As you know, Oasis US does not only do anti-trafficking work in the US -  we also help resource the work of Oasis globally.  We just wanted to share an incredible update from Oasis India below:

Just last week our team rescued 81 people from trafficking (video here featuring the rescue). We had information about the trafficking of some girls and had been closely following this information. Last Friday we heard from our informer that the recruiters had come to a small village and were recruiting really young girls for jobs in the cotton industry in another region. The recruiters were transporting all the girls on Monday so we returned and made a rescue plan with the police. On Monday one team planned to wait at a local train station for the girls, while another team went to the village to keep us informed. The whole operation was masterminded by Oasis along with the police from outside the region, as we felt the local police could be involved in the trafficking.  At around 4 pm we learned that the traffickers were planning to take everyone by road instead of train. We had to think quickly and by God's grace we managed to put a trace on the vehicles. We raced to the state border and in a very dramatic chase managed to intercept both vehicles and rescue 81 people including women, and 31 minors (boys and girls)! 

Anita Kanaiya, Executive Director, Oasis India

Your donations help us continue to give freedom and for that we are so grateful.  If you are interested in doing more, you can donate one-time or monthly to the work of Oasis India, or host a Fund a Raid Party with your friends. 

Thanks for your continued support of Oasis globally!

We need your help!

Help us win $100K to fight trafficking in LA!

Four quick steps for you to help:
1.  Register to vote HERE
2.  Check your e-mail and click the link to vote
2.  Leave a comment about Oasis
3.  Forward this on to everyone you know - e-mail, Facebook, Twitter - everything helps! 

It takes a community to stop slavery, and also to heal its wounds

She works to rescue victims of modern slavery with Oasis in India. Her team does the research, surveillance, planning, and ultimately picks up the police on the way to the raid, which of course has to happen in the middle of the night. Some times they find the girls. other times the girls have already been moved because somebody tipped them off and they have to start over. She said, “We pray 'Let your Kingdom come, God' but the process of God's kingdom coming is messy.  It is going to ask for us to be involved in ways that will stretch us.” For every public story she told, there was an even more horrific story told to our staff in private – stories simply too dark to share. Stories that would never make you question the existence of evil in this world, but perhaps the existence of good.

I know some other heroines too.  My wife and 6 friends decided to run a half marathon this past weekend to raise money for the work of rescue being done by this heroine’s team in India.  They varied in running experience from first-time runners to more experienced but each had this in common; they are all mothers whose children know freedom, and they thought other children deserved the same rights. They raised over $3000, enough to fund more than 6 middle-of-the-night raids to help girls and women who are enslaved.  I am so inspired by their hard work and sacrifice to run 13.1 miles in solidarity with their sisters in India, and to empower the work of rescue that seems so cheap to us.   Heroines helping heroines – that’s a world-changing story worth telling.

We will follow the Lenten calendar, which lasts 40 days in commemoration of the 40 days which Jesus spent fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry.  We will pray from Ash Wednesday (February 13) until Easter Eve (March 30).

Download 40 Days for Freedom

         As followers of Jesus, Christians are called to help bring heaven where there is hell on this earth.  Some of the ways that Christians are called to fight sex trafficking are the same ways that any other global citizens are called to fight sex trafficking (for example, being a part of an advocacy group).  Faith-based NGOs like Oasis USA fight sex trafficking in some of the same ways that other NGOs do.  But they also incorporate one additional aspect:  prayer.  It can sometimes feel like prayer will not make a difference, like God will not hear the cries but if Christians believe the Bible they will see that faith in prayer is everywhere.  Richard Foster says, “The Bible pray-ers prayed as if their prayers could and would make an objective difference.  The apostle Paul gladly announces that we are ‘co-laborers with God’; that is, we are working with God to determine the outcome of events (1Cor. 3:9)” (Foster 1998:35).  Even in the midst of what looks like a losing battle with sex trafficking there is still hope that God can change things.  Christians all over the world need to come together with one voice raised to God about sex trafficking.  Now more than ever, as the world becomes more of one global community than it ever has been there is a perfect opportunity for Christians to be more unified in global prayer.  They can share information and prayer requests through technology faster now than any other time in history.  Diane Langberg when referring to what it would look like if Christians became unified in prayer against global sex trafficking says,

