Child Rescue Centre Establishes New Partnership to Care for Victims of Child Trafficking in Sierra Leone

Bo, Sierra Leone (PRWEB) September 07, 2011

The Child Rescue Centre, a program of Helping Children Worldwide, has established a partnership with Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST), a program of World Hope International to combat child trafficking and forced child labor in Sierra Leone, West Africa. FAAST works closely with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Social Welfare and Gender Affairs and the Child Rescue Centre works in partnership with the Sierra Leone Conference of the United Methodist Church, together these organizations will have a larger impact on child trafficking. In the entire country, no long-term shelter exists for child survivors of forced labor or trafficking.

In the 18th and 19th century, Sierra Leone was a major center for the slave trade in West Africa. In the 1820s, a population of former slaves returned to Sierra Leone and named the capital Freetown. Now, in the 21st century, in Freetown and throughout Sierra Leone, slavery and trafficking have returned, exploiting the most vulnerable ? the children. In Sierra Leone 48% of children aged 5 to 14 are engaged in child labor, ranking third in the world (UNICEF 2009). Children in Sierra Leone are exploited in the worst forms of child labor, many of them in agriculture, mining, fishing, and domestic work (US Dept. of Labor?s Bureau of International Labor Affairs 2009).

Child traffickers find rural families with too many mouths to feed. They promise parents that they will take their unschooled children to the city to be educated, but instead sell or force those children into lives of servitude and suffering. In the streets of the cities, there are children everywhere. Children who should be in school are forced to sell in the streets, collect scrap metal, or break rocks at the quarries. Boys who should be playing soccer are in the mines, forced to search for diamonds for hours in the blazing heat. Girls are sold into terrible lives of child prostitution.

Sierra Leone is perpetually at the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index, ranking low in indicators such as malnutrition, infant and maternal mortality, and life expectancy.

The recently released U.S. State Department?s Trafficking in Persons Report 2011 assesses efforts by 184 governments worldwide to fight sexual exploitation, forced labor, and modern-day slavery. In that report, the previous paradigm for addressing child trafficking was the ?3P?s?: prosecution, protection, and prevention. The 2011 report recommends a fourth ?P?: partnership. The problem of trafficking is so great that it is essential for agencies to coordinate their programs and capitalize on combined resources.

Through the Child Rescue Centre?s partnership with FAAST to implement anti-trafficking interventions in Sierra Leone the organizations will provide the help children need to be rehabilitated and reintegrate into society. Communities will be educated about identifying signs of trafficking. Efforts will be made to prevent trafficking before it starts, identifying desperate families and providing assistance before they are forced to place their children into trafficking situations.

The Child Rescue Centre?s mission is to help the most vulnerable children in Sierra Leone. Children who are victims of trafficking and forced labor are in desperate need of protection and trauma/behavioral care. The vision is to transform the existing Child Rescue Centre in Bo, Sierra Leone into a replicable and sustainable centre of excellence, designed to rescue child survivors of forced labor and trafficking, gradually restoring and reunify children to nurturing local families.

The Child Rescue Centre, which was established in 2000 during the brutal 10 year civil war in Sierra Leone, has become a nationally recognized model for bringing up at-risk children to become leaders. The CRC has a long-standing partnership with the Sierra Leone Conference of the United Methodist Church. Today the CRC provides safety and hope to nearly 300 children who have been rescued from desperate situations.

The CRC provides children with nutritious meals, clothing, education, healthcare, and a safe, nurturing environment. CRC children are trained to become strong leaders in their homes, communities, and in their country. The CRC consists of a residential program, foster care, a child support program which helps children and families in the wider community, and a post secondary scholarship program.

The Child Rescue Centre is a program of Helping Children Worldwide, an umbrella organization that capitalizes on the power of partnerships to holistically address the needs of vulnerable children in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and in Herndon, Virginia.

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Equal Exchange Launches 5th Annual Reverse Trick-or-Treat Halloween Drive to End Forced Child Labor in Cocoa Countries

West Bridgewater, MA (PRWEB) September 30, 2011

This Halloween, children, organizations, and businesses across the U.S. will help children forced to labor on African cocoa farms by participating in the 5th annual ?Reverse Trick-or-Treating? campaign. By handing out informational cards along with organic, Fair Trade chocolates from West Bridgewater, MA-based Equal Exchange when they go trick-or-treating, participants bring attention to the thousands of children who have been trafficked and forced to work in exploitative conditions on West African cocoa farms.

To order Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits of 150 chocolates and cards, non-profit organizations, schools, businesses, congregations, youth groups, and other group participants should place orders the week of October 3-7 so they arrive on time for Halloween from http://www.equalexchange.coop/rtt. The information card may also be viewed or downloaded from that website. Individual participants or families can participate by visiting http://www.reversetrickortreating.org.

