Anne had been active in the science fiction and fantasy fields right up to the time of her death on Monday.

Anne McCaffrey was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction, the first woman to win a Nebula Award, and the first author to hit the New York Times bestseller list with a SF title, The White Dragon.

Image courtesy of Tarkine National Coalition

It is also the opportunity for governments and peoples all around the globe to make a stand for forests and to create a new vision for their safety and preservation, particuarly old growth forests. Canada has the largest boreal forest left on Earth - the world’s largest original and intact forest. This year they are celebrating an alliance between peoples working together to preserve this wilderness area that is so vital to life on Earth. An alliance that recognises the need to protect very large areas of forest which are now almost non existent, and the importance of doing this in concert with the aboriginal peoples.  Exploitation

In direct contrast to this the Australian government have axed the Tarkene Wilderness from it’s protection. This was done with full knowledge of the Tarken’s environmental and cultural value. This action effectively buries the heritage features of the Tarkene rendering them invisible in the federal environmental approval process. Their values do not have to be considered when assessing and approving projects related to that area, regardless of their significance. In fact, almost immediately that the minister for the environment, Tony Burke, allowed the Tarkene’s protection to lapse, permission was given to a British mining company to begin exploratory drilling - in one of Australias prime wilderness areas.

Late last year, just before the Tarkene lost its protection, the Australian Heritage Council confirmed that the Tarkine was of such exceptional value that it satisfied the criteria for inclusion on the National Heritage List, recommending that almost 450,000 hectares of the area be permanently listed.
It is one of Australia's places of outstanding natural heritage.
Can you believe it is Tasmania's largest unprotected wilderness area? Now at least three new mining proposals are threatening the area.

Wild, fierce & diverse

With less than 17% of wilderness left on the planet it is unbelievable that we can't protect this amazing corner. Wild, fierce, diverse; it is an area of natural beauty and wonder and should be protected as such. It is the largest, most intact cool temperate rainforest not only in Australia but in the southern heisphere and contains rare and threatened biodiversity and Aboriginal archaeological sites of significance.

Environment Australia's National Wilderness Inventory measures wilderness quality on a scale from 0 (no wilderness) to 20 (pure wilderness), based on remoteness from settlement and access, and apparent and biophysical naturalness. While the Tarkine contains all gradings, the highest grade, with values from 14 - 20 makes up the majority of the Tarkine region. An area of incredible biodiversity the Tarkine is home to 60 rare and endangered species as well as containing geological and geomorpholgical features that are of world significance.

It’s size is also significant. It is a large intact area and the issue with small ‘token’ areas, is that they don’t afford adequate protection and proper environment. For example, layers of forest giving way to rainforest, which offer adequate protection from the effects of sunlight and wind.

The Tarkine is a remnant of the ancient continent of Gondawana and satisfies the entire cultural and natural heritage criterion for inclusion on the World Heritage list. Groups that support World Heritage listing for the Tarkine include;
IUCN, The Wilderness Society, Australian Conservation Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Tasmanian Conservation Trust, Launceston Environment Centre and Tarkine National Coalition. (ACF)

The current proposed Tarkine World Heritage area is 377,000 hectares and of this 177,000 hectares is rainforest. A fraction over 90% of all rainforest within the Tarkine is classified as old growth. Temperate rainforest is the rarest of rainforests and more highly threatened than tropical and subtropical rainforests.
On a global scale, the Tarkine contains one of the world's most significant
remaining tracts of temperate rainforest that is second only in size to those in western Canada. (ACF )

Image courtesy of Tarkine National Coalition
 

One of the world's great archaeological regions

The Australian Heritage Commission describes the Tarkine as "one of the world's great archaeological regions" due to the number and significance of these aboriginal sites, many of which pre-date the pyramids. The word 'Tarkine' comes from one of a number of bands of Aboriginals that lived in the North-West Region. The 'Tarkiners' were a group who were based at Sandy Cape on the Tarkine Coast.

