Project Liberation

I wanted to tell you all about a project I am starting next week. Here is the info:

'Project Liberation' is brought to you by Blue Key, Leadership Ethics and Values Dept and the International Justice Mission.

Human slavery. This terrible reality is rampant unlike ever before in our world's history. We have decided to focus on three specific issues: human trafficking, forced labor and child soldiers. In an effort to raise awareness on our campus and the surrounding areas, we have created three buttons with provocative words associated with these three areas of slavery:

VIOLATED (human trafficking)
CHAINED (forced labor)
ABDUCTED (child soldiers)

We have also generated business cards that express three quick facts about each issue and have quotes from victims. This is what each card states:

VIOLATED (human trafficking)
1.) The sex trade circulates 7 billion dollars a year worldwide
2.) 900,000 people are trafficked across international borders per year
3.) 14,500 to 17,500 sex slaves are trafficked into the US per year
"I paid a man 350 German marks to go to Greece since I had no papers. Instead, he brought me to Greece and sold me to a bar. He told me he would kill me if I left....We slept with a lot of men, ten a day. We were beaten if we tried to leave. I was beaten with a belt"
More info: http://www.ijm.org/

CHAINED (forced labor)
1.) There are 27 million slaves in the world today
2.) There were 13 million slaves shipped from Africa over 300 years of the Atlantic slave trade
3.) An average slave in the American South cost $40,000 in today's money. Today, a slave costs an average of just $90
"A man came to the refugee camp and chose us; I was taken in a car...to a house in a place called Khartoum. He would not let us out. We had to work all day...I had to do everything...I was beaten for every single thing"
More info: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

ABDUCTED (child soldiers)
1.) Today, there are 300,000 child soldiers fighting in conflicts around the world
2.) Burma's resistance army of 350,00 is 1/5 composed of children
3.) Child soldiers are fighting in over 33 Countries worldwide
"Today, I am afraid. I don't know how to read, I don't know where my family is, I have no future. The worst is during the day when I think about my future. My life is lost. I have nothing to live for. At night I can no longer sleep--I keep thinking of those horrible things I have seen and done when I was a soldier"
More info: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

All statistics were found from '50 Facts that Should Change the World' by Jessica Williams.

If you are interested in following this project, join us on facebook or on the blog.

We will be passing out buttons and cards all next week from 12-2 everyday. MWF in the Cage and TTH in Kaufman! Check it out!