Lotus / 蓮(ハス)

Lotus / 蓮(ハス), originally uploaded by TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋).

Human trafficking

I heard an interview on NPR today with a nurse from MD. that started the YANA project. The Yanna(You Are Not Alone)project is an organization dedicated to providing a safe place for women and children that have been sexually exploited. Their clients are victims of human trafficking and those coerced into prostitution.
I was was amazed at the prevalence of the human trade within the United States. This issue came into light a few years back when certain diplomats in DC were found to have brought "domestic workers" from their homeland, with the hope of a better opportunity and education, only to find they were nothing more then slaves. They were forced to work 18hr days and confined indoors to one room, just miles away from the capital. The latest story involves an Army Private from Millersville MD that coerced a 16 yr. old girl to join a sex trafficking ring advertised on Craig's List.
It is staggering to realize the number of women, and children who are forced into sexual servitude in this so called "land of the free". This cycle is further fueled by drug addiction and abuse. The Yanna project is a nonjudgmental safe place for victims to find food, shelter, and vocational training to break the chains of slavery, and allow them the oppurtunities that were so unfairly taken from them. The existence of the Yanna Project here in my home town,brings to light the reality of this issue. It is not confined to third world countries. It is here. From the women that walk the streets to the ones confined indoors. No one says : "When I grow up I want to be exploited."

if i had a hammer - peter paul and mary

Almost forty years later their songs for peace, justice and an unyielding love for humanity still ring true. Mary Travers brought her passions to the world through her music. Her voice will resonate the songs of freedom for years to come. She will inspire the hopeless to have faith, the faithless to have hope, and remind each and every one of us of the responsibility we have to love one another.
Thank you so much for your voice, and my I remember every time I see the injustices of the world, that one torch can shine light into the darkness, one voice at a time.
R.I.P. Mary Travers 1936- 2009.

“Love builds up the broken wall
and straightens the crooked path.
love keeps the stars in the firmament
and imposes rhythm on the ocean tides
each of us is created of it
and i suspect
each of us was created for it”

Maya Angelou

Ka Kai

 

The most important races are won in the oceans of the soul-

Ancient Hawaiian Proverb