The Tarkene is one of Australias surviving treasures containing globally significant magnesite cave systems, Tassmania’s greatest density of wild rivers and the two grand rivers - the Arthur River ( the only complete river system in Tasmania that has no dam) and the Pieman River, Australias largest tract of temperate rainforest and a spectacularly wild coastline battered by the winds of the roaring 40s. Here is, perhaps, the purest air in the world. The Norfolk Range distinctively rises above the coastal plateau to over 700m and the Tarkene also contains a belt of sub-alpine rainforest.

Time is now crucial for the Tarkine. This magnificent wilderness is now under direct threat. There are at least three large mining projects planned for the area – a magnesite mine, an iron ore mine and a tin mine. If the Tarkine is not put back on the National Heritage List, the minister will have to pretend its heritage values do not exist when assessing and approving these projects.
And why is this happening? Is it a delaying tactic to allow the government to pass all relevant projects through the assessment and approval process before the Tarkine can be relisted or to draw the lines for the National Heritage area in a way that suits the miners. Perhaps both...

How much longer will the Australian government ignore the intrinsic link between healthy forests and human well being and prosperity?

Tarkine movie launched 16/3/2010:

Director Brent Melton's Tarkine: Saving the Last of Gondwana has been released today as a free webcast video. Brent has interviewed numerous players in the Tarkine stuggle, to explore the need for a Tarkine National Park. Be one of the first to see this outstanding film.

View 56k version for dial up andslower broadband connections

View high definition broadband verion for fast broadband connections

References:

ABC Opinion

ACF Online

ABC News

Tarkine National Coalition

I still believe that the preservation of the world lies in the preservation of the wilderness and now 12 months later, the sense of what we face on our planet due to human population growth and activity is being starkly revealed. In saying this, I do not feel pessimistic.

A new world is being created which many mystics believe is occurring from the inside out and one of the results we are seeing is in the way in which we communicate and how this is impacting our lives.

During the early stages of 2011 in Australia we have already had an onslaught of natural disasters and social justice issues slap us around the ears. The electronic and social media have had a huge role to play and for better or worse they are here to stay as evidenced by twittering from the heart of ‘Cyclone Yasi,’ to the phenomenal impact of Facebook and Twitter in what the Middle East has termed the ‘Great Arab Revolt of 2011’ and to the worldwide impact of the ‘Wiki Leaks Saga’.

Cyclone Yasi

Life in Australia has been harrowing to say the least during recent weeks, crowned by the experience of Tropical Cyclone Yasi.

As a result of multiple mega floods in quick succession from QLD to Victoria, including QLDs inland tsunami, two cyclones in the same area within a week, one being a category 5 monster, and, at the same time, a heatwave in NSW with 77 fires that raged across the state, the realisation that we are ‘IN’ climate change is growing rapidly. Proffessor Ross Garnaut, Climate Change advisor to the Prime Minister, said after Cyclone Yasi '.. you ain't seen nothing yet. Climate change caused by global warming will increase the incidence of severe weather features and cause bigger natural disasters.' ( Adelaide Now News, 3rd Feb 2011 ).

The Pacific Ocean temperature is the highest on record and the weather we are experiencing is a result of the combination of La Nina, Pacific Decadal Oscillation and climate change. In an ABC interview on 3rd Feb 2011, Proffessor Tim Flannery, environmental scientist and 2007 Australian of the Year said, ‘The individual severe weather events you point to are the kind of thing climate modelling predicts will become more frequent as greenhouse gas concentrations increase.’ Tim has since been appointed to head the federal governments new Climate Change Commission.

Something that hit me in a new way during Cyclone Yasi was the power of the electronic media.

