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500 miles in chains to end modern day slavery
24 July 2009 - Singer, songwriter Eric Proffitt will soon trade his music for his new endeavour - he is about to embark on a 500 mile journey to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking.
On August 1, chained from head to toe, Eric will begin his 42 day quest and will run through major cities in the United States and United Kingdom. From the Statue of Liberty in New York to the graveside of abolitionist hero Williamberforce in London, Eric will not only carry heavy chains but a message of hope to fight modern day slavery.
"At least 27 millions people are already victims of human trafficking, they are suffering on a magnitude too staggering to comprehend" said Eric. The songwriter who attended the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking in February last year said he was inspired to take action by the work of the UN to combat human trafficking . At the conference, Eric realized the severity of the crime. Nearly 60% of people in slavery are children and over 80% of people living in slavery are used as sexual slaves.
"A drug can only be sold once, but a person can be sold over and over again in the same night, that is why human trafficking has become the second most profitable illegal activity in the world. People are not aware that this crime happens around us, it’s a global problem and actions need to be taken, this is clearly slavery" he added.
Entitled Run4 the Rescue, this walk hopes to raise US$1 for each of the 27 million people living in slavery, and to awaken the world to the reality of this crime in every major city across the globe. Proceeds from the race will be used by non-profit organizations to rescue and rehabilitate trafficked victims and to find and prosecute the perpetrators of human trafficking.
Eric chose this concept as raising awareness nowadays requires some thinking outside of the box. As so much already takes place virtually, walking 500 miles with chains would definitely draw some attention which he will use to shed light on the topic.
The father of five daughters wants to inspire people to take action and show the world that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and that each individual has a role to play if we want to abolish slavery and eradicate human trafficking.
To donate and for more information please visit: http://www.run4therescue.com/
Meet an Anti-Human-Trafficking Activist: Eric Proffitt
Article by Andrew Beaujon of The Washington City Paper
This Saturday at 9 a.m., Eric Proffitt is going to go for a run. The Canadian-American singer-songwriter will drape himself with 10 pounds of chains, climb the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and then set off on a 15-day sprint to New York, his chains lapping his sides. Then he’ll fly to London and run to Hull. Why is he doing this, you ask?
At a Starbucks in Chevy Chase, D.C., Proffitt and his wife, Rebecca, corral their five daughters into some window seats and get them noncaffeinated frappuccinos. The plan to run 500 miles, they explain, dates back to February of last year, when Eric performed at a United Nations conference about human trafficking. He’d never given much thought to human trafficking before. “We were horrified,” he says. “I wondered, if it was my kids, what would I not do to rescue them?”
“It kind of ignited a fire,” says Rebecca. They decided they had to do something to publicize the issue. So Eric’s gonna run in chains. “They’re painful,” he says. “I don’t recommend them.” But he says they’re an “easy symbol” for the problem.
Eric says he hopes his run will be a “tipping point.” They want to raise a dollar for every victim of human trafficking—27 million, he says.
I ask about the safety of all this. “Aren’t you worried you’ll break something?” I ask. Proffitt’s been working with a running trainer. “He’s not a runner,” says Rebecca. “He’s a singer.” (He’s remade the Proclaimers’ “500 Miles” with running-in-chains-appropriate lyrics; you can buy a copy here.) She and the kids will be following him in a van.
Eric’s got special running socks, plus padding for his legs. The chains beat against him while he runs. “In a bizarre way it sets a rhythm,” he says. “I try to run with the chains rather than fighting them.”
500 miles in chains to end modern day slavery - (from UNGIFT website)
24 July 2009 - Singer, songwriter Eric Proffitt will soon trade his music for his new endeavour - he is about to embark on a 500 mile journey to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking.
On August 1, chained from head to toe, Eric will begin his 42 day quest and will run through major cities in the United States and United Kingdom. From the Statue of Liberty in New York to the graveside of abolitionist hero Williamberforce in London, Eric will not only carry heavy chains but a message of hope to fight modern day slavery.
"At least 27 millions people are already victims of human trafficking, they are suffering on a magnitude too staggering to comprehend" said Eric. The songwriter who attended the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking in February last year said he was inspired to take action by the work of the UN to combat human trafficking . At the conference, Eric realized the severity of the crime. Nearly 60% of people in slavery are children and over 80% of people living in slavery are used as sexual slaves.
"A drug can only be sold once, but a person can be sold over and over again in the same night, that is why human trafficking has become the second most profitable illegal activity in the world. People are not aware that this crime happens around us, it’s a global problem and actions need to be taken, this is clearly slavery" he added.