This year?s Reverse Trick-or-Treating program marks the 10th anniversary of the September, 2011, signing of the Harkin-Engel Protocol that called for an end to the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa supply chains of the major chocolate companies. The campaign to raise awareness that there is a Fair Trade alternative to child labor is a join initiative of the San Francisco, CA-based human rights advocacy group Global Exchange and Equal Exchange and was launched in 2005, the year after the original Harkin-Engel deadline by when all signatories were to have ended the worst forms of child labor. Ten years after the protocol?s signing, most of its conditions have still not been met. In contrast, Equal Exchange sources its Fair Trade and organic cocoa from farms in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru and Ecuador. The vanilla from Madagascar and sugar from Paraguay for Equal Exchange?s chocolate are also certified Fair Trade and organic.

The program has been popular thanks to the increasing awareness of, and concern about, child labor on cocoa farms. Indeed, in 2010 alone, participants reached over 200,000 households. It has been most popular (by order of participant numbers) in New York, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Illinois, as well as in Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas and Washington.

?When the leading chocolate companies signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol 10 years ago, many of today?s Trick-of-Treaters hadn?t even been born, yet child slavery in the cocoa fields continues,? said Kelsie Evans, Equal Exchange Chocolate Products Coordinator. ?With Equal Exchange?s Reverse Trick-or-Treating program, today?s children can say ?enough is enough? and let consumers nationwide know that Fair Trade chocolate prohibits child or forced labor and trafficking and ensures farmers receive fair wages.?

Many Fair Trade advocacy organizations and religious denominations are actively pressing chocolate companies to adopt Fair Trade sourcing practices. In September, 2011, Global Exchange, Green America, and the International Labor Rights Forum, released ?STILL Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the Hershey Company? as the company has been the least involved of the leading chocolate companies in adopting changes to its sourcing practices.

For more information, see:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/equalexchange?sk=app_208195102528120

Background information - http://www.equalexchange.coop/child-labor-in-the-cocoa-industry.

STILL Time to Raise the Bar - http://ilrf.org/stop-child-forced-labor/cocoa-campaign/news/as-profits-soar-chocolate-industry-fails-to-deliver-on-p


About Equal Exchange

A pioneer and U.S. market leader in Fair Trade since 1986, Equal Exchange is an award-winning, full service, nationwide provider of high quality organic coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, healthy snacks and bananas. Their organic, Fair Trade cocoa-based products include nine 3.5 oz bars ranging from 38% to 80% cocoa content, bite-size .16 oz chocolate ?minis?, hot cocoa mix, spicy hot cocoa mix, and baking cocoa.

100% of Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting more than 40 small farmer co-operatives in 22 countries. In keeping with its Fair Trade mission and belief in economic democracy, Equal Exchange is a worker co-operative, owned and governed by its 110 employees, with offices, warehouses and/or cafes in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington and Oregon. Equal Exchange Minis are vegan, and gluten- and soy-free.

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Related Child Labor Press Releases

Historic Global Event to ?Jam Up? Child Trafficking and Slavery

Castle Rock, CO (PRWEB) November 03, 2011

An amazing global collaboration is taking place on November 11, 2011 (11-11-11) with over 300 bands, solo artists and a variety of other musicians performing in more than 30 countries for a historic worldwide stance against child trafficking and slavery as part of the TRAFFIC JAM Campaign (http://www.trafficjam.org).

Approximately 30 million people are trafficked and enslaved today. That's more than all four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade combined. More than at any time in history. 80% of these slaves are women. 50% are children - children forced into the sex trade (raped up to twenty times a day) or as child soldiers (often made to kill their own friends and families) and as high-risk laborers (working dangerous jobs that no adult would ever consider). Childhoods stolen. Childhoods exploited and abused.

The 11-11-11 GLOBAL TRAFFIC JAM, facilitated by the TRAFFIC JAM Campaign (TRAFFIC JAM), consists of hundreds of bands from every continent performing simultaneous concerts to ?jam up? the trafficking of children around the world. These bands will all share a message of awareness about the global trafficking of children as part of their event.

Paul Myhill, the President and Founder of TRAFFIC JAM remarked, ?We are truly happy to see such a great global participation in this event. There is not a country in the world that isn?t impacted by slavery today, and on 11-11-11 many countries will be raising their guitars and voices for freedom.?

My Myhill added, ?November 11th is also Veteran?s Day in the United States. As we celebrate those who have fought and served for the freedom we currently enjoy, we are reminded of our compassion and responsibility to bring freedom to others.?

TRAFFIC JAM provides the participating bands with presentation tools - including statistics, talking points, child stories, and a related video. Bands will pick and choose from these materials depending on their presentation styles and preferences. These bands also set up online campaign pages for the event, but fundraising is not required for their participation. Mr. Myhill added, ?Although additional resources are obviously needed to fight this worldwide injustice, the GLOBAL TRAFFIC JAM event is about raising awareness as a global community ? with the understanding that, with awareness, active involvement soon follows.?