I was sitting at my desk, my thoughts and prayers with friends in the far north, my weary eyes glued to my MacBook Air. Nothing could tear me away from that screen. I watched enthralled as the satellite image showed Cyclone Yasi advancing relentlessly towards the northern coast of Queensland. And all the while there were twitter messages flashing in the corner of my screen - there were people in that storm sending tweets! It was growing more violent and the monster was still two hours away from landfall. My chest tightened with anxiety as I waited in the quiet of my own room, my head filled with the sounds of Yasi. Skype messages were also popping in. ‘Mum, Bonnie’s up there in a tiny flat on her own with her three kids, she stayed and is on Facebook telling everyone she’s ok but messaging me in my private box telling me how terrified she is and that the noise is so intense it sounds as though a train is coming through the walls..’ We don’t have TV reception here but I could feel the rising ‘emergency now’ pitch of the reports in her next message. ‘OMG, they are starting to cry out for help, all those people who chose to stay. They didn’t realise how bad it would get ... the waves are enormous.‘ By this stage the winds were over 200kph in some affected areas.

I felt as though I was about to lift off and fly into Yasi. As I watched the satellite picture of Yasi’s eye hovering over Mission Beach, I could see Dunk Island floating in and out of the view - one moment in the calm eye, the next plunged back into the wall of the eye - the most horrific part of the storm. Most of the other islands were under the storm cloud. In the meantime tweets were coming in thick and fast ‘.. power down,’ ‘six elderly people calling for help that won’t come.’ In the middle of it all, our main tweeter in Cairns tweeted that he was about to do a live interview with CNN (America) via skype. And even if I didn’t have twitter, the ABC on line started open streaming on their blog and all the twitters were flying in.

We are all being exposed to these things in a way we have never been before.

At the same time friends in other parts of the world were sending updates and pictures of massive snow blizzards paralysing huge areas of the US and the UK, not to mention the slightly black comic relief of an author in Scotland tweeting about two trucks being blown over on the highway by the high winds, quickly followed by ‘.. yes, I am talking about Scotland, not Queensland!”

Meanwhile in Egypt, a revolution was continuing to unfold. One that was fueled by the social networking media, including Facebook and Wikileaks.

Egypt

On the day that cyber activist and Google executive Wael Ghonim was released  from prison in Cairo hundreds of thousands of demonstrators were unified across Egypt in a massive show of defiance. Ghonim had been detained since January 25th and held blindfolded for 12 days. His Facebook site has been a huge influence in the protest movement. Many protestors carried the images of Twitter & Facebook - now  symbols of the protest. Ghonim broke down publicly after being released, declaring that a system that arrested people for speaking out must be torn down. Within two hours 70,000 people had signed up to Facebook pages that support him.
Ghonim told CNN that ‘ if you want to free a society, just give them internet access, because people are going to, the young crowds are going to all go out and see and hear the unbiased media, see the truth .. they are going to be able to communicate and collaborate together. Definitely this is an internet revolution..’ ( NewYork Times, 9th Feb 2011 ). The NewYork Times blog also had the twitters streaming in from Egypt...

Ready or not, it has already happened.. the internet is an open window into so much that once upon a time we would never have known about. Our kids have grown up with its development, our grandchildren take it as a given and with the rapid growth we are experiencing, where will we be in 12 months time? And will we use this technology to become more empowered, more compassionate to others, and to raise the level of our consciousness?

Wikileaks has been a phenomenal outgrowth of the internet evolution & freedom of speech.

Julian Assange & Wikileaks

"As for the future, we are as determined as ever. With your help and support, we'll make it through this storm and continue to publish and hold powerful and abusive organisations to account."  The words of Julian Assange, via video from London, to supporters at the recent Melbourne rally. ( ABC online )

Julian Assange founder of Wikileaks, faces extradition to Sweden and from there possible extradition to the USA where he could face the death penalty. Is the Australian Government really prepared to allow this?

