A Smiling New ‘Free The Girls’ Entrepreneur
Free The Girls
by Kelly Pavelich
What’s the significance of a bra? For the women of Mozambique, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, second-hand bras are a way to a better life. Through ‘Free The Girls,’ a Denver-based nonprofit, female victims of sex trafficking in these developing countries have access to donated bras that enable the women to start their own second-hand businesses selling them. The women’s first shipment of bras is free, allowing them to start their new ventures without any initial costs. These bras, which are considered luxury goods, can then be sold at higher prices for a profit. After selling an initial shipment and obtaining newfound revenue, women are able to purchase additional shipments at discounted prices.
The founders of Free the Girls, Kimba Langas and Dave Terpstra, recognize that many victims of human trafficking were taken as young girls. As a result, many of these girls, who upon rescue are by then old enough to be called women, lack the skills to make a safe living; Free The Girls helps them with this. In this way, the nonprofit’s support is lifesaving, and not just for the survivors themselves, but as many of them are mothers by the time they get involved with Free The Girls, for their children as well.
Such was the case with Fatima, a survivor of human trafficking from Mozambique who had five children. Free The Girls provided her with the finances to build a home for her family and start her own business, which she used to purchase land and animals and to build a brick house with her own two hands. “She is putting all five of her children through school, has pigs she’s raising, and wants to start a farm on her land,” says Selah Davenport, former Director of Administrative Operations at Free The Girls. “Can you imagine all she can do without having to pay rent or buy all her food?”
Another survivor of human trafficking, Natasha, was born and raised in Uganda. After being offered a fake receptionist job, she was tricked into going to China and Thailand where she was forced to be a sex slave. Upon her rescue, Natasha was diagnosed with HIV, stage four cervical cancer, and hepatitis B, each disease attributed to her sexual exploitation. She turned to Free The Girls, which helped her set up her own store in a village in Uganda where she sold bras, bread and sugar. The income she was able to generate went, in part, to her medical care.
This holistic approach is a cornerstone of Free The Girls’ ethos. Selah Davenport believes that Free The Girls is unique because it understands that freedom “means more than getting away from [the] trafficker.” In fact, Free The Girls recognizes the three R’s of justice for human trafficking: rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration. This idea was what drew Executive Director of Free The Girls, Dr. Courtney Skiera-Vaughn, to the organization. “We try to engage individuals into thinking differently about freedom,” says Skiera-Vaughn, who defines freedom as a “holistic redemption” that is “our heartbeat - being a catalyst for women into wholeness.”
According to Free The Girls’ ethos, each survivor possesses a layered and unique concept of freedom, a concept that has physical, mental, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and economic aspects. Key to this freedom is income generation. By earning money - in a safe way - women can meet their basic needs, and may eventually own their own home, all key steps in becoming financially independent.
Another benefit of this system is that women are able to engage other women. Selling second-hand bras nearly ensures that women are the customers, creating a safe environment for transactions to take place. Selling bras also has a limited impact on the local economy. Meaning, other women in the community who do not utilize Free The Girls and produce their own clothing will be able to successfully continue their businesses.
In the past five years, Free The Girls has added to its already robust program. It now collaborates with in-country program partners to offer psycho-social support to survivors. It also offers education assistance both to survivors and to their children. In fact, 100 % of the survivors' children attend school.
In addition, Free The Girls now offers two separate streams of job skills training. The first is entrepreneurial for women who love working for themselves and being their own boss. Training includes market research, viability studies, and 'how to do this new venture of yours well.' The second job skills training is employment training for women who prefer the safety and security of a job at an established business.
One of Free The Girls' most popular new ventures is its Inheritance Project initiative that allows women preparing to graduate from a Free The Girls program to be eligible to receive a grant that the organization will match up to $1,000. In other words, whatever amount of money the women have managed to save for education, a new business venture, land, or house, Free The Girls will match it up to $1,000 USD for up to three years after they graduate.
How incredible that such a simple concept, selling second-hand bras, women’s undergarments that are so easily discarded in wealthier parts of the world, could transform lives. But they do. By selling them, women in developing countries - who have gone through hell - can finally have increased control over “their future and the future of their children,” says Davenport emphatically.
To see how you can support Free The Girls, visit www.Freethegirls.org – and please tell them SistersGeographic sent you!