We would pray for the global church to hear the cries of the largest mission field in the world.  We would pray for the girls and women in our pews and in our towns and cities who are crying for help.  Every country represented at this Congress has trafficked females in it.  Every congregation represented here has abused and violated females in its pews. We would pray for the churches worldwide that sit side by side with the trafficked.  We would pray for the girls and women who are suffering and dying without hope.  We would pray asking for discernment to know what to do for the widow and orphans, the vulnerable females of this world, of our communities (Logan 2007:76).

         When God’s people pray, God listens.  Sex trafficking is way too big of a problem for human beings to try and solve on their own.  Help needs to come from something bigger than the problem.  Christian organizations like The Salvation Army have used today’s technology like the Internet to help make other Christians around the world aware of what needs to be prayed for when it comes to sex trafficking (Thompson 2003:5-6).  These organizations remind Christians when praying about sex trafficking that they need to pray about rescue and restoration, breakdown of the sex industry, reduction of demand, development in impoverished nations, world leaders to get involved in fighting human trafficking, and the church and its response to human trafficking (Thompson 2003:5-6). 

         Globally connected prayer is a must in the fight against sex trafficking.  Ground level ways to fight sex trafficking like lobbying for better anti-sex trafficking laws are also a must in the fight against sex trafficking; but Christians also have the power of prayer.  Now more than ever, a global prayer voice is needed to help fight global sex trafficking. 

Resources Cited

Foster, Richard J. 1988. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

Logan, Samuel T. 2007. Confronting Kingdom Challenges: A Call to Global Christians to Carry the Burden Together. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books.

Thompson, Lisa. 2003. Prayer Guide: For the Victims of Sex Trafficking.  Available here

Interested in supplying Freedom Bags >>

So how does it relate to our TraffickFree Communities? OasisUSA’s fight against human trafficking largely functions through these groups. They are a network of local, grassroots communities whose goal is to change their communities to become places where traffickers are unable to operate, and more than that, to be places where those that have been trafficked can feel safe. Each group looks different as they represent their own communities. They are not run by Oasis although they share the same ideology. The mission and vision of Oasis is lived out at all levels and infects the whole organization. They are interconnected with each other and with Oasis. They are not dependent on Oasis for funding – they seek to raise their own funds. If one closes, it does not affect any of the others. If one gets too big, it may morph into two. There is room for diversity. They can work underground – very useful at times in the fight against trafficking. And a crucial point: each group has a feeling of ownership and wants to invest.

The book tells us that starfish organizations are strong. Size doesn’t matter – except actually it does. Small is better. It’s less expensive. Each new member adds to the strength of the whole. Chaos is OK – in fact it goes with creativity. And we need creative ways to fight trafficking. Knowledge is not limited to the center. In fact there may be more at the edge. And that is a strength. It is not a threat. Leadership is by inspiration rather than control. These groups are trained by Oasis staff but are then let go and allowed to develop and morph as they see fit, safe in the understanding that they share the same beliefs and vision of the whole.

Human trafficking has to be attacked from all sides. This is how we at OasisUSA do it.

 (Brafman, Ori, and Rod A. Beckstrom. 2006. The Starfish and the Spider : The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. New York: Portfolio.)

Join or start a TraffickFree COMMUNITY in your area - e-mail us to get started

The words to 'Oh Holy Night' were written by a French poet in 1847 as he meditated on the Christmas story in the book of Luke in the Bible. He decided it should be put to music, and asked a friend to help make this happen. The literal translation from the French goes something like this:

The Redeemer has broken every bond:  The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave, Love unites those that iron had chained.