In many parts of the world, speaking out is met with death threats, execution or murder. ‘If these incitements to violence against Assange... are allowed to stand a disturbing new precedent will  have been established in the English speaking world.’ ( open letter to the Prime Minister of Australia, published on abc drum 7/12/10 )
Regardless of what happens, the wikileaks saga marks a significant turning point in the evolution of the media and the principles of freedom of expression. In recognition of his exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights, Assange has recently been awarded the Sydney Peace Medal by the Sydney Peace Foundation of the Sydney University and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also the recipient of Amnesty International’s Media Award. Despite this, there are many authorities in the US who are calling for his imprisonment and even execution whilst at the same time people all over the world are calling for his freedom. One of Assange’s Australian lawyers, Bob Stary, fears that it will not be long before the US law is changed to make the activities of Wikileaks illegal. If this happens it will be a devastating blow for democracy. ( ABC, 11th Feb 2011 )

Electronic media and social networking are part of a massive change that has been developing at a quantum rate in the opening decade of this century. These elements are creating a whole new paradigm in communication. This contemporary landscape of communication is more transparent, requires participation and fosters collaboration. Everyone has the opportunity to join in - authors, politicians, bloggers, tweeters, celebrities, journalists,.. any one who cares. Potentially information, stories, opinions, etc, that were once inaccessible are now available - to us all. Of course the way is fraught with danger as we step into unchartered territory and these things must be addressed. For example, something I find alarming about this new communication landscape is that more and more people are only having a second hand experience of nature - watching it on their flat screens in their lounge rooms. Ecopsychologists have already established the vital life ingredient of being in nature, determining that pseudo experiences have absolutely no benefit.
We must also be aware of filtering and not allowing ourselves to become overloaded by the en masse information that is streaming towards us at every moment. We must not allow it to distract us or overstimulate us, but respond in a mindful way contributing what we can and staying focused in directing our thoughts and actions towards peace.

Wikileaks, Get Up, Facebook, Twitter, any news on line, blogs, etc, are changing the world we live in. There is a huge wealth of resources now available which are ever growing. This terrain is dynamic and unstable - it requires participation and input. It is making the world a smaller place and yet a huge place with all the possibilities and people one can be in contact with.

I too have taken the next step into this territory, venturing from my website and journal into the world of tweet. Join me on Twitter - I send out updates, comments, retweet things I feel are significant or interesting. I’d love to receive your tweets too!

Worth watching: the interview with Assange by TEDs Chris Anderson

We know that autumn is here, for example, when the Saucepan ( Orion's belt ) is 'tipping out' in the west, and Spica ( Virgo constellation ) is rising as the morning star in the east. The wonder of the stars is that they are the same stars that our ancestors watched, that we have navigated by throughout human history and that all peoples around the world have created stories about. The stars tell us so much - connecting us to mysteries and magic.

I can't imagine the night sky without the stars, but when I am cities it is both dislocating and alienating to look up and see a few pinpricks of light and to have to struggle see major constellations such as the Southern Cross. It makes me feel as though I have entered another world, one that is cold and unfriendly without the familiar night sky to gaze up at and feel reassured by. The loss of starlight is a concern on many levels - safety, energy conservation, effects on wildlife, cost, health - and being deprived of our common right to be awed by the mystery and brilliance of the stars.

GLOBE at Night is a worldwide light pollution monitoring campaign and the 6th GLOBE at night project is now running ( Feb 21st - March 6th ) and is for everyone around the world. It will be followed by another campaign from March 22 - April 4th in the northern hemisphere and March 24 - April 6th in the southern hemisphere. Since I wrote about it in 2008 participation has increased dramatically and we can now gage the massive effects of light pollution around the globe. Over the last 5 years of 2 week campaigns 52,000 measurements have been contributed from more than 100 countries!

To learn the five easy steps to participate in the GLOBE at Night program, see the GLOBE at Night website.

First you have to take them into your heart as your own child. Then the strength comes out of you to protect them. Anuradha Koirala, founder of Maiti Nepal.

Preventative activities and initiatives carried out by transit homes are an important apect of the tireless work done by Maiti Nepal. Interception, rescue, counseling, dealing with cases of missing girls, rape and domestic violence are a part of everyday life for workers in these homes. They also provide information on safe migration to individuals.

Maiti Nepal networks extensively with other groups who work actively in the field, often acting as a resource and also helping form important connections with each other. They initiate programs that help with education and prevention, establish and run shelters for survivors and offer programs for healing and rehabilitation. These programs include therapies aimed at mental, spiritual and physical relaxation such as yoga, bead work and other crafts. 

