YAY! The Auction was a success!

A Big Thank you going out to everyone who supported my project by either donating an item for auction, attending the auction or by bidding at the auction! After expenses, I raised almost $1200! Woohoo!!

The food was rockin', thank you Rocky! The mood was just right as people reviewed the items for bid and made their monetary case for winning the items.

People got amazing deals! My friend Amy K got 4 hours of tattoo time from Lucky Devil for $180 total! Ellen got a Citizen Ladies Eco Watch for $90! McKenna got one hour of tattoo time and a $100 gift certificate for Seattle Sun Tan for... wait for it... $70!! OMG! I am super happy that my friends got great deals and were able to splurge a bit in this really tight economy. Just goes to show how community prevails. George W is a weiner!

After all was said and done, only a few items did not go at the auction but I am working on getting those sold too! So here is the list of things to be sold!

1. Silk Velvet Hand-painted Scarves: We have 3 left in blue, pink, and green. They have polka dots on them and they are machine washable. These sell for $35 each retail.
   
2. One 1.5 hour self-defense basics course for 2-6 women at Strategic Living. This class goes for $175 retail.
3. Wine basket: 6 crystal wine glasses, 2 bottles of wine, and a wine journal. This retails for $65.
4. Case of 2006 Viu Manent Cabernet Sauvignon. This is AWESOME wine. This retails for $150 a case. Would prefer not to sell for less than $85 for the case of 12 bottles as that is what I paid.
   
5. Case of 2007Viu Manent Chardonnay. Also AWESOME!! This retails for $150 a case. Would prefer not to sell for less than $85 for the case of 12 bottles as that is what I paid.

Please let me know if you would like to make an offer on any of these. Make your best offer and they are yours!

Well, thank you again everyone! I will be blogging again soon before I leave for Serbia.... in 8 DAYS!

PS. As you have probably noticed, my project tracker goal has changed. I am changing my plans from 3 months to 2 months as staying longer will be cost prohibitive. But hey! Now that I am only staying for 2 months I am closer to my goal! :)

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What will be at the auction?

I am so glad you asked!

* Harvey Seatbelt Bag (Fireworks)
* Citizen Ladies Eco Watch (World Lux)
* Cardamom Chai Cake (The Flying Apron)
* Gift certificate for suntanning (Seattle Sun Tan)
* Mehndi Henna Party for Four
* Wine Gift Basket
* Home baked Pumpkin Bread
* Two 3-hour cleaning services (New Leaf Services)
* Five Velvet Scarves (P2V Productions)
* Wild Flower Bouquet (New Leaf Gardens)
* Self-Renewal 90 min. Facial (Aveda)
* Vegan Truffles (Cafe Flora)
* SIX 1-hour Tattoo services (Lucky Devil Tattoo)
* Self-defense class for group of 2-15 (Strategic Living)
* Coffee & Home Baked Biscotti Gift Basket
* Karate Class (Feminist Karate Union)
* Gift certificate to Tully's and one to Blockbuster

This auction is going to be amazing! I cannot wait to see you all there! And please bring a friend or two to join in on the festivities and bid on these awesome items!

PS Folks- I just broke through the $2K mark! Only $6,250 to go! Thank you supporters!

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Did somebody say "Party?"

Ladies and Gentlemen! I am having a charity auction to support this project on Sunday June 8th from 3-5pm. The idea for this auction was born on Thursday the 22nd and found its legs on Tuesday the 27th. I was chatting with a co-worker (Thanks, Stephanie!) and she suggested throwing a party to raise money and get people aware of my project details. She also suggested that I work with Rocky, another co-worker with a penchant for catering, to get this party catered right.

So five days later here I am with $1000 worth of donated items so far. A range of items for everyone to want something. The auction will be silent and will last from 3pm to 4:15pm with auction winners announced at 4:30pm. I will be making a short slide show and presentation so everyone will know exactly my project will be doing and what they have helped to support.

Rocky is a fantastic chef and he will be making some tasty bits for everyone's bellies. Wine will be provided, white and red, and some delicious lavender lemonade and cool cucumber water for those folks who want a non-alcoholic route. The door fee is $25 for singles and $40 for couples.

There are so many folks on the invite! So far, I have invited 115 people to attend. My goal is to have 60 people in attendance and I am pretty sure I will reach my goal. Things are looking great for an auction created only 5 days ago!

Anyone who is unable to make the auction but would like to support my project is encouraged to do so. ALL sizes of donation are welcomed. $20, $25, $50, $100, $500, whatever you can do! I definitely appreciate it.

All for now. I will be posting again soon. Just have to get some papers written and get my op ed piece written for The Huffington Post!

See you all at the auction!

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Latest Funding Update

Well folks, the latest grant news came back and I did not get the funding. So I am doing this project the Barack Obama way with small but numerous donations.

Thank you to all of the project supporters and those of you who are about to support this worthy project. Given that this project is unpaid and I have to keep paying rent and bills (not part of the project budget) while I am gone in addition to my room and board in Serbia, I could not do this project without you.

And as my sister says, "Be thankful for the blessings you have not yet received."

