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After passing clearance from the guard at a gated entrance, I pull up into a perfectly manicured coastal neighborhood, where the hum of landscapers’ lawnmowers and the occasional personal golf cart heading down to the beach club are the only background noises.
Even though I am a bit late to this gathering, I am greeted with a hug and ushered into the kitchen where I can hear voices of women and the laughter usually shared by friends.
I sit down and accept a cup of coffee, but decline the delicious looking egg strata, as the women are ready to get started.
This isn't your typical house party.
Agendas are passed around and the meeting of the "Abolitionist Mamas" is ready to begin.
Kim Yim, Dawn Mednick, Julie Knights, Lisa Paredes and Tracy Stay are moms just like me: Typical soccer moms with young children, involved in local school events and active in carpools and book clubs.
But they're also members of the "Abolitionist Mamas,” a group focused on bringing awareness to human trafficking, also called modern day slavery.
Yim speaks passionately, with tinges of pain in her voice, about the injustices of slavery. I previously heard her speak at San Clemente Presbyterian Church, where I received an invitation to a meeting with her group. She described how she became committed to the cause after a viewing of the “rockumentary," CALL+RESPONSE.
According to its website, CALL+RESPONSE is a documentary that shows where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India. It ultimately reveals that in 2009, "slave traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.”
Compelled to share this knowledge with anyone who would listen, Yim invited 40 of her friends to a viewing of the documentary at her home. “I invited the same friends to home show clothing parties —why not for this?” she asked.
Fourteen people actually showed up to her home. One came only with the promise that Kim would give them action points after the viewing. She did not want to come to be depressed, she said. She wanted to come to be made aware, but also to leave equipped with useful tools to act. Yim heard the request and has since created a blog abolitionistmama.blogspot.com, of useful tips and ways to be active from listing informative books to social justice websites.
I left the meeting inspired by Yim's activism and was compelled to act. I was taught the importance of purchasing power. I can simply choose to purchase Free Trade/SlaveFREE items such as coffee, chocolate and flowers. I learned that with a simple click of a button on www.chainstorereaction.com, I could send a letter to companies asking them of their policies on slave-free manufacturing. These are simple tools to use from home with the possibility of making a significant impact.
According to Justin Dillon, director of CALL+RESPONSE, “If history looks back on this time and finds a true movement to end slavery, it should remember the moms and countless other activists like them that no one ever hears about ... This is where the battle will be won.”
The Abolitionist Mamas recently renamed themselves, Trafficking Awareness Group of San Clemente, in an effort to create other community activist groups in the south county, i.e. TAG of San Juan Capistrano, and other cities once awareness increases.
Come to find out, there are San Juan Capistrano residents out there that are increasing awareness as we speak. A CALL+RESPONSE home viewing on Friday, Feb. 25 is listed as a San Juan Capistrano location. See callandresponse.com for more information.
This is a whole new era of awareness, and it's certainly not my mother's Tupperware party.
Even though I am a bit late to this gathering, I am greeted with a hug and ushered into the kitchen where I can hear voices of women and the laughter usually shared by friends.
I sit down and accept a cup of coffee, but decline the delicious looking egg strata, as the women are ready to get started.
This isn't your typical house party.
Agendas are passed around and the meeting of the "Abolitionist Mamas" is ready to begin.
Kim Yim, Dawn Mednick, Julie Knights, Lisa Paredes and Tracy Stay are moms just like me: Typical soccer moms with young children, involved in local school events and active in carpools and book clubs.
But they're also members of the "Abolitionist Mamas,” a group focused on bringing awareness to human trafficking, also called modern day slavery.
Yim speaks passionately, with tinges of pain in her voice, about the injustices of slavery. I previously heard her speak at San Clemente Presbyterian Church, where I received an invitation to a meeting with her group. She described how she became committed to the cause after a viewing of the “rockumentary," CALL+RESPONSE.
According to its website, CALL+RESPONSE is a documentary that shows where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India. It ultimately reveals that in 2009, "slave traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.”
Compelled to share this knowledge with anyone who would listen, Yim invited 40 of her friends to a viewing of the documentary at her home. “I invited the same friends to home show clothing parties —why not for this?” she asked.
Fourteen people actually showed up to her home. One came only with the promise that Kim would give them action points after the viewing. She did not want to come to be depressed, she said. She wanted to come to be made aware, but also to leave equipped with useful tools to act. Yim heard the request and has since created a blog abolitionistmama.blogspot.com, of useful tips and ways to be active from listing informative books to social justice websites.
I left the meeting inspired by Yim's activism and was compelled to act. I was taught the importance of purchasing power. I can simply choose to purchase Free Trade/SlaveFREE items such as coffee, chocolate and flowers. I learned that with a simple click of a button on www.chainstorereaction.com, I could send a letter to companies asking them of their policies on slave-free manufacturing. These are simple tools to use from home with the possibility of making a significant impact.
According to Justin Dillon, director of CALL+RESPONSE, “If history looks back on this time and finds a true movement to end slavery, it should remember the moms and countless other activists like them that no one ever hears about ... This is where the battle will be won.”
The Abolitionist Mamas recently renamed themselves, Trafficking Awareness Group of San Clemente, in an effort to create other community activist groups in the south county, i.e. TAG of San Juan Capistrano, and other cities once awareness increases.
Come to find out, there are San Juan Capistrano residents out there that are increasing awareness as we speak. A CALL+RESPONSE home viewing on Friday, Feb. 25 is listed as a San Juan Capistrano location. See callandresponse.com for more information.
This is a whole new era of awareness, and it's certainly not my mother's Tupperware party.
Source: sanjuancapistrano.patch.com
The Abolitionist Mamas - San Juan Capistrano, CA Patch
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