Why your participation matters.
Last month, for the first time in years, all Free The Girls board and staff members came together. It was a very fun, very full few days filled with celebration (13 years of existence for FTG!), naming what we’ve learned during our time in the counter-trafficking space and through conversations with survivors and citizens of other countries, and brainstorming and planning for the future.
One of the biggest shifts we’ve made as an organization arose from the realization that our bold statements of “true freedom” and “answering the question of ‘what comes next’” could not be answered solely with our bra-selling initiative, no matter how successful or earnest the plan was. Throughout the years, we saw firsthand how vital economic empowerment and the ability to make money in a dignified way was, but we also saw how long the shadow of trafficking looms through inability to secure housing rentals, lack of access to services many of us take for granted (many of the women are considered “unbankable” and banks will not allow them to open accounts), limited services for addictions or substance abuse, and even prior arrests or prison time served from crimes (often crimes they were forced to commit by their trafficker).
When we say “true freedom” and “we help answer the question of ‘what comes next,’” we have learned that helping women make money is a crucial piece to, but not the whole of the solution. One of the questions we often are asked is “Why haven’t you helped more women?” The answer is complicated and nuanced, but the short version is based on two things: the bra-selling initiative limited the countries we could work in and the number of women we could serve. And reintegration, in the truest sense of the word, can take a really really long time.
We are committed to only having the number of women we truly believe we can serve well. If our resources are stretched too thin, we will not be able to fully be present to the needs of the women in our program. As one of our staff members said last month, “It’s better that we’re serving less people in a deeper way than a large number of people in a much more shallow way.”
And this is why your participation matters, specifically your financial participation. Another thing we’ve learned over these last 13 years is that it’s very easy to collect bras (in fact, we have A LOT right now!). But it’s not as easy to get people to invest in the long-term safety and success of women as they navigate out of that looming shadow that trafficking has cast on their lives. And yet, these women have proven what can happen when they have committed people supporting them. One of our favorite quotes of all time comes from a woman in Mozambique who said, “We have shown you what we can do when you give, so you can’t get tired of giving.” There is generational change happening, relationships previously severed now restored, and women given back their options and choices and a say in what their lives look like - sometimes for the very first time.
So this summer, we invite you to take a step in participating in this important work. Join the Seed Collective, a monthly donor program comprised of people who get it, who understand that reintegration takes time, who recognize that being a safety net for these survivors is crucial for their long-term success, who realize that helping these women change the trajectory of their lives is incredibly important work. We’d absolutely love to have you join this collective of ours! Sign up here and begin the work of investing into the futures of women who have overcome so much.