It has helped me to relax my mind and soul which was wandering in my past sufferings and misery. I am able to concentrate more and have become strongly determined now. ( survivor in MN shelter ).

The need to tackle the problems at the source has resulted in the initiation of prevention programs at the grassroots level. Ignorance is one of the biggest problems and so strategies have been developed to combat the issue by disseminating information, involving the communities at risk and educating them. It is vital that the girls, their families, teachers and leaders of community groups learn about trafficking. This way, girls at risk will not be tricked by strangers who come to their villages to lure them away.

Working directly with the public in 10 districts, Maiti Nepal involves young people as educators through plays, talk programs, discussions, songs and real life stories. This gives trafficking a human face and helps reduce stigma and discrimination by providing a forum for community members to discuss the issue and build shared accountability for preventative action. To date 4 safety net programs have been established along the Nepal India border. In this program girls at high risk of being trafficked, and concerned agencies, have become safety net members with the aim of establishing surveillance systems and other preventative measures to protect potential victims. 

Alongside their grassroots work, Maiti Nepal runs many different awareness raising programs, forming women's pressure groups and running workshops. Community outreach programs are established that provide public information campaigns, consultative workshops, development of awareness materials which also ensure increased media coverage of issues and community sensitisation, legislative reform, strengthening of border securities, sharing information, and exposing the perpetrators publicly. 

Since 2004, Maiti Nepal has been exploring new livelihood opportunities for the survivors of  trafficking and children and women at high risk, according to their aptitude, market demands and availability of employment opportunities. They also provide seed money for individuals to start their own enterprises. Maiti Nepal are an organisation that leaves no stone unturned in their efforts to eradicate human sex trafficking and to offer healing and a future to survivors. They have also established hospices to provide holistic care for the women and children who are terminally ill or suffering from HIV/AIDS, Multi Drug Resistance, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and  other chronic diseases, emphasising palliative rather than curative treatment.

The Emancipation Network.

After volunteering for a year with Maiti Nepal, musician Sarah Symons founded The Emancipation Network. TEN then initiated the project Made by Survivors. Motivated by the movie The Day My God Died, which highlights survivors of trafficking grasping their power, Sarah was moved to take action. She saw survivors taking rescue agencies and police back into the brothels to rescue other kids, or stopping every car at border stations between Nepal and India, and with the help of border police, stopping trafficking situations in progress. These survivors were also particpating in public awarenss progams. Seeing people standing up against slavery and putting their lives on the line to fight it - with limited resources, with emotional and physical scars from years of abuse, Sarah felt that if they could do it she could find a way to help.

While in India as a volunteer for Maiti Nepal she asked founder Anuradha Koirala what kind of help she needed the most. Anuradha suggested working on self sufficiency for the older survivors.

Formal education is not a real option for many survivors because many are over 16 and have never been to school. 44.3% of women enter prostitution as children.

Sarah had seen survivors making beautiful crafts as a part of the informal education and rehabilitation programs run by Maiti Nepal and a vision began to form. She and husband John developed Made By Survivors - selling the products made by the survivors at home parties and other events, which also created the opportunity to raise awareness about human trafficking. Today they partner with 18 anti trafficking shelters in 9 countries including Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Ukraine, Uganda, the Philippines, Tanzania, and the United States, as well as other abolition groups. TEN visits and communicates with their communities regularly ensuring that ethical standards are met and as the program has developed and grown many people have come on board to help and home awareness parties and community events have continued to grow.

The mission of TEN developed: to improve the lives of survivors through empowerment and education, to assist rescue shelters by offering job programs and funding for rescue and after care, school sponsorship and work training, to improve rehabilitation and reintegration giving survivors tools to rebuild their own safe, slavery free lives, and to prevent trafficking in high risk communities such as red light districts and refugee camps. TEN also works to raise awareness about slavery and engage people to action and their programs are not only supported by donations but also by the efforts of the survivors themselves who design and create their own unique fair trade jewelry, bags and gifts. 100% of profits are donated to survivors and shelters.