Keep up the great donations! I have $6610 left to raise and have 27 days left to do it in. Go team , go!

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Arianna Huffington + Planned Parenthood = Big Fun(d$?)

So yesterday was the Planned Parenthood Votes Washington (PPVW) fund raiser at Bell Harbor downtown. My friend McKenna Hartman, McKenna@McKennaHartman.com , local fundraiser extraordinaire/genius put on the fabulous affair (the luncheon was a smash hit!) to help raise funds so that they can identify, educate and mobilize reproductive health policy advocates in the state of Washington. Pretty cool group.

The keynote speaker was none other than Arianna Huffington of the famed online news source The Huffington Post! Arianna is an author and nationally syndicated columnist. Huffington describes herself as a "former right-winger who has evolved into a compassionate and progressive populist." She is a fantastic speaker and made some necessary points of being sure to get in your vote and make your voice heard in regard to this administration, the new administration, and your reproductive rights. Double check your backbone!

Anyhow, I was volunteering at the fund raiser and got a chance to speak with Arianna after the luncheon. Very cool lady (pretty attractive too) and she took my flyer and new business card and asked me if I would write a piece to post on The Huffington Post!!!! Holy Cow! I said, "You bet!" Now I need to write something amazing. That will be this weekend I think. Have a few papers to write.

McKenna hooked me up with her mentor, Cathy Allen, who is the President/Owner of the Connections Group here in Seattle. Ms. Allen works "to help communities, governments, non-profit associations and women’s groups better communicate to the press, the public and politicians." We chatted for a short time (she is super busy) about my project and its need for support. Ms. Allen said she would not be able to donate to my project due to the fact that she is working/funding the primaries/political world right now but that she would be happy to spread the word about my project to hopefully get support. Thank you, Ms. Allen!!

After the luncheon there was a VIP gathering at the Alexis Hotel. Arianna showed up to chat with the big donors and chat a bit about PPVW and her new book, "Right is Wrong". I told her I had already emailed her with a deeper description of my project. I work fast! She thanked me for my work.

The PPVW crew was there and took some pics with Arianna while folks mingled, snacked, drank, and chatted. I met a family law attorney and a couple of Women's Studies PhD students from the UW too. I passed out the fliers and business cards I brought to as many people who would take them. I met a great couple there as well and the wife had tons of great questions about my project and what the problem was exactly. We talked for about 15-20 minutes and at the end she asked if I took checks, cash, or credit cards. I said "YES". Lastly, she reminded me that even though I am one person I can make a big difference in one or many lives with the work I am setting out to do. Fund raising can create peaks and valleys for me because I am so connected with my project. It means the world to me and is the beginning of the rest of my life. This is my career in the making. It is always nice to talk with people who see the importance of the work.

No donations last night but hopefully some seeds were planted and my labor will produce fruit.

All in all a good day. This is a great and weird experience for me. Only $6,610 left to go!

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Slava! The Feast!

So I returned to St Sava this weekend as I was invited to join the church's celebration of when St Sava's sacred bones were moved to the monastery Mileseva in southern Serbia after he had died from pneumonia in Trnovo, Bulgaria. St Sava was the first Archbishop of Serbia. What a great celebration! The Serbian Orthodox Church from Portland had made the drive that day to join the Seattle Church in the festivities. There was tons of delicious food, singing, dancing, and great fellowship.

Father Ilija once again announced that I was visiting and let me say a few words before he blessed the food. Many folks only spoke Serbian so I didn't reach everyone but the folks I did speak to were very warm and welcomed me back.

This time I decided to bring some articles from Serbian and Russian newspapers that talked about the trafficking in Serbia. I also brought more information about NGO Atina so folks could see that the work is with Serbians specifically and not just a bunch of foreigners with their own agenda of demonizing the Serbs once again. Very sensitive topic.

One man that had definite concerns about how I worded where the trafficking was happening (Kosovo vs. Serbia) read over the articles and said, "Hmm, this is new to me." I could see that he was definitely saddened to learn about the reality of it happening in Serbia. He also stated that the ones who have done this who are in prison should pray to never be let out because if they are, they will be killed. He spoke about the loss of morality, the loss of Serbian land, and the loss of law. He told me that his niece just returned from Belgrade and that he would have her email me. Another Serbian contact made! He wished me well on my trip.

Made some new connections, (Hello Mile, Slavica, Michael (An FBI Agent who worked in Belgrade on an anti-trafficking task force!), and Dawn) and reconnected with others, (Hello Milan, Georgina, Gordana, and Vjera). Ate a great Serbian lunch and topped it off with some yummy cake and the baklava that I brought. YUM!!

At the end of the festivities, 4 hours later, we bid each other adieu and I told them that I would see them again in September when I return. I plan on returning to St Sava with a slide show of my trip.

It was nice to make the connection with this community before I go. I hope the connection will last and I can keep in contact with them ongoing.

Thank you Father Ilija and St Sava Orthodox.

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Who wants THIS job?

I had a great conversation with a couple of my work department administrators and I thought it would be a good topic to discuss here.

Some folks think prostitution should be legalized. That there is protection in the law. That prostituted women could get health coverage, just like all the other people in this country. Anyone seen Sicko?

