These are unprecedented times, and Freedom For All’s partners are adapting with incredible strength and resilience to the new environments in which they work. However, they need our help now more than ever. Together, we need to make sure that human trafficking survivors’ basic needs, such as food and shelter, are met. 100% of the donations Freedom For All receives will go to the following three on-the-ground partners who are in dire need of help.
Donations will be disbursed to three of Freedom For All's trusted partners who are in desperate need during this COVID-19 crisis: Mentari, Survivors' Network & Jeevika Free - all three are detailed below.
MENTARI
In New York City, Mentari provides vocational training and transitional housing to human trafficking survivors. Through their Culinary Arts Program, Mentari teaches participants how to cook and operate in restaurant kitchens. The program has helped 205 survivors, 96% of whom found employment. Because most restaurants have closed due to the coronavirus, many of the survivors are suddenly jobless. Freedom For All is supporting them to ensure that they are not vulnerable to traffickers again.
Fatoumata (pictured below) came from Burkina Faso to work as a nanny for a diplomat's family but ended up working for 5 years, 7 days a week without pay. She escaped and found shelter at Mentari's transitional home in January 2019. She graduated from Mentari's Culinary Arts Program and was hired as a cook at a vegan restaurant in Times Square. The restaurant closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and she was fired. Fatoumata and others in the Mentari program need our help now.
SURVIVORS' NETWORK
Survivors Network provides empowerment programs, vocational training, and microfinance to human trafficking survivors (pictured here) so that they can start their own businesses or find employment opportunities. It was founded by Francisca Mbuli, a survivor who Freedom For All helped return home from Kuwait to Cameroon. Francisca and her team are currently sewing and distributing face masks as well as educating people about how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Freedom For All is supporting the survivors’ efforts to bring safety to their families and communities.
JEEVIKA FREE
Jeevika Free liberates men and women (pictured below) from slavery on farms and in mines in Karnataka, India. The organization educates these survivors about their legal rights and provides empowerment programs that result in financial independence and self-reliance. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus lockdown, some of the survivors have lost their jobs and are not allowed to stay where they worked and lived. These survivors are trapped far away from their homes and are living on the streets without shelter or food because the government shut down public transportation. Freedom For All is helping to provide life-saving food and medical supplies. Even a $20 donation will provide an unemployed worker with food for the next 15 days.
Thank you for your generous support!
Sincerely,
Freedom For All
