The first thing poeple ask me when I mention The Home Foundation is "what is it for?" So let me just get that one answered before you start going crazy trying to figure it out. :)
The Home Foundation is a non-profit charitable foundation dedicated to the eradication of human trafficking both domestically and abroad. Through advocacy, education and relief efforts, the Home Foundation is committed to end the suffering of women and children sold into sexual slavery.
THE SOBERING FACTS
* As many as 10 million people are victims of human trafficking.
* As many as 10 million people are victims of human trafficking.
* No country is immune from human trafficking. Each year, an estimated 600,000-800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders (some international and non-governmental organizations place the number far higher), and the trade is growing. This figure is in addition to a far larger yet indeterminate number of people trafficked within countries.
Victims are forced into prostitution, or to work in quarries and sweatshops, on farms, as domestics, as child soldiers, and in many forms of involuntary servitude.
* 80 percent of the victims trafficked across international borders are female and 70 percent of those females are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
* 80 percent of the victims trafficked across international borders are female and 70 percent of those females are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
* The International Organization for Migration estimates that each year 500,000 women are sold (trafficked) to local prostitution markets in Europe.
* Sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.
* Traffickers use psychological as well as physical coercion and bondage, and it defines coercion to include: threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.
* Victims of sex trafficking can be women or men, girls or boys, but the majority are women and girls. There are a number of common patterns for luring victims into situations of sex trafficking, including:
- A promise of a good job in another country
- A false marriage proposal turned into a bondage situation
- Being sold into the sex trade by parents, husbands, boyfriends
- Being kidnapped by traffickers
* Sex traffickers frequently subject their victims to debt-bondage, an illegal practice in which the traffickers tell their victims that they owe money (often relating to the victims' living expenses and transport into the country) and that they must pledge their personal services to repay the debt.
* Sex traffickers use a variety of methods to "condition" their victims including starvation, confinement, beatings, physical abuse, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and the victims' families, forced drug use and the threat of shaming their victims by revealing their activities to their family and their families' friends.
It sounds horrible right? And as real as it is, there are still many that believe this is a joke. A way for young girls to get attention. And yet, we have proof:
VICTIM'S STORIES
** Asha was only nine when her father sold her to a procurer in a Bombay brothel. She was told she would have new clothes, and that she would be working for a nice family who lived in a big house. But where she was taken was a strange place. "Where's the pretty house?" Asha asked shyly. There was no pretty house; just a small, damp room with a cold hard floor that Asha was locked in.
A woman unlocked the door and came in to put makeup on Asha's face. The woman then opened the door and allowed in a man. Asha was told she would have to do sexual favors for him. She didn't want to, so she fought. Another man came in, beat her with a belt, and continued beating her for several days. They gave her no food. Weakened, Asha decided it was useless to resist. She serviced her first "client" and continued to do so for the next seven years. Until she met a man named Devaraj.
Devaraj was different than the other men she had known. She met him at a small church near Falkland Road. There he taught messages of hope that lifted her spirits. He talked of freedom. She visited there as often as she could.
Deveraj helped Asha leave the brothel that had been her home since she was a young girl and moved her into a "Home of Hope." Now she is learning how to live. She is learning a new trade. And thanks to people who care, Asha's life is no longer surrounded by pain and disappointment. It is full of hope and optimism for the future.
A woman unlocked the door and came in to put makeup on Asha's face. The woman then opened the door and allowed in a man. Asha was told she would have to do sexual favors for him. She didn't want to, so she fought. Another man came in, beat her with a belt, and continued beating her for several days. They gave her no food. Weakened, Asha decided it was useless to resist. She serviced her first "client" and continued to do so for the next seven years. Until she met a man named Devaraj.
Devaraj was different than the other men she had known. She met him at a small church near Falkland Road. There he taught messages of hope that lifted her spirits. He talked of freedom. She visited there as often as she could.
Deveraj helped Asha leave the brothel that had been her home since she was a young girl and moved her into a "Home of Hope." Now she is learning how to live. She is learning a new trade. And thanks to people who care, Asha's life is no longer surrounded by pain and disappointment. It is full of hope and optimism for the future.
** Nagma was dying on the street with her two young daughters, Muskan, 5, and Anam, 2, sitting next to her and begging. Bombay Teen Challenge discovered that Nagma was a Commercial Sex Worker who had been thrown out of the brothel when she contracted AIDS. Her two young daughters were thrown out along with her.
Nagma was a Muslim orphan who had been tricked into marriage and was sold to a brothel. She had given birth to her two daughters while she was in the brothel. She was taken to a hospital and while there, she handed over both her children to Bombay Teen Challenge. Sadly, Nagma died within a few days of being admitted to the hospital.
Although Nagma's life came to a tragic end, God in his great mercy has spared the lives of her children from following a similar course. Muskan, the older girl, has tuberculosis and Anam is HIV-positive. At present they are being given the necessary medical treatment and are being sent to live at the recently established Jubilee Orphans home.
