl. MANY of them were very famous stars and influential people in society... I lived this lifestyle for over 11 years... and it just didn't happen overnight.
I was actually a "goodie two shoes" when I was growing up, I got very good grades in school and I always followed the "rules"--in fact you would considered me a "type A" personality. So how did the "good girl" eventually turn into a "bad girl"?
It all started when I was a little girl. I never felt really loved; there was abuse in my childhood that lowered my self-esteem to the degree that I became desperate for love. I tell you, I felt very rejected and broken-hearted all the time. When you are told a certain thing you are as a child, you tend to believe it. Point blank, I couldn't love my self, and did not think anyone else loved me. I didn't feel that I deserved it.
My first sexual experience happened with a close friend of mine when I was eight years old. I didn't know this was abuse at the time, but the truth of the matter is that I was violated. As a "family duty" I went to church every week, but because of the hypocrisy in the church and in my home, I couldn't really believe God was kind, so I hid my secret and feelings inside me. I also assumed that if God was somehow real, He was very angry at me! In other words... I imagined God with a big hammer getting ready to smash me if I did something wrong! I started to RESENT GOD and especially THE CHURCH...I could not trust anyone!
Relationships? Huh!!! Couldn't manage to keep ANY because I was so messed up on the inside. As I grew up, I went to seven different schools because our family moved around so much. It was very difficult, and coming to each school as the "new" girl wearing garage sale clothing...well let's just say that kids back then could be very cruel if you were not rich, popular, and "perfect." A lot of the time, I felt very "rejected".
In high school it was considered "cool" to have sex. Even though this seemed true, I was still ,a virgin at 18. It did not last long, because my boyfriend at that time convinced me that if we had sex, we would become so much closer and he would "love" me more. I was 18 years old and knew NOTHING about the consequences of sex before marriage! I only slept with him because I didn't want to lose him! I loved this man and wanted to get married... but unfortunately he had an appetite for other woman and we broke up. Why did he lie to me??? I didn't get it! I was DEVASTATED!!! I remember coming home after the break up, crying uncontrollably to my mother, and she said to me, "Annie, you wear your heart on your sleeve." I wanted to kick him to the curb because... MY HEART WAS BROKEN! I was angry and hurt.
It was at that moment I decided to REBEL!!!
When you are brokenhearted with a will to "REBEL" what is your definition of love? My self-worth was defined by looking for love in all the WRONG places, in WRONG people--people with issues just like mine.
Breaking ALL the rules was my new way of life...and I LIKED IT!!!
You get the picture--PROMISCUITY, nightclubs, drinking and drug parties, hanging out in bad parts of town--listening to wrong (sexually perverted/degrading women/violent) types of music, MUSIC VIDEOS, TV, reading "fashion" magazines.
Believe it or not, this MEDIA--POP CULTURE lifestyle EMBRACED ME...and begun to have a HUGE influence on me!
I was the "PARTY GIRL"! This is when the first of many rapes happened... In the process I became even more hurt, bitter, angry, rejected, LONELY, but most of all, more desperate to find the TRUTH.
I was always chasing just to belong, hungry for acceptance, just to be loved. When I gave my self sexually to men, for that brief moment, I felt "wanted" and "loved"... but if you told me I was beautiful, I wouldn't believe you. I didn't see that when I looked in the mirror. I saw a rejected tramp with a broken heart.
Rejection???
This HURT!!!
So I took POP CULTURE'S PILL... I wanted to try it and see if it really was as "cool" as the TV, music videos and movies portrayed it to be!!! The way that it was presented in the media... if you didn't do what everyone else was doing-by following the "styles" and "trends" and "lifestyle choices," you would be considered a "prude or a "weirdo nerd!"
With my already damaged self-esteem... I wanted to avoid this type of rejection at ALL costs.
I swallowed it WHOLE.
No one told me that I would have to lie about how I felt inside. Because I was striving so hard for success and love in order to remain strong.
I put on a MASK.
I had to wear it continually... pretending everything was "okay." My belief was that if I just put on a pretty smile, everything would be alright. But it wasn't. I kept burying my pain deep inside me. I just kept searching and experimenting, no matter WHAT the cost.
I might not look like it, but I did it ALL! I tell you the truth! Prostitution (street & high class call girl), exotic strip dancing, nude modeling, drugs of every kind, sex addiction, cutting, abortions--yes and miscarriages, masturbation addiction, pornography, dominance mistressing addiction, bisexuality, men addiction, gambling, binge drinking, smoking, anorexia, bulimia, and JAIL TIME... just to name a few...."
You can read the rest on her website. Learn more!! Open your eyes to see the truth.
Annie Lobert's Hookers for Jesus website on Myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=96152370
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"ANYTHING THAT WE HAVE TO HIDE HAS POWER OVER US!!!
