As part of the work we do in education, my wife Terry and I are committed to promoting a world in which all children live in freedom. This is why we support the Tronie Foundation in its work to ensure that all children live free of exploitation and have the opportunity to laugh, play and go to school. Many estimates agree that there are now about 27 million slaves in the world, more than at the height of institutionalized slavery in the 19th century. These are men, women and children held against their will with the threat of violence and little or no pay to do what ever their owners demand. Often these are what are known as 3D jobs -- dirty difficult and dangerous -- that few people with a free choice would tolerate. It's estimated that roughly half of all slaves are children.
The good news is that there are people and organizations around the world fighting separately and together to end slavery in all of its forms. They range from government agencies to private foundations and the, often heroic, efforts of lone individuals. All are committed to ending practices that degrade all of us. One such organization is the Tronie Foundation.
Rani and Tron are acting from first-hand experience. They found their separate ways to the United States as children. Rani was sold and resold into slavery as a child in India and then into illegal adoption in the USA. Tron was shipwrecked off the coast of Vietnam after his father's desperate attempt to save him from being abducted as a boy soldier. As adults and parents, they are now committed to the global struggle to offer the gift of freedom to every child.
People around the world are ringing in a New Year. This could also be a new time of awakening. For the United States, freedom is a founding principle. Here especially we should support those who do so much to defend it on our behalf and for the children we all say we cherish. Take a look.
http://TronieFoundation.org/donate
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