Victories - Even if Small

Teen pimp found guilty of human trafficking - Today's Seattle Times (online)



In addition, a program thought lost to 2010 budget cuts in King County has been saved:

"I have great news! The Council was able to allocate $100,000 in the 2010 budget for the Safe Housing and Treatment for Children in Prostitution program through careful reprioritization of expenditures. Options to allow vulnerable youth to escape a life of prostitution are desperately needed-this program will help by providing them with emergency shelter, transitional housing and targeted social services. I was honored to advocate for restoring this specific program's funding in the 2010 budget. As you may know, I have voted in support of this program several times over the past three years, and earlier this year when it was proposed for the chopping block, I advocated for King County to continue our funding commitment, even given the current difficult budgetary outlook. I am tremendously pleased that King County will be able to provide $100,000 to help start this important program to rescue teens from a life of prostitution."

~copied from an email sent by Larry Phillips, Councilmember; Metropolitan King County Council, District Four on Monday, November 23, 2009

Proverbs 31:8-9

Victory Day

Seattle Against Slavery (SAS) and the Western Washington Coalition Against Human Trafficking (WWCAHT) are sponsoring the film premiere of Victory Day on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd, at 6:30 pm in partnership with the filmmaker, Sean Ramsay, at the Harvard Exit Theatre. This will help us honor the UN's International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

However, we need your help! In order to help the filmmaker subsidize this event, we need at least 75 people to buy their tickets by this Sunday. Can you please consider buying the $25 ticket for each person so we can make this event happen?

There will be appetizer time, an info booth on human trafficking, the film, and a panel discussion immediately after the film with Sean Ramsay, WWCAHT & Not for Sale's Sarah Sweeney, Alex Sum, leader of SAS, and perhaps others. It will be a great time of public awareness for our cause so bring your family & friends.

Please help us get at least 75 tickets sold by Sunday and sell out the joint (350 people capacity)! Pass this email and flyer on and use SAS’s Facebook page to spread the word!

Film & Trailer: http://www.victorydaythefilm.com

The LA press release: http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/10/231014.php

Buy Tickets Here: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/89999

Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186552497688

Proverbs 31:8-9

"Journey"

Emma Thompson's latest project:

"Journey"

What an awesome talent and a respected voice. How I pray God uses this to bring MASSIVE attention to the tragedy of human trafficking.

Proverbs 31:8-9

The New York Times - Teenage Runaways

The New York Times has done a two article series on teenage runaways and how they end up trafficked. Both articles are very well written and the second one offers the hint of part of the solution.

Recession Drives Surge in Youth Runaways


For Runaways, Sex Buys Survival



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Trafficking in Seattle

It does happen on the street where you live. Every. single. day.

West Seattle Pimp tells of Selling girls with a Dream


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A Load of Garbage

Paula Guest is one of the people I have been privileged to meet as I have become more involved in the fight against human trafficking. It is an honor to be able to call this woman a friend. She has a heart for justice and God has asked her to do tremendous things in the battle against trafficking. When Scharme Hettinga started Frontline for Justice at Northshore Baptist Church, I know Paula never saw herself as the lead in that ministry but that is exactly where God has placed her.

Below is a post Paula wrote for the Northshore Baptist Womens' Ministry blog. She shared it with me and gave me permission to post it here. I hope to share more of what Paula writes, and more about Paula and those she serves, as she pours out her heart. It is not a very long read but it is vivid. I pray it touches you as it has touched me.

A Load of Garbage

What is your life worth? What about the life of your child??

In 2004 while on a mission trip to Nicaragua, our team was visiting the village of 3,000 people who live and die, in the dump. It was indeed, "The Gates of Hell." Smoke rising. Buzzards circling. Cattle wandering. Stench permeating. And through the haze of the smoke, people were seen standing out on the heaps, poking and prodding. Searching for something of value.

As we walked down the street, preparing to escape into the safety of our air conditioned, smoke free, stench free van, a young girl met us with a huge smile. "How are you?" I asked in my rudimentary Spanish. "Very well," she replied. Our guide explained as we drove away, that this young girl, that very morning, had been diagnosed with AIDS.

Her parents had sold her to the garbage truck drivers so that the 'best' garbage would be dropped in their 'area.' Her life traded for a load of garbage. And she had three younger sisters.

What is your life worth? What about the life of your child??

At that moment, God reached down and broke my heart in a way that cannot be mended. In my safe little world it had never occurred to me that such an evil could exist. It was no longer possible to simply 'change the channel and go about having supper.'

And so I found myself in Poipet, Cambodia in an AIDS hospice, holding the hands of dying women and praying for them. Sitting in a bar in Bangkok, talking to young women with a number attached to their bikini bottom. We had 'bought' their time. Sex travelers were buying a lot more.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Another Battlefront

A friend of mine sent a copy of a blog post today. When I hit the link to check out the writer, I found a blog full of heavy stories. Stories of young women in Romania being trafficked, the hope they have and the hope they don't have.

She's worth the time you'll need to read about her and if you feel lead, please don't hesitate to find out about contributing to the House of Treasure. Iana sounds like an amazing person.

Kimberly Smith Blog

Proverbs 31:8-9