I was a prostitute in the escort services in LAS VEGAS, (the public calls it "HIGH CLASS CALL GIRL") in the casinos, on the street, and I was an exotic dancer in the clubs. I did everything that you can imagine, saw and met people that I would never have thought would have even "ordered" a girl. MANY of them were very famous stars and influential people in society... I lived this lifestyle for over 11 years... and it just didn't happen overnight.
I was actually a "goodie two shoes" when I was growing up, I got very good grades in school and I always followed the "rules"--in fact you would considered me a "type A" personality. So how did the "good girl" eventually turn into a "bad girl"?
It all started when I was a little girl. I never felt really loved; there was abuse in my childhood that lowered my self-esteem to the degree that I became desperate for love. I tell you, I felt very rejected and broken-hearted all the time. When you are told a certain thing you are as a child, you tend to believe it. Point blank, I couldn't love my self, and did not think anyone else loved me. I didn't feel that I deserved it.
My first sexual experience happened with a close friend of mine when I was eight years old. I didn't know this was abuse at the time, but the truth of the matter is that I was violated. As a "family duty" I went to church every week, but because of the hypocrisy in the church and in my home, I couldn't really believe God was kind, so I hid my secret and feelings inside me. I also assumed that if God was somehow real, He was very angry at me! In other words... I imagined God with a big hammer getting ready to smash me if I did something wrong! I started to RESENT GOD and especially THE CHURCH...I could not trust anyone!
Relationships? Huh!!! Couldn't manage to keep ANY because I was so messed up on the inside. As I grew up, I went to seven different schools because our family moved around so much. It was very difficult, and coming to each school as the "new" girl wearing garage sale clothing...well let's just say that kids back then could be very cruel if you were not rich, popular, and "perfect." A lot of the time, I felt very "rejected".
In high school it was considered "cool" to have sex. Even though this seemed true, I was still ,a virgin at 18. It did not last long, because my boyfriend at that time convinced me that if we had sex, we would become so much closer and he would "love" me more. I was 18 years old and knew NOTHING about the consequences of sex before marriage! I only slept with him because I didn't want to lose him! I loved this man and wanted to get married... but unfortunately he had an appetite for other woman and we broke up. Why did he lie to me??? I didn't get it! I was DEVASTATED!!! I remember coming home after the break up, crying uncontrollably to my mother, and she said to me, "Annie, you wear your heart on your sleeve." I wanted to kick him to the curb because... MY HEART WAS BROKEN! I was angry and hurt.
It was at that moment I decided to REBEL!!!
When you are brokenhearted with a will to "REBEL" what is your definition of love? My self-worth was defined by looking for love in all the WRONG places, in WRONG people--people with issues just like mine.
Breaking ALL the rules was my new way of life...and I LIKED IT!!!
You get the picture--PROMISCUITY, nightclubs, drinking and drug parties, hanging out in bad parts of town--listening to wrong (sexually perverted/degrading women/violent) types of music, MUSIC VIDEOS, TV, reading "fashion" magazines.
Believe it or not, this MEDIA--POP CULTURE lifestyle EMBRACED ME...and begun to have a HUGE influence on me!
I was the "PARTY GIRL"! This is when the first of many rapes happened... In the process I became even more hurt, bitter, angry, rejected, LONELY, but most of all, more desperate to find the TRUTH.
I was always chasing just to belong, hungry for acceptance, just to be loved. When I gave my self sexually to men, for that brief moment, I felt "wanted" and "loved"... but if you told me I was beautiful, I wouldn't believe you. I didn't see that when I looked in the mirror. I saw a rejected tramp with a broken heart.
Rejection???
This HURT!!!
So I took POP CULTURE'S PILL... I wanted to try it and see if it really was as "cool" as the TV, music videos and movies portrayed it to be!!! The way that it was presented in the media... if you didn't do what everyone else was doing-by following the "styles" and "trends" and "lifestyle choices," you would be considered a "prude or a "weirdo nerd!"
With my already damaged self-esteem... I wanted to avoid this type of rejection at ALL costs.
I swallowed it WHOLE.
No one told me that I would have to lie about how I felt inside. Because I was striving so hard for success and love in order to remain strong.
I put on a MASK.
I had to wear it continually... pretending everything was "okay." My belief was that if I just put on a pretty smile, everything would be alright. But it wasn't. I kept burying my pain deep inside me. I just kept searching and experimenting, no matter WHAT the cost.
I might not look like it, but I did it ALL! I tell you the truth! Prostitution (street & high class call girl), exotic strip dancing, nude modeling, drugs of every kind, sex addiction, cutting, abortions--yes and miscarriages, masturbation addiction, pornography, dominance mistressing addiction, bisexuality, men addiction, gambling, binge drinking, smoking, anorexia, bulimia, and JAIL TIME... just to name a few...."
You can read the rest on her website. Learn more!! Open your eyes to see the truth.
Annie Lobert's Hookers for Jesus website on Myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=96152370
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