Pretty powerful isn't it?  'Love unites those that iron had chained' - what beautiful imagery invoked by these words, and likely even more beautiful when spoken in French!  The English version was done by an American abolitionist and music critic, John Sullivan Dwight, 10 years later who was especially drawn to the the third verse in his work against slavery in the South.  'Oh Holy Night' - a song of the abolitionists!

These same words offer us comfort and a renewed call to action over 150 years later.  Our dream is that one day all chains will be broken, and all oppression shall cease - but we also know that it is already happening through communities like you breaking chains one at a time. We believe that those trapped in modern slavery are our sisters and brothers - and communities like you are reaching out to help.

May we be a community of Christmas abolitionists - inspired by the words that we sing every Christmas.  Thank you for helping us work towards this end.  Wishing you joy, hope and peace this Holiday season.

One of the highlights of the trips was meeting a 20-year young lady who is a graduate of their Tanaka Program.  This program provides housing for former street girls, and provides them with education, job skills and a loving support system to help them stay off the streets in the future. When I heard the stories of abuse from her own family that forced her out on the streets, I wanted to throw up.  She escaped to the city from a rural area, and was alone until Oasis gave her a community of people to come alongside and walk with her through recovering from a childhood that no one should every have to face. 

As a father of 2 young boys I returned from my trip even more inspired to work harder for the important work Oasis is doing to help children like her recover from terrible childhoods.  The most emotional moment for me was when the Oasis staff asked this young lady to recite a poem she had written about her journey.  It was not full of bitterness and hate, but rather hope and reconciliation.  The main line that stuck out to me and was repeated several times was “Life is journey not a destination.”

It’s pretty easy for me to repeat that line for myself from my relatively cush life.  In fact I like to refer to my faith as a journey, not a destination, hopefully pushing me to be a life-long learner and not ever arriving.  But her perspective takes this thought to a whole new level.  My interpretation of what she is saying here is that the tragedy, despair and abuse she faced was part of the journey that brought her to this point.  She is about to finish high school and then Oasis will help her with either job skills, or college admission.  She is currently living with a foster family who is giving her a caring family environment. 

Her journey is caring her forward.  Hope.  Reconciliation.  Progress.  I am so thankful for my new friends with Oasis in Zimbabwe and that our journeys are intersecting, and carrying each other forward.

Anita Kanaiya, co-director of Oasis India

Gasps and murmurs could be heard in Travis Auditorium on Thursday, October 18 while Anita Kanaiya, co-director of Oasis India, wove a tale of the desperation and horror she has encountered while working to fight human trafficking in India.

The night, co-sponsored by anti-trafficking organization Oasis USA, Fuller's All Seminary Council and the School of Intercultural Studies’ Children at Risk program, included a half-hour documentary about a dramatic effort to rescue children forced into beggary on the streets of Bangalore, India.

Fuller students, staff, and members of the community attended the event to hear Kanaiya’s account and to learn how to get involved with anti-trafficking efforts.

“The film wasn’t made as a film,” Kanaiya explained. “Everything was filmed as it happened, because we wanted to pass it on to other cities so they would know how to go about doing an operation like this.”

The rescue effort was called Operation Rakshane–meaning Operation Protection–and was carried out less than a year ago on December 2, 2011. The thrilling documentary, Handful of Dreams, told the story of how the operation was organized, planned, and executed, resulting in the rescue of 300 trafficked children. The film was made by Bangalore police.

Kanaiya was instrumental in the effort and has been training police in other cities in India.  She was interviewed by CNN in India after Operation Rakshane, which was widely covered by Indian newspapers.

Operation Rakshane was an unprecedented effort. It involved collaboration of the police, numerous governmental organizations and seven non-governmental agencies doing relief work. This type of cooperation rarely happens in India, Kanaiya said. But its success proved the need for communities to work together.  

“Anita was asked by the police in Bangalore to help create a database tying together all missing children reports amongst the 75 precincts in the city,” said Desiree Segura-April, assistant professor of the children at risk at Fuller. “Oasis India created the database under Anita’s direction and staffed the operation until the police could be trained to take over. Within two months of implementing the database, half of the 2,200 missing children cases were able to be closed.”

Kanaiya told the audience that she never wanted to work in human trafficking, but after hearing the “horrific” stories of two young trafficked girls years ago, she couldn’t turn back.

“I’m not a brave and courageous person by nature,” Kanaiya said. But after her first rescue of trafficked girls, she said she couldn’t return to normal. “Within about a year, I really got into this trafficking work at Oasis.”

Kanaiya’s work often involves surveillance, investigation and dangerous raids of dark brothels. She is also involved in the long journey of working to rehabilitate and reintroduce trafficked girls into society.

She encouraged the audience to be brave and get involved in bringing justice to communities.

“We pray, ‘Let your kingdom come, God,’ but the process of God’s kingdom coming is messy,” Kanaiya said. “It is going to ask for us to be involved in ways that will stretch us.”

She noted that when people introduce her at events it makes her seem fearless and heroic. “But I’m just as ordinary as anyone sitting here,” she said. “It’s important that each of us finds what God has called us to do and do that first.”

The night ended with a question and answer session. One Fuller student asked how current students can get involved with the organization.

Joel Griffith, Oasis USA’s executive director and a Fuller alum, listed several ways students can join the effort to help fight trafficking.

Students can get involved with the local “TraffickFree Communities”—groups that are set up to help local communities research vulnerable areas for trafficking and work to fight it. Griffith noted that there is a Pasadena group that meets monthly.

Many students have done and can continue to do their practicums and internships with Oasis. There are opportunities to serve Oasis branches in other countries, as well, he said.

Students, who are balancing heavy workloads, can also engage in ad hoc volunteerism–providing a particular service when they can.

Griffith noted that Fuller students have a lot to offer and he encouraged the audience to have hope that work is being done.

Here is what Griffith had to say to students from each school:

For the School of Theology: 

“With Fuller there’s an incredible connection, because we’ve got theologians and we need to convince our churches that the idea of justice is a holistic concept,” Griffith said. “Anybody who’s studied this knows what I’m talking about, because you’ve taken the same classes and read the same books, but part of our job is convincing churches to get involved and that this is actually part of God’s kingdom come.”

Of the 29 teams that participated in Operation Rakshane, four of them were run by Oasis India, Kanaiya said. Each team had 10 people in them, which means Oasis needed 45 bodies. “But we only have 25 staff in Bangalore,” Kanaiya said. “The rest of the 20 we got from the church.”

She added that the church volunteers had no experience, but were willing. “I think that’s what God looks at really,” she said.

For the School of Intercultural Studies: 

Students from this school are integral in running organizations like Oasis. There is always a need for people engaging the issue on the non-governmental organization level, he said.

Griffith himself graduated from Fuller in 2010 with an MA in Cross-Cultural Studies.

For the School of Psychology: 

Kanaiya said there is a great need, especially in India, for certified psychologists.

“We really struggle with this aspect,” Kanaiya said. “Trauma counseling is not easily available in India and counseling is really done by social workers trained locally. They don’t have degrees in counseling.”

Kanaiya said Oasis staff is always called upon to “double-up” as counselors. As a result, counseling is not professional but is more relation. Christian counseling, in particular, is hard to come by.

“So, School of Psychology students, that was the voice of the Lord, right there,” Griffith joked. He noted that the School of Psychology’s new Thrive Center is also a fantastic addition to students’ training to meet a need in the world.

For more information on Oasis, go here. 

If you missed Kanaiya's presentation, you can listen to her speak on Friday, October 19 at Jameson Brown Coffee Roasters in Pasadena at 7 p.m. She will also be speaking Saturday night, October 20 at Hope Christian Fellowship in San Gabriel. 

 To learn more about Anita Kanaiya's work, watch “There Once was a Girl,” which tells the story of one girl’s return home after being trafficked in the city.

On Oct 11th they are again competing, this time in the Semi Final, and are hoping to continue their winning streak and add to the money they have allready raised to fight Human Trafficking.

