LF_110818

4 | November 8, 2018 | The lake forest leader NEWS
LakeForestLeader.com
Local organization shines light on global slave trade
Katie Copenhaver
Freelance Reporter
In the safe north suburbs
of Chicago, it’s hard to believe
that half a world away
in Ghana, West Africa, human
trafficking (modern
slavery) is still prevalent.
Raising awareness of this
issue was one purpose of
the Right To Be Free’s annual
reception Sunday,
Nov. 4 at Knollwood Club
in Lake Forest. The free
public reception served as a
general information session
for the organization as well
as a fundraiser to support
its ongoing mission.
Lori Dillon, president
and founder of Right To Be
Free and a longtime Lake
Forest resident, pointed
out in her presentation that
the International Labor Organization
estimates 40.3
million adults and children
worldwide work and live in
slavery. Her organization
is trying to alleviate the
problem on a local level in
Ghana.
The Lake Forest-based
nonprofit partners with
Right to Life/Africa in
Ghana to rescue, rehabilitate
and reintegrate children
who have been lured
into slavery. African native
Eric Peasah, an employee
of the U.N. agency the International
Organization
for Migration, also serves
as executive director of the
Ghana branch of Right To
Be Free and employs two
additional staff members.
“He’s honest to the
core,” said Dillon of
Peasah, who trains and
works closely with Interpol,
the Anti-Trafficking
Unit of the Ghana Police
Service, the Department of
Social Welfare, the Ministry
of Gender, Children and
Social Protection, Ghana
Immigration Service, the
Anti-Human Trafficking
Secretariat, law enforcement,
anti-terrorism and
security forces, NGOs and
intergovernmental organizations
who seek his expertise
to influence policy and
combat human trafficking
in Ghana and the West African
Sub-Saharan region.
Dillon explained that
she connected with Peasah
after watching a television
program on human trafficking
in Africa in which he
was profiled. She saw the
need to help stop slavery
and began working to raise
money and collaborate
with other human rights
organizations to support
Peasah’s onsite work.
Dillon started her nonprofit
in 2011, while Peasah
had been operating for at
least a decade longer.
“Human trafficking is
the fastest growing criminal
industry in the world,”
she said during her presentation.
“It is second in size
to the illegal drug trade,”
she continued and noted
that those two industries
plus the illegal arms trade
overlap and are “incestuous,”
so reducing any one
of them makes an impact
toward reducing all three.
Her presentation at the
reception showed some
of the children who have
been recently helped by
the organization. Fishing
and gold mining are two
industries that rely heavily
on child slaves. Some of
the children flee dysfunctional
family lives hoping
that through employment
they will have better lives.
However, many of them
have not attended school
and are illiterate, so they
unknowingly sign contracts
that bind them to masters.
Other times parents think
that sending their children
off to work in lucrative industries
will help support
their families and also do
not realize they are dealing
with illegal slave traders.
Dillon also talked about
the organization’s prevention
initiatives, which are
Boots for Books, educational
outreach and a
micro-grant program.
Boots for Books provides
funds for children who
are currently not enrolled
in school with reading instruction
and soccer training,
which culminates in
an annual competition in
both. The educational outreach
program is working
with five communities,
where human trafