環(huán)球英語—962:Business that Stops Slavery: Nomi Network

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Steve Myersco.
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And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Nomi was eight years old. But she was already a survivor of sexual slavery. As a very young girl, she was forced to have sex with men for money. She suffered much abuse. As a result of the abuse she suffered as a sexual slave she now suffers from mental disability. She can never live a normal life.
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But today, Nomi does have hope. She is living in a Christian rehabilitation home in Cambodia. Here, she spends time with other women who have had similar experiences, other survivors of sexual slavery. She can run, laugh, and play with her friends. She can care for animals. She can go to school.
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Nomi, and other girls and women like her, are an inspiration for Diana Mao and Alissa Moore. These women created the Nomi Network. This group was named after Nomi. It works to stop sexual slavery. The Nomi Network does not use traditional methods to fight this problem. Instead, it uses business. Today's Spotlight is on the Nomi Network and their effort to stop sexual slavery.
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Nomi Network began with Diana Mao. Diana was a student at NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Through her studies, she visited Cambodia. Her research team talked with people in five different areas. Through her interviews Diana saw a great need. She talked with women in villages who made less than a dollar a day.
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Extreme poverty like this creates risk for women and children. It means they usually have no education or special skills. In particular, poverty puts them at risk for becoming involved in sexual slavery. Women may be tricked into becoming sexual slaves. Or they may feel as if they must do it to earn money to live.
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Diana saw how mothers and fathers felt the need to give their children away for money. Parents do not give their children away because they want to lose their children. But they may not have enough money to take care of their children. A trafficker may lie to the parents. He may say the child is going to a good school in a different area. He may say he is giving the child a chance at a better life. A trafficker may also just take a child without her parent's knowing. In the cities Diana also saw the future for these children. She observed young girls sold to very old men for sex.
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These experiences influenced Diana. She wanted to help. In an interview with Doree Shafrir, Diana tells what she did after she returned to the United States.
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"I came back and I did not know what to do. So, I thought I would gather a few people from church and we could talk about the issue and pray about it. Alissa was one of the five people who came. We prayed about it together."
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Alissa also cared about the issue of sexual slavery. But, like Diana, she did not know what she could DO to help stop the problem. Sexual slavery is a problem all over the world. The organization Free the Slaves estimates that there are more slaves today than there have ever been in history. They believe there are about 27 million slaves worldwide. Some of these are sexual slaves. They are forced to have sex to earn money. Many also experience torture, starvation, threats to themselves or their families, or the forced killing of their unborn babies.
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Sometimes it is impossible for survivors to EVER live a normal life. This was the situation for Nomi. Diana and Alissa met Nomi on one of their visits there. They want people to know Nomi's story. They want people to know the damage of sexual slavery. And they want people to see the hope for survivors.
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One of the reasons sexual slavery continues is that it is a very successful business. And some people make a lot of money because of it. Diana and Alissa knew that working against this business would be very difficult, maybe even impossible. But these two women use an interesting method to fight sexual slavery. They use business to fight it!
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The Nomi Network works through three main ways. First, they create jobs for survivors of sexual slavery. For example, they teach the women how to make carrying bags. In the future they hope to make different kinds of clothing too. Many women and children who escape sexual slavery suffer long term effects like diseases or disabilities. They may feel ashamed about their lives - even if they had no choice. They may have no way to earn money. The Nomi Network also creates jobs for women who are at risk for becoming sexual slaves. These women may be at risk because of their economic or social situations.
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So, the Nomi Network invests in the lives of these women and children. Nomi Network provides training. They also provide health care, care for the women's children, and insurance. Most importantly, they provide enough money that the women can live better lives. Women are no longer forced to be sex workers to earn enough money to care for their families.
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Second, Nomi Network sends skilled designers to work with survivors. These designers help survivors create a high quality, useful product. A better quality product means people will spend more money on it. They will be more willing to buy it.
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Finally, Nomi Network connects people who want to buy slave-free products with businesses that sell slave-free products. Nomi Network helps people who care about this issue to make wise decisions with the money they spend. The Nomi Network says that every time a person buys a fairly traded product, they are helping to support good labor methods. They are helping to stop slavery of all kinds.
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For now, Nomi Network works mostly in Cambodia. But they hope to expand their work to other countries too - to countries where slavery is common. They hope that in the future, people are more interested in buying products MADE BY women, and not interested in buying the women themselves.
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The writer and producer of this program was Liz Waid. The voices were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes have been adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. Computer users can hear more programs, read our scripts and see our word list on our website at www.radio.english.net. This program is called "Business That Stops Slavery: Nomi Network."
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