Most kids are lured into sex slavery because they don’t know the deceptive tactics of traffickers. Wherever awareness training takes place, the rate of trafficking plummets. There’s just not enough, nor is it available in the languages of most at-risk kids.

The Born to Fly Project is a strategic 4-stage plan to educate kids, parents, and teachers about the dangers of child trafficking—with the ultimate goal of ending it.

Stage 1: Write a children’s book called Born to Fly, an allegory about the world of child trafficking that teaches kids to make wise choices as they pursue their dreams.

Stage 2: Develop a wordless book based on the Born to Fly storyline and distribute it to kids worldwide. Why wordless? So we don’t have to translate it into hundreds of languages—saving thousands of hours and dollars.

Stage 3: Produce a companion curriculum to teach children the important concepts found in the wordless book, and distribute it to schools, community centers, and NGOs worldwide.

Stage 4: Create multimedia awareness materials including posters, fliers, DVDs, web-based games, etc. to supplement and expand on the B2F message.

The Born to Fly materials can be used for years to come. They have the potential to change the lives of millions of children as we teach them, “You were born to fly—don’t settle for less.”

Read the article "Stop Child Slavery Now" by Diana Scimone in Charisma, November 2009.

The Statistics:

1.2 million: Number of children trafficked each year for sex around the world. (UNICEF)

11: Average age of sex workers around the world. Some are as young as 5 years old. (CIA)

100,000: Number of children and young women who are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11. (FBI/ABC News)

200,000: Number of U.S. children at risk for commercial sexual exploitation. (US Department of Justice)

30: Number of years that U.S. citizens can spend in prison if they’re convicted of traveling to another country and engage in child sexual tourism. (US State Department)

$9.5 billion: Amount of money generated annually by human trafficking. (FBI)

3rd: Ranking of human trafficking among all income-generating syndicates (drugs and guns hold the top spots). (Stop the Traffic)

We can change these statistics!

“Given all the power and resources that God has placed in the hands of humankind, I have yet to see any injustice of humankind that could not also be stopped by humankind. I find myself sympathizing with a God who, speaking through the ancient prophet, told his people, ‘You have wearied the Lord with your words...by saying,...”Where is the God of justice?”‘ (Malachi 2:17 NIV)...The more I have come to know him, the harder it has become for me to ask such a God to explain where he has been. In fact, surprisingly, I don’t generally hear the victims of abuse doubting the presence of God either. Much more often I hear them asking me, ‘Where have you been?’”
—Gary Haughen, president, International Justice Mission, from Terrify No More

“Imagine what a dent we could make in the trafficking pipeline if we could educate girls and their parents before the traffickers show up at their doorstep. That’s the goal of the Born to Fly child-trafficking awareness project: to produce materials that educate at-risk kids and their families. Traffickers willingly pay $300 to buy a little girl. It costs much less to tell her (and her parents) that she’s not for sale.”
—Diana Scimone, founder and director, Born to Fly International

“When you choose to look past the horizon, the sky is the limit.”
—Anonymous