Shared Hope International

Leading a worldwide effort to eradicate sexual slavery...one life at a time

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Survivor Panel Informs and Educates at Awareness Event

On Thursday, August 30, concerned citizens and activists in D.C. learned about sex trafficking from a survivor perspective. Policy Assistant at Shared Hope International, Shamere McKenzie, moderated a panel discussion that allowed the audience to ask questions and discuss pressing issues in the fight to end sex trafficking. The event took place at Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse in Washington, D.C. and was hosted by DC Stop Modern Slavery (DC SMS), a D.C.-based grassroots organization that works to raise awareness of modern-day slavery.

DC SMS will be hosting the 2012 Stop Modern Slavery Annual Walk at the National Mall on Saturday, September 29, from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM. Hundreds of advocates and concerned citizens along with numerous anti-trafficking organizations will make the mile-long walk in unity to express their support for eradicating child sex trafficking NOW! The event includes live entertainment, speakers and resources.

The night began with Bethany and the Guitar rocking the house, supporting the eradication of trafficking through their indie beats. The music was uplifting and lyrics beautifully written. McKenzie then moderated the panel discussion, which consisted of remarks by survivors Barbara Amaya and Stacey Lewis.

Amaya spoke about the stigma of criminal convictions on victims of sex trafficking in the United States. Currently, only 7 states allow survivors to clear their record of convictions gained during their time in trafficking. In most states victims are burdened with convictions on their permanent records, which follow them into and throughout adulthood. Amaya recommends citizens make a difference on this issue by writing their legislators and demanding new laws and policies be implemented.

Lewis is a playwright and actor who uses her skills to incorporate anti-trafficking messages into her work. Lewis spoke about the role of media in both promoting and preventing sex trafficking, and said that certain media exposure is important for educating the public about the issue so that they can take action. She ended the evening with a moving and powerful spoken word piece on her experience in the sex trade.

The event was a powerful reminder of the importance of this movement to address the sexual exploitation of women and children in the sex trade. If you are interested in getting involved, come out and walk towards freedom with team Shared Hope International on September 29! Follow this link to register for our team.

To learn more about DC Stop Modern Slavery and the walk, visit www.smswalk.org  and www.stopmodernslavery.org

For more information on the women who participated in the panel, visit www.survivorsofslavery.org

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Baking Toward Freedom: How One Woman is Changing the World From Her Kitchen

In the United States alone, at least 100,000 children are exploited through prostitution every year.  Based on the facts, it is easy to understand how an individual might feel completely helpless and alone in the fight against child sex trafficking.   Gail Ferguson, a baker from Virginia Beach, Virginia, understands the powerless feeling that tends to overwhelm individuals who desire to make a difference in the trafficking of children.

When a bicycle accident put Gail out of work, she started baking in order to make ends meet.  Eventually, Gail became a licensed baker and started to work out of local restaurants.  Gail was asked to bake around 300 cake pops for a women’s conference at her church.  She soon realized that such a large number of cake pops was no easy task for one woman, and she vowed that day to never make another cake pop!  However, the vow was short lived when Gail realized her tasty treats were a huge hit.  Everything clicked for Gail when she was able to hear presenters from the conference talk about the realities of the sex trafficking industry.

“I realized that God could use the little cake pops in a big way to make a difference in a child’s life that is caught in human trafficking.  And it was something that I could do now!”

Gail knew at that moment how she could use her passion and talent for baking to combat the sex trafficking industry, and she realized she could do so from her kitchen.

Gail started small.  She began selling her newly named Freedom Pops at local coffee shops in the area.  She was able to display brochures and information from the conference’s organization alongside her Freedom Pops, and she gave the organization a percentage of her profits.  Soon, a friend of Gail’s brought Freedom Pops to her office at the Christian Broadcasting Network.  Again, Gail’s desserts were a hit, and she received numerous calls for orders.  One of the calls happened to be an interview request about Gail and her Freedom Pops.  Gail was ecstatic about the prospect of an outstanding boost in business; however, she had a funny feeling in her gut that it was not the right time to grow her business.“I knew that orders would soon come in from everywhere, and I was still doing this out of my home.  As much as I wanted to say yes, I knew that I had to wait for this interview to happen.  I knew I needed to take my time to give this the best I had.  I knew I would have more miracles to talk about and better opportunities to share with the world if I waited.

