Not for Sale (organization)
Not for Sale is an international 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based out of San Francisco, that works to protect people and communities around the world from modern-day slavery and human trafficking. The organization provides survivors and at-risk communities with shelter, healthcare, and legal services; education and job and life skills training; and partners with companies and organizations to create long-term employment opportunities for survivors and at-risk communities.
Founders[edit]
Not for Sale began when organization president, David Batstone, executive director Mark Wexler, and Kique Bazan discovered that one of their favorite Indian restaurants near their homes was using trafficked women from India to cook meals and perform various tasks around the restaurant. One of the women was killed in a gas leak, uncovering the restaurant's trafficking business. This discovery shocked the group and gave them an all-consuming passion to stop modern-day slavery. Batstone began to travel around the world to learn more about trafficking and thus began Not for Sale to raise awareness for trafficking around the world.
David Batstone is a professor, journalist, and author. He teaches in the School of Management at the University of San Francisco.[1] He has authored numerous books and articles. He writes on topics ranging from ethics to business to modern-day slavery. He also serves as the organization's president.
Mark Wexler currently serves as Not For Sale's executive director.
Kique Bazan is no longer working with the organization.
Current projects[edit]
Not For Sale currently works with survivors of human trafficking and those at risk of exploitation in Thailand, Romania, the Netherlands and the United States. It also collaborates with sister organization, Just Business, to grow social enterprises. These businesses aim to create jobs for Not For Sale beneficiaries and create long-term economic sustainability for the organization.[2]
United States[edit]
In 2014, Not For Sale launched a program to prepare disconnected youth affected by trafficking and exploitation for work in and around the San Francisco area. The program provides survivors and at-risk youth with four weeks of intensive life-skills and job-readiness training, followed by placements in paid traineeships with local Bay Area businesses. After completing these traineeships, Not For Sale works to identify long-term employment opportunities for graduates of the program. Reinvent is designed to empower survivors of human trafficking and modern-day slavery, creating dignified, sustainable opportunities for work.[3]
The Netherlands[edit]
Culinary training program[edit]
In the Netherlands, Not For Sale offers professional culinary skill training to survivors of human trafficking. During their culinary internships, survivors gain valuable job and life skills designed to help them find dignified employment in their home countries while experiencing a normal, healthy work environment that offers them a sense of equality and empowerment.
Healthy meals for women in the Red Light District[edit]
The soup prepared by trainees in the kitchen is offered for sale to women working behind the windows of the Red Light District. In an area where healthy food is otherwise hard to come by, Not For Sale is able to provide nutritious meals and build relationships with women who may be victims of trafficking. These relationships provide insight into the backgrounds and the demographics of the women we serve, many of whom are from Eastern Europe.
Cafe and shop[edit]
In 2015, Not For Sale opened Dignita Amsterdam, an outpost in the heart of the Red Light District that sells a variety of humanely and sustainably produced items. Proceeds from the shop will benefit Not For Sale’s work with survivors of exploitation, and those at risk, in the Netherlands. Later this year, Not For Sale will also open a public cafe in Amsterdam to provide stable employment to survivors of human trafficking and increase awareness of the organization’s work.
Thailand[edit]
"In Thailand, Not For Sale supports Kru Nam, a thriving artist and modern-day abolitionist who has rescued and prevented over 125 stateless children from exploitation on the streets of Northern Thailand. Since 2007, Not For Sale and Kru Nam have built three dormitories, a basketball court, a medical clinic, provided $1.9 million in medical supplies, and placed almost all children in local boarding schools."[4]
Peru[edit]
Partnering with abolitionist Lucy Borja, Not for Sale supplies housing, medical care, and vocational training to victims of human trafficking and local youth of Peru.[5]
Romania[edit]
In Romania, Not For Sale supports 50 survivors a year with shelter, food, education, healthcare, vocational training, job placement, ID recuperation, and a holistic approach to repatriation.[6]
Volunteer involvement[edit]
Not for Sale has implemented multiple ways for people interested in stopping human trafficking help their organization.
Not for Sale also has something called a Slavery Map, where people can report cases of modern day slavery all over the world and thus avoid doing business or purchasing things from places where slavery is practiced.[7] One can sign up for an account to keep track of slavery occurring around the world.
Not for Sale also has an Abolitionist Academy located in California where people can attend lectures and lessons to learn about many aspects of trafficking, such as investigations, aftercare, health care, and Biblical justice.[8] Once someone graduates from the Abolitionist Academy, there are then various international opportunities to learn about trafficking on an international level. People can travel to places like Uganda, Peru and Thailand for a couple weeks.
There is also a Not for Sale fellowship for six months, located in NFS’s California headquarters. This fellowship is offered twice a year and gives people ages 21 and older an opportunity to be in the middle of the battle against human trafficking through education and activism.
Also, people can become Not for Sale Ambassadors by giving their time to raising money for a specific Not for Sale project. By getting various people to donate a certain amount of money per month, these Ambassadors do their part to help the Not for Sale campaign.
Not for Sale also offers international immersion trips, where people can learn more about modern day slavery through direct involvement in countries like Uganda, Thailand, Cambodia and Peru.
Lastly, Not for Sale has created an Underground Church Network for people of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith. This network was created with the intention of bringing people of many different faiths together to abolish slavery.
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ http://www.usfca.edu/artsci/fac_staff/B/batstone_david.html
- ↑ http://www.justbusiness.is
- ↑ http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/our-strategy/unitedstates/
- ↑ http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/projects/thailand/
- ↑ http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/projects/peru/
- ↑ http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/projects/romania/
- ↑ http://slaverymap.org.
- ↑ http://nfsacademy.org/
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