$150B annually - Ex-Child Slave Wants You to Know About Human Trafficking
At the age of seven, Rani Hong was kidnapped in India and sold into the slave trade. She was transported across state lines, where she was beaten, held in a cage, and forced to work in a brick factory. Although Hong doesn’t remember being sexually abused, she said there’s evidence other children trafficked by her owner were.
“Traffickers saw me as a product to be exploited,” said Hong.
Years later, Hong founded The Tronie Foundation, a trafficking awareness organization that works with the United Nations General Assembly to advise countries across the globe on how to better defend against modern slavery. Tronie, along with more than 100 other nonprofits, are participating in a new campaign to call attention to child trafficking, which includes illegal trafficking for labor and sexual purposes. The group’s “Everyone’s Kids, Everyone Gives” effort kicks off on Thursday and culminates with a 24-hour marathon fund-raiser on September 16, when organizers hope to raise more than $1 million to help fight against trafficking.
More: 4 Surprising Things an Ex-Child Slave Wants You to Know About Human Trafficking