World Hope Freedom Sundays campaign info and materials.
As one of the premier anti-trafficking organizations operating in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and Azerbaijan, World Hope International aids human trafficking victims in their path to a safe, healthy life through a two-fold approach: emergency aftercare centers and community-based prevention education programs. In Sierra Leone specifically, the successes of WHI’s approach have been recognized by the U.S. Department of State.
“World Hope International has been an essential partner in the fight against human trafficking,” said Michael Owen, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone. “Through support for the Government of Sierra Leone’s anti-trafficking efforts, and by establishing a world-class shelter and rehabilitation center in Freetown, the organization has dramatically increased local capacity to protect trafficking victims. World Hope International’s continued involvement will help to ensure that Sierra Leone maintains this positive momentum.”
Opened in February 2012, WHI’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Recovery Center in Sierra Leone is the only holistic high-trauma aftercare center operating in the country and is modeled after WHI’s Assessment Center in Cambodia — a facility regarded as a “best in-practice” by the U.S. State Department.
World Hope International encourages Wesleyans to join their month-long Freedom Sundays campaign. The campaign engages churches to fight human trafficking, both via awareness advocacy as well as fundraising. Also, engage with Freedom Sundays on social media – via Facebook, Twitter, etc.
A few easy ways to engage:
- · Change your profile picture to WHI’s “BREAK THE CHAINS” photo
- o Changing your profile picture can be the easiest way to show your friends and family your support for a campaign or organization. By changing your picture, you’re telling your Facebook or Twitter friends that you’re standing up to slavery and breaking the chains.
- o On Facebook, make sure you adjust your photo “fit to scale” so that the whole graphic is shown.
- o On Facebook, include a description along with your photo. Something along the lines of: “As you’re celebrating your freedom and independence this July, will you remember the 27 million people trapped in the cycle of human trafficking? Join World Hope International and me in breaking the chains of slavery this July with Freedom Sundays: www.worldhope.org/freedomsundays
- · Share World Hope International’s statuses this month
- o Simply re-post statuses you see on WHI’s Fan Facebook page. This month all posts will focus solely on anti-trafficking efforts. Re-posting helps spread the word, educate new people and potentially engage new donors.
- · Re-tweet World Hope International’s tweets
- o The same goes for Twitter as Facebook
- · Use hashtag #FreedomSundays
- o The more hashtags that are used with “FreedomSundays” on Twitter and Facebook (yes, Facebook is now tracking hashtags as well), the more likely the term is to begin trending, which means the more likely the campaign is to gain momentum and new followers.
On top of social media, it is of course recommended you encourage your own churches to consider Freedom Sunday – through advocacy, fundraising or even both.
The campaign itself is throughout the month of July, so feel free to do any or all of the above at any time throughout the next month. The ultimate goal is that as many people as possible will have their eyes opened to the 27 million slaves still in our world today as they are celebrating their own freedom and independence this July.
If there are any questions or additional suggestions, please do not hesitate to e-mail!
Many thanks!
Gayle Campbell