Entitled Run4 the Rescue, this walk hopes to raise US$1 for each of the 27 million people living in slavery, and to awaken the world to the reality of this crime in every major city across the globe. Proceeds from the race will be used by non-profit organizations to rescue and rehabilitate trafficked victims and to find and prosecute the perpetrators of human trafficking.
Eric chose this concept as raising awareness nowadays requires some thinking outside of the box. As so much already takes place virtually, walking 500 miles with chains would definitely draw some attention which he will use to shed light on the topic.
The father of five daughters wants to inspire people to take action and show the world that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and that each individual has a role to play if we want to abolish slavery and eradicate human trafficking.
To donate and for more information please visit: http://www.run4therescue.com/
Singer’s daughters inspired anti-slavery campaign
By Joanne Hatherly, and Ann Hui, Times Colonist
A Saltspring Island man will run more than 800 kilometres in chains this summer to raise awareness of human trafficking, a problem one B.C. law professor says is closer to home than most people think.
Eric Proffitt, a singer-songwriter, said he first became aware of how people are threatened or coerced into slavery and prostitution when he performed at a United Nations forum on human trafficking in Vienna, Austria. There, he learned that as many as 1.8 million children a year are sold internationally as slaves to work in the sex trade.
That galvanized the 31-year-old, who has five daughters, aged 11 months to nine. “When we learned that those victims are in every major city in the world, including Victoria, I saw the faces of my five daughters, looked into their eyes and saw that I could not do nothing,” Proffitt said.
He decided to run with eight kilograms of chains wrapped around his arms, neck and ankles to increase awareness of the problem, and raise funds for anti-trafficking organizations. He admits running with chains will be painful, but says, “I see it as a very real metaphor in what we have to do as a public to end human trafficking.”
He will begin Aug. 1, first running in the U.S. — from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to the Statue of Liberty in New York — and then in Britain — from London to Kingston-Upon Hull.
Proffitt said the idea was received enthusiastically in the U.S., which is why he decided to begin his run there. He chose the British route to coincide with the 250th birthday celebration for William Wilberforce, a British politician whose lobbying in the late 18th and early 19th centuries helped to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire.
Proffitt estimates that if he averages about 29 kilometres a day, the run will take him about 44 days (including days set aside for rest and travelling between the two continents).
Many think human trafficking is only a problem for undeveloped nations, but Benjamin Perrin, a law professor at the University of B.C., says Canadian girls, some as young as 12, are being recruited and trafficked. He is co-authoring a three-year study on human trafficking that he expects to complete next year.
“We’ve confirmed [domestic trafficking] is a nationwide problem,” said Perrin, noting human trafficking is controlled by a complex network of independent criminals and organized-crime groups.
B.C. is not exempt, said Perrin, who cites a recent case in which a 22-year-old man was charged with trafficking a 14-year-old girl. The man was charged in December 2008 with luring the girl over the Internet from the Interior to Victoria, where he forced her to work as a prostitute. Although the trafficking charge was ultimately dropped, the man did plead guilty to other charges.
The problem of human trafficking has been well documented internationally.
In 2006, the United Nations’ Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking found human trafficking activities in 111 countries, with more than 21,400 victims worldwide.
Here in Canada, records on human trafficking are harder to come by.
Since the offence was entered into Canada’s Criminal Code in 2005, only five cases have resulted in conviction.
Sgt. Grant Hamilton, spokesman for the Victoria police, says there has never been a human-trafficking conviction here.
Both Perrin and Proffitt point to a lack of awareness by the public and law enforcement as reasons. “People apply different names to human trafficking: abuse, prostitution. They don’t recognize it for what it is, which is slavery,” Proffitt said.
Perrin agreed, saying law-enforcement officials need to be more proactive in raising awareness and prosecuting human-trafficking cases.
Manitoba MP Joy Smith, who has a private member’s bill headed for third reading in the House of Commons that would impose a minimum six-year sentence on those convicted of trafficking children, argues sentencing has been too light and a stronger deterrent is needed because the payoff for trafficking is huge.
“The trafficking of minors is a very lucrative business,” Smith says.
Indeed, Canada’s first convicted trafficker, Imani Nakpangi, is reported to have earned more than $360,000 over the course of 30 months in 2007 and 2008 by selling a 15-year-old girl for sex in Brampton, Ont.
He controlled the girl, whose name is protected, by assaulting and threatening her, and by threatening to kidnap her brother.
jhatherly@tc.canwest.com
ahui@tc.canwest.com
Anti-Slavery Activist Runs it Like He Talks it!
June 3, 2009
By Sean McIntyre, Gulf Islands Driftwood
If you’re driving down Long Harbour Road early in the morning and happen upon a man running along the side of the road in shackles, there’s no need for alarm.
Yes, he may be on the run, but it’s all for a valiant cause.
