Diana Scimone, a veteran journalist who has chronicled the $9.5 billion-a-year human trafficking industry for years, founded the non-profit Born to Fly International to help end child slavery. Scimone’s 09-09-09 Twitterthon goal is for 9,000 people to give $9 each – the $81,000 needed to start printing a new child-trafficking awareness book and curriculum by Scimone and illustrator Leah Wiedemer. “Each year more than a million children are lured into slavery around the world,” Scimone said. “Imagine what a dent we can make in the trafficking pipeline if we educate kids and their parents about the tactics traffickers use before they show up at their doorstep.”

While there are many reasons why a child may be trafficked (sadly, some are knowingly sold into slavery by their parents), Born to Fly works specifically to educate the millions of children and parents who are lured into slavery by false promises of “employment” and a better life for a child. The centerpiece of the Born to Fly project is a picture book – wordless so it doesn’t have to be translated into hundreds of languages – that teaches children to make wise choices. A companion curriculum will reinforce the important concepts in the book.

The curriculum and book illustrations are nearly complete. The final layout is scheduled for October. If enough funds are raised, printing will start in December. Born to Fly will then ship to a waiting list of schools, missions and aid organizations in North America and as far away as Ghana, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India and Bulgaria. “Our goal is to give the books away without charge, of course. So we are counting on our crowdfunding to help get this done.”

Enter the 09-09-09 Twitterthon.

Crowdfunding 101

Twitter has become a major source of crowdfunding – raising funds by appealing to large numbers of ordinary people for small donations. The 09-09-09 project, which has its own special twitter account – @09_09_09 – was featured prominently in a recent article on Mashable.com entitled A Guide to Crowdfunding Success. The Mashable Twitter account has nearly 1.2 million followers, and Mashable.com is one of the most respected social media authorities on the web. Scimone says the attention should help Born to Fly reach its 09-09-09 goal: “Lots of awareness, lots of strong new relationships, and lots of money.”

Scimone, who regularly tweets as @dianascimone where she has 1,500 followers, says Twitter could not have arrived at a better time. “What I love about Twitter is the community,” explains Scimone. “Twitter connects me with people I don’t know, but should.” Many companies have even donated prizes to give away during the Twitterthon. Everyone who donates $9 will be eligible for a prize drawing. (The prizes include original artwork, handcrafted sterling silver jewelry and plenty more. Scimone is announcing a prize each day leading up to 09-09-09 on her blog – www.dianascimone.com.)

Children as young as pre-schoolers are lured into modern-day slavery all over the world, including in the United States, where they’re raped for profit—night after night. Scimone wants her followers to get angry about this and to do something about it. “Traffickers think kids are commodities,” said Scimone. “On 9/9/09, I challenge my twitter followers to tell kids they’re priceless.”

The Born to Fly Project 09-09-09 Twitterthon Challenge:

• Donate: Go to www.born2fly.org and use the orange Chip-in button to donate $9.
• Twitter: Tweet about it. Follow @09_09_09. Add a Twibbon after you’ve donated.
• Email: Tell 9 people about 09-09-09 and send them to www.born2fly.org where they can donate via the Chip-in button.
• Blog: Post about 09-09-09. Include the logo and a link to www.born2fly.org.
• Facebook: Talk about 09-09-09; include a link to www.born2fly.org.
• Updates: Check Diana Scimone’s blog for the latest: www.dianascimone.com

For more about the Born to Fly Project, visit www.born2fly.org.

Diana Scimone’s Back Story

Born to Fly International founder and director Diana Scimone is a journalist who has traveled to more than 40 countries including Sudan, Zimbabwe, Thailand, China and India.
“As a journalist I’ve seen a lot. I’ve been to a refugee camp in Sudan, an orphanage overflowing with “throw-away” kids in China, and a home for AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe. Nothing, however, prepared me for what I saw in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India: cages that held little girls—some as young as 5 years old—smuggled in from Nepal.
“That’s when I first learned about the global child sex trade and began to write about it. On that trip I interviewed a young teenager whose boyfriend had drugged her and sold her to a madam. The stories did not get prettier. In Pattaya, Thailand, I remember a banner hanging over an intersection in the red-light district proclaiming this was “boys town.” In most areas where child sex slavery flourishes, girls are for sale, but this particular area specialized in young boys.
“I’ve stood at border crossings into Cambodia and Myanmar, knowing that children were trafficked across the border along with cattle, chickens, and rice. The real shock was to learn that child trafficking is not just across the globe but also across the street. The problem has grown so bad in my own city of Orlando, Florida, that we now have a human trafficking coalition as well as a prayer group that focuses specifically on the problem.”