People say, "prostitution is the oldest profession." Does that warrant its presence and use. Just because something has been done for years, does it mean we are to give the behavior sanctuary? If we are to believe biblical text, murder has been committed since the dawn of man. Are we to turn a blind eye to it as well?

Some may say that I am over-dramatizing prostitution and trying to create a "straw man" argument with my comparison to murder but am I? Is it a "victimless crime"?

Human trafficking and prostitution. How do we separate them? How would we know if someone had been trafficked or if they had been prostituted? What is the difference? One has a pimp and is made to have sex with as many men as possible and then give most if not all of their money to their pimps. The other has a trafficker and is made to have sex with as many men as possible and then give most if not all of their money to their traffickers. Huh, not much difference.

Some say choice is the difference. Prostitutes are choosing to be prostituted?

Check out this job advertisement run by the WHISPER (Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt) group. Would you want this job?

WARNING: SEXUALLY GRAPHIC CONCEPTS

www.prostitutionresearch.com

Help Wanted: Women and Girls
Do YOU want this job?
Copyright © WHISPER. All Rights Reserved.

Prostitution has been euphemized as an occupational alternative for women, as an answer to low-paying, low skilled, boring dead-end jobs, as a solution to the high unemployment rate of poor women, as a form of sexual liberation, and a career women freely choose.

Are you tired of mindless, low skilled, low-paying jobs? Would you like a career with flexible hours? Working with people? Offering a professional service?

• No experience required. No high school diploma needed. No minimum age requirement. On-the-job training provided.
• Special opportunities for poor women -- single mothers -- women of color.

Women and girls applying for this position will provide the following services:

• Being penetrated orally, anally, and vaginally with penises, fingers, fists, and objects, including but not limited to, bottles, brushes, dildos, guns and/or animals;
• Being bound and gagged, tied with ropes and/or chains, burned with cigarettes, or hung from beams or trees;
• Being photographed or filmed performing these acts.

Workplace:

Job-related activities will be performed in the following locations: in an apartment, a hotel, a "massage parlor," car, doorway, hallway, street, executive suite, fraternity house, convention, bar, public toilet, public park, alleyway, military base, on a stage, in a glass booth.

Wages:

Wages will be negotiated at each and every transaction. Payment will be delivered when client determines when and if services have been rendered to his satisfaction.

Corporate management fees range from 40-60% of wages; private manager reserves the right to impound all monies earned.

Benefits:

Benefits will be provided at the discretion of management.

NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LEGAL REDRESS FOR THE FOLLOWING ON-THE-JOB HAZARDS:

• Nonpayment for services rendered;
• Sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy;
• Injuries sustained through performance of services including but not limited to cuts, bruises,lacerations, internal hemorrhaging, broken bones, suffocation, mutilation, disfigurement, dismemberment, and death.

Note: Accusations of rape will be treated as a breach of contract by employee.

Name of applicant: ________________________________

Signature of manager on behalf of applicant: ______________________________

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Visiting St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church

Today I visited St. Sava Serbian Orthodox and it was a fantastic experience. I have never been to a church with such a service. The incense, the lyrics, the language, the singing, the ceremony... I was definitely intrigued. I would like to thank Father Ilija and the good people of St Sava for allowing me to attend their service today and to share in their fellowship.

After the service and before the lunch, Father Ilija announced to the parishioners that I was visiting and that I had a project in Serbia this summer. He gave them a little info from the handout that I had brought with me and then told them all that they could ask me questions about my project. I said a few words about how grateful I was to be there and how much the project means to me. I also let them know how excited I am to be going to Belgrade and that the welcome from NGO Atina has been warm. Then everbody dug into some good food. Dakota and I brought homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Father Ilija encouraged me to not be shy and to walk around and chat with folks. I made some great connections with folks today. Everyone was warm and kindly listened to the details of my project and had great questions about what I will be doing there, how long I will be there, etc. A couple of people made a donation while I was there (Thank you!) and I made my rounds around the room.

I stopped over to talk with a few of the men who were chatting in a corner of the room. They had some points of view that I would like to share. Some wanted to know why I was talking about sex trafficking in Serbia and not saying that it was in Kosovo. I explained that I am working in Serbia with Serbian women who have been trafficked. The idea I came away with was that my wording of my project was not perhaps as sensitive or as clear as it could be. They stated that the trafficking is happening in Kosovo and not in Serbia and that it is due to the Albanian mafia (I did a little reading on this outfit... evil). I gathered that even though the women may be Serbian that they are not being trafficked in Serbia Proper. I said that from what I have read from NGO Atina and the International Organization of Migration is that women from Serbia Proper are being trafficked regardless of who is doing the trafficking. I also said that I cannot speak to who is doing the trafficking or to the politics between Serbia and Kosovo since I don't really have the right to say anything about the politics. I also said that my project is to rehabilitate and reintegrate trafficked women back into society not to make a political stand one way or another.

