Help Us Help The Children Anti-Trafficking Initiative
At the tenth anniversary gala of Help Us Help the Children many of us heard award winning journalist Victor Malarek speak of how ‘conveniently’ orphans fall prey to traffickers after ‘graduation’, and how in some eastern european countries, orphans are even sold into the sex slave trade by orphanage directors. How can this possibly happen? Why is this allowed to continue? The answer is easy--either no one is looking for orphans or they have no one else to turn to. The solution to the problem is complex. In the audience that evening was the current President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, and his wife , Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko. In his address, Mr. Yushchenko, with tears in his eyes, pledged to put an end to the exploitation of orphans and children in Ukraine.
A few months later, in October of 2003, HUHTC partnered with the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Toronto in organizing the first book launch of Victor Malarek’s “The Natashas-The New Global Sex Trade”. It was on this evening that the author donated the proceeds of the book sales towards establishment of a seed fund for Help Us Help the Children Anti-Trafficking Initiative (HUHTC-ATI), and still continues to be a crusader for the cause, a mentor and friend in helping our group achieve our goals.
Our first project was fundraising for the purchase of 100 copies of “The Natashas” for distribution to government officials, human rights groups and university students in Ukraine (participating in the Canada- Ukraine parliamentary exchange program)
Members of Stop the Trafficking Coalition in Ottawa were able to put HUHTC-ATI in contact with the Canadian Society for International Health (CSIH).As a result, both groups are working in tandem and a CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) project proposal has been put forth to develop policies and programs that prevent sexual exploitation of vulnerable children and youth in Ukraine, including trafficking and HIV/AIDS awareness. This project is currently under revision.
HUHTC-ATI has also arranged for Winrock International to conduct trafficking awareness seminars at camps for orphans. We hope to extend the training to orphanage workers and directors.
In 2004, with the assistance of Winrock International, office staff of Help Us Help The Children in Ukraine and our stependiaty (scholarship recipients), HUHTC-ATI provided the majority of graduating orphans and summer and winter camp participants with a “survival” handbook (Robota Za Kordonom, Work Abroad) containing helpful information and trafficking help hotlines throughout the world. We hope to do so again this spring and every year.
We are currently exploring project possibilities with the OSCE (Office of Security and Cooperation in Europe) Anti-Trafficking Program, dealing with job placements, economic empowerment and coop job training or internships for graduating orphans. Focusing on the Kharkiv, Kherson and Kyiv regions of Ukraine, it is hoped that the this pilot program can establish a successful model that could be extended to other regions and vulnerable groups.
Partnering with the antitrafficking branch of the Ukrainian organization C.U.R.E. (Center for Ukrainian Reform in Education), we have reached an agreement for translation into Ukrainian and publishing of “The Natashas” in Ukraine, for not for profit distribution to various human rights & women groups, schools, libraries and government institutions.
We thank Victor Malarek for writing ‘The Natashas’, and opening our eyes and hearts to this shocking human rights abuse and for providing the proof needed to engage politicians , governments and communities world wide. Throughout the past year and half, we have organized various anti-trafficking events and fundraisers, and been invited to speak at meetings and functions, to make others aware of this human rights crisis. We realize our work in ensuring a better outcome for orphans after leaving the internaty has just begun.
