SHE HAS TRAVELED all over the world searching for beautiful young women to cast in her modeling agency. Now she goes around the world searching for children, women and men to save them from slavery.
After Katie Ford gave up the chairmanship of modeling giant Ford Models in 2007, she made plans to pursue her interest in promoting the culture of indigenous peoples. But when a United Nations representative approached her to talk against human trafficking, Ford was compelled to chart a different future.
“Two years ago, I did not know that there was slavery," she recalled. "I was shocked. There are 27 million slaves in the world today --- 27 million, it’s mind boggling!" she exclaimed.
“I’m not talking about cheap labor. I’m talking not free to come and go, not earning money that they were promised and frequently being beaten up and threatened so that they don’t leave their situation. It’s like old time slavery. It exists everywhere," said Ford, who has made it her primary mission to spread awareness on how to end the slave trade.
The legendary trend-setter in the modeling industry flew in Monday to judge the Supermodel of the World pageant for the Philippine Fashion Week, which runs from October 21 to 28 at the Mall of Asia. The winner of the pageant will represent the Philippines in the Supermodel of the World pageant in New York and stands to win a $250,000 modeling contract with Ford Models.
“The most important thing, especially in the Philippines, is for people to be aware. Because so many people work abroad from the Philippines, they need to go to licensed employment agencies," she said.
Ford spent nine months learning about the human trafficking situation worldwide and working with the non–profit organization Free the Slaves.
The group estimates that slavery is a $40 billion industry. Majority of the slaves work in the fields, brothels, mines and factories in India, Southeast Asia and Africa.
According to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, sexual exploitation accounted for 79 percent of human trafficking activities, followed by forced labor. Among the victims, 66 percent are women and the target age is 14 – 24 years old.
Life passion
Ironically, majority of the illegal traffickers are also women.
“The victims are the same target age as models we scout," Ford said. “And having worked with young people for so long, and watching them develop into great careers, it especially touched my heart thinking about people coming across borders, (being enslaved) and not being able to do anything about it."
Empowered by her new life passion, she started her mission close to home. Ford talked to key players in the fashion industry in New York and encouraged them to come up with policies to ensure that their supplies are produced without slave labor.
“It’s called social auditing," Ford explained. “If companies put enough pressure on the suppliers of raw materials, they will be forced to check that (slavery) doesn’t exist."
Ford said two of the companies who have adopted the practice are Gap and Nike.
Katie's parents, Eileen and Jerry, founded Ford Models at Manhattan's stylish Upper East Side in 1946. For more than half a century, the modeling management firm helped shape the image of fashion and beauty for American women, launching such faces as Lauren Hutton, Christie Brinkley, and Veronica Webb.
Pinay Supermodel Charo Ronquillo warns fellow Filipinas of modern-day slavery. Courtesy of Ford Models
Katie Ford has asked her models to record videos in various languages warning about human trafficking, which will be posted on the website freetheslaves.net. Ronquillo, who now works under the Ford agency based in New York, recorded a message in Filipino.
She believes individuals can help solve the problem by practicing vigilance about incidents of slavery in their community, and tipping the authorities or NGOs on these cases.
Freedom in 25 years
Ford hopes they can eradicate slavery in 25 years, which means the target is roughly more than a million slaves to be saved per year. It’s a huge number, but she believes the incidence of slavery is already starting to go down.
“It’s starting to happen because it’s village by village now in India. These villages are watching and they are starting to take it on themselves. When they see their friends across the road get freed, then they want to be free," she said. “Of course, everyone wants to be free. They didn’t even know they could be free. That’s the unbelievable part, they didn’t even know it."
Ford said she has met a number of women who escaped prostitution and moved on to help set other slave workers free, just like them.
After the slaves gain freedom, the challenge is in rehabilitating them. This is not often successful, as Ford said some prostitutes become drug addicts during bondage by their slave–owners. Others remain enslaved psychologically such that eventually, they revert to slavery again.
“It’s not an overnight thing because it’s a whole societal change, but it can be done," she said. “I would say there are many people working hard to make it happen. I am just one little drop in the ocean. And it needs the entire ocean, it needs everybody doing what they can do to end it." – GMANews.TV
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/175304/katie-fords-new-mission-end-slavery
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