DEMAND.

Ok, so as stressful as my job is, there are some pretty awesome things going on right now.

For those of you that don't know, I work at Shared Hope International, a non-profit organization located in Vancouver, WA. We deal with sex trafficking victims and modern day slavery, and are working toward the complete eradication of the sexual exploitation of women and children all over the world. You can check it out at: http://www.sharedhope.org/

As exciting as that sounds, my job isn't very glamorous. I'm the development manager, which means I deal with fundraising, events, donor relationships, local speaking engagements, foundation research.....let's just say I wear a lot of hats around here. And if you heard me talk about what I do all day for more than 10 minutes, you'd probably be severely bored (I apologize to anyone I have subjected to more than 10 minutes of my work talk).

ANYWAY...the exciting thing is that we've been working on a report and documentary for the past two years on the trafficking markets around the world. It takes a look at 4 different countries and six different cities and shows underground footage of the sex trade. It's pretty intense, and very informative.

The name of the report and the documentary is DEMAND. The point is, sex trafficking works like any other business. It's fueled by the demand of the buyers. If there were no Buyer, there wouldn't be a Seller, and then there wouldn't be a Victim.

Probably the most shocking discovery is that the majority of trafficking victims in the United States are....Americans. Not foreigners like most people assume. That means that hundreds of American girls (Yes girls. Not women. Most girls are teenagers when they are introduced to prostitution. 1 out of 5 pornographic images on the internet is of a child. You can find more statistics on the website as well) are being prostituted and pimped in our own backyard.

The Documentary is 45 minutes long and is a bit graphic, but there is also a 16 minute version available in english, dutch, and japanese that cuts out the more explicit stuff (better for church groups, etc). You can watch the entire full length or the shorter version at: http://www.enddemand.org/

Do yourself a favor and check it out!

If you have any Q's or want to talk more about what my organization does, I'd love to chat about it. Feel free to email me at work: kristy@sharedhope.org

Once you watch the video, send me your thoughts!

-Kristy