Power meetings in Washington, DC: 10 more days to go!

Matt Friedman met with the ambassador in charge of addressing human trafficking globally at the US State Department and to the heads of departments such as Dept of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Agriculture etc. It was a very productive discussion. Then 30 other staff from various departments joined in for the second part of the meeting. I believe something great will come out of these talks.

We are thankful that America is fighting this global scourge. Matt speaks to another government department today and at KPMG in their DC office. We spoke at several Rotary groups and corporations. We’ve heard positive feedback from several people including one Rotary president who wants to start campaigning against human trafficking.

Here is Matt’s update:

We are 60 days into our 70-day road trip.  While our overall goal was to do 100 presentations, we have already reached 96 (as of Friday, August 12).  We have 10 more days and four more cities to hit.  Thus, we will exceed the 100 goal by about 13 presentations.  New York City is one of our busiest locations (August 19-23).

Below are some observations/updates:

·         Many donors are seeking to clarify what to do next. With the impact of the human trafficking response being so low (0.1 percent of the global victims being helped), they are looking for new directions.  The private sector is considered a viable option;

·         There is a desperate need for more leadership in addressing the issue, especially in the USA;

·         General awareness about the topic is low in every category (business, business coalition, rotary, school, faith based and the general public).  More standardized information is needed for each group;

·         There is no repository for basic information and data on this topic anywhere; and

·         While there are many organizations “doing things,” few of them are working together.  This is a missed opportunity.

Not all of the presentations we did had the same impact.  Out of the 96, four of them seemed to miss their mark.  These groups were either well-informed or the content offered was inconsistent with what they needed.  It could have also been fatigue on our part. 

I will write up a paper to summarize my findings in more detail.  Many of the groups visited asked for this to be done.

Sylvia and I will do everything we can to finish strong.  We have our rhythm and stride now.  Our moves are more efficient based on experience and repetition.  We are “old hands” at doing this road show at this point.

Thanks for your continued support.

Continue to follow along on our ‪#‎RoadToFreedom‬ blog!  We’re almost finished with our marathon ’70 day, 100 presentations’ speaking tour in the US to raise awareness of ‪#‎modernslavery‬ and historical sex trafficking ‘comfort women’ (euphemism for military sex slaves before and during WWII) & mobilise people to take action!