I started to feel anxious. I feel that even though I know I am working on a project that is good and is made to help Serbian women and therefore Serbia, I need to read more about the Serbian perspective. I cannot fathom what life has been like for Serbians in the past hundred years much less the past 14 years. Some spoke of the media and how they have been made out to be monsters and even to be eradicated. Others spoke of a connection between the UN occupation and the black market in trafficking of Serbian organs. There was pain in their voices. Pain and anger. They also spoke of the pride they have in their country and the history of their homeland which includes Kosovo. Kosovo is their Jerusalem, their Mecca.

Each one of them wished me good luck and thanked me for coming to the church. One man even took me aside and chatted with me. He let me know that I should be careful and that my work is on a very sensitive topic and that it could be dangerous. His concern is well taken and much appreciated.

Overall, I learned I have more to learn. I also learned that I need to post more information from Serbian sources about sex trafficking to back my project. Please check out the Trafficking in Humans link and the Prejudices sublink at www.astra.org.yu. Also, please check out the news article in Astra's News Archive from the well-respected Serbian newspaper Politika entitled, "Trafficking Victims on the Rise" (same link) for more information on the increase of sex trafficking victims in Serbia.

As an address to some of the parishioners concerns about where the trafficking is occurring and to make sure and not demonize the Serbian people, I have changed the title of my blog from Sex Trafficking in Serbia to Sex Trafficking of Serbian Women. Also, I am changing the way I state the issue of the statistics in Serbia. The traffickers are doing this to each country they reside in. It is not an organic process where Serbians are choosing to simply traffic their countrywomen. The fault and the demonization lies with the traffickers. Not the good people of Serbia.

Thank you Father Ilija and St Sava Orthodox for a friendly and enlightening experience.

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First things First

On a sensitive note, fighting has broken out in Lebanon and my friend Ghassan's family is in Beirut and are stuck at their house in the middle of the fighting on the streets. They are all doing alright so far but I am sure you can only imagine what it is like to have 11 people in a 3 bedroom flat while bombs go off and masked men run around on their motorcycles shooting machine guns into the streets. Please say a prayer, rub a crystal, or whatever you do to send out the positive energy to Ghassan, Nagi, Ingrid, Fadi and Jamie (the American girlfriend on Holiday there!) and the rest of the family. Hopefully, everyone will stay safe and level heads will prevail.

So I have been doing some thinking recently. I am having a difficult time teasing something apart and I want to share it with you. Pornography. There is one side of me that takes pride in my ability to be open-minded and not be considered "uptight" when it comes to sexual behaviors, appetites, etc. There is another side of me that realizes that the pornography industry benefits from trafficked women. Sure, some women choose to be in the videos. But it is kind of like blood diamonds, how can you really tell if it is a diamond without conflict when there are so many blood diamonds out there?

Dakota suggested I get support from a website that has pictures of "naturally beautiful female nudes" and wouldn't that be a testament to the appreciation of the female form and not objectification. I am torn on that. In one respect the female AND the male form are beautiful. I like to look at them. Also, there is no shame to the human body and we should get over it. Lastly, I think that would be great to get support from a group that may be viewed as the "enemy/opposition". Like having Republicans supporting Obama.

On the other hand, I can see the deterioration of the appreciation of the female nude to the lustful wantonness that men cling to when they proclaim why they use prostitutes. "I am a man. I must have sex." Can I just say I want to crush those guys? I am not a violent person but holy cow do I get mad when that excuse is used as if they had no control. Thank goodness for the multitude of good men in the world.

Basically, I have come to the conclusion for myself that there is no teasing apart "good" from "bad" pornography, unless you make it for your own private use and all people involved give their consent without duress. We have become so desensitized to the whole topic and it has practically become mainstream to the point that kids know who Jenna Jamison is. I am not a prude and I cannot be a part of the system that preys on women and uses their bodies for profit.

What does this have to do with sex trafficking? Sex traffickers profit from pornography they make. You won't necessarily know if the women in the film are trafficked or not. Also, the ubiquitous nature of pornography today may be seen as encouraging the objectification of women. Hence my issues with the industry.

What if we became macrobiotic in our sexual appetites? Only consume locally and not the highly processed stuff that comes from origins you just don't know? That way we know who we are looking at naked and they know who we are and then we can all make informed decisions about who we have sex with. Video/web porn is like packaged store cookies. They look good at first, all soft and chewy and perfectly baked. They even taste great at first. But then you suddenly realize that you have been sitting there for 6 hours eating Chips Ahoy and you feel empty and a little sick to your stomach. Trans Fats, High Fructose Corn Syrup, "Enriched" Flour and Caramel Color! I knew those cookies looked too good to be true. Home baked cookies are delicious. You know what went into the batter, you know how it was made and you can bake it to be chewy or crisp, just the way you like it.

Let's change our sexual appetites for the better. Eat local.

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New article and slide show on Sex Trafficking

Thank you to everyone who has been sending me links about the sex trafficking information they have come across. This really helps in getting the bigger picture of what is going on globally.

