NHTRC

The National Human Trafficking Resource Hotline is a national, toll-free hotline that is available to answer phone calls from anywhere in the country 24/7 365/year.

NHTRC is a program that is part of the Polaris Project; a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that envisions and is actively working towards a world without slavery.

To report trafficking tips, find information for anti-trafficking services in your area, or to request training from NHTRC, call 1-800-373-7888

Visit NHTRC's Homepage for more information on the hotline, their services, and to find out how you can support their work.

Do Your Part in Pennsylvania!!

Did you know?

Pennsylvania is home to many U.S. and international victims of sex and labor trafficking. These victims include minors. Slavery in PA includes but is not limited to, street prostitution, closed-network residential brothels, and many disguised labor operations such as nail salons, massage parlors, agricultural businesses, and domestic servitude.

Not only does PA house many slave operations, but it also exists as a "pass-through" state, which is extremely valuable to human traffickers. This is due to the state's many interstate highways that connect to trafficking hot-spots like New York and Ohio. Many truck stops in the state are known to host sex traffickers - especially those along the "Miracle Mile" in Monroeville, PA.

In 2006, the Pennsylvania legislature made human trafficking a 2nd degree felony offense, unless the victim is under 18, in which case it would be a first degree felony. In addition, traffickers must forfeit any profit gained from their crimes. However, since enactment, the state has failed to utilize the law. As a result, two important bills are in the process of being passed to improve the state's response to trafficking offenses.

The first bill is a bipartisan legislation to enforce that certain agencies and organizations MUST post the National Human Trafficking Hotline - which is a response agency with call representatives speaking over 100 languages who will provide immediate response to urgent calls.

The second bill would establish the PA State Human Trafficking Task Force/Advisory Committee. The statewide task force would build off of already existing coalitions in cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and provide local, state, and federal participants.

What YOU can do...

Do you live in Pennsylvania?

Do you want to join in this fight against human trafficking?

Contact your state legislator to urge them to pass this bill and join the fight against human trafficking! Read more about the bill and how to contact your legislators here!

Enslaved : Human Trafficking by Margaret Bailey

Beautiful women travel from distant lands

for a better life,

They see the red, white and blue as relief,

Yet, when they arrive,

They are coerced into misery and grief,

Sold like cattle to the highest bidders,

Used repeatedly to launder dollars,

Innocent foreigners caught up in

slavery,
No one says anything because it boosts

the economy,

Flesh being traded and used over and over again,

Superceding drugs as monetary gain,

Human beings have become an expensive

commodity,

Enslaved and trapped for the use of their bodies,

Some are victims of their own comrades,

who have come to America and extracted

the debaucherous scherades,

Holding women hostage with the new games

they have learnt,

until they are demoralized and their souls are burnt,

Who watches over these atrocities?

When the "oldest profession" keeps those

in power happy,

Enslavement of foreign women is everywhere

imaginable,

It's time the World did something about it!

Instead of remaining silent as if it never happens......

Website!

You can now visit us at...

End Human Sales' Official Website!

The website is still under construction, but our emailing list is activated, so head over to the site and enter your email information to be on the list of the first to hear our updates and event news! Thank you all in advance for your support!

Baby Halder

While picking up some necessities at the Dollar Store the other day, I picked up a book titled, "A Life Less Ordinary." Now, I usually am not one to buy books while at the Dollar Store. I do, from time to time, when I see a book I recognize, otherwise, I just pass them by. Well, this particular book caught my eye (truthfully) because of the pretty cover. Once I read the title and saw that it was a memoir, I figured, what the heck, what's there to lose with a $1 price-tag??

When I got home and unpacked all of my goodies, I sat down and opened to the front cover to read what this book was about. Before I could even finish the inside-cover summary, I dove right into the first chapter. Although I haven't finished it yet, I got so excited about it that I had to post about it today!

"A Life Less Ordinary" is a memoir about poverty and brutal child labor throughout the life of its author, Baby Halder. Halder was abandoned by her mother at age 4, married off to a cruel, abusive man at age 12, and endured all sorts of physical, emotional, and mental trauma throughout her life.