TEN supports long term interventions. Many survivors need intensive care in a residential setting for 2 or more years. The youngest children may need shelter care until they reach adulthood.

Survivors in all the TEN programs receive medical care, counseling, education, clothing, recreation, clean and comfortable room and board, vocational training, loving care, respect for privacy and dignity.

TEN focuses their work in the most at risk communities including children born into red light districts. They sponsor children living in red light districts to go to boarding school to keep them safe, as they face grinding poverty, terrible stigma and are at extreme risk of being trafficked into slavery alongside their mothers,

Education is the best means of recovery and reintegration for survivors and TEN endeavors to ensure that it is provided for all children in their programs, including children of their adult survivors, and, where possible, the adults as well. Currently they are sending over 100 children to school through sponsorship programs in India and Nepal and their Freedom School in north India. The Freedom School is for children rescued from slavery in quarries and agricultural work in Firojpur. They have been born into families that have been enslaved - many for decades, to pay off debts often less than $100. Violence and their belief that they are legally required to fulfil their debts through forced labour keeps these families enslaved.

Although many of these children experience a myriad of problems in their first few months, after a time of loving care where they are nurtured and nourished, they begin to blossom. 

One of the biggest problems that shelters face is that the survivors have no where to go. They are often not welcome back in their communities, especially if they were sold into prostitution.Typically they were trafficked at a young age and have never lived independently. Some were so young when they were sold or stolen that they can’t remember where they came from. As a result shelters are faced with the issue of not having good options for survivors which leads to the problem of not having space available for newly rescued survivors.

As a result of the success of the sales of the Made By Survivors project TEN has established The Destiny Centre in Calcutta, with plans to open another centre in Mumbia. The Centre provides equipment, resources and teachers to train the young women in skills such as sewing, block printing, silver and gold smithing. The Centre is a haven where the women experience a safe and dignified working environment. The ability to provide for themselves means these women are able to take a step further in the realisation of the dream of freedom and independence.

Initially their focus was rescuing children from traffickers but they soon realised that they needed to prevent children from entering the sex trade in the first place. As a result, alongside their rescue work they have developed a prevention program which supports projects in the villages where children are at the greatest risk.

Currently the organisation supports three villages in Thailand with various projects which have an emphasis on education and family assistance, linking this assistance to a child’s progress in school. For example, Grey Man provided seed money to build a trekking lodge in one of the Lahu villages of northern Thailand. Two years later the lodge and trekking venture provides a rotating income for 25 of the villagers who assist with the trekking as well as a percentage going to the community fund.

The Grey Man organisation was founded by an ex Australian commando who initially worked undercover, rescuing children from brothels. Now he, along with others who have joined the organisation, pose as pedophiles to infiltrate trafficking rings and rescue children before they are passed into the brothels. The operations also aim to capture the traffickers and hand them over to the authorities. There are now many others who are involved in these undercover campaigns and who work behind the scenes with organising, fund raising, etc.

The work of the organisation is endorsed by several international groups as well as the Thai authorities. The Grey Man adopted the name from the commando/spy world - as the infiltrator, or on ground person, has to blend into the background and is therefor known as the grey man.

It is cutting edge work and as a result over 2,000 children have been rescued to date.

For more information watch The Grey Man Charity or visit their website.

In our over populated world ‘humans are now dirt cheap, use them up and then throw them away,’ Kevin says. In some countries a slave can be bought for around $90, in Nepal and India they can bought for as little as $5. With an estimated 27 million people in bondage Free the Slaves has identified Greenland and Iceland as the only countries in the world where they can find no evidence of slavery.

An economic crime, done to make a profit, it is a multi billion dollar economy that underpins some of the worst industries on Earth, including the destruction of our environment. Around the world slaves are used to cut down forests in the Amazon, in the mining industry in Africa, and in work which is destroying eco systems in south east Asia, etc. Kevin describes what is happening in our environment and human rights as a harrowing lineage.

