THE T-SHIRTS ARE HERE!!

That's right, everyone!! The SSGF T-SHIRTS are here and available for purchase!!! We are so excited!
   
So how do you get YOUR SSGF shirt? Simply go to this link: T-shirt Orders. Select which tee design you want, select a size, and press the "Add to Cart" button. :) ALL SHIRTS ARE $17.00 EACH.
   
To order multiple shirts:
1. Select your first tee design and size, then click "Add to Cart"
2. Return to the T-shirt Orders page
3. Select your second tee design and size, then click "Add to Cart"
4. Etc...The shirts will all be added to the same cart for the same order.
   
Proceed to check out and input your information. You may pay by credit card or by PayPal (if you have an account). For now, we will not accept cash or check payments EXCEPT from USC STUDENTS who wish to pick up their shirts in person prior to May 12th. 
   
FOR USC STUDENTS ONLY: If you wish to order a shirt to pick up in person, please e-mail ssgf.usc@gmail.com with the subject line: T-Shirt Order Request. Please make sure you include your t-shirt choice, size, and contact info. You must have the full payment amount with you when you come to pick up our order.

We are the answer.

Last night, Lisa Ling came to the USC campus to give a talk about her experiences as an investigative journalist. She is an incredibly eloquent, composed, articulate woman, and it was a pleasure hearing her speak. She discussed a variety of stories and issues she has addressed in her career and showed video clips from some of the work she has done for National Geographic. Near the end of her talk, she began discussing human trafficking. She has done a lot of great work on the topic, and I really felt reinvigorated after hearing her speak. She also shared a short poem about injustice. It ends asking God why there is so much suffering in the world, and what He is doing to help those who are suffering...and God responds "I made you."
   
That really hit me. I firmly believe that everyone has a purpose and that everyone can contribute their piece of good to the world. I want to be a force for good in this world. I want SSGF to be a force of positive change. I want my passion to translate into action, and my love into hope. Human trafficking is an issue that affects me to the core. I know that I cannot walk away from this issue--now that my eyes have been opened to the horrors of this practice, I cannot pretend I haven't seen it.
   
"Now that I have seen, I am responsible.
Faith without deeds is dead...
Now that I have held you, in my own arms
I cannot let go 'til you are..."
   
So I will keep pushing forward and She Shall Go Free will continue to grow. I hope you will join us in this movement. If you want to get more involved, e-mail us at ssgf.usc@gmail.com. Have your own ideas about what you want to see happen? Let us know. We want to hear your perspectives and your hopes. Again, we couldn't be doing this without you.
   

  

With love,

Lauren

SSGF can now accept donations!

That's right! SSGF is now able to accept donations! :) Right now there are two ways to donate:
   
1. By PayPal account
2. By credit card via PayPal (you do not need an account for this option)
   
To easily access the page to donate by credit card, simply click here: Credit Card Donation 
   
You can also click the "Donate" button on the right side of the page, which will take you to our PayPal donation page. If you have a PayPal account, just sign in and proceed. If not, you may either sign up for PayPal or scroll down to "Don't have a PayPal account?" and click "Continue." This will take you to the page for credit card donations.
   
We are currently only accepting cash donations in person. Remember, a donation of ANY size is greatly appreciated and very helpful. We appreciate the all of the love and encouragement we have received so far. We couldn't do this without your support!
    
With love & freedom,
SSGF
   
ps. If you have any questions about donations or our organization, you can either post them here or send them to us privately by emailing ssgf.usc@gmail.com

   

Also, check out these wonderful products from Envirosax--they are eco-friendly, reusable, and produced by a fair trade manufacturer. Plus, a portion of their proceeds are donated to charities working on environmental issues and sustainability.

            

In my heart, I know it's worth it.

I am really struggling with injustice today...It is one of those days where I feel like the darkness in the world is overpowering the light. Are all the things I am doing even making a difference? Has all of the time, effort, heartbreak, and tears been worth it? I want to see real change in this world. I want the work SSGF does to have a tangible impact. And I just don't know if that is happening yet, or if it will happen at all. Like I said, I am a bit discouraged today.

So I just wanted to share a few quotes I have come across to re-inspire myself and hopefully give you a boost as well. If you have any others you want to share, I would love to hear them.
  

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."--Elie Wiesel

   

"Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander."--Holocaust Memorial in D.C.
   

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."--Martin Luther King Jr.

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."--Maya Angelou

"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."--Robert F. Kennedy

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."--Elie Wiesel

"I strongly believe that love is the answer and that it can mend even the deepest unseen wounds. Love can heal, love can console, love can strengthen, and yes, love can make change."--Somaly Mam

   

   

Human trafficking in Israel

I realize this video is quite long, but I wanted to share it anyway. l just finished watching it, and I am having a hard time processing everything. If you only have time to watch a short segment, I recommend starting at 46:00 or 47:00 for the story of Dinara. It is heartbreaking, distressing, and somewhat infuriating.

I don't really have the words to express what I am thinking right now. But I really wanted to share this with you all. So if you have any reactions, thoughts, feelings, etc. please share them. I would love to hear from you.

