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Feb
02
2012
Ethical Fashion for Valentine’s Day
Melissa Ethical Fashion 0
It’s almost Valentine’s Day. As you celebrate your friends and the people you love, don’t forget that your purchases make an impact on people around the world. Here are some ethical shopping ideas to help your gifts show love for the world. But first, most of your won’t be shopping for yourselves, so click the envelope to email this post to your family or significant other. We’ll start with some classics and end with some ethical fashion. Show love to your friends with these valentines and fair trade mini-chocolates. The ultimate ethical classic: a heart shaped box of fair trade
Jan
31
2012
Everyday Abolitionist: Jamie Elkins
Melissa Everyday Abolitionist 2
Everyday Abolitionist is a recurring feature on the blog where we’ll hear firsthand from someone using their skills, talents, and opportunities to fight trafficking. This time around we have Jamie Elkins who works with the Crossover Foundation. Read about more Everyday Abolitionists. Love and Sacrifice In Erwin McManus’s The Barbarian Way, he says that “…love and sacrifice cannot be separated.” In 2008, I unknowingly began a journey when I first learned about the trafficking of women and children happening in South Asia. My heart ached for the millions of women and children suffering abuse in isolation as a result of
Jan
26
2012
Meet the STF Volunteers: Jennifer Bast
Stop Traffick Fashion thrives because of the wonderful people who help run our events, tally and tag our inventory, design our print and online materials, photograph our merchandise, spread the word about trafficking, host home parties, and more. They’re an integral part of empowering women and ending human trafficking. Seriously—they’re great people. And we want you to meet them! Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m a dreamer, an introvert, a singer-songwriter/worship leader, and an amateur artist. I love adventure and welcome change. I am always planning and eagerly anticipating my next road trip. I’m 33 years old and have
Jan
24
2012
Rescue: 4 Roads to Freedom
Melissa Rescue, Survivor Stories 0
It goes without saying that rescue is a key turning point for trafficked people. But exactly how does it happen? We’ll be looking more at the ins and outs of rescue from human trafficking this year. To get started, here are four main ways victims move from captivity to freedom. Rescue This is the most commonly talked of rescue. The dramatic raid: doors kicked in by police, captives set free by compassionate social workers. This work is the specialty of the International Justice Mission. These rescues are very powerful because only they can free to the most deeply enslaved, the
Jan
21
2012
STF Style Files: 1.2012
Emily Fair Trade, Style Files 0
Jan
19
2012
Fair Trade Clothes: Conquering the Conscious Consumer Challenge
Melissa Fair Trade 0
It’s no secret many (if not most) of the people who harvest the fibers for our clothes, weave the cloth, and sew the final product aren’t paid fairly. The more I learn about unfair labor the more I’m convinced: I need to seriously rethink my consumption. I’m reading a book called Friendship at the Margins. One of the authors, Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh, tells about how he was visiting the home of some his friends in India. His friends are poor, and the mother and daughters all work constantly to scrape by. The daughters work in
Jan
17
2012
Human Trafficking in the News
Melissa Trafficking News & Information 0
I’m constantly online scouting out news and information on human trafficking. This recurring feature on the blog will showcase some of the most interesting and pertinent news. I’ll begin with the bad news, but I always find more good news than bad. More people are fighting trafficking, more laws are being passed, and more traffickers are going to jail. Thank you for being part of the good news about trafficking! BAD NEWS (Hang on! There’s good news coming!) “Human Trafficking: FIA to Probe Fake Visa Case Involving British Council” from the Express Tribune. It’s tough to tell exactly who’s at
Jan
12
2012
Building a Happy, Healthy Haiti
Melissa Partner Organization News 0
Today marks the 2-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti. The Restavek Freedom Foundation has been working since well before that time to put an end to a system of slavery in the country: restavek. A restavek is a child who is usually from a rural area and is sent to live with a family in the city. They go in hopes of a better life and a chance at an education. Instead they become victims of human trafficking, trapped as servants in strangers’ homes. They work from before dawn til late at night doing whatever is asked
Jan
10
2012
Empowering Women: Why It’s a Key to Ending Human Trafficking
Melissa Empower Women 0
Women are disproportionately victimized by traffickers. A disproportionate number live in poverty and lack education and health care. (Check out this post from last week about the size and scope of human trafficking.) This year at STF, we’re going to take a closer look at what it means to empower women, and how to promote opportunities for women’s health, education, business, and life choice. While it might seem that focusing on women perpetuates inequality and leaves impoverished men and boys without resources, empowered women empower communities. When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their
Jan
06
2012
Human Trafficking: Envisioning the Size of the Problem
Melissa Trafficking News & Information 2
Data compiled from these sources: http://sctnow.org/contentpages.aspx?parentnavigationid=5827&viewcontentpageguid=29d295d1-5818-4e7a-bde1-f61690fa44a8 Disposable People by Kevin Bales Transformations in Slavery by Paul E. Lovejoy http://www.unodc.org/ http://humantraffickingmovie.com/human-trafficking-statistics.html