Patricia's acupuncturist (the informed community is spreading!) let her know that there was a great article in the New Yorker recently about rescuing sex trafficked women. The link is here

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_finnegan

AMAZING article. Gives you some more of the idea of the type of work I will be doing while in Serbia, however, I will not be rescuing women like the subject of the article. I will be working with the rehabilitation not the repatriation of these women. The sad reality of the rehabilitation program I will be working with is the fact that the Transition House, which provides free room and board, can only hold 8-10 women at a time. Other victims of trafficking can use the services provided by the NGO but they will have to maintain housing somewhere else. As you can imagine from my blog and this article, the numbers are mind boggling. Sex trafficking is an epidemic. But! It can be stopped. Let us all keep that in mind.

Also, my dear friend Ghassan sent me a link for a beautiful and haunting slide show about girls being trafficked to Dubai. The slide show lasts approximately 10 minutes and has sound. It is not sexually graphic. You will come away affected.

PLEASE WATCH THIS SLIDE SHOW

http://www.mclight.com/slideshow.html

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Funding update

Sorry I have not written in a few days. Life has been busy.

So I have a new update on my funding applications. My application for the Leslianne Shedd award was declined. :( Not sure why. They are very close lipped about why applications are funded or denied. One professor asked if I thought it had to do with the topic. I hope not but you never can tell. I have 2 more applications for funding that will be determined in the middle of this month. They won't cover all my project expenses but they will certainly help. Trying to keep a stiff upper lip and a positive outlook.

On the good news front, my mother-in-law-to-be, Patricia, sent out an amazing email to friends and family requesting community support for my project. YAY Patricia!! The assistance is greatly appreciated.

Which reminds me... News Flash! Ricky Martin is taking up the human trafficking cause! Never thought I would be writing a letter to Ricky Martin but here I go. Patricia has recommended that I contact Ricky, Oprah (Angel Network), and any other support group that assists women who have been sexually traumatized. Thinking outside of the box is the plan.

Also, I have made contact with a local Serbian Orthodox church in Issaquah, named St. Sava. Father Ilija has been very kind and has offered to introduce me to the congregation on Sunday, May 11th and to talk to his parishioners about my project and how they could support me in my efforts. I will keep you all posted about this blossoming relationship.

Meanwhile, the project is coming along soon. I leave on June 17th. Not sure if I will be staying for 3 full months or if it will be 2.5 months. That will be determined by how much funding I receive. Either way, I will continue to blog while I am there so you can see pictures of where I am staying and some of the people I am working with.

Thanks again for reading and thanks for your support!

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Sex Trafficking Project Safety and Politics

Some of you have expressed concern about my safety in Serbia given the political climate there and the topic of my practicum. Things like, has anyone at NGO Atina been attacked, harassed, or generally freaked out by people who benefit from trafficking? Or, is there anti-American sentiment in Serbia given the situation in Kosovo and the burning of the US Embassy in Belgrade? Each of the questions I have received have been very thoughtful and are greatly appreciated.

I spoke with the director of NGO Atina, Marijana Savic, about the concerns and found out a bit of information.

1. Safety protocols? "We are not engaged in outreach work or identifying the victims. We have protocols for safety of the beneficiaries who are in the Transition house. Atina’s main work is developing programmes for social inclusion and there was no need to develop specific protocols for our safety."
2. Any incidents against volunteers? "There are no records of incident on researchers."
3. Can I speak to a previous volunteer? "We had volunteers, one of them will be here till the end of May and I can ask her if she can talk to you."
4. Is there anti-American sentiment present in Serbia? "There is an anti-American sentiment present, but not to individuals."

The safety issues with regard to my work with the NGO seem manageable and not outside ordinary volunteer circumstances. The political side is more complicated, as usual. You can read up on the issues online at NYTimes.com or other venues of information that may be more objective.

This blog is not about the politics of Serbia versus Kosovo or vice versa. This blog is about human rights violations regardless of who they are happening to. It is my responsibility as a public health advocate to support and help rehabilitate victims of sex trafficking and try to find ways to prevent the trafficking from happening. I must understand the politics to get a better picture of where I am going, who I will be working with, and some possible mechanisms of the presence of human trafficking AND it is not my place to take a stand on Kosovo's or Serbia's politics. I am taking Marcella's advice and keeping my opinion to myself on this one. I am an outsider and do not have the hubris to think that my opinion counts on this matter.

If you have questions that you would like me to forward to NGO Atina that have not been addressed here, please email them to me or leave them here on the comments.

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Something interesting happened...

... when I went to see my folks.

So my stepfather had a heart attack last week and then a triple bypass. He is doing great. It is as if he has a new lease on life. Yay, Joe! Dakota and I went to Oregon to see him and support my mom while this was all going on. We stayed in this great little guest house across the street from the hospital that is there for families to stay in and be close to their loved ones who may be in the hospital for a while. Great idea, no?

Well, we met some of the staff and I found out that one of the staff, Marcella, is from Albania. "Wow! I am going to Serbia this summer." Her face did not change expression but her words were clear. "Are you going to travel outside of Serbia?" I told Marcella that the political situation in Serbia and Kosovo was not my battle. She told me, in a nice way, to be sure and keep my opinion to myself when I was there.

