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This year has been so incredibly exciting for Beauty for Ashes. In order to begin our work in North Africa, we have launched two projects in two different cities!
This past January, Lauren Spiewak, our Founder, opened our transition home for at risk girls and has started research projects on the issue of human trafficking in North Africa. Charlotte Kimmel and I have put in motion education and awareness initiatives with at-risk groups, civil services, and with the general public. In both cities we are doing outreach in the community, specifically working with at-risk girls in government placement centers. I also have been given the honor of the role of President for BFA.
Many of you may not know me so let me take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Chrissy Duke and I am the new president of Beauty For Ashes, I am also a wife and mother of two lovely girls. I have lived in North Africa for 7 years with my family.
I have had the privilege to work in non-profits in the U.S. and Internationally with prostitutes, drug addicts, refugees, homeless, and at-risk youth and women. Through it all, I am convinced we cannot keep silent when others around us are in bondage. Human trafficking is modern day slavery, it isn’t just a physical bondage but a mental, emotional, and spiritual prison. Our hope at BFA is to bring freedom to the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners. We have a passion to connect others who have the same desires to help the marginalized and unnoticed to the fight for freedom. Humans are not solely motivated by selfish gain, we long for community, we long for connections, and we want to give to others, sometimes we just don’t know how. If that is you, contact us so we can work together!
I genuinely look forward to what is ahead in the future of Beauty For Ashes. Our vision to prevent human trafficking and restore victims in North Africa to the beauty and dignity intended to all humanity is not only possible, but it is already beginning to happen. This past year has been a whirlwind of activity to bring justice, freedom, and restoration – and it has only just begun.
North Africa is unique in its location to fight human trafficking. It stands with 5 main trade routes from all of Africa into Europe and the rest of the world. With the countries in close proximity to Europe, it has become a place of mass transit for traffickers. It doesn’t just lie in transit though. North Africa is also a source and destination for trafficking. There are currently no other US based non-profits focusing on anti-human trafficking in this region.
We seek to prevent human trafficking by beginning with awareness and education. The conversation of what is considered slavery must be heard and changed, and so we are working in schools, universities, civil services, and with the general public to help develop an understanding of the issue of human trafficking and how we all have a role to play in the fight against it. There are no expendable characters. We also opened a transition home this past January for girls whom the government has determined at-risk to human trafficking. The girls are placed in our center and receive housing, vocational training, counseling, and transitional assistance into society.
Our hope for the future is to create jobs for at-risk people through socially responsible businesses. We also hope to increase human trafficking prevention and rescue by aiding in training for lawyers, policy makers, and law-enforcement on how to implement the recently passed laws against human-trafficking.
The need can seem overwhelming, and it cannot be met by one means – it must be fought on all fronts, from the government, civil services, religious institutions, and the general public. We all have a role to play.
In order to impact this world and bring freedom to the captives, we need you to invest your gifts, your talents, your money, and your hearts for the people who live in darkness.
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