Children are the main target of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, being sold by their own families to pay for debts. Raising awareness within the community is crucial for future prevention. The use of comic books to illiterate parent produces the best results when combined with community workshops. A picture is worth a thousand words!
Traffickers modus operandi is to target impoverished families with promises of good city employment for their children. Children are trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor in organized begging rings and soliciting. As many as 1/3 of trafficking victims in prostitution are children, some as young as 4 years old. After the initial payment many families never see their children again.
By educating the population using comic books and workshops, we are able to stem the supply of trafficked children. We have taken simple stories to show that good wins over evil every time. The deeper into the rural Cambodia we spread the word and educate the parents, the better chance we have of keeping children safe.
There are 10,000 families with an average of 5 per family, we plan on reaching 50,000 people. By emphasizing in the workshops that education is a means to an end and provides a better life for their children and the whole family.Eradication of the child sex slave trade and giving the children hope to break the poverty cycle. We feed them hope and education so they can succeed in life and help others.