On August 1, 2009 Eric Proffitt will set off from London’s Westminster Abby and run nearly a marathon a day for 25 days as part of his Break These Chains campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking.
I’m doing this to help the world know that human trafficking still happens in every city on earth.” Proffitt said in an interview last week. “The whole point is that I want the entire world to stop and say ‘this is wrong’, I want this event to tip the balance and stop human slavery.”
News of his project has encouraged several groups in Victoria to invite Proffitt to run through the provincial capital before he leaves for England in late July.
Proffitt’s 800 kilometer run (500 mile) journey coincides with the commemoration of William Wilberforce’s 250th anniversary. Wilberforce was the 18th century British politician and philanthropist who made it his personal mission to ban the slave trade within the British Empire.
The run will take Proffitt west from London to Bristol, where he will venture northward through Gloucester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.
Proffitt’s route wraps up in Wilberforce’s birthplace of Kingston-Upon-Hull, where he will be one of the key presenter’s at the city’s annual freedom festival.
Many of the coastal cities along Proffitt’s route were major international ports and key ideological battlegrounds during the original move to end slavery.
Wilberforce may have succeeded in setting up some of the world’s first legislation banning the trade of human beings, but the underground slave trade is still alive and thriving.
According to statistics compiled by the United Nations between 1-4 million people are trafficked each year, 60 % of those are children and almost 80 percent are used in the sex trade.
There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today.
That’s enough to make it the third largest illegal market after drugs and weapons. The RCMP believes about 800 of those victims end up on Canadian streets each year.
Outside of the sex trade, much of the illegal slave trade involves individual held against their will to work in sweatshops, mines and on farms, where they produce many of the commodities that end up in the homes and stomachs of western consumers.
The involvement of powerful global organized crime syndicates and the weakness of federal anti-trafficking regulations here in Canada has encouraged Proffitt to attack the problem at its source.
“It will be the people who make the change,” he said. “If people are upset by this international disgrace, they may begin to ask questions about how and where the products they use are made.”
Proffitt said the global chocolate industry is among the most lucrative industries known to rely heavily on slave labor.
Strong consumer reaction to corporate irresponsibility around the world, Proffitt said, has proven companies will offer ethical alternatives if a demand exists.
“It’s really about starting where you are right now and questioning the impact of your everyday decisions,” he said.
Proffitt, a songwriter originally from the United States, “recognized the magnitude of this horror” while he was attending the United Nations’ Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking last year in Vienna.
Shocked by its scope and determined to do something about it, Proffitt and his wife made a joint decision to sell their home and use the proceeds to help fight human trafficking.
“My wife and family have been very supportive,” he said. “What awe are doing is really nothing compared to what is experienced every day by millions of slaves around the world.”
More information about Proffitt’s inspiring run is available online at www.ericproffitt.com
A Song For Exploited Children
Home-school parents Eric and Rebecca Proffitt were invited to attend the recent U.N. Forum on Human Trafficking held in Vienna, Austria. A character educator and information technology consultant who lives in Cardston, Alberta, Mr. Proffitt is also a singer-songwriter with a substantial body of work.
Horrified at hearing that 1.8 million children each year — a total of 27 million in the world today — are sold into slavery for sexual exploitation by adults, Mr. Proffitt wrote a song, “Little Child,” calling for the protection of these innocents.
The song attracted the attention of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and was played during a conference in New Delhi on the prevention of child trafficking.
This led to the invitation to perform at last month’s conference in Austria. Mrs. Proffitt, who is five months pregnant with their fifth child, accompanied her husband while their four daughters home-schooled with cousins for the week.
The Proffitts declined the wine at the pre-conference cocktail party and nursed their glasses of water. Mrs. Proffitt struck up a conversation with the only child present, a charming girl with a British accent who explained that she was there with her mother — award-winning actress and author Emma Thompson, a strong advocate for the protection of children.
When his host asked Mr. Proffitt to sing on the spur of the moment, without microphone or accompaniment, he began the haunting and powerful song “Amazing Grace,” explaining how this song, written by a repentant former slave trader, helped end legalized slavery in Britain two centuries ago.
It was later, during conference deliberations, that Mr. Proffitt was able to sing “Little Child” in front of 1,600 delegates, bringing hundreds of international leaders to tears.
“The room went silent; people leaned forward in their seats, eyes glued to the huge screens behind him,” Mrs. Proffitt reported, and her husband sang as pictures of innocent children flashed on the screen. When he spoke of his inspiration — his own young daughters — the applause was thunderous.
Despite the heady experiences, the Proffitts were more than a little overwhelmed by the information given at the conference.
“You felt like you were David, put up to fight the biggest, ugliest Goliath, and the chances of winning were so small that you didn”t want to try,” Mrs. Proffitt said, referring to the sheer numbers of children forced into prostitution, their living conditions and the violations they suffer. “But David had one thing on his side — God.”
