Day 6

     Today was another early day. We started our day at Free the Slaves which is a non profit organization that works with local organizations in 6 different countries (Brazil, India, Ghana, Haiti, Nepal, & Dominican Republic of Congo). We met with the development and administrative coordinator of the organization, Lee McClure. He gave us a complete run down on what the organization does and future projects. He also explained to us how they have a contact person in each country where they work to provide services such as transitional schools for young children. These schools are built to provide a safe and sustainable environment that provides education and stability in their lives. Another great thing about this organization is their grassroots approach. This ensures that the community is empowered and aware of the solutions that can be used to provide a better life. Many community members are aware of the terrible problems with trafficking that are occur and are more determined to fix them.
     Lunch time. Yay! :) No, but seriously, we continued to work on our PSA. We split up into 2 groups and went around Dupont Circle. However, our group (Fareeha, Narineh, Joanne, Wendy, and Jill) went to Dupont, K Street, McPherson Square, Farragut North and West. We interviewed random people about their knowledge of human trafficking and if slavery still exists today. A lot of the people knew about the issue, so we were surprised, but what is sad is that no one takes action to try to stop this problem.
     Then, our team of 12 split up into 2 groups again and made our ways to Courtney's House and Fair Girls. At Courtney's House, we helped them organize and put away clothes for survivors. It felt really good to be doing this for the girls and knowing that it will help them when they are looking for new outfits. At Fair Girls, we had a lot of painting to get done! The previous day, the other team had painted one shade of orange on the top wall, so we came in today to put a second coat on and paint the bottom half of the walls purple! (FairGirls colors) We ended up staying past our hour and half limit because we really wanted to finish the painting for the girls in the program. The director was there and was explaining to us how these girls have been looking forward to a room with color and to call this their own space for about a year now. We ended up seeing one of the girls in the program and she was very pleased with the finished room, as were the volunteers and director! It was a truly great feeling to have accomplished something that seems so little to us to do, but for them it was such a big thing.
     It was a very long day, but it was still time to make dinner! Team A (Jill, Megan, and Nyana) made a great fried rice, chicken, and tomato babaganoush dinner. We were all starving, so this definitely fulfilled our appetites. After dinner, we had our daily reflection, which was led by Team C (Narineh, Wendy, and Daniel). We played a really fun icebreaker game which lasted for at least an hour! It was probably time for bed, BUT we decided to play frisbee in the church parking lot instead:).
    We then finished our PSA that was miraculously edited by JILL! (KUDOS TO JILL)

Until next time....

Fo'real and Gnarly Nar