I then said that no matter what has happened in the past everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. Certainly I would not want anyone judging me for what my politicians have done and I have no real idea of what has happened in Serbia and Kosovo. Also, Marcella's opinion reminded me of how easy it is to generalize. We had a great conversation and it got me thinking about what I should next talk about here on my blog.

Next time:

Sex Trafficking Project Safety and Politics

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Where do my support dollars go?

This project has a number of items to be supported. Each total is for the full 3 months of the project. Total project is estimated to be $8,250.

1. Health Insurance: $1,332 (This is required)
2. Travel Insurance: $246 (In case of all types of calamity)
3. Airfare: $1,623 (Thank God I paid in advance!)
4. Transportation: $150 (Public transportation)
5. Housing: $1,500 (This is only about 225 euro a month!)
6. Food: $900 (This is an estimate for groceries)
7. Phone: $180
8. Internet: $150
9. Translator: $555 (To assist in interviews and consent form translation)
10. Language Course: $945 (Four-weeks, 3 hrs/day, 5 days/ week)
11. Supplies: $225 (documents, copies, locked confidential filing, etc.)
12. Subject Stipend: $444 (This is to reimburse women for their time talking with me for my research)

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Why Sex Trafficking in Serbia?

I chose Serbia and Serbia chose me for a few reasons.

First, I knew from my time living in Prague, CZ (I know, Prague is not Serbia, hold on...) that I wanted to look at post cold war eastern European countries. During my time there I found a reality that I never knew existed through American pedagogy. "You mean the fall of Communism was not all the way around awesome?!?!" I discovered that with the advent of capitalism and Western democracy in previously long-lived Marxist and Stalinist states, we had effectively set into effect the feminization of poverty. This is an omnipresent theme, not a discrete Czech phenomenon.

I learned that, in Prague, men were viewed in 1950's American cinema values as breadwinners and women were consumers and mothers because that was the message they had been getting for a long time through our media. Also, given the fact that in public men and women were seen as workers (picture someone with a shapeless smock on) and not as men and women (picture someone expressing their personal style that seems feminine or masculine), they would rebel within their private homes and construct very defined gender constructs for division of labor, relationships, etc.

Eastern feminists had not been calling for liberation into employment all these years like Western feminists. Men and women were legally obligated to have jobs before the fall of the wall. Afterwards, there was a drive (previously either repressed, devalued or simply unknown to some citizens) to become more competitive and more capitalistic so that they could distance themselves from the previous regime, rejoin the world market, and generally gain some wealth. Companies had to increase profits and start to "trim the fat" in staff. Within this ideology, women could be a liability because they might need to take leave for pregnancy, sickness, child sickness, family obligations, etc. Women were laid off, moved out, and less employable in the new system. Women with education and job experience were collecting coins at public toilets.

Second, to expand on what I wrote in my earlier blogs, traffickers have made Serbia a source and a destination for sex trafficking. What does that mean? Simply, where the women are from is the source and where they end up is the destination. This can happen in the same country and the country then becomes both an source and a destination. That is what is happening in Serbia and other countries in the world that are in economic transition.

Citizens of countries that are considered "First World" are not as likely to be trafficked. I am sure it happens but most often "First World" countries are the destination, not the source. I use the quotes here because this term is condescending, racist, and antiquated, however, the term can capture the stratification and the power that are contained within this construct.

Traffickers capitalize on women who are in dire straits. Serbia has had some political and social difficulties to be clear. The secession of the Yugoslavian states and the Serb-Bosnian war in the 1990's are a couple of examples. Some women are flat out kidnapped but most of the time women are tricked into leaving their homes for better job opportunities, a better life for their families back home, loans are given to pay medical bills and opportunities are presented to work in someone's home to pay off the debt, etc. In all of the scenarios, the women do not know they are being trafficked for sex.

Let me be clear, Serbia is a beautiful and amazing country with warm and friendly people which is further proof that this is happening against the will of the people.

Serbian trafficked women may not receive as much attention or assistance due to their country's political history. Don't believe me? How many German people died in horrendous, violent, inhumane ways in the Russian Gulags after WWII without so much as an editorial because of what the Fatherland had done?

Lastly, the welcome from NGO Atina has been soooo warm! They are wonderful and supportive people who are very attentive, communicative, helpful, and generally downright excited to have me come and work with them. They are helping me find a host family to stay with, get a translator, confirm my language courses, etc. They also talk about taking me all around the country to see how beautiful it is. They are also getting me in contact with a woman who is currently volunteering there so she can tell me about her experience. I cannot say enough about how great they have been. Thank you, NGO Atina!!!

Next time:

Where do my support dollars go??






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Funding the Sex Trafficking Project

Funding. Hmmmm. There is the word "fun" in funding... but not in "applying."

Yes, I have applied for funding. Lots of applications. I actually got surprised looks and many compliments from grant funding folks when I told them how many I have applied for. I am definitely doing everything in my power to get this project funded.

I am always on the lookout for more funding opportunities and have signed up on FastWeb, Community of Science, Grant $elect and a few others. If anyone reading this knows of other funding venues...

The search for funding is time consuming, especially since I am a full-time graduate student who also work part-time as a budget and research coordinator at the medical center. This is not the part where I start to complain but rather I am acknowledging the difficulty in this process.

