December 10, 2004

A NEW UNICEF report says that 1 out of every 2 children in the world experiences a life of "extreme deprivation" -- among the horrors: two million children work in the sex industry world-wide, and with more than half of those being trafficked for prostitution.

This jumped out at me because my mother has asked us to send a contribution to Shared Hope International as her Chrismas gift this year. Here's what mom wrote a few days back:

I do not need anything so have decided it would be nice if you sent a small money gift in my name to:
Shared Hope International
P.O. Box 65337
Vancouver, WA 98665
Shared Hope also has a web site if you want to find out more information. Linda Smith started this organization about 6 years ago. Linda was a representative for WA State in Congress and then ran against Senator Patty Murray 6 years ago and lost. This foundation builds safe houses for women to escape the tyranny of sex slavery in many countries. Sometimes she even buys the young women from their pimps to get them out of their terrible situation. She first started in India where very poor families would sell their daughters to people in the city often not realizing just what they were getting into. Her work has now branched out into many different countries. Lots of these young girls are as young as 7 & 8. I think she is doing great work and I try to support her work some financially each year.
We've decided to give a donation in both parents name -- so no cookies and candy, sausage and cheese this year dad! Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack