In the last month we’ve run some prevention programs for people in vulnerable situations. We hope that they really understand the truth in what we share with them, but just as importantly, we want to make sure they know who they can contact if they are ever trafficked, or worried about being trafficked. We’d only done one program so far and it was just for women so we had some chap sticks with toll-free numbers printed on labels stuck on the inside. In Moldova we planned to give the same sort of thing to the girls in a state-run transition home but we didn’t want to give the boys chap sticks and it was super hard to find something similar that they boys would want enough to keep (the whole idea is that they have the toll-free number to call).
It took ages to try and think of something better to give the guys, and the day before we left Tim had the idea of doing some card tricks for them (cos who doesn’t like card tricks, right?). The tricks would illustrate the concepts of being manipulated easily, being transported without anyone knowing and about not having control. The tricks worked really well and the guys were really engaged, and at the end Tim gave them all a deck of cards and taught them some simple tricks.
Most importantly though, one of the cards (a joker) had the toll-free number on it that they could call to check the legitimacy of job offers or if they found themselves in some trouble abroad. Tim was really happy with how it all went; he got them to put the card with the number in their wallets or the back of their phone and it seems to be something unique and special that they will remember for a while. Even as the team was leaving some of the guys were still talking trying to practice the tricks and saying that they were looking forward to us coming back again soon.