How can YOU help fight Human Trafficking?

Wow!  It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we screened our documentary film, Untouchable: Children of God here in Boston.  The screening was AWESOME – 114 people attended in spite of the freezing cold weather and crazy traffic!  There were tons of great questions after the film, and I wanted to respond to one here publicly.  The big question of the night was – How can we help?!  That really is the whole point of the film – not only to raise general awareness, but to stir people to action!  So, this is the best question ever!!!  I’ve got a bunch of thoughts on how to answer it, and this is my by-no-means-exhaustive list of responses:

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Spread the word about Untouchable!   We need your help to get our film out into your communities!  We’ve got screenings planned all over the country, with more being organized every day.  You can be a HUGE help simply by spreading the word in a few really easy ways.

  • Share your thoughts & passion about the film, with a link to our Website &/or our Screenings Page on Facebook/Twitter/Google+ and every social media site you can imagine!
  • Invite your friends to screenings in their area!  View a complete list of screenings here, and you can see some of the FB events listed here.  Invite your friends through Facebook, email them the links and encourage them to attend, share the screenings in your area on your wall and ask you friends to join you.
  • Reach Out to local community groups and non-profits and encourage them to support, attend, and share about the film.  Groups that might be great to reach out t0 – local Nepali & Indian ex-pat communities and meetups, anti-trafficking organizations, human rights organizations, local churches and religious groups, etc.

Got any more ideas?  Leave a comment below!  Get creative!

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Plan a Screening of the film!   There are some really easy ways for you to plan and host a screening of the film in your own neighborhood.

  • At Home Screening  –  Buy a copy of the DVD at one of our screenings (online options coming soon), or rent the film on Vimeo (available May 1, 2015) – then invite a couple of friends or your small group over to watch the film and talk about it!
  • Community Venue Screening  –  Partner with a local church, non-profit or community organization that has a space & screen large enough to view the film.  Screenings can be set up through Tugg.   The venue/organizer needs to pay in advance for the rights to show it to a group (cost varies by size of the space) – but then they can charge a ticket price if they need to recoup the cost.  Organizers can connect with local anti-trafficking non-profits and even use it as a fundraiser.  There is no threshold for this type of screening – so the screening can proceed no matter how many people attend.
  • Theater Screening  –  Anyone can host a screening in a local theater almost anywhere in the US through our partner,  Tugg Inc.  Any individual, community organization, church, or non-profit can use this option – and Tugg partners with theaters all over the country so it can be done in nearly any US city.  The Organizer/Promoter gets a small percentage of the profits for promoting the film – which is a bit of work.  Theater Screenings can be held on weekdays, and must meet a threshold of tickets sold within a week of the event in order for the screening to proceed.  Non-profits can also use the site to take donations when people buy their tickets, and use it as a fundraiser.  This is a great option for any anti-trafficking group that wants to host a screening to raise awareness about the subject in general, and about their organization too.

With either the Community Venue or Theater Screening options, Code Red Films and Krista Photography with help where we can to promote your screening, and can possibly provide resources like DVDs for sale, and having one of the crew attend for Q&A, depending upon location & scheduling.  With either option we recommend creating a facebook event and inviting everyone you know in the area, posting on facebook often and early, emailing people directly to invite them and encouraging others to do the same.  We’ve also created a Press Kit to help you set it up.

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GIVE   Giving of your time, talents & resources is always helpful as Code Red and all anti-trafficking efforts rely on the generosity of their supporters.  There are a few ways to get involved with the film, in Nepal & India, and even in your local area…

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As you can see, there are SO many ways to get involved and make a difference!!  Use your unique talents to make a difference, use your voice and your reach!  If we all work together to fight this great injustice, there’s no reason we can’t succeed!

UNTOUCHABLE: Children of God – Coming to a theater near you!

Untouchable: Children of God

In the brothels of India, young girls perish every day. At least 10,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal to the brothels of India each year. A mere 1% of these sex slaves ever escape or get rescued. UNTOUCHABLE: CHILDREN OF GOD, explores the stories of the people most vulnerable to human trafficking, the “Untouchables” of society, specifically the Badi people of Nepal and the Dalits of India.

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I am SO excited to announce that the documentary film I’ve been working on over the last 2 years is finally available in theaters!!!!  Code Red Films has partnered with Tugg, Inc. to allow people across America the opportunity to experience this powerful and timely documentary film.  Screenings have already been scheduled in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Boston – and more will be planned throughout the year!  Click here to find or even schedule your own screening in a theater near you!

Krista Photography will host the Boston screening on Thursday, February 5th at 7:30pm at Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge.  The theaters require a minimum number of tickets to be sold in advance in order to proceed with the screening, so we need to sell 112 tickets by THIS SUNDAY 1/25.  Please buy your ticket NOW and join us for the Boston Premiere of the film, followed by a brief Q&A!

I will also be attending  screenings in Houston, TX on February 24th, and in Austin, TX on February 25th – so I hope some of our Texas friends can come!

 

UNTOUCHABLE: Children of God

As many of you know, I’ve been working with an organization called Code Red Films on a film called UNTOUCHABLE: Children of God, about the sexual exploitation of the lowest caste girls of Nepal and India.  In the last year, our team has travelled to Nepal and India twice to gather footage.  We have seen terrible things, and heard stories that have brought us to tears.  We have met girls and young women who have experienced more suffering than any person should ever know.  We have met those who the caste system deems “untouchable”, yet who have been touched in terrible, violent ways.  We have seen the horror that is sex slavery, and we are determined to help bring an end to it.  We have looked into the eyes of some of few who have survived and escaped, and we have seen healing, we have seen HOPE.  We long to see more girls and women set free.  We long to see fewer girls cross the border into India and disappear forever.  We long to see brothels shut down, traffickers imprisoned, and victims given the chance at a new life.  We long to see the end of sex trafficking in Nepal and India forever.  And we need your help!

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FILM PROGRESS 

  • We’ve taken hundreds of hours of interviews & footage, and I’ve shot more than 15,000 photographs over the course the two trips.
  • Code Red has launched both a new Website and a new Facebook Page where we’ll be posting helpful links, production stills, photographs, and updates on our progress.
  • Code Red Films has begun the process of becoming an official 501c3 non-profit
  • On August 12, 2012 we launched an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to raise the remaining $50,000 needed to complete post-production on the film.  We have just SEVEN DAYS left to do it!

 

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THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN

  I am writing to ask for your support!  We cannot do this alone, and we don’t want to.  The only way these girls will be free is if an entire movement of men and women rise up from all over the world to help them!  Our part of the mission is to raise the call, and to speak the truth and let their stories be heard.  Please give our voice the wings it needs to soar by taking ACTION:

  • Visit our Website, watch the trailer, and meet our team
  • Like our Facebook Page and invite your friends to like it too
  • Donate to our fundraising campaign – any amount will help and there’s no time to lose!
  • SHARE our story and our fundraising page with your friends and family – help spread the word!

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Thank you!

If you have any questions about the project, or my work, or about sex trafficking, or anything – please let me know!  Thank you so much for your support!  I am so blessed to be able to be a part of this project – and I literally could not do it without all of you and your support!!  THANK YOU!