(From Left) Gail’s daughter Perry, Gail’s mother, Gail’s daughter Brooke, and Gail

Although unknown to Gail, the timing was actually perfect.  That same day, Gail watched an interview on CBN with Shared Hope International’s founder Linda Smith.  Gail was so moved and inspired by all the work that Linda and Shared Hope International were doing both abroad and in the United States to stop human trafficking.  She began displaying Shared Hope’s brochures alongside her Freedom Pops.  According to Gail, that’s when the ball really started rolling.

The following December, she had so many orders for Freedom Pops ranging from treats for bible study groups to Christmas gifts for businesses’ VIP customers, not to mention the growing demand from her usual coffee shop and restaurant orders.  Although her business was growing each day, she knew that this was the perfect time to take her stand in the fight against human trafficking.

“I felt that God was telling me to give all my profit in the month of December to Shared Hope.  And so I did.  And to top it off, that month Shared Hope was matching all the gifts that were being given.”

Gail continues to use her Freedom Pops as her way to take a stand and make a difference in the lives of children caught in the sex trafficking industry.

“They have helped make people aware of this crime and the growing rate that it is taking place in our world.  I see so many of us pulling together , knowing it is going to take all of us working together to put a stop to human trafficking and see freedom become a reality for these children.”Although the fight is far from over, Gail and her Freedom Pops serve as a constant reminder that one person can make a difference in the fight against trafficking.  The power to end human trafficking lies within individuals like Gail who utilize their skills and passions to raise awareness and bring about change within their communities.

Interested in learning how you, like Gail, can make a difference in the lives of children right now?  Visit http://sharedhope.org/GetInvolved.aspx for details on how to start.

For more information about Freedom Pops, or to place an order, contact Gail at freedompopsAOoco@gmail.com 

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Reunited: How Reshma Reclaimed Her Baby

Reshma looked like a child herself as she lay sobbing for her baby.  In painful recovery from a C-section, but with no baby in her arms, she was inconsolable.  Seven months earlier, she had nearly decided to abort, but a missionary she happened to meet in Kathmandu urged her to preserve the life and promised to take the baby and raise it. Besides abortion, that was her only other choice.

Reshma’s pregnancy was the result of one of the many times she was raped.  From a remote village in Nepal, she was lured to the city with the promise of work, and ended up enslaved by a bar owner that sold girls for sex along with the drinks.  She had no family to run to, no friends in the city, knew of no place to flee where she and her child could survive, so in mid-May when the baby came, the nameless little girl was delivered from Reshma’s womb into the hands of the missionary family.

The family had heard about Shared Hope’s partner, Asha Nepal, outside Kathmandu—a place that understood and loved young women like her and would offer her a place to recover from her surgery—and they made arrangements for Reshma to come to Asha Nepal.  She was received with warmth and tenderness, something she was amazed to experience.  But more than that, she learned that this was a place that was alive with children also!  As she lay on her bed, hearing their voices, the regret of giving up her baby overwhelmed her.  She had no idea there was a place like this–that would love and care for her—much less her child too!

The Shared Hope team arrived at Asha Nepal the day after Reshma came to them and was immediately caught up in the dramatic events as Asha Nepal’s director interceded with the missionary family to reunite mom and baby.  With sadness but with blessing, they agreed to give back the precious little one that Reshma named “Angel.”  There was great emotion at Asha Nepal and a joyful welcome into their new family when little Angel was placed in the arms of a beaming Reshma.

The timing of the Shared Hope visit was serendipity!  It gave us a first hand, vivid demonstration of how our supporters love and generosity changes tears of sorrow to tears of joy!  We’re so thankful!

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Defenders Guest Blog: The MST Project

My name is Jon Bean and I along with Steve Neyman make up the staff of the MST Project – Stateside. My journey toward the MST Project began early in life when I encountered pornography for the first time. I really had no idea what it was, just that I liked it. Oh, and I felt very, very ashamed.

This cycle of pleasure followed by shame became a constant habit for me. It took on many different forms but that cycle was always there. I heard a lot of judgment directed at me as well as others that shared my struggle as I went through life and that just succeeded in driving me further into myself, which was a bad place to be.

I tried accountability which I still do to this day but that only worked as long as I had the commitment to be completely honest and too many times my need for secrecy as well as a newly blossoming need to feel affirmed by others usually derailed those efforts. As I spiraled down, I started to feel like it was hopeless, that there was no chance that I would ever see freedom. This led me down paths of anger, apathy, isolation, fear, even suicidal thoughts.

I tried to lead this double life of addiction in private, while still balancing a healthy seeming life in public. One of the most destructive things about sex addiction is that there are no outward symptoms that people can look at and see that something isn’t right. If you can lie, you can hide.

A combination of things has contributed to my path to freedom including the forgiveness of my family and others that I hurt. An intellectual understanding of Gods grace, combined with a direct and personal experience of that grace in my life. I have seen that grace demonstrated by my wife and friends and I have seen it demonstrated by men who understood and cared about my healing and restoration.

It wasn’t an overnight process and it wasn’t just one man. It was a series of honest and open relationships based on compassion, honesty, and hope for what my heart could be when I allowed God to change it.

The men and women that make up the staff of the MST project come to this from different perspectives. We don’t have identical life experiences but what we do share is a compassion for men and a desire that will have a chance to experience the change that only God can make to their hearts.

We have heard some say that there isn’t really a point to this, that men don’t want to change and we should just leave them alone. We don’t agree. We have all experienced on a personal level the restoration and redemption that only God can give. We see this as a responsibility to take this message of love and redemption to men, one by one, and meet them where they are. We don’t wait. The love of God brought to them in a place and in a way that they don’t expect can have a powerful effect. We know that God’s love is available to all people in all places and we don’t have any other option but to put that into practice.

We know that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. That includes broken and hurting men in red light districts, men looking at porn or visiting strip clubs or however they try to medicate this brokenness. This is why we choose to take that message of God’s hope, healing, grace, and love to them.

Jon Bean is on staff with The MST Project – Stateside along with Steve Neyman. You can find them online at www.mstproject.com, on Twitter at @jonmstp and @stevemstp or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/MST-Project-Stateside

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Shared Hope International Launches Billboard in Times Square

The call came in like any other.

An agency that creates and places ads in Times Square was interested in talking to us about advertising in Times Square.

As a non-profit organization, we view every dollar as a donor dollar. We are diligent stewards of what has been entrusted to us to restore the lives of others. Advertising in Times Square didn’t quite fit our advertising budget or our promise to our donors.

Faster than we could make a few cursory remarks, thank them for calling, and get back to our work- they mentioned one of our favorite words—donated. Their client had reserved—and paid for—three months of advertising on the CBS “Super Screen” in Times Square. Unfortunately for the client, the product they were going to advertise was still in development and wouldn’t be ready for the start date of the ad.

That’s when opportunity came knocking on our door.

The ad agent had an advertising spot that was already paid for but nothing to advertise. She cared about the issue of sex trafficking and wanted to use this opportunity to donate the airtime to an organization that would bring about greater awareness of the issue. And that’s the story of how Shared Hope ended up with a 15-second commercial in the center of Times Square for the next three months!

Our ad is playing on the CBS “Super Screen” at 42nd St. between 7th and 8th Ave in the heart of the Times Square Plaza. 1.5 million people pass through Times Square daily and will be exposed to the issue of sex trafficking.

About the Times Square Sex Trafficking Ad

The ad depicts a “normal” American girl. She was cute. A good student. An athlete. A target of a human trafficker.  Brianna was targeted to become a product in the commercial sex industry. Men she knew lured her with warmth, generosity, promises and love. Soon she was tricked into working in a strip club. Right before Brianna plummeted into the deepest terror and torture of sex trafficking, she was rescued. Frantic parents, a knowledgeable police officer and Linda Smith, Shared Hope’s president and founder, created a safety net that allowed Brianna to be rescued. She allows her picture and story to be used for ads such as this so YOU will be alert and aware of the dangers that lurk, trapping unsuspecting youth into the hell of sex slavery.

We need YOU to stand with us! Every woman and child is not fortunate enough to so narrowly escape the terrifying grasp of sexual slavery. Please take a minute to share this video with your friends and family to prevent the loss of another innocent life to the illicit sex industry.

 

 

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