Major supporting factors for modern slavery include the population explosion, increased extreme vulnerability, and poverty. There are many different contributing dynamics such as civil war, poverty, ethnic conflicts, disease, ethnic cleansing, etc. Today about one billion people live on the edge, in situations where they don’t have any opportunities and are usually destitute and extremely vulnerable. Kevin says ‘the biggest factor against them is the absence of the rule of law. There is no protection for many of these people and thus corruption moves in.

If you can use violence with impunity you can reach out and harvest the vulnerable into slaves.

All too often people step into slavery unwittingly. A truck drives into the village, a man asks who wants a job? Come with me... The children are hungry, medicine is needed, there are many reasons why people go with these men even though they look suspicious. So they leave with them and soon enough they find themselves in dirty, dangerous, demeaning work conditions. They try to leave and the hammer comes down and they discover they are enslaved. Kevin has heard this story all around the world.

Free the Slaves estimates that in third world countries the cost of freedom, including rehabilitation, for one individual could be approximately $400, in countries like the US it is more like $30,000.

Economic well being equals being slave proof.

Sustainable freedom for the 27 million slaves in the world would cost $10.8 billion, the average American expenditure on blue jeans. On a global level this is not a lot of money. It is nothing compared to the liberation and rehabilitation of 27 million lives. This means not just freedom, but building lives of dignity, autonomy, economic independence, and citizenship.
Free the Slaves has a vision of building sustainable freedom where people on the ‘edges’ can become consumers and producers, building their own economy which will begin to thrive. Kevin is emphatic that we cannot repeat what happened in America in 1865 when 4 million people were lifted up out of slavery and dumped without any political participation, decent education or any kind of opportunities in regard to an economic future. Four million individuals sentenced to generations of racism, violence and discrimination.

America, Kevin points out, is still paying the price.

She has discovered that these girls can be trained in numerous trades that were once seen as the domain of men, such as carpentry and welding. In restoring their dignity and gaining confidence, they can thrive in a male dominated world and not be afraid.

As an anti trafficking worker Sunitha has been beaten up 14 times and is herself a survivor of gang rape. She has lost staff who have been murdered. She finds the biggest challenge to helping victims of sexual trafficking is the way society blocks the knowledge of what is happening to these children from as young as 3 years old. Many of the young children she finds have been abandoned, cast aside as useless, their bodies mutilated. Too often these little people, broken beyond repair, die of Aids and horrific injuries.

Of the trafficked survivors she works with she says, they need your compassion, they need your empathy, they need your acceptance. Ply your mind for one way you can break your culture of silence. Accept them as human beings who deserve our support.

The culture of silence is one that haunts all acts of sexual abuse and violence.

The Art2Healing Project is founded by visionary art therapist Lydia Tan. I met Lydia when she participated in programs with me some years ago. In support of her work with trafficked women and children in Asia, I am presenting an overview of her organisation and what they do as the first entry, The Art2Healing Project.

If you are moved by what she does please visit her website  and go to volunteers and donations to learn how you can help, even from home.

The second entry, Breaking the Culture of Silence, is about a courageous Indian woman, Sunitha Krishnan, who has formed prajwalaindia.org and to date she has rescued more than 3,200 girls, some as young as three and four years old. Her stories are some of the most heart wrenching I have ever heard, her message is compelling.

Combating Modern Slavery, entry 3, is about Kevin Bales and the organisation Free the Slaves. Focusing through the economic lens the organisation reveals chilling facts about slavery and globalisation, including the legacy we are creating with our human rights and the destruction of our environment.

What I have written about both Sunitha and Kevin is based on talks presented at the 2009 & 2010 TED conference.

The 4th entry, The Grey Man, is dedicated to an Australian organisation that operates commando style, to rescue children and place traffickers in the hands of the authorities, as well as providing programs of support in villages where children are at a high risk of being trafficked.