So, why do the project? Now for my first list!

1. Women being trafficked for sex need support! "There but for the grace of god go I" is something I think about a lot and I would hope that if I had been trafficked for sex that people would want to support me and champion my story.
   
2. This project is the beginning of my career working with victims of trafficking in eastern and central European countries. This experience will help to build relationships and enable my return to the area, work on preventive measures and hopefully reduce the sex trade in some way.
3. This project fulfills my program requirements. In the MPH program, I am required to do a practicum and a thesis. Since I am also getting a certificate in Global Health, I am required to do what is called a "capstone" project, which is essentially an international practicum. This project will enable me to complete my practicum, capstone, and data collection for my thesis. I will be very busy and it will not be a holiday, even though Belgrade is beautiful, and I can get three program requirements fulfilled at the same time.

That being said, I am hoping to continue to receive support from my friends, family, and colleagues. The project will be funded and accomplished regardless of whether I receive funding from a grant source, private supporters, or my own credit card. Hopefully, it won't be the latter! :)

Next time:

Why Sex Trafficking in Serbia?

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Serbian Sex Trafficking Project?

So now you have a slice of a point of view of the problem of human trafficking. Now let's figure out what I will be doing there and how this experience will impact the NGO and my career.

I discovered NGO ATINA through the recommendation of Dr. Nicole Lindstrom, at the Central European University, on January 23^rd. Since that date, I have been in regular communications with NGO ATINA. Their communication and offering of support and collaboration has been amenable and candid. They are in contact with my practicum mentor, Dr. Sara Curran from the Jackson School of International Studies and offer to support my practicum in whichever ways are required.

NGO ATINA, supported by the International Organization for Migration, is the only organization in Serbia to provide victims of trafficking, aka beneficiaries, with support in their long-term assistance in reintegration programs entitled, Transition House, Open Club, and Field Support (for beneficiaries who need assistance outside of Belgrade). Their programs are structured to provide accommodation and food, medical and psychological assistance, legal assistance, economic empowerment, counseling, job placement and many other means of support.

My practicum will be to support NGO ATINA in their re-integration and human trafficking prevention programs. My practicum of 120 hours will last for 9 or 12 weeks, depending on the funding I receive, under the supervision of the Director of NGO ATINA, Maja Savic, and Dr. Curran. Through the course of my practicum, I will support the Transition House by working directly with beneficiaries to assist them in empowerment, education, and personal relationships. I will assist in the creation and structuring of an HIV/AIDS and STI prevention program for potential victims of trafficking through three components – 1) Assessment: investigation of attitudes and beliefs held by potential victims of trafficking that might be social determinants of sexual risk behavior. 2) Implementation of sexual risk behavior intervention: to raise community awareness of women/girls sexual risk factors and prevention/safety strategies. 3) Reporting: Data analysis and practicum report of findings.

In addition to the practicum time, I will conduct qualitative assessments with approximately 8-10 beneficiaries of NGO ATINA who have "graduated" from the program measuring topics such as their opinions about whether the program was successful, how it has impacted their lives and whether they believe that the services provided by NGO ATINA would be beneficial to women who have not been trafficked. The purpose of these interviews is to evaluate the reintegration program administered by NGO ATINA. Through NGO ATINA’s guidance, I will investigate intractable issues that may not be addressed by the program sufficiently or at all. This assessment will also allow a closer look into potential routes of prevention if this program is viewed as successful by the participants. The method will be in-person interviews, facilitated by a third party translator. The actual measures are under construction and are being crafted through the support of NGO ATINA and Dr. Curran. These interviews will be conducted at NGO ATINA under the supervision of the Director, Marijana Savic. The data collection will require review by the Human Subjects Board. Currently, there is not a Human Subjects review body in Serbia. The data analysis will be qualitative and is still to be determined.

During my practicum, I will be taking a four-week (June 30^th- July 25^th) intensive Serbian language and culture course that will give me 3 hours of instruction, 5 days a week. I have completed one year of beginner’s Czech and have been told by Director Savic that it is very similar to Serbian and it will give me an advantage in acquiring the language. This course will help me to support the beneficiaries by learning their language and its nuances and will hopefully engender the trust that can only be achieved by overcoming the language barrier.

My impetus for this practicum evolved from my application into the Social & Behavioral Sciences Program in Health Services. My public health foci are HIV prevention, gender constructs, and sexual behaviors. It is my intention to work in the field of sex trafficking research to get a better understanding of the factors at play in the oppression of these women and their susceptibility to traffickers and consequently HIV. It is my determination to support NGO ATINA’s facilitation of access to education, financial stability, and overall empowerment that will hopefully establish a norm and prevent the flow of trafficking victims in this region.

I have over 5 years of experience surveying subjects through questionnaires and interviews. I have worked with chronically ill patients in both HIV and Inflammatory Bowel Disease where I asked subjects very sensitive and personal questions. My strength lies in my ability to earn a subject’s trust by listening without judgment. This is a skill that is paramount to working with individuals who have had their trust either devastated or are attempting to talk about something that is not considered socially acceptable. I am also Human Subjects and HIPAA trained.

