This winter season we collaborated with charity partner Forget Me Not Australia to help raise awareness about the troubling issue of child trafficking into orphanages in Nepal, India and Uganda. Our Big Love, Big Life fashion designer, Dui created a range of pieces filled with everyone's natural gift… a SMILE!
Since the campaign launch in May this year Boom Shankar has sold 198 Smile products to people Australia-wide and all around the world including NZ, USA, Canada, and India. Together we have helped to spread the message to over 250,000 people.
While a smile is a small gesture, it is an easy gift to share with a stranger. But there are times when it can be hard to smile, this is especially the case for children who are taken from their families.
Everyday in the remote and rural areas of Nepal, India and Uganda children are being trafficked from their family homes into orphanages. This is an all too common occurrence and we need your help to stop it.
While children's faces beam at the opportunity of being promised a good education and a better future, parents unsuspectingly send their children off with those thought to be government officials, thinking it is for the best. But in reality, their smiles are quashed in an instant as they are taken by child traffickers and put into orphanages as a form of modern-day slavery to attract altruistic tourist dollars.
International child rights lawyer and co-founder of Forget Me Not Australia, Dr Kathryn E. van Doore unveiled the horrible truth that more than 80% of children in orphanages have families and parents and are a victim of child trafficking.
It is through our SMILE FOR A SMILE campaign that we aim to reverse this issue and help put a smile on the faces of the children in the care of Forget Me Not Australia. Our goal is to raise much-needed funds for the charity and raise awareness, that’s why we make a cash donation for every Boom Shankar SMILE product sold. Equally as important is to spread awareness and the message that orphanages are no place for children.
After hearing Forget Me Not Australia’s story and how they are paving the way for change in orphanages, Dui knew deep in her heart that she wanted to help.
“It is only through educating people about the harsh reality of orphanages, that we can stop the general public from supporting them. There are much better ways to help children stay at home.” - Dui
The money YOU help us raise assists Forget Me Not’s reunification efforts and helps fund ways to support these children so they can experience what life is really like and learn valuable life-long skills.
To put an end to orphanages is no simple task.
Children as young as toddlers must first be reunited with their loving families and an ongoing wave of support must be kept to maintain a well-educated and supported family environment. The other stage includes legislative changes and agreements with governments to shut down these child trafficking institutions and ensure no unethical institution is set up in the future.
It is through storytelling, awareness and campaigns that we share Forget Me Not Australia’s messages with you. But we also seek your assistance in spreading the word about the charity’s efforts because, in the end, your spreading of awareness is helping put a smile on a child.
