Tonight is Invisible Children Night!

Hey everyone, sorry for thew late update on the blog, been really busy lately.

Anyways, this is just a quick update. Tonight is the Invisible Children documentary showing at 7:00 in Cardinal Hall and will last about 2 hours. Spread the word, and hopefully you can all make it!

Peace,

Cody Bennett

Upcoming Invisible Children Event

Hello everyone, and I hope all is going well for you! This post is about our upcoming showing of the documentary "Invisible Children." This heart-wrenching documentary is about child soldiers in Africa, particularly those forced to work under the LRA (Lords Resistance Army).

This showing, as well as information about the group who made this documentary, will be available on February 28th in Cardinal Hall at the Student Center. Please, if you can make it, I implore you to do so and bring your friends! This documentary will be a real big eye opener for all! If you would like additional info, please feel free to email us at freetheslavesbsu@gmail.com or message us on our Facebook group Free the Slaves Ball State Chapter.

If you would like even more info about the documentary, please follow this link to the website:
www.invisiblechildren.com

That's all for this week everyone! I hope you will continue to read this blog and join us in the fight against slavery!

Peace,

Cody Bennett

Book List and Upcoming Documentary Showing

Hey everyone sorry for the late update to the blog. Been a little busy lately, but here is that book list I promised from the last post. Please note that this is nowhere near a complete list. This is just a sample of books that shed light and provide excellent stories and examples of modern slavery. If you can be sure to pick up a copy of any of these books from Amazon or at the library.

-- The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice by Kathryn Bolkovac

--Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People by Kevin Bales, Zoe Trodd, and Alex Kent Williamson

-- A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner

-- Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Siddharth Kara

-- The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today, With a New Preface by Kevin Bales

-- Sold: One Woman's True Account of Modern Slavery by Zana Muhsen

-- Not in My Town: Exposing and Ending Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery by Dillon Burroughs and Charles Powell

As I mentioned before, this is really just a small sample of the thousands of books out there on this topic. Just a simple Google search will yield a myriad of results. Please, for the sake of those trapped, check out these books, educate yourselves, and help be a part of the solution.

Coming up as well is the documentary Invisible Children. This is a heart-wrenching documentary about the life of child soldiers in the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) in Africa. The documentary is scheduled to be shown on Tuesday February 28th from 7:00-10:00 P.M. at the Cardinal Hall in the Student Center. Please attend if you can. It is an excellent documentary and sheds light on a terrible part of humanity.

Well that's it for this week folks. Please check back this upcoming weekend for any new updates and/or news.

Peace,

Cody

Meeting Times

Hey everyone I forgot to mention meeting times. For anyone interested in becoming a part of something important, our meetings are Tuesdays at 9 pm in Bracken on the 4th floor. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us!

Peace,

Cody Bennett

Hello everyone, this is Cody Bennett speaking. Well, OK typing but you get the idea haha. Anyways, I would like to welcome you all back to the Free the Slaves blog! It's been quite some time since this blog was updated, but with me in control of it I hope to give updates at least once a week regarding possible new global legislation, charities, and media to help spread awareness of slavery worldwide. With that, I would like to welcome you all back!

To begin this official first blog post in over a year, I will be posting a movie list that explores the issue of global slavery. Some of these movies may be well know to you, and others not so much. However, I implore you all to look into these films and share them with everyone you can! We need to get more and more people in on this massive undertaking of global awareness, and it all starts with us, just one person at a time, spreading the word!



That's all for today folks! Make sure to check back next week for any new updates and I will hopefully be adding in a book list for you all to check out!

Peace,

Cody Bennett

Breaking News Update Location: Kolkata, India Date: Monday, May 3, 2010 Result: Three perpetrators sentenced for trafficking young girls This Monday, after years of IJM Kolkata's relentless advocacy, two men and one woman were sentenced to 10 years in prison for trafficking young girls for sex, following their convictions for the crime on Friday, April 30. The perpetrators were arrested in 2007 after attempting to sell three girls, ages 12, 14 and 16, to IJM undercover investigators. Convictions and sentences for sex trafficking have been rare in Kolkata — but because of the commitment of IJM supporters and frontline staff, and the partnership of the local government, change is coming to the city.

The three survivors abused by these perpetrators (including the IJM client pictured above) bravely took the stand during the court case and are each now healing in loving aftercare homes.

"Not only does the conviction of these perpetrators bring justice to the lives of their victims but it brings protection to the many more girls they will be unable to abuse because they have faced just consequences," explains IJM Director of Operations for South Asia Blair Burns.

Thank you for joining with IJM to seek justice and combat violent oppression. This is just one example of the victories made possible by this movement of friends, advocates and supporters around the world.

Gratefully,

Laurie Hayes
Director of Development

P.S. Visit IJM.org to learn about other recent convictions and rescues.

Orphans... Restavacs... Slaves

Protecting Children in Haiti

We received the following dispatch from Free the Slaves staffer Zorba Leslie in Haiti. He is helping our partner organizations combat the country’s “resavek” system of child slavery. Zorba’s account underscores how dangerous Haiti remains three months after the devastating earthquake, and how community organizations are working to save children from slavery.

Zorba writes:

“Some children that were in restavek slavery prior to the earthquake subsequently lost their “host” families and have been left to fend for themselves. And then there are children who were simply orphaned and now left unaccompanied who are falling into restavek slavery.

“The international agencies are working with the Haitian government and local groups to try to protect these children, but so many appear to be falling through the cracks.

“Many children that who have been taken in by families in camps are falling into the traditional role of a restavek: fetching water, running errands, cooking, cleaning, etc. But the conditions are so much worse and more dangerous. For instance, a family isn’t likely to send its own child on an errand after nightfall because they know the chances of that child being raped are heightened. So they’ll send the restavek child out into the dark.

“The community group KOFAVIV is continuing its essential work of providing support to victims of sexual violence. Participants trained in child rights are now advocating for children in the camps, and some parents are actively retrieving their children now that they understand the extreme harm inflicted upon them through the system.

“Free the Slaves’ collaboration with Beyond Borders, Limye Lavi and KOFAVIV seeks to significantly scale up this work.

"We’re planning to provide the training in child rights to dozens of groups across the camps. Participants will then form child protection committees to foster collective action to prevent abuse of children.”

Our work in Haiti is made possible by your continuing support.

Visit our online donor page to make a one-time or recurring contribution. Enter “Haiti Fund” in the designation window.