With love,
Lauren

In the land of the free...

**Check out this article: The Lost Girls**

Excerpts:

Most people who are aware of the existence of human trafficking think that it happens in faraway places, like war-torn countries in the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, or Eastern Europe. Few can imagine that slaves are brought into the U.S. to work in restaurants, factories, and sexually oriented businesses (SOBs to those in the know). In fact, across the country, tens of thousands of people are being held captive today. Depending on whom you ask, Houston is either the leading trafficking site in the U.S. or very near the top, along with Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans, and New York City.  

 “Decompensation” is a fancy psychiatric term for when a person falls completely apart, which is what happened to Kiki in March 2006. She took an overdose of pills and landed back at the psychiatric hospital, where this time doctors diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. According to the application for emergency detention, Kiki was paranoid and claimed that she wanted to die. When one of the nurses tried to talk to her, she just said, “People are mean in America.”

   
What do you think? What is your reaction to this article? There are victims of trafficking all over this country. People are being held in slavery. They are being abused, exploited, sexually assaulted, psychologically terrorized, forcibly addicted to drugs,  and kept under caerful surveillance. Their lives are controlled by the traffickers.
  
This is not some distant problem happening in far away, impoverished places. Trafficking is happening HERE...NOW...There are tens of thousands of people enslaved today in the supposed "land of the free." But what kind of freedom could possibly exist when trafficking and sexual slavery are still all around us?
  
Just some food for thought. Want to learn more? Check out these books and documentaries on trafficking in the US:

                

There is always something we can do...

Short video on trafficking of children.

Children around the world are being abused, exploited, and trafficked into the sex trade and slave labor. Trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry--and the United States is the largest consumer of human trafficking in the world.

Child sex tourism.
Domestic servants trafficked into the US.
Tax dollars being spent to fund sex with prostitutes for US soldiers stationed abroad.
Bride buying.
Teenagers coerced into prostitution at the age of 12.
Brothels filled with trafficked girls established next to military bases.
Buying and selling children like objects.

It is all happening. And it is happening here. But much of the world--and the United States--stands idly by. We have a shared responsibility to respond to these atrocities. As moral human beings blessed with hearts and minds, we have a responsibility to be informed...to care...to act. Of course, action can be taken in a variety of forms. Letters need to be written to our representatives. Petitions need to be signed. Money needs to be raised. Awareness needs to be promoted. And responsibility needs to be taken.

So what can you do? You can take responsibility for knowing where your products come from and doing what you can to ensure that there is no slavery in your products. You can write letters and sign petitions to send to corporations that utilize slave labor. You can choose to buy fair trade products. You can share this site and the information you have learned with two or three other people. You can donate a few dollars to an anti-trafficking organization or host a fundraiser. You can do more research and keep yourself informed. You can join the fight.

What other ideas do YOU have? We would love to hear them. And what would you like to see SSGF doing? We want and need your input.

With love and freedom,

SSGF

 

I wanted to share this video with everyone. It is a powerful compilation of clips, images, and statistics on human trafficking. Let me know what your thoughts, feelings, reactions are after watching this. For me, it is another reminder of why I wanted to work in this field in the first place. There is so much injustice in this world, but not so much that it cannot be overcome.


"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [and women] do nothing."--Edmund Burke

Trafficking is a systemic disease that is infecting every corner of the world. But the good news is that we can fight it. There are groups and organizations and individuals who have dedicated their time, energy, resources, and often lives to ending human trafficking. I feel called to join that fight--and I hope you feel called as well.
"If you aren't seeing it, you aren't looking for it."

With hope and freedom,
Lauren

What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transport, receipt, transfer, or confinement--accomplished by means of coercion, deception, abuse of power, threat or use of force, payment to another person, or abduction--of another person for the purpose of exploitation.

Trafficking activities can be contained within a country or region, or they can expand into transnational operations. Victims of trafficking can come from a range of socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. However, poverty, lack of access to education, refugee or IDP status, and/or living in the midst of armed conflict or post-conflict transitions are all factors that make women and girls particularly vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.

Approximately 80% of trafficking victims are female--and of these, at least 70% end up in the commercial sex industry. Human beings are treated like disposable commodities. The average price of a slave today is $90.00. And in the sex trade, a child can be bought for a night for only a few US dollars.

Human trafficking is an illegal activity that generates over $32 BILLION in revenue a year. And the United States is one of the largest consumers of human trafficking in the world. Trafficking is incredibly widespread--it is happening all over the world to people of every race, class, creed, etc. Even the most conservative estimates that at least 800,000 people are trafficking across international borders every year--and even more are trafficked within national boundaries.

For more information about trafficking and how you can help, check out the links in the Resources section of the side panel.

With love and freedom,

SSGF<3<3

SSGF: Who we are...

She Shall Go Free is a growing non-profit organization dedicated to fighting against sexual slavery, human trafficking, and the exploitation of women and girls worldwide.

We aim to raise awareness, advocate for victims and survivors, to demand justice and legal protections for women and girls, and to provide effective and comprehensive services where most needed.