more details about this week at the Investigator Training Academy

Aight - so I left off talking about the Investigator Training Academy. On Monday I met people from all around the world who are interested in combating human trafficking. We spent the morning learning about NFS's internal mapping system (slaverymap.org), and in the afternoon, guest speaker API-Legal Outreach presented the legal framework of fighting trafficking cases. On Tuesday we learned about the supply-chain and Free2Work.org. In the afternoon we visited Global Exchange (globalexchange.org) - an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic, and environmental justice around the world. There we listened to Chie Abad speak - a former sweat shop worker in Saipan. She spoke about sewing "Made in the USA" labels on university sweatshirts, t-shirts, and running shorts. She talked about the squalid living conditions and the exploitation of workers. Chie also told us about several sweatshops located in SF, only a few blocks from the Global Exchange office. Learn more about their sweatfree campaigns at www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/

On Wednesday we spent the morning in Pescadero, CA. I drove 20 miles south from our house along Highway 1- along the coast, over hills, always with the ocean and cliffs on my right. It was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. Just living in the midst of this beauty inspires, ignites, and excites me!

We visited MyPuente, an NGO that works with migrant workers. In the 165 sq mile region there are over 5,000 people, yet no medical, dental, or police facilities. Puente serves the community through mental health counseling, ESL classes, public benefits, and most importantly, by creating a community that suffers from isolation, ignorance, and oppression.

Carrie, the head of MyPuente asked us, "How do we create public spaces in which people come together as a community?" Puente means bridge...bridging the gaps. In the ten years since MyPuente's inception, they have given away over 600 bicycles - the first step in fighting isolation and empowering migrant workers. http://www.puentedelacostasur.org/

After a tour of MyPuente's facilities, we took a short tour of the region. We passed a modern goat farm, and several failing substance farms. One of the biggest problems in Pescadero is the overly inflated cost of land - and rent. Twenty single persons living in a two story house, each paying 250 a month in rent. $900 a month to rent a vacant lot with a portapotty. Migrant workers are supposed to be paid the minimum wage (which everyone knows is not a LIVING wage) - but oftentimes their contracts are cut short, or the ranchero cheats them out of their pay, citing recruitment fees, payment for clothes, water usage, etc.

Hopelessly, Carrie told us the town was dying. It is such a complex issue, I do not have the time or energy to delve into it.

After our tour, we ate lunch at "the best taqueria between Sf and San Diego". It was located in the gas station. Then we went to the local market and I bought handmade organic salsa and artichoke bread.

I am hoping to return soon with Jordan to photograph the drive, the cliffs, the tiny town of Pescadero, and hopefully, a few locals.

The day ended early and I was able to walk along the Coastal Trail for the first time. A mere two minute walk from our house is a trail head. I headed north while talking to mom on the phone. I can't wait for my family and friends to visit and walk this trail with me. It is a trail filled with beauty around ever turn that inspires! I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera at home. The sun was just beginning to set, the light was soft and round, a stillness in the wind that I felt could be tangibly captured, bottled, and sold as "peace in the midst of the storm's fury"....

Thursday January 7th

Today we resumed our talk about supply chain and free2work.

A few cools things -

Free2work.org is an awesome website that seeks to inform consumers about products. Basically, one cannot guarantee that any product they buy is 100% slave labor free. For example, over 80% of the world's coffee is farmed from the Ivory Coast in Africa. Less than 5% of the farms that harvest cacao use slave labor. However, when the product is sold, the raw material from various farms are combined. Therefore the chocolate bar that you are eating most likely contains beans that are harvested by slaves. Even though 5% may seem small, what is to keep it from growing to 10%, 20% 50% or more? Your voice! Buy only fair trade certified chocolate...

Chocolate, cotton, tantalum ( the metal in your cell phone), and so many more products are being made using slave labor and child labor. There are an estimated 211 million child laborers in the world. Check out 60 Minutes "Congo's Gold", or Harper's Jan 2010 issue, article entitled, "The Human Cost of a $2 T-Shirt" by Ken Silverstein. You will learn that 1500 people die every day in the Congo as a direct and indirect result of conflict minerals.

So how do we know if the t-shirt we are wearing is made by child slaves in Uzbekistan? Or if the diamond ring we are wearing cost thousands of lives? Check out brands at Free2Work. org....

The good news is that there is finally a website devoted to helping consumers identify companies that do not use forced or child labor in their production. Over 14,000 companies have signed the Free2Work pledge and have agreed to be transparent and allow themselves to be investigated, and graded by NFS. The problem is training a massive workforce to go interview and grade these companies. So Free2Work is still a work in progress, but check it out - check out the articles listed, the companies graded, etc.

Another cool thing I learned is the NFS is working with Apple to develop a program/app that allows you to scan an items barcode in the store and see their rating! So cool!!!

Kique Bazan, the International Investment Director has been taking me too and from SF this week. In the 45-75 minute car ride he has been filling me in on all the projects that Not For Sale is working on. The more I hear, the more excited I am to be a part of this campaign! Today Kique told me that he is leaving for Nepal next week to check out border posts. As I was on twitter, I read the recent post from One Day's Wages - "ODW is partnering with Not For Sale to raise the funds to establish a border crossing between Nepal and India. This border crossing will include safe houses, monitoring programs, and services at the border town. Each border center can be established for $25,000." That is what Kique will be checking out next week. He told me the most important part of his mission is to talk to the women and discover their hopes and dreams and strive to make those come true. I told Kique I wanted to go with him to Nepal, and he said maybe. HA! I would be tickled PINK if I left next week for Nepal. But even if I don't go, there are many more trips coming up that Jordan and I would love love love to partake in.

In the meantime I have been thinking a lot about graduate school. It seems that the more I learn, the less I feel that I know. All week we have been posed numerous questions that I wish I knew the answer to - or even knew where to begin. How do we break the cycle of poverty? How do we protect the vulnerable? How do we create sustainable socio-economic systems? How doe we create revenues for shelters?