iSancturary awareness event at Sawdust - I Come, I Care, I Can stop human trafficking

At the Generate Hope booth with marketing
coordinator, Nicolle Monico (on right).

A few weekends ago I attended iSanctuary's ( a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women who have been rescued from human trafficking) 2nd annual awareness event at Sawdust in Laguna Beach.

It was a wonderful event that took place outside under the canopy of trees and moonlight.  Live music, mouthwatering food, beautiful jewelry (from iSancturary, where girls that have been rescued from human trafficking make jewelry to help restart their lives), and fair trade vendors made it a lovely evening for people to come together and believe in the hope of ending human trafficking.

To add to the uplifting spirit of the evening, many anti-trafficking organizations were present to help increase awareness of the worldwide issue as well as show people how they can participate in helping end human trafficking. Along with iSanctuary and their stunning jewelry,  California Against Slavery, (a non-profit dedicated to strengthening trafficking laws),  and Generate Hope, a shelter for women who have been rescued from sex trafficking in San Diego, were present. Namaste Nepal and the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force were present as well.

Human Trafficking Awareness Walk Through

Along with hope must come understanding, so iSancturary set up a brilliantly decorated, yet disturbing, walk through statistics and stories of human trafficking around the world and in the United States. The picture to the left is section of the walk, with women's and children's underwear to remind us just how young some of these girls are, and the horrors they go through.


Here is a close up of tinker bell underwear - the average age for a girl that has been trafficked is 13 and some girls can be as young as 5. >>>

The awareness walk was full of statistics like the one on the left, as well as stories of girls from around the world who had been trafficked. Some stories were ones of hope and others ended leaving you with a feeling of nausea and wet eyes.

Two other disturbing images I came across were a wall full of missing children and an add for "Models."  Many traffickers lure their victims by offering them fake jobs such as modeling.

    iSancaturary had a great turnout.  It was amazing to see so many people becoming aware of human trafficking and the fact that it is happening in their own neighborhoods. I met a lot of dedicated and inspiring people and I look forward to attending next year.

On my way out, I bought a pair of beautiful peacock earrings from iSancturary.  Knowing that I had purchased with a purpose, I began to see how something as small as buying a pair of earrings can bring us one step closer to creating more survivors than victims and help end human trafficking.