Will you join them?  Join the 13 Campaign!  The 13 campaign raises funds that are invested into helping children who are being trafficked and those who are at risk of being trafficked. The 13 campaign is also used to help Oasis strengthen local and global communities so that each community can be a safe place for children to grow and develop.

JOIN THE BOYS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TRAFFICKING

Click here to JOIN THE 13 CAMPAIGN

More about Oasis' work in Uganda >>

What does this mean?

Today, in a world where we can buy a pair of shoes and someone will donate a pair of shoes, or we can buy a bottle of water and a company will distribute a bottle of water…..At Oasis, we intimately journey in the community adventure of the people that need the shoes and water.

It may be that human trafficking impacts one community and Oasis helps people escape to freedom. In another Oasis helps children reach a level of education that gets them accepted into local schools. However, these initiatives are only some of the steps in the process of wholeness. Being rescued or educated may be the doorway to escape and awareness but there is also restoration, reintegration and the development of a sustainable lifestyle.

Take the child from the slum that we help educate, but then who is rejected admission to the local school because of no birth certificate. Oasis then becomes an advocate and helps the family get an affidavit that proves the birthdate of the child so they can go to school.

Oasis either develops projects and/or partners with a variety of initiatives, faith groups and organizations that provide integrated resources such as education, healthcare, employment, housing, etc….So that the person or family can pass through the developmental adventure appropriate for a sustainable lifestyle.

In the 28 global communities that Oasis is involved with, depending on the needs of the community, there are education programs, investigative teams, safe houses, vocational training initiatives and a variety of entrepreneurial business ventures available, that assist people being reconciled back into community as they travel towards living out their holistic potential.

Oasis becomes a journeying advocate that ultimately leads to the individual and community moving towards their God given potential.

Oasis is for community, a place where everyone is included, making a contribution and reaching their God given potential.

www.oasisglobal.org/announcements/restoration-of-an-indian-girl

Chennai - New initiatives in Chennai are focusing on child beggary, transgender community and youth in resettlement areas. Oasis will be working in partnership with Ministry of Social Defense, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board and Transgender Rights Association.

A staff outing was organized on the 20th and 21st where staff reflected on the past few months and also had a refreshing time, resting.

Alex Gonzalez has been volunteering with Oasis over the past month, helping with documentation and raising supporters for Oasis.

Cameo and Aircel customer care, 2 companies where Blue Edge graduates were placed gave positive feedback about their performance and requested more of the same caliber.The 2nd division league matches begin on the 9th February. The boys are quite under pressure as some of them will appear for exams too. The Parents-Teachers Association at the BV Colony Government School was held and the SSA Co-ordinator oriented them on their roles and responsibilities. The parents have become proactive and conducted the Republic Day celebrations in the school.

More more information visit the Oasis India website.

---

Josh Uganda Newsletter 11 10 11

For more information on the work of Oasis India, please visit their website.

We invited the commercial sex workers of all the surrounding taverns, whom we already had relationships with, to join us in training to recognize human trafficking.  This way they’ll be able to look for the signs while they’re working in the taverns and know how to act. 

As the training went on however, we realized that most of the girls had already encountered trafficking themselves at some point.  They simply never had the terminology to describe the wrong being done in their lives. 

As we spoke about the stages of trafficking and the ways people get tricked into sex work, we were met with “mmm’s” and “yes, yes.”  One girl even said aloud, “Yes, that is what happened to me.”  This began a discussion of girls freely telling their stories.  Through this training, they will now be able to help others who have been trafficked into sex work.