This practicum will help me to put into practice the concepts I have been learning about in my course work. Not only will I observe the operating social determinants of health and behaviors, I will contribute to the implementation of behavior interventions and learn what does and does not succeed in this varied environment. Most importantly, I will work with both potential and existing victims of trafficking and see how NGO ATINA’s interventions are creating a positive influence on their lives and their communities. This innovative experience will assist my education in the creation of future preventive measures that will benefit potential and existing victims of trafficking and enable them to lead healthy and successful lives.

This experience is the next phase in my career realization, as you read in my statement of purpose excerpt. My long term plans are to continue my work with support and reintegration of human trafficking victims and, most importantly for me, preventing new victims. Prevention takes great patience as it is not always clear what the mechanisms are that are creating victims of trafficking. It is very muddy and usually rife with gender constructs of women as subhuman or simply second class. This experience is the foundation of making connections in anti-trafficking organizations in Eastern and Central Europe and will facilitate my goal of working with them to stop the flow of traffick of women for sexual exploitation.

Next time:

Funding the Sex Trafficking Project

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Sex Trafficking: What's the problem?

Sex trafficking has become a $9 billion a year global industry and is increasingly an activity of organized crime. There are an estimated 27 million people living in slavery around the world today.[1] Women who are trafficked can be destitute or have few employment opportunities within their own borders. Some women are just kidnapped. Women are misled by newspaper ads and “employment agencies” to travel abroad for promises of new beginnings and money. At their destination they find they have been sold to a trafficker, their passports are gone and they now have to work off their purchase price by having sex with hundreds, if not thousands, of men. The true demographics of the men who pay to have sex with these women are mostly conjecture, however, one characteristic is known. The men have all the power and “the risk of HIV & STI infection is highest where sex workers are most powerless and therefore unable to negotiate or insist on the use of condoms by their clients, or to resist violent and coercive sex.”[2]

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, organized crime took a foothold in many of the former republics that suddenly had porous borders. The black market became endemic and the unemployment rate for women soared to approximately 80%.[3] In Serbia and Montenegro (of the former Yugoslavia), approximately 30 to 50 percent of females in prostitution were victims of trafficking, of that number, one-half were children aged 16 to 18.[4] Given the combination of the post-conflict period and subsequent changes in the society, traffickers have made Serbia a source, transit, and destination country for women and girls trafficked transnationally and internally for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.[5]

Women who are trafficked for sexual exploitation are mercilessly beaten, raped, tortured (mentally, physically, and emotionally) and recklessly killed. If the women are discovered and “rescued” by the authorities, they are usually deported back to their country of origin as “foreign trash” and re-victimized. After repatriation, these women are back where they began except that in addition to their low socio-economic status they are now strapped with anxiety and depressive disorders, disfigurement, social stigma, a sense of powerlessness and possibly HIV.

What does this have to do with us in the United States, you may ask? First, these women are human beings with a desire to live a happy, healthy life and they are victims of human rights violations that are monstrous. Second, for those of you who need immediate connections with your own life and your community, these women are being transported to our country to be bought, sold, and raped. What does that do to the social fabric and democratic landscape of our country? Third, in an ever growing environment of globalization, we have a responsibility to each other's well-being because, as the Dalai Lama says, when we hurt others we hurt ourselves.

ALERT! ALERT! SOAP BOX MOMENT COMING!!!!

In the current environment of "take care of yourself because no one else will", we are full of fear. "Fear is the mind killer", as Frank Herbert says. No one lives a longer life based in fear. Technically, chronic fear creates greater health problems due to a continuous flow of cortisol in the human body which can lead to hypertension, cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, low birth weight babies, and overall shorter life span.

Community is the key. We have community in all of our lives. Friends, family, school, clubs, jobs, church, etc. Those communities help us live longer lives. According to Robert Putnam's research in the book "Bowling Alone", lower mortality rates are related to membership in voluntary groups, church attendance, holding parties at home, participating in sports groups, attending union meetings, etc. Even as non-researchers, we can see and feel the benefits of community. When you are sick and someone brings you hot soup (Pho for me, please!). When you just need to vent and someone listens and tells you that you are "not crazy" (Thanks, Audra!). When there is a party and you are on the guest list. These are small but universal examples of community. We all need it.

Women who have been trafficked, who are being trafficked, and could be trafficked ARE our community. They are part of the fabric of the new global community. To use this analogy, the fabric of our community is only strong when all of the fibers are strong. If our world were signified by a blanket, how many of us would keep that blanket with all of it's holes and threadbare spots? How warm would any of us be with so many gaps in the blanket? It is reparable and cannot just be tossed in the trash. We can start to mend the fabric and it will benefit us all.

Next time:

Serbian Sex Trafficking Project?

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[1] Kevin Bales. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

[2] “Sex workers and clients,” UNAIDS,

[3] Victor Malarek. The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2003.

[4] Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor ,“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006,” U.S. State Department, March 6, 2007 <>

[5] U.S. State Department, “Trafficking in Persons Report: June, 2007”, U.S. State Department

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