Month: December 2012

So if you’ve never gone to anything Stop Traffick–don’t worry! Here’s your last chance of the semester!! Please don’t be shy. Click HERE to get to the google doc!

What an amazing afternoon! Our speakers Shamere McKenzie and Laura Murphy presented an incredible talk in Axinn–each using their distinct expertise to shed light on human trafficking in our world today. Shamere shared her own moving narrative of being enslaved in sex trafficking right here in the U.S., but also expanded upon the work she has done since her trauma to turn her own life around and the lives of survivors and at risk girls. She now works on policy for Shared Hope International and is a key member of the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force – an incredible transformation. We thank her for her courage in telling her own story and her efforts to help other girls tell their own.

Laura, a contributor to the acclaimed organization Free the Slaves, tackled the question “now what”? So many of us, when confronted with the horror of slavery alive and well (and better, even), feel outraged but also powerless…“I am one person, and there are 27 million people enslaved–how could my little actions make any difference?” Laura helped us rethink our agency by getting us to focus on what we do have access to: our skills and the people around us. She suggested that as students, activism in abolition (and other fields) is about leveraging these two things to create a small but significant action. For example: if you are a student who plays the piano and knows of an anti-human trafficking organization in your community (us, for example!)–offer to host a recital and donate the proceeds to organizations fighting modern day slavery. If you are a good writer and know someone who knows someone who runs a paper (even a school paper!), submit an op-ed article or cover trafficking in the news. The options are limitless–it’s about levering the skills you have and the people you know to create the world you want.

Thanks to everyone who made it out–we were thrilled to see so many people and so many new faces! Check out some pictures from the event, below!

AND: Get ready for our last speaker of the symposium–Rolando Bonachea, a high school senior from Philips Academy who will be presenting his research on human trafficking in Turkey. Join us for discussion and Sabai Sabai in RAJ Conference room at 6pm.

Here are the details–tell your friends all about it!

Monday 12/3
Half the Sky Film Screening
7:00 in BiHall 220
This PBS production brings to life Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDonn’s acclaimed book Half the Sky, which brilliantly explores the struggles women face world wide–from sex trafficking to gender based violence to maternal mortality–and the steps these women are taking to turn their situation around.

Tuesday 12/4
Laura Murphy & Shamere McKenzie: “Sex Trafficking: Insights from a Survivor and an Expert”
Axinn 229, 4:30 PM
Ms. McKenzie is a survivor of sex trafficking in the U.S. and will be joining us to share her personal story and her perspective on trafficking in the United States. Ms. Murphy is an abolitionist expert and activist and serves as the National College Chapter Coordinator for Free the Slaves and the director of the Survivors of Slavery speakers network. She will contribute her academic expertise and conduct a workshop on youth activism. Snacks will be provided!

Wednesday 12/5
Rolando Bonachea: “Dinner Conversation with a Youth Activist”
RAJ Conference Room; 6pm
Rolando Bonachea is a high school senior from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After obtaining a grant from his school to do research on human trafficking in Turkey, he did on the ground work with UN officials and other experts and joins us here at Middlebury to offer a student perspective on modern day slavery and youth activism in general. Food from Sabai Sabai!

See you at some of these events!