This year I have designed and sent this virtual card to friends on my email list (if you did not get one and think you should be on that list – apologies but I don’t have your email address so email it me!)
Rather than spend money on cards this year I will be donating what I would have spent to Stop the Traffik.
You can make a donation too by clicking here.
I raised the Barnardo’s Stop the Cycle Campaign the other day. This year I had already chosen not to send paper cards and instead design a card using one of my photos and playing with Photo Shop and give the money I would have spent to Stop The Traffik.
If you do not know of this campaign then check it out. Slavery is not dead … and its far from dead in our own country of the UK!
Children are sold and shipped internationally for as little as $20!
Can you believe that? can you imagine the pain you would experience if your child was kidnapped and sold into slavery! Young women and children are particularly targeted by traffikers. There are at least 12.3 million people that are victims of forced labour worldwide. Stop the Traffik is working to combat traffiking of people.
At a time when we sing of peace and worship God visiting to usher in the Kingdom where justice will reign – what better time to join Stop The Traffik so these people may have a chance of reclaiming their freedom.
I was pointed this poem by Gerard Kerry which is powerful and challenging.
Stop the Traffic
I am a person,
not a potato
to be picked and packaged
and sent to market
to be sliced and diced,
chopped up and ketchupped
on the other side of the world.
I am human
and I am not for sale.
I am a living conscience,
not a cargo.
I travel passenger,
not freight.
I am not cattle,
not contraband,
not a catalogued commodity.
I’m not the bottom line
for those who trade in tragedy
and profit from perversity.
I am not a can
to be recycled.
I am human
and I am not for sale.
I am a thinking individual,
not a rare exotic bird.
I am your sister,
not an inmate for your zoo.
I am not merchandise,
not meat,
not a meal ticket.
I was mothered,
not manufactured,
begotten,
not created.
I am human
and I am not for sale.
Its time to end this trade
in human tragedy,
to terminate this travesty
of a global economy.
Let the red lights
of your cities
be put to better use
to stop the traffic.
Write it in lights
across your seared conscience:
I am human
and I am not for sale
6 days ahead of schedule the target of one million signatures has been achieved asking the UN to do more to put a stop to people traffiking.
This is excellent news – if you still haven’t signed then there is still time – go add your name.
In only 11 days Stop The Traffik will be delivering the signed declaration to the UN asking for more to be done to stop people traffiking.
Currently the decalration has 750 000 signatures and we really want to be able to present the declaration signed by 1 million people. The UN will not ignore 1 million people.
If you have not yet signed the declaration please click here and do so.
It’s takes about 30 seconds and can make a lifetime of difference for so many people.
STOP THE TRAFFIK needs our signatures.
STOP THE TRAFFIK is campaining to:
prevent the trade
protect the traffiked
prosecute the traffikers
We are looking for a million signatures to take to the UN by November 2007.
If you have not signed the declaration yet – do it here.
CHASTE has some new film resources to alert churches in particular to the issue of traffiking. You can find them here.
Rather than protesting against stuff where we perceive we lose some of our rights as Christians, I would love to see Christians and churches protesting for an end to this and for a justice here.
This U Tube video over at Pinklady is excellent.
Well done Clare’s youth group!
This Easter, the chocolate industry cannot guarantee our chocolate is Traffik Free.
Nearly half the world’s chocolate is made from cocoa grown in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa.
The 2000 US State Department Human Rights report said “It is estimated that some 15,000 Malian children work on Ivorian cocoa and coffee plantations. Many are under 12 years-of-age, sold into indentured servitude for $140, and work 12-hour days for $135 to $189 per year.”
They are trafficked into forced labour so we can eat chocolate.
“I will tell you how I lost my arm. I tried to escape, but I could not. They caught me and tied me to a papaya tree and they beat me and broke my arm. From here my life was ruined.”
Anonymous. Personal Interview, Côte d’Ivoire. Dec. 2005. ILRF (International Labour Rights Fund)
A young boy called Victor trafficked from Mali said:
“Tell your children that they have bought something that I suffered to make. When they are eating chocolate they are eating my flesh.”
We have the power to help Victor and the thousands of children like him.
Change your buying habits. By eating Fairtrade chocolate we can guarantee that no trafficked labour has been used in its production. Use the STOP THE TRAFFIK Good Chocolate Guide to find out which chocolate is Traffik Free.