ABOUT THE TRAFFIC JAM CAMPAIGN:

The TRAFFIC JAM Campaign unites bands, celebrities and fans in the fight to stop child trafficking and slavery through personalized online fundraising pages and live events hosted all over the globe. By the end of 2011, more than 450 bands in over 40 countries will have participated in TRAFFIC JAM music events involving more than 200,000 people to raise awareness and funding to re-abolish slavery in our time.

The TRAFFIC JAM Campaign works in over 75 countries through more than 120 partnerships with trusted front-line practitioners engaged in human trafficking prevention, rescue and aftercare (restoration/rehabilitation) programs. 100% OF FUNDS RAISED GO DIRECTLY TO THESE IN-FIELD SPECIALISTS. No administrative fee is ever taken out by the TRAFFIC JAM Campaign for operational and fundraising costs. The TRAFFIC JAM Campaign is truly unique in this respect.

To date, the TRAFFIC JAM Campaign has impacted over 15,000 children the world over. Childhoods rescued. Childhood restored.

More information can be found at http://www.trafficjam.org and at the new TRAFFIC JAM page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/trafficjamorg. Individual band information and quotes will be added there daily, starting on November 2nd.

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Vivacare Partners with Text4baby to Provide Pregnant Patients and New Moms with Text Messages that Promote Maternal and Child Health

Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) December 06, 2011

Vivacare announced that it has partnered with text4baby, the first free texting service to provide health information to pregnant women and new moms from pregnancy through a baby?s first year.

Vivacare, a provider of Web-based patient education services to physicians and other health professionals, will offer the text4baby service as part of its service offering to ob-gyns, pediatricians and family physicians.

Doctors enroll with Vivacare to gain access to a collection of personalized and customizable patient handouts that can be easily added to their own practice Websites. Handouts cover a wide range of maternal and child health topics, including pregnancy, prenatal care, prenatal tests, labor and delivery, child development, and vaccinations.

A new text4baby patient handout (?eHandout?) has been created for use by the doctors' patients that describes the text-messaging service and the benefits of enrolling. The new eHandout also includes links to the Text4baby Website for new or expecting moms to learn what to expect. The Text4baby eHandout will be provided as an option for display on the websites of physicians who specialize in women?s health or pediatric care.

?Our enrolled physicians and office staff will be pleased to offer their patients such an innovative and easy-to-use service that promotes maternal and child health?, said Dr. Mark Becker, pediatrician and founder of Vivacare. ?Vivacare seeks to make the physicians? own website the go-to place for health information. The delivery of innovative services, such as text4baby, is an important step in fulfilling that goal.?

?Every woman deserves access to information that will help her give her baby the best possible chance at a healthy start in life,? said Judy Meehan, CEO, National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. ?It?s partners like Vivacare that are making it possible for text4baby to deliver health messages to those who need them most.?

Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE for Spanish) receive three free SMS text messages each week timed to their due date or baby?s date of birth. These messages focus on a variety of topics critical to maternal and child health, including birth defects prevention, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health, safe sleep, and more. Text4baby messages also connect women to prenatal and infant care services and other resources.

According to the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, each year in the U.S., more than 500,000 babies are born prematurely and an estimated 28,000 children die before their first birthday. The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is one of the highest in the industrialized world, and for the first time since the 1950s, that rate is on the rise. Research shows Over 85% of Americans own a cell phone and 72% of cell users send or receive text messages.

Text4baby is made possible through a broad, public-private partnership that includes government, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations, non-profit organizations, and more. Founding partners include National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, Voxiva, CTIA - The Wireless Foundation, and Grey Healthcare Group (a WPP company) and text4baby?s Founding Sponsor, Johnson & Johnson. Federal government partners include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Free messaging services are generously provided by participating mobile operators, including Alltel, Assurance Wireless, AT&T, Bluegrass Cellular, Boost Mobile, Cellular South, Cellcom, Centennial Cellular, Cincinnati Bell, Cricket, Metro PCS, nTelos, Nex-Tech Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless, and Virgin Mobile USA.

About Vivacare

Vivacare provides patient education services at no cost to physicians to improve clinical care, office workflow and patient satisfaction. The patient education service is presently available to health professionals within 12 medical specialties, including allergists, dermatologists, and primary care physicians.

Health organizations that value the physician-patient relationship, such as pharmaceutical firms, health agencies and patient advocacy groups, are invited to make information regarding their products or services available through Vivacare, enabling physicians to efficiently deliver the information patients at the point of care. Vivacare has implemented programs that support the management of patients with asthma, epilepsy, and rosacea.

About the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition

The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) is the only coalition of its kind, which acts as a catalyst for change by creating partnerships among community groups, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, businesses and government agencies. The Coalition promotes optimal health for mothers and babies, and works to strengthen families and build healthy communities.

For more information about Vivacare, visit http://www.vivacare.com, or call (510) 848-8192.

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