This month, Oasis Bangladesh teamed up with Winrock International, a non-profit doing good all over the world, to build up staff capacity and share anti-trafficking education materials in Bangladesh.  Winrock organized a two-day workshop on Human Trafficking and Legal Framework which was held at Hotel Rigs Inn in Dhaka. In the workshop, 14 participants from 10 organizations attended, coming from the North Bengal and Dhaka Networks. The workshop consisted of discussion, role playing, videos and personal sharing and covered:

1. Different forms of human trafficking - causes, consequences, definition, migration and trafficking nexus.
2. Migration process
3. Rights of migrants
4. Legal Framework in Bangladesh - overseas policies and national law related to migration and human trafficking
5. Complaint and referral mechanism for rehabilitation and repatriation
6. Challenges in Rehabilitation

A test given out to the participants before the workshop showed that much of what was to be covered was new information.  Many of them did not even know where they could go to report abusive employers, or how the government could help in such situations.  The session concluded with participants developing a six-month Action Plan to educate more than 7500 people, including colleagues, school students, NGO forum members, community members, local government officials and others.

Winrock donated one set of educational materials and expressed interest in providing more.  They also plan to continue supporting anti-traffic workshops and events.

Dave tells us that "Josh is currently helping put the manure on the crops at the Beersheba community, although he will soon be going to work on "The football" project. This project involves using material from Tackle Africa and teaches HIV/AIDS education through the medium of football. 

The material uses various football drills with teaching points attached and it's worked well with other football boys at Mbale. Josh will be adapting it slightly and running it over two weeks in a primary school where Oasis work, before moving onto another school, or continuing with a different group of boys. He'll also be doing it in a secondary school once a week."

Josh says:

"The day after I got into Entebbe (which was a Wednesday, by the way) we went to Beersheba (the name of the place where Oasis works in Mbale, named after 1 Kings 19 v1-8). I had my initiation and started meeting people. At this point I felt very overwhelmed due to all the changes. This, however, subsided as the day went on but questions still persisted. “Should I be here? Is this the right thing?” I just had to (and still have to) trust God that this is right, which I believe it is. That overwhelmed feeling is now gone, as has been gone since the second day, and I am adapting to life here. On Sunday we went to a long but good church service where I wore my Sunday’s Best, as keeping with the culture here, and then relaxed the rest of the day by watching some football. Work started for me on Monday but has been a relaxed schedule because the full work does not start till next week. Now is just the time for settling in and getting my bearings.”

What Is My Work? 

I’m so glad you asked. My work consists of:

• Helping to teach Maths and English to students who have fallen behind.
• Gardening

“People underestimate the benefit of good old manual labor. There's freedom in it.” -Morgan Freeman, Bruce Almighty.

• Setting up and running a program that incorporated football with learning about HIV. We will be doing this program in several different schools. The program is called Tackle Africa.
• Coaching football to the kids who come here on Saturdays.

And whenever I can,

• Interviewing and conducting Case Studies with people who have been affected by Oasis’ work.
• Helping the adults learn English in the Adult Literacy Program

Project Activities:  The goals of the project expand beyond employment and safety.  Since the beginning, we have emphasized the holistic development of the girls, aiming to improve self-esteem, confidence, life skills and creativity.  Once a week, all 131 of the girls in the program attend a class on life skills.  Through these classes the girls will become well-rounded and strong individuals.  Teachers and volunteers from the UK teach the girls material from Stop The Traffik and other anti-human trafficking organizations.  We also focused on building their awareness of human trafficking and personal safety with role-play, crafts, and singing songs.  Our hope is that they pass on this information to other girls in the slums so that they too will understand the intentions and dangers of traffickers.  Through our work with children, parents and local leaders we are opening the eyes of the city to the dangers of human trafficking. 

Impact:

1. Girls are confident and have control over their lives.
2. They show significant changes of manner, behaviour and attitude.
3. The take part in their family’s decision making process.
4. The have the courage to say no to a trafficker, which protects them collectively.
5. The cquire leadership skills and taking part in peer education.
6. The community maintains harmony and the city’s youth is educated.  
7. Parents are educated about the consequences of trafficking and the importance of their girls’ safety.

Lesson Learnt:

1. More awareness needs to be raised within the community to stop trafficking.
2. We need to consider working on drug addiction issues.
3. There should be a committee in the slum to work as gatekeeper.

Next Month’s Plan:

1. Hold a Dhaka Anti Trafficking/Stop The Traffik network meeting
2. Visit Rights Jessore, a leading NGO who works on Anti-Trafficking issues, to gather experience and learn the process of repatriation.
3. Continue educating Duaripara girls.

