Turn The Lights Off.
First some statistics:
30 million-the amount of people enslaved in the world
2.8 million-the number of children a year trafficked into the sex trade
9-the average age of a sex worker
3 million-the number of sex slaves in India alone
80%-how many of the 30 million slaves are female
70%-how many of the 30 million slaves are in the sex industry
50%-how many of the 30 million slaves are children
In the simplest terms, Resc\You wants to turn the lights out. In some way, through empowering men and women, educating them, and rebuilding communities by turning off the lights in red light districts across the world. We’re starting in India.
Resc\you met in India, well actually New York City, in December of 2008. We bonded on a trip to India, traveling and meeting the wonderful people that inhabited the towns we visited. One common thread among us was that part of us was left in that country.
Resc\You was started because I want to help Bittu, a boy I met while visiting the shelter in Khidderpore. He has a smile that I will never forget and laughter that’s better than any song on the planet. We drew pictures together, he stole my camera and a big piece of my heart.
What bothered me about Bittu is that as I was leaving the shelter, so was he. I was returning to my flat across town and he was returning to a brothel. He played in the street littered with johns and decorated with girls awaiting them.
Resc\You began for the sex worker who offered me her child through the taxi window. I do not have children, but it’s a dream of mine. The opportunity for a great life is more likely with me in her eyes, than in her own. Hope has not been closed out from my life. The want to provide and care for a child is ingrained in a lot of women and you can see in her eyes that she wanted that too. To know that her baby girl was cared for, loved and safe was more important than keeping that child. Saying no to her was so painful; how long would it be before this girl was being forced to have sex?
Resc\You exists because I remember every face I looked into as the taxi rolled down the broken road through the red light district. Their skin reflecting the red glow of the lights in the stalls. Girls as young as 7 or 8, awaiting the men they would have to entertain. Women leaning against the walls, tired already.
Women should not have to be valued solely for their sexuality. The kids of the red light districts should not have to live in fear. Slavery affects everyone, you and me as well. It affects us because we know about it, we see it and we have the ability to do something about it.
Resc\You had to happen because we see a need and are willing to fill it. We have the talents, we have the ability; to whom much is given, much is expected. We do not take the burden we’ve been given lightly.
We’re all friends who met in India and going back to help them because we love them so much. We remember their laughs, smiles and the freedom they show when they dance. We want them to be able to feel that way everyday.
We want you to know the people we met in the districts as well, and you will as Resc\You progresses. You will know the facts that we know and together we will radically change the statistics. Actually, not just the statistics..the people behind those statistics.
-Amy Turner
Please click here to find out more about the partnership between Resc\You and Spendyourself
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RescYou | SpendYourself
01.03.10
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