Nagma was a Muslim orphan who had been tricked into marriage and was sold to a brothel. She had given birth to her two daughters while she was in the brothel. She was taken to a hospital and while there, she handed over both her children to Bombay Teen Challenge. Sadly, Nagma died within a few days of being admitted to the hospital.
Although Nagma's life came to a tragic end, God in his great mercy has spared the lives of her children from following a similar course. Muskan, the older girl, has tuberculosis and Anam is HIV-positive. At present they are being given the necessary medical treatment and are being sent to live at the recently established Jubilee Orphans home.
** Katya, with a two-year-old daughter and a failing marriage in the Czech Republic, followed the advice of a "friend" that she could make good money as a waitress in the Netherlands. A Czech trafficker drove her along with four other young women to Amsterdam where, joined by a Dutch trafficker, Katya was taken to a brothel. After saying "I will not do this," she was told, "Yes you will if you want your daughter back in the Czech Republic to live." After years of threats and forced prostitution Katya was rescued by a friendly cab driver. Katya is now working at a hospital and studying for a degree in social work.
** Tanya's story: "My friend organized for me to get a job in Egypt. We traveled together from Chisinau to Moscow where I got on a plane to Egypt. When I got to the airport in Egypt, I was paired with a man in order to walk through customs and immigration. People were waiting for me and they took me to a five-star hotel. I gave up my passport at the reception of the hotel and never saw it again. They put me in a car and we drove for a really long time. We went to a place where Bedouins are [Egypt's Sinai Peninsula] and those Bedouins took us through the desert. At one point, I heard gunshots and I think a girl was killed. They kill you or beat you if they don't like your attitude. We had to walk for hours and hours through the desert where there were landmines. They pointed out the mines to us in the sand. We hardly ate and I lost 10 lbs. by the time I got to Israel. When we got out of the desert, we were taken to a town in Israel, where the Bedouins arranged for us to be sold. Many girls were traveling with me, and all the girls going to Israel go through the same route and the same situation."
ABOUT US
The Home Foundation was founded in 2005 by singer/songwriter Natalie Grant. After an episode of Law and Order awakened Natalie to the real-life, ongoing tragedy of Human Trafficking, she threw herself into a deeper research on the issue. What she found disturbed her so greatly, that Natalie knew she must do something to fight for these helpless victims - precious souls without a voice.
After learning that over 10 million children world-wide have been sold into sexual slavery, and inspired by her trip to the red-light district of Mumbai, India, Natalie Grant founded the HOME Foundation with one goal in mind: to help those who may not otherwise be helped. The Home Foundation has partnered with:
World VisionBombay Teen ChallengeInternational Justice MissionShared Hope InternationalNot For Sale CampaignJubilee Campaign
to educate communities, build shelters and orphanages, and provide medical equipment to those ministering to the victims of trafficking. Committed to education, The Home Foundation has started a program specifically designed for college students. This internship program will offer young adults the opportunity to spend several months with relief organizations fighting human trafficking. The Home Foundation firmly believes in raising up a generation of people committed to eradicating this most horrific brand of evil.
About the founder: Natalie Grant is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter and is the 2006 Female Vocalist of the Year for the Gospel Music Association. She has committed her life and platform to fighting for the freedom of all who are forced into the commercial sex trade. For more information on Natalie, visit www.nataliegrant.com
After learning that over 10 million children world-wide have been sold into sexual slavery, and inspired by her trip to the red-light district of Mumbai, India, Natalie Grant founded the HOME Foundation with one goal in mind: to help those who may not otherwise be helped. The Home Foundation has partnered with:
World VisionBombay Teen ChallengeInternational Justice MissionShared Hope InternationalNot For Sale CampaignJubilee Campaign
to educate communities, build shelters and orphanages, and provide medical equipment to those ministering to the victims of trafficking. Committed to education, The Home Foundation has started a program specifically designed for college students. This internship program will offer young adults the opportunity to spend several months with relief organizations fighting human trafficking. The Home Foundation firmly believes in raising up a generation of people committed to eradicating this most horrific brand of evil.
About the founder: Natalie Grant is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter and is the 2006 Female Vocalist of the Year for the Gospel Music Association. She has committed her life and platform to fighting for the freedom of all who are forced into the commercial sex trade. For more information on Natalie, visit www.nataliegrant.com
So. Do you want to do something? Do you want to help these innocent people escape this life of torment and humiliation? YOU can make a difference!
Send a donation. Who cares how much it is? It could just be a dollar. Every penny counts.
Please send all correspondence and donations to the following address:
The Home FoundationP.O. Box 50165Nashville, TN 37205
Phone: 615-356-0946Fax: 615-356-0925
Make checks payable to: The Home Foundation
OR you can donate through Paypal.
The Home FoundationP.O. Box 50165Nashville, TN 37205
Phone: 615-356-0946Fax: 615-356-0925
Make checks payable to: The Home Foundation
OR you can donate through Paypal.
For more information on The Home Foundation, you can visit:
or
BE A WORLD CHANGER!
God Bless
In his will
-Karleigh
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