Scimone was covering a story on forced prostitution in India.  The driver and his wife, who were the head of a charity that helped these women, wanted Scimone to see some of the conditions the women lived in.

“It was shocking, to say the least,” she said. “The look on their faces was total hopelessness. But what I remember most was when my contact pointed out the vague outline of cages in upper floor windows.”

Scimone soon learned that’s where brothel owners keep little girls who are smuggled in from other countries. The girls—sometimes only 5 years old—are caged like animals for a month, abused, tortured,or raped—until they no longer have a will to rebel.

“I think at that moment my life changed,” Scimone said.

Not only did Scimone’s life change, but so would the lives of many children whom she would help. Not long after that trip, Scimone founded Born to Fly International (B2F), a non-profit organization that works to stop child trafficking worldwide.

As a journalist, Scimone has traveled to more than 40 countries, including China, Zimbabwe, Sudan, India, Thailand, and more, reporting on human rights.

“I’ve seen up close and personal—a lot more up close and personal than I’d like—the devastation that many of the world’s children face,” she said. “I founded B2F to meet some of those needs.  I knew we couldn’t fix every hurt, but the one that made me passionately angry is child trafficking, so that’s the issue we focus on.”

According to B2F’s website, 1.2 million children are trafficked each year for sex around the world. The average age of sex workers around the world is 11, but some are as young as 5. Even in the United States, more than 100,000 children and young women are trafficked.

“When kids get trafficked for sex or slavery, it’s usually because they don’t know any better,” Scimone explains. “Someone shows up at their doorstep and promises them the moon—and they believe it.  They really think they’re going to be models or waitresses or nannies.  Likewise, their parents really think their daughters will get an education in the big city.  ‘Just sign here,’ the traffickers promise, and the kids are never seen again.”

Scimone knew if she could warn kids and parents ahead of time, she could drastically cut the numbers of kids who are trafficked.

“Wherever awareness training takes place, the rate of trafficking plummets,” the website states. “There’s just not enough nor is it available to kids in most high-risk areas. That’s the hole that B2F is designed to fill.”

The centerpiece of the B2F Project is a wordless book, created  by Scimone, to educate children, families and teachers about grave dangers of human trafficking. The book, entitled Born to Fly, is an allegory about the realities of child trafficking that teaches children to make wise decisions to avoid being thrust into such a world.  The book is wordless so that any child around the world can understand it, without having it translated in countless different languages. Parents who are illiterate can “read” it also.

“We’re in the final stages of illustrating that right now and hope to have it finished by fall,” she said. “Meanwhile we’re raising the funds to print and distribute it.  We need about $300,000 to get everything into the hands of kids around the world.”

Scimone is also writing a curriculum to go along with the book, which Born to Fly will distribute all over the world to schools and non-profit organizations that work with children.

She points out that child trafficking happens not just around the world, but also around the corner.  “It happens in every country—including the United States,” she says. “We have a huge problem with human trafficking in every state—adults and children.  Just Google the name of your state and the word trafficking and you’ll see what I mean.”

“It’s very inspiring to know that the work we’re doing with Born to Fly could literally change someone’s life—even save their life,” Scimone said.

While most children are too young to get involved in this particular cause, teaching them the importance of volunteer work and to respect different cultures is essential, Scimone said.

“I think it’s critical to begin involving even young children in volunteer work,” she said. “If it becomes part of their life while they’re children, that sense of giving will continue when they become adults.”

And not only is it important for children to understand the importance of volunteer work, but it’s important adults understand as well.

“Ask yourself, ‘What makes me really angry?  What makes me cry?’” Scimone said. “That’s where your passion lies, and where you should invest your time and energy.”

For more information on Scimone, Born to Fly, or to get involved, go to www.born2fly.org. (Photos (c) by Diana Scimone.)

Diana Scimone is a journalist who has reported extensively on issues of human rights around the world.  She founded Born to Fly International to help stop child trafficking both globally and locally. Diana is also author of the Adventures With PawPaw children’s book series.  She writes a regular blog, and loves following new people on Twitter (@DianaScimone).