The Freedom Hub Survivor School helps slavery survivors find freedom. That is freedom from their past, freedom from their own feeling of shame, and freedom to chose a new life.
Modern Slavery Happens here in Australia!
The Global Slavery Index 2018 estimated that we had 15,000 people in slavery identified in our country. While we believe that is under-estimated; it is unfathomable to think even one person, in our beautiful “fair go” country, could be treated so inhumanly.
How can we allow people to be treated like commodities? That is, children, young girls and boys, women and men, bought and sold?
They have No voice, no choice, no rights, no freedom, no income. And it’s just NOT OK.
This is why we started the Freedom Hub.
We have three parts to our mission.
- to end slavery in Australia
- to help victims recover
- partner in the fight to end global slavery
So what do we do to help slavery survivors find freedom?
We offer the only LONG TERM, wrap-around support service, that survivors of modern slavery need to recover. As a result, this is not a program that ends after a period of time. Our ‘transition coaches’ are with them as long as they want our help.
The Survivor School offers many trauma informed courses, one on one tutoring and workshops. These courses help them take steps at their own pace and set their own goals for recovery. So ultimately, our goal is to help victims recover from the trauma, get back into the workforce, and live successful independent lives. This is how survivors find freedom.
We are funded by our social enterprise cafes and online retail. So 100% of the profits from all our business ventures, support the survivors in our care. We also have generous businesses and people who donate to further our work. Another aspect of our success is that many of the organisations that donate to us, then partner with us by offering work pathways for our survivors.
This is a unique model. And we hope to start rolling this out nationally in 2021! (now that many of our courses are now online!)
–
Survivor Stories of Freedom
This is a model that has positively impacted lives. Like Christina, who came here to pursue her dreams of becoming a lawyer. She was working to support her uni studies, but she gradually found herself trapped in forced labour. Her passport and identity were taken from her. And she was given a false debt; one she could never repay. So she was forced to work 16 hours a day with no break. Soon physical and sexual abuse followed.
Fortunately, the Australian Federal Police found her and we were able to support and encourage her to recovery.
She is now working in the city as a legal admin assistant with one of our business partners.
We look into the eyes of these beautiful women every day, these are real women, with real stories, and real strength.
Another Story of Freedom
A few weeks ago a survivor of Forced Marriage came to us. This is now a more common occurrence, in our country. This survivor experienced very severe violence and trauma imposed upon her by her most trusted people.. her family. No young girl, woman, or child should have to endure this pain. Let alone in their own home.
This girl is the bubbliest, sweetest, kindest and most positive young lady and you would never know by meeting her that she was hiding such heavy secrets. She even said, “I truly only wish my family well, in spite of what they did to me. I want to know my parents are ok, and I really want them to be happy. But for me to move forward, I know that I need to hide from my parents.” This amazing young lady is attending as many of our Survivor School classes as she can. She wants to be an Engineer. And she will. This is true resilience.
Ove the next 16 days we will be posting more stories of survivors finding freedom, so you and read and share.
There is much work to be done to end this crime, but we believe it can be done. We believe Australia can be the first country in the world without slavery.
Reducing Slavery of Women and Girls Globally
75% of global slavery (40million people) are in Asia Pacific. This is our turf, our neighbours more more importantly our shopping grounds.
To help reduce slavery in Asia Pacific we are training companies of all sizes, to check the risk of slavery in their supply chains and prepare a Modern Slavery Statement as required by law, or to report voluntarily. We believe the more businesses we can have prioritising this issue the more impact we can have on ending global slavery and the abuse of women and girls.
You can read more below in in how you can be involved in helping survivors find freedom. The abuse and exploitation of women and girls should not happen in Australia.
Tomorrows article: An Australian story of freedom from Sexual Servitude.
ABOUT 16 DAYS OF FREEDOM
Thank you for your part in this 16 Days of Freedom. We cannot change culture without awareness so please share this post with your friends. Here are the hashtags for your share: #16daysoffreedom #freedomhuborg #womensrights #orangetheworld
16 Days of Freedom is a campaign we are running to align with the UN awareness campaign United Nations’ UNiTE campaign on gender violence against women and girls. We are focussing on women and girls in slavery. For 16 days we will post a story to highlight the issue. To end the 16days we invite you to come to or host a Festive High Tea for Human Rights. These will be held on or near the UN Human Rights Day on the 10th December.
You can join our High Tea for Human Rights in Waterloo, Sydney, by clicking HERE.
You can Host your own High Tea by registering HERE and we will send you an information and fact sheet to read or distribute to your guests.
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ OUR BLOG (Please review it or share it with others).
Join our Community
If you would like to support a survivor or our work, donate here. (tax deductible)
Would you like to volunteer? contact us here. We need volunteers and ambassadors in every major town and city in Australia in 2021.
Or if you would like to get our monthly up date, opt in here.
–
Other blogs you might enjoy:
How Covid Isolation Impacted our Survivors
Convicted of Forced Labour in Victoria Australia