A Glimpse of the Red Light District in Bangkok

“As long as a women can be bought or sold, no woman is free.” – Maria Castaneda, Filipina Activist The brilliant haze of neon lights gives the appearance of daytime.  Hundreds of bodies fill the narrow streets.   It is almost midnight, but the air is balmy and thick.  There is no breeze, no room to [...]

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Abolishing Modern Day Slavery at BUSPH

On Monday, October 26, the Boston University School of Public Health held an event entitled Abolishing Modern Day Slavery.  Emmanuel Otoo, West Africa Regional Coordinator for Free the Slaves, was the keynote speaker. Panelists included: Benjamin Skinner – Author of a Crime So Monstrous, Fellow at Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of Harvard Kennedy School; Dr. [...]

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Empowering or offending?

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in one of my public health classes was this: When faced with a situation in a cross-cultural setting when nationals are engaging in behavior or practices that are uninformed or questionable, encourage the positive, resolve the negative and leave the neutral alone. Leaving the neutral alone is [...]

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Abolishing Modern Day Slavery Podcast

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Believing in Justice, Believing in You.

I recently read the book This I Believe, a collection of  essays taken from the NPR program initially launched by Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s.  Naturally, this prompted my own reflection on what belief I would want to proclaim to the world in 200 words or less. In my short life, I have witnessed [...]

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Child Slavery in Ghana: The scope of the problem

Child Slavery: Approximately 25% of children ages 5-14 years in Ghana were working in 2000.  In rural areas, children can be found working in picking, fishing, herding and as contract farm labor. Children also work as domestics, porters, hawkers, miners and quarry workers, and fare-collectors[1]. The Children’s Act sets the minimum age for employment at [...]

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The Process of Rescuing a Child from Slavery

Many of you have asked, “How do you actually rescue a trafficked child from slavery?”  In this post, I will do my best to explain the process. (Thank you, Liz, for your amazing editing.) George Achibra founded PACODEP, a non-governmental organization based in the Volta Region of Ghana, which was initially focused on caring for [...]

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When Obama visits the slave castles in Ghana, what will he see?

When Obama visits the slave castles in Ghana, will he see the millions still enslaved today?

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The story of Teiko: A 6 year old trafficked girl rescued from slavery on Lake Volta

Touch a Life partners with several organizations to rescue a trafficked child slave from Lake Volta.

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