Some links from The Nest Foundation website

I was about to leave the site and decided to browse around some more. I found a list of different site and organizations that some of you may find helpful and useful. The neat thing is that they have also included links to international organizations like those in Cambodia and the UK.

NORTH AMERICA

Angela’s House www.juvenilejusticefund.org/ initiatives_angelasHouse.asp

Breaking Free www.breakingfree.net

GEMS www.gems-girls.org

Polaris Project www.polarisproject.org

Jan Hindman, teaching children sexual respect so they do not become sexual abusers www.janhindman.com

Coalition to Abolish Slavery www.castla.org

Crisis lines for Runaways www.nrscrisisline.org

Children of the Night www.childrenofthenight.org

Children of the Street — Vancouver, BC
provides assistance to parents & family members www.childrenofthestreet.com

Covenant House www.covenanthouse.org

ECPAT USA www.ecpat-usa.org

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Report A Missing Child www.ncmec.org

New Avenues for Youth www.newavenues.org

PRE
develops research and educational programs www.prostitutionresearch.com

SAGE project www.sageprojectinc.org

Two 16-year-olds runaways were lured into a family’s home by the mother. They were beaten, raped, prostituted and held captive by her two teenage sons, her husband and a convicted sex offender. — St Paul, Minnesota

INTERNATIONAL

Cambodia

AFESIP: Acting for women in distressing situations www.afesip.org

Transitions Cambodia www.transitionscambodia.org

Indonesia

International Organization for Migration - Jakarta www.iom.int

Nepal

Maiti Nepal www.maitinepal.org

United Kingdom

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center
Report On-line abuse http://www.ceop.gov.uk/

Vietnam

The Little Rose Warm Shelter www.catalystfoundation.org email: littlerosestory@hcm.fpt.vn

Playground

I was watching pointless news last night, I think it was Access Hollywood and they were reporting on different movies in the Tribeca Film Fest this year.
They talked about one George Clooney had co produced.
It is a documentary based on the sex trafficking in the United States. It was somewhat funny how the hostess was so awed that such a thing was going on in our country. The good 'ole US of A has sex trafficking.

Anyways, I would not know how to go about finding the film but I'll include this this link PLAYGROUND to the Tribeca Film site that has more information on it. It seems like it is a good documentary. One everyone should watch perhaps.

Just found a better link to the Nest Foundation which would have made a very good organization to blog about. The link has a movie trailer.

Here is a little bit about them:

Mission

Nest will raise the public’s awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of American children, through a feature-length documentary film, followed by other art driven media campaigns and an enhanced educational dvd for distribution in high schools throughout North America.

Their website if full of a lot of information as well. Check it out! It is pretty interesting.

Sex Trafficking in Canada:Olympics 2010

I came across this article by the Western Catholic Reporter.
Its basically how they fear that because of the influx of people for the Olympics there will be a huge lure for women to work in brothels and massage parlors.

Its a pretty neat article. Makes one kind of wonder if there was a boom in sex trafficking in the US when the Olympics were here...and in China etc

You can read the article here.

Speaking of sex trafficking, I will tell of my little experience. I posted a sort of ad on Craigslist in the job wanted section. I got several bogus replies. I did get one that gave me some information so I continued to communicate with them. I blatantly told the person I would not strip, web cam or anything creepy like that. They said no, I would be a masseuse and they would train. Im thinking, kinda iffy but what they hey, I'll give it a shot. I gave my phone number, missed the first call and called the person back.
Turned out to be a nude massage parlor (which I am sure is ILLEGAL) where the masseuse and client is naked. All male clients of course. Not only was I disgusted I am thinking of reporting this to the police because I am pretty sure what they are doing is illegal and they are preying on other women who may be hard pressed for cash.
I asked do you do the whole happy ending thing? He said, our clients leave happy....asked if I would mind taking showers witht the clients. Wow...but I think I got enough information to turn it into the hand of the police??

But I just think its disgusting how people prey on women especially because of this economy.

More about Access Akron

Access Inc, Akron is made up of both employees and volunteers. The woman whom I contacted is employed with Access Inc and her job is to recruit volunteers. Their staff is made up of an executive director, operations manager, volunteer coordinator, book keeper, case manager, child advocate, care clinic liaison and two team leaders. There is also a board of trustees and board members. And lets not forget the volunteers. Volunteers do anything from watching the children while the women are out either at food banks or getting clothing from one of the other organizations around. They can also assist with cooking classes, front desk help and basically anywhere the staff needs help.

I would say the staff does more of the hands on day to day work concerning the organization. The time I have been there I haven't heard much about the board of trustees. My guess would be that the board of trustees oversees more of the broad interactions between Access Inc and other organizations like United Way and other affiliations.

I did notice that everyone on staff and the board are women.


Access Inc is an organization set out to assist homeless women and their children in the Akron area. They then give these women and their children a place to stay while helping to rebuild self-esteem and self-sufficiency. They offer a 24 hour emergency shelter, food, supportive services, parenting and children's programs as well.

This shelter is not only open to women who have been abused but also to any women who is unemployed, in between moving or just going through a tough time and needs a place to stay short term while she gets back on her feet.
I think their goals are similar to a lot of organizations out there. They aim to help women and assist them to better their lives be it helping them fill out forms for goverment aid or showing them how to dress for and get a job.

They main target of Access is women 18 and up who are homeless with on where to go, 'reality oriented, drug free, not physically battered'.

I think this is a very great organization. It is also very secure and has a all female staff. Volunteers can be males though. That is something I do understand but will try to find out more about later. The building is marked but does not give a hint as to what is in it. I actually drove past it several times the first day I volunteered. Before you are allowed into the building, you must be buzzed in and they can view the person at the door also. Men, unless you are the mail man or with one of the organizations that supply food, are not allowed into the building.

I think they do pretty good job protecting the women inside. I'll be officially starting training shortly but have worked, so far, in the day care which...lets just say I'd rather be place else where :)

I will continue to update this as I work more with the organization.

New information from IJM: Internation Justice Mission

There have been some news in the IJM website.
"IJM Aftercare Staff Celebrate Education With Former Victims Of
Slavery "

This article was about how the Aftercare staff threw a little celebration for a former slave town named CHENNAI, INDIA. The principle pointed out to the people of IJM that the drop out rate of the children was high. This is when the people of IJM decided to organize a communited program based on education.

IJM has a division of people who aid those who have been freed from their slavery, be it sex or work, called the Aftercare staff. Their primary job is to help those freed from slave to get back on their feet by ways of either helping them get jobs, open bank accounts, and just be re-socialized.

The director of Aftercare is named Pranitha Timothy. You can read more about her and listen to an interview via the above link.










All images are property of International Justice Mission

Some neat-o links and pages

I was browsing and found some pretty neat sites.
Feel free to check them out :)

PBS and frontline did a store where they followed five women in Russia and their journey in the sex slave industry. One was actually of a man who was trying to find his wife who was sold into the sex trade.

There is a video clip that I couldn't watch but feel free to check it out and if you do please post what it was about and what you thought about it.

Frontline:PBS-Sex Slaves

Acess Akron-Local Organization

I actually started volunteering for this organization. Right now I am pretty much just babysitting. I saw an ad on craigslist wanting volunteers for a battered woman's shelter, it was right up my alley.

" ACCESS is dedicated to addressing the plight of homeless women and children in our community. The agency encourages the development of self-esteem and the attainment of self-sufficiency through its commitment of providing a holistic, safe and supportive environment, and through its programs of housing, advocacy and empowerment."



You can go here for their website.