Stop the Traffik

April's extremely worthy Charity of the Month (in which I donate 10% of all pattern proceeds to the designated charity) was Stop the Traffik, and because I'm a horrible blogger and failed to say anything about it, it's getting May's proceeds, too.

What is Stop the Traffik?
According to UNICEF, 1.2 million children are bought and sold each year. Children. They're sold as everything from slaves to pick the cocoa beans that make the chocolate on our grocery store shelves, as adopted children, as sex slaves.

Sometimes we get desensitized by the numbers, so let's put that in more imaginable terms:

The entire population of San Diego.
One and a half Birminghams.
One and a half Calgarys.
Munich
Prague
Four Cardiffs.

All children, every year.

That's not even accounting for the adult women that are trafficked each year.

So what does Stop the Traffik do? It is, in a sense, a community of organizations that seeks to educate, engage, and advocate against human trafficking, campaigning for legal change and against the loopholes and corruption that lets innocent children and adults slide through.

From their site, donations to Stop the Traffik will help:

• Bring an end to child trafficking in the cocoa industry
• Empower the world's young people to keep those at risk safe
• Support Business Travellers to report trafficking wherever in the world they see it
• Equip communities taking action against trafficking in their neighbourhood

Visit their webpage to find out more, and what you can do to help.