Another Underground Railroad.

I remember reading this Utne article while waiting in line at Rainbow Grocery: Baghdad’s Underground Shelters Help Iraqi Women Escape Violence and Abuse. It was shocking - read it before you continue with this post.

I finally revisited the article and uncovered this accompanying narrated slideshow:



For more on Mimi Chakarova, the photojournalist who covered this story, read her bio here. The video linked to on that page covers Mimi's work documenting the sex trade in Eastern Europe - she's a good speaker.

For more on Anna Badkhen, the correspondent who wrote the story above, check out her blog The Muckraker. Anna has covered wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Chechnya and Kashmir. She has reported extensively from Iraq since 2003.

For more on the Underground Railroad see this, this and this.

The Underground Railroad was founded and is run by the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq. I am so thankful for them. OWFI works with another nonprofit, MADRE.

It seems that stories of sex trafficking and rape are following me this week. Here are two videos I watched within the past few days, that are now stuck in my head.

Democratic Republic of Congo - most notable part of this interview for me was the discussion of militia branding.



Cambodia - by Nicholas Kristof. I can't embed the video, so watch it here. Warning - this one is very difficult to watch, but everyone should know about this. I grabbed it from Love146.

In the Shadows of the World Cup

I have been reading and hearing a lot about sex trafficking lately. Just the other day I read this upsetting article in TIME Magazine about the boom in South African sex trafficking thanks to the World Cup.

When I learn about something upsetting, my inclination is to find someone who is doing something about it, and learn how I can help - or at least learn more about the problem from them.

When I read the article "Baghdad's Underground Railroad" in the Utne Reader (while waiting in line at the very awesome San Francisco Rainbow Grocery) I learned of a larger problem - what do these women do, once they escape from their captors?

Then today, thanks to envisionGood on Facebook, I learned about 3 former roommates Anthony, Liem and Chad and their org, The Blind Project.



Check out this video to learn more about what the org does:



And then learn what YOU can do.