 Renat and Rasul, of Oasis’ House Kairat, are finishing up their first year of technical school, passing their finals exams with an overall grade B.  Things are hopeful for these two, as it looks like they will soon be getting some practical experience and a chance to work with a well-known contracting company.  

Rasul’s 11 year old cousin, Asel, was not in as good a situation.  After growing up with an alcoholic aunt and living with a mother who worked out of her home as a prostitute, Asel was spending more and more time on the streets.  Fearing that the young girl was already the victim of abuse, we acted and were able to get her out of a dangerous situation and into a home for street children, where she is very happy and going to school.   We are considering moving her into our House Erkindik for the summer. 

In an effort to prevent these incidents from happening in the first place, the START FREEDOM campaign in Kyrgyzstan has been recruiting students (11-17 years old) to teach in classrooms, raising awareness about the dangers and realities of human trafficking.  They have been able to reach over 9,000 Kyrgyz students in this fervent campaign.  Further prevention efforts have set Oasis’ eyes on a suspicious Turkish tour agency who has been offering jobs to women in Kyrgyzstan.  They are not registered with the government and are not requiring applicants to know English or Turkish.  Furthermore, there are no contracts drawn up once the job is acquired.   

With all these red flags waving, we began working within the community to warn women about the risk they would be taking with this organization.  Since these talks have begun, many women have withdrawn their applications.  With 4,000-6,000 Kyrgyz citizens being trafficked every year, we can not afford to take any chances.  

Oasis Kyrgyzstan Update (Shorter Version)

Kyrgyzstan has been a busy place for Oasis these past few months.  Two of our boys from House Kairat have just passed final exams for their first year of technical school and are looking at getting some practical experience and work with a well-known contracting company.  One of these boys was concerned for his eleven year old cousin who was living in a home where alcoholism and prostitution was commonplace.  Fearing that she was already the victim of abuse, we acted to get her into a home for street children, where she is very happy and attending school. 
In an effort to prevent these sorts of incidents from happening in the first place, our START FREEDOM campaign in Kyrgyzstan has been recruiting students (11-17 years old) to teach in classrooms, raising awareness about the dangers and realities of human trafficking.   Further prevention efforts have set Oasis’ eyes on a suspicious, unregistered Turkish tour agency who has been offering jobs to women in Kyrgyzstan, not requiring them to sign paperwork or know Turkish or English.  We have convinced many women, who had previously applied, to withdraw their applications.  With 4,000-6,000 Kyrgyz citizens being trafficked every year, we can not afford to take any chances. 

Thousands of modern slaves live in plain sight in the U.S. without ever being noticed. Paul Lange describes how it happens and the red flags we can look for.

A young boy on the street struggling to find food, a rag picker's child waking up at 2:30 am going from one garbage bin to the next picking up scrap to feed the drunken frenzy of his father, a young mother trying to eke out a living so her new born daughter could live a life unlike hers, the fear in the eyes of a young woman being rescued from the brothel and the hopes and aspirations of a woman who breaks free from the bondage of sex slavery or the dreams of a young man as he trains every morning on the football ground, wanting to do well for himself and do his family proud.

These are the collective desires of a few thousand lives- the wind beneath the wings of Oasis India. This helps us reach the highest heights or has taught us to go down to the lowest of lows. We've had acclaims and we've stood with those who have given up on life. The one factor that unites us as staff, whether it's Mumbai, Bangalore or Chennai, is to see that those that we work with can live lives that they can be proud of. But it doesn't stop there- it's about those that fight and win life's toughest battles that leave more than just physical scars- they live to tell their story so that their life would inspire someone else to live!

This issue of Inclusion is dedicated to the resilient spirit of every member of staff with Oasis India!  May you be inspired to will and act so that your actions and behavior might impact those on the fringes of society today!

