According to the University of California budget office, the UC system fee hikes and budget cuts have resulted in UC students paying over $10,000 per year in order to fund their education.
Compare this to Thailand, where paying for a child’s education and potentially saving them from the dangers of sex trafficking costs only $1 a day.
Every day in Thailand and across the world, impoverished families choose to give up their children to human-trafficking in order to support their households. Sex trafficking has turned into a global, multi-billion dollar industry and drives the economy in impoverished areas. In order to fight these injustices, organizations like the SOLD Project have launched tours to increase awareness about human trafficking in schools and communities across America.
On April 14, The SOLD Project screened its film, “The SOLD Project: Thailand” in conference room A of the Hinson Center at De Anza College. SOLD intern Maia Sciupac organized the screening with members of Women’s History Month and Latino Empowerment At De Anza. Sciupac, a former De Anza student and UC Berkeley peace and conflict studies graduate, became passionate about this cause when she discovered her stepmother was a victim of human trafficking.
Sciupac led an interactive discussion at the screening, which allowed members of the audience to share views on the film and talk about why the issue was important.
The SOLD Project began in the summer of 2007, when a group of young adults traveled through Thailand and witnessed first-hand the effects of child prostitution. They made it their mission to spread the word and expose the social injustices taking place without punishment or control. The footage shot from these trips to Thailand made up the film, which introduced the audience to children who were either at risk of being lost to trafficking or were already out on the streets, trying to make a living for their for their families.
The film introduced 9-year-old Cat, who aspired to become an Olympic runner. Cat’s mother was sent to Bangkok as a prostitute at an early age. She returned home to provide her daughter with a proper education, though it has been a struggle. When the founders of The SOLD Project met Cat, they realized a better future would be lost if her mother could no longer pay for school. They set up a scholarship fund for the fourth grader to fund her education until she reached college. Scholarship foundations such as these were meant to inspire hope among families like Cat’s with “prevention through education” as one of the goals of the organization.
“The SOLD Project: Thailand” also introduced children and young adults who were already victims of sex trafficking. A teenage boy named Geng spoke with interviewers about how money forced him to commit acts he was too ashamed to admit. However, before they could do anything to help him, he disappeared and was assumed to have moved into an elderly Thai man’s home.
The SOLD Project’s objectives are to spread awareness, provide direct care, inspire empowerment and ultimately bring about intervention for victims of sex trafficking around the world.
“There are a lot of organizations and people doing things to combat [human and sex trafficking], but unless the public is aware and is able to become enraged by it, then it is difficult to do anything to end it,” said Sciupac. Who continues to work to combat human trafficking.
Sciupac has worked with her local representatives to write grants, research laws and promote ballot initiatives and has started her own online radio show.