Home-schooling families, by definition, care deeply about children and giving them a better future than the haphazard and shifting standards of remote educational systems. It’s inspiring when they can take this to a larger level, working for the liberation of millions of other children, raising their voices to end a slavery that would be unconscionable even if only one child were subjected to it.
As home-schoolers and caring families, we can play a vital role in raising awareness and demanding change, just as the Quakers and other conscientious abolitionists, though few in number, were able to catalyze public opinion and action to outlaw slavery.
If you would like to join the Proffitts in fighting child sex slavery, you can download the music video and slide show of “Little Child” from the Web site www.ericproffitt.com for a contribution of $1.99 and share it with others. Statistics and reports about the commercial exploitation of children can be found at www.ungift.org
Strathcona rebuilds peaceful, caring neighbourhood
Fears of violence, retribution starting to subside
Pamela McDowell, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008
Having worked with a committee of youth to put on a teen dance every month at the Strathcona Community Association, McDuff believes youth engagement and leadership opportunities are essential. “The more we do for this age group, which is often overlooked, the better off they’ll be,” she says.
So participants will be asked to brainstorm community projects. These may be activities that encourage youth involvement or that addresses the second goal — creating a clean community. “We are very grateful to the Stepping Stones program which has agreed to fund these projects as they are proposed,” says Miller.
In fact, the community has received enthusiastic support for this workshop from many organizations and individuals, including the Calgary Youth Foundation and Child and Youth Friendly Calgary’s “Opening Doors” program. Local businesses will provide lunch and snacks and international inspirational singer Eric Proffitt will perform.
“The workshop’s intent is to create a culture of caring,” says Miller. “It will be life changing — I guarantee it.”
Motivator Eric Proffitt Rocks the Schools!
Temple City Star, Cardston Alberta, November 23, 2006
Proffitt travels as a member of the WAIT International team, who are “dedicated to helping teens avoid depression and suicide, addressing high risk behaviours and their associated consequences, providing strategies to teens for developing identity, worth, connection and purpose, and focusing on the positive changes teens can make.” As a member of the organization, Eric has travelled throughout Canada and the US spreading the message to youth
Going from a career as a computer engineer technologist to performing as an inspirational musician might seem like quite a stretch for most people. Not for Eric Proffitt.
Proffitt is a singer/songwriter and motivational speaker from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia who travelled to Southern Alberta last week to present a series of shows to a number of schools in and around Cardston. It seems that the career change suits Eric just fine.
“What we do is talk about high-risk behaviour and living life with a purpose,” says Proffitt. The show is geared toward teaching children and young adults the dangers of such difficult topics as drugs and alcohol, and depression. But, there is also a focus on positive changes, and identifying self-worth.
Proffitt travels as a member of the WAIT International team, who are “dedicated to helping teens avoid depression and suicide, addressing high risk behaviours and their associated consequences, providing strategies to teens for developing identity, worth, connection and purpose, and focusing on the positive changes teens can make.” As a member of the organization, Eric has travelled throughout Canada and the US spreading the message to youth.
“I looked at George Harrison [of The Beatles]. He was quoted as saying ‘The purpose of life is to find out ‘Who am I?’, ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘Where am I going?’’ and that’s part of what I try to convey to the kids,” said Proffitt. “’Who am I?’ is part of developing a positive identity and we are here to form positive connections and relationships with others.”
Proffitt talks like he’s been doing this all his life, but in reality, he’s only been at it for about a year. “I realized that I wasn’t doing what I wanted to be doing with my life,” he says. “I had the impression to talk to a lady where I was working, and it turns out that she was part of an organization call ‘The Virtues Project.’ She loved my idea, and it took off from there.”
The Virtues Project, like WAIT International, looks to support people’s “moral development” through offering “empowering strategies that inspire the practice of virtues in everyday life.”
It’s not as though Proffitt is presenting a show that makes you warm and fuzzy inside; he also offers some startling facts about what teens face today. “The top three leading causes of death among teens in Canada are accidents, many of which involve alcohol. After that, it’s suicide, and homicide,” says Proffitt. That’s why teaching kids about high risk behaviours is so important to the musician, especially when you consider that his own father committed suicide when Eric was only 11 months old.
The shows were held in Mountain View, Hill Spring, and Cardston, and Proffitt was well received everywhere he went. “It’s really been fun,” he says. And if you happened to miss the show, Proffitt has a CD available at the Cardston Book Store. The album, titled “Hold On” discusses in song many of the virtues that he covers in his show.
Proffitt will continue his performance tour, heading to a public health conference in B.C. before possibly heading out to Tennessee or Vermont in the near future.