What do we want the chocolate companies to do? Give us a Traffik Free Guarantee on all their chocolate.
STOP THE TRAFFIK, is a global coalition of organisations working together to fight against people trafficking.
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Welcome to the latest STOP THE TRAFFIK newsletter, featuring many of our members’ events. We hope they give you ideas of how to get involved. It’s been exciting to receive so many reports of events being planned for Freedom Day on 25th March & beyond.
We are aiming for 10,000 awareness & fund raising events on 25th March 2007 —‘Freedom Day.’ The date is significant in the UK as it marks the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, but we are encouraging everyone around the world to use this day as a focus for awareness on people trafficking, whether or not the date has any historic significance for you. So, please join us on March 25th and hold an event yourself or with friends for ‘Freedom Day.’ Check out the CALENDAR Of STOP THE TRAFFIK MEMBER ACTIVITIES 2007 at www.stopthetraffik.org/events
As well as the huge numbers of grass roots events, we also have larger events being organised by member organisations, which you are all warmly invited to attend—as far afield as the UK, Holland, Belgium, Ibiza, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand & Cambodia. We have music concerts, exhibitions, TV shows, protests & expeditions & the variety is fantastic & just what we hoped for. FREEDOM DAY!—JOIN IN!We want everyone to feel included and we particularly want to encourage the smaller groups like company staff, youth groups, churches, communities and clubs to celebrate Freedom Day. Use the following resources to help plan your event: Here are a few of the many plans we’ve heard of so far, be inspired by them and let us know what you’re doing by emailing info@stopthetraffik.org. 1An 11 year old pupil organised and led an assembly about STOP THE TRAFFIK &, as a result, her whole year took part in a sponsored fun run. 2A youth worker & his team are working in 5 secondary schools, raising awareness about STOP THE TRAFFIK through leading assemblies, classes and youth groups, selling Freedom Keys and gaining signatures of over 3,000 students. Plans are being laid for a Freedom Day march and drumming up interest in the local media. 3A University has set up a STOP THE TRAFFIK Society to raise awareness about trafficking. They are running a series of events including hosting a STOP THE TRAFFIK University Tour & there are many other universities actively campaigning for STOP THE TRAFFIK. 4A band are putting on a concert at their local church to raise money for STOP THE TRAFFIK, entertaining with an eclectic mix of classic songs and modern anthems, videos and presentations from STOP THE TRAFFIK, UNICEF, and Compassion. 5The great, great, great granddaughter of William Wilberforce, is being sponsored to give up smoking and donating all proceeds to STOP THE TRAFFIK. Also, Lansons Communications, who she works for has signed up as a member, profiles Stop The Traffik on their website, is selling the Freedom Keys, each member of staff has the declaration form link and statement on their e-mail signature. Also, there will be a sponsored run on 25th March the bicentenary, where over 30 of Lansons employees, friends and family will run the square mile to help raise awareness and funds for STOP THE TRAFFIK. 6A youth group held an auction of jobs such as car washing, shopping, dog walking, gardening & baby sitting. 7Members of a Lions Club, joined an annual outdoor winter swim to raise sponsorship for STOP THE TRAFFIK. 8A church leader had his ear pierced and is wearing a STOP THE TRAFFIK Freedom Key in his ear until ‘Freedom Day,’ 25th March. 9A ‘Fata Morgana’ event was organised by youth groups from Belgium & the Netherlands, with the challenge of organising in limited time a benefit concert for STOP THE TRAFFIK, distributing ‘slave-free’ hot chocolate, building a Freedom Wall in the market square and collecting signatures for the STOP THE TRAFFIK global declaration, all wrapped up in chains. And Continuing On Past Freedom Day …Many of the events are scheduled for March, around ‘Freedom Day,’ but STOP THE TRAFFIK does not stop on 25th March. Far from it! With such a great publicity opportunity in March, we believe that the remainder of the year will give us all fantastic opportunities as more and more people hear about people trafficking and STOP THE TRAFFIK. So, please really engage with us around ‘Freedom Day,’ but also see your partnership with us as running right throughout the year. STOP THE TRAFFIK Coordinating Team |
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The Shiny Headed Prophet 