Part 5 features Maiti Nepal, an organisation that operates across multi levels, from rescue, to border patrol, to education, after care in shelters, awareness raising programs, political activism and very importantly, seeding ideas for other anti slavery movements to get started with projects that are needed. To highlight the power of how things can happen, how others actions can inform and inspire, I have also included the story of another organisation that came about as a result of Maiti Nepal and the movie, The Day My God Died. The Emancipation Network is a not for profit that has created an amazing business for survivors, providing healing, training and ongoing support, and works in partnership with 18 anti trafficking shelters in 9 countries including Nepal, India and the Ukraine. The way they have structured the organisation also creates ongoing opportunities to continue to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking.

One of the greatest contributing factors to slavery today is ignorance.

Part 1: The Art2Healing Project

Every year over one million people, mostly women and children, are trafficked around the world. Trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings and is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Through abduction, the use of threat or force, deception, fraud or sale, for purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labour, servitude or slavery, the world of trafficking has tendrils everywhere. Australia is listed in the top ten destinations for trafficked people. The total revenue for trafficking in persons is reputedly between US$5 billion and $9 billion. The United Nations estimates that nearly 2.5 million people from 127 different countries are being trafficked around the world (Wikipedia).

Slaverymap.org suggests a chilling 27 million live in bondage today.

Visionary Melbourne art therapist Lydia Tan has created The Art2Healing Project to work with survivors of trafficking and their social workers. At the heart of the project are programs dedicated to assisting and empowering individuals at risk, particularly women and children who are victims of trauma caused through human and sex trafficking. The Project provides psychological support, education and growth through the creative arts therapies and awareness based practices such as yoga and meditation. The main focus is to work with women and children who have been raped and exploited, and are suffering severe trauma, as well as to provide a powerful complimentary training for the trainee social workers.

Sex workers, especially children and women from vulnerable backgrounds, are pushed or lured into the trade by numerous and complex reasons such as poverty, well organised crime rings, inadequate law enforcement and the breakdown in family and community support systems. This is compounded for girls by their low status. In the brothels, victims are subjected to physical, emotional and psychological abuse and torture. After being raped many believe that they have bad karma and that the only way to redemption is by supporting their families through prostitution.

The objectives of The Art2Healing Project aim to empower women and children through creativity and awareness practices and, by providing creative and practical tools, to facilitate change and growth, inspiring and guiding them to honour and reclaim their bodies and their lives.

Lydia and the Art2Healing Project require on going support to continue this vital humanitarian work. There are a small core group of dedicated volunteers and the Project always welcomes new volunteers who can help in various capacities both from home and in the field. Funding is also an on going concern.

Through The Art2Healing Project Lydia has developed The Women's Empowerment Projects in Cambodia, the Thai-Burma Border, Japan, Laos PDR, Nepal, Mongolia and Korea. Forging connections with grass roots local organisations and caregivers in these locations who provide rehabilitation, education and care to the victims of trafficking but who are lacking adequate resources, support and training, Lydia is establishing relationships of trust and hope. The Projects aim is to work with both victims and trainee social workers - often survivors of trafficking themselves, with a focus on the healing and re education of trafficked women and children who suffer from a range of emotional, psychological and behavioural problems due to trauma, grief, loss and sexual abuse. The Projects also have a profound importance in expanding the capacity and support systems for the social workers.

The current focus of the Project is in Laos PDR and Nepal. The Nepal project is in desperate need of funding if it is to continue.

Art2Healing has established a partnership with the Nepalese grass roots anti trafficking organisation Shakti Samuha and has a series of 4 workshops planned for 2010, the first of which was run in March.

Through the training, I have learnt how to understand myself, my body, how
to help myself and how to help other women too.... The training has built up
my capacity, and has also built up my confidence in myself and my abilities...
I also had the opportunity to express my pain and grief. The training will help
me to provide counseling to other women and trafficking survivors.
Nepalese Trafficked Survivor 2008.

Please visit the website to read more, including stories and examples of the artwork produced during the workshops.