- Rebecca Swamickan

Kampala news

We began the month of May on a very exciting note with the holiday programme/ clubs running from 2nd -13th at Oasis Community House of Hope where the Kawempe Community Development Programme (KCDP) operates. Most of this time was devoted to supporting girls in their school work, delivering interactive trainings in Life skills and health issues alongside the usual activities like devotions and games.  We had 50 girls on average in attendance each day and they fully participated in all activities. The picture on the left shows the girls doing their assignments during the programme.

The HIV/AIDS - VCT Community Awareness took place on the 5th of May 2011 at the Kawempe Community Development Project (KCDP). It was attended by 32 members of the community, 46 children and the staff at KCDP. A team of 26 people came from The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) comprising of 10 counselors, 2 laboratory technicians and 14 drama group members. The key objectives of the community day were to create awareness about HIV/AIDS to the community, promotion of positive living for those who were already infected, providing opportunity for VCT, reducing stigma and discrimination, providing opportunity for referrals and attachment to health service providers for continued support , advocating for behavior change in the community. The drama group is comprised of members who have had personal experience of living with HIV/AIDS and were able to share their testimonies and passed on the message to the community through Drama and music.

At Beersheba...In May Beersheba held its 3rd holiday programme. Over 200 children from Musoto came for 4 afternoons of Bible stories, craft, games and fun. As part of the activities the children also learnt about the importance of Education and were encouraged to think about how remaining in school would give them greater opportunities in the future. Many of the children asked for more time to be given to these discussions at future holiday programmes. Alongside the holiday programme 40 children, who had been identified by their schools as likely to drop out, spent the mornings learning catch-up English and Maths. For some of them it was the first time they had ever been taught to write their names.

As part of our adult literacy work the students have been growing trees in nursery beds at the Beersheba site. The 2000 trees are now ready to be given out among the students to improve their compounds and to raise awareness among the community of the need to be more environmentally aware. The second planting of seeds is currently underway and the trees that are grown will be sold to provide income for the adult learners

From Gulu and Pader

In the opening week of our training, all students in attendance (25 in the morning class and 25 in the afternoon class) were trained in Self Esteem. The training covers topics like Self Esteem, Relationships, How we were created, Consequences of sex and HIV/AIDS. As a result of the training, most students have showed a change in their conduct.

In May, 2011, we hosted visitors from HOPE HIV. The visit was intended to monitor and assess the work that Oasis Uganda-Livelihoods Gulu has done since the start of its operations. The HOPE HIV staff were received by the Kawempe Community Development Programme Regional Manager-Julius Elora, who oriented them before visiting six former students at their different work places (see picture on the left).

From the visits conducted, the HOPE HIV staff praised Oasis Uganda for the way it has greatly impacted lives of youths in Gulu through its training.

Changes in director:

Gill -

To all the many friends of Oasis Uganda around the world, It is difficult for me to believe that the time has come for me to move on from Oasis Uganda. Having been involved in the work here for 10 years, and as Director since May 2007, I am leaving my role in mid July to move onto a new ministry – of being a full time parent to our ‘soon to arrive’ first child.

I leave with so many memories and knowing I have learnt much more than I have given, and feel extremely blessed to have worked with many fantastic people here and in the wider Oasis family. I know the Oasis Uganda team will continue to do a wonderful job working tirelessly to bring hope and opportunity to vulnerable people here in Uganda. I am especially delighted to be able to inform you that we have a new Director, Irene Muwanguzi, who introduces herself below. I pray that God continues to help us work hand in hand to make a difference in the lives of children, youth and families in Uganda, and a very sincere thank you to everyone who plays a part in this – we truly could not do this without you.

With very best wishes, Gill

--------

From Irene (new director) -

It is indeed a pleasure for me to be joining this wonderful family of Oasis Uganda where we are able to impact lives of people and children living in vulnerability. My role will be to build on the great foundation that Gill has already laid for Oasis Ugandato move it to its next level of development and growth. I look forward to working with you all and I thank you for your partnership.

With warm regards, Irene

For more information please visit the Oasis Uganda website