Finally, at the age of 25, she began working for a sympathetic retired academic, who caught her browsing through his library one night. In response, he gave her a pen and paper and encouraged her to attempt writing. She stayed up late nights to write her story down from then on. Her employer, Prabodh Kumar, was so impressed with her writings that he encouraged her to continue and offered to edit her work. Originally written in Bengali, the book has been translated into several Indian languages, as well as English, and has become a best seller.

Baby Halder's story is a one of true ashes to beauty...from an exploited life to a praised one, the true story of her life literally set her free. You will not regret reading her story. Get it here!

Stella's House

Phillip Cameron is a preacher, singer, author, and founder of an international missions organization reaching the U.S., Scotland, Romania, Moldova, and more. I'd like to focus this blog post on his missions work in Moldova.

On a trip to Moldova in the early 90's, Phillip witnessed horrible conditions in its orphanages. In a specific orphanage he visited in the small town of Hincesti, babies were literally freezing to death. Over 30 children were dying each year from the cold. Phillip decided he had to do something about it. As a result, he opened a Mission House, called Hebron's Hope, and began helping the orphanage save the children. Since the organization has been working with the orphanage, no more children have died from the cold.

Another particularly sad truth about the orphanages is that they must release the children at the age of 16. This causes many young girls to be easy targets for sex predators on the streets of Moldova. Hundreds of thousands of women are trafficked into the sex industry in Moldova each year. In order to provide refuge for these young girls, Phillip Cameron Ministries built a shelter in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The shelter was named after a young girl that Phillip had met on an initial visit to the orphanage and who had died as a victim of sex trafficking. Her name was Stella. The shelter was named Stella's House.

Since the opening of Stella's House in 2006, the need for shelter for these young women has continued to grow. Stella's House 2 was opened in 2009 and Stella's House 3 in early 2010. Construction has already begun on Stella's House 4. All of the houses are adjacent properties and will be one secure campus when the fourth house is finished.

Please Read more about Stella's House and consider donating to the ministry. Without help like this, thousands of children in Moldova will be sent away from orphanages and fall through the cracks never to be seen or heard from again. Donate Money to the ministry to help rescue more girls from the streets. Another really unique and great way to be involved with Stella's House is to buy something from their registry! Through the registry, you can buy specific items that are needed in the homes for the girls. PLEASE get involved with this awesome ministry. It is only through organizations such as this one that human trafficking will come to an end! They can't do it without support, though! Please consider it!

Twitter Challenge

Dianne has really been making me think a lot in the past few days about this evil crime we are set out to fight! Please follow our Tweets - I promise, she will challenge you to think, too!

Just yesterday, Dianne posted a link on our twitter page to an article posted by IPS (Inter Press Service) on June 17, 2010. The article highlighted the Southeast Asian response to the U.S.' recent annual report on Human Trafficking. Many people throughout the region are now urging officials of the ASEAN (Association of South-east Asian Nations) to make changes in its policies regarding Human Trafficking.

Just last year, ASEAN shared its definition of what constitutes human trafficking. They placed human trafficking in a category of a security challenge, separating it from labor migration, which they placed in a social/cultural challenge. What was revealed was a narrow misconception of the problem - and a need to reform said definition in order to combine human trafficking with labor migration and tackle the two together.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Most of these countries were ranked lowest on the U.S. report this year, which included stories of Burmese women forced into prostitution in Malaysia, and children forced to sell sweets and other goods on the streets of Thai cities.

Click here to read more details

In addition to the article above, Dianne also posts many thought-provoking statements, including "Fact of the Day" and sentiments to cause you to really think about your life and how you might be able to sacrifice a little bit to help those less fortunate. Props to her for having the courage to face this world's ugliness and for urging us all to do the same! Be sure to follow! Here are a few of her tweets for those who haven't been following ...

Fact of The Day: More than 2/3 of sex trafficked children suffer additional abuse at the hands of their traffickers.

What then is freedom ? The power to live as one wishes.

Can you imagine life where u were OWNED by someone? Where u are an item or a tool for someone's needs and there was no way out?

Fact of The Day: Around half of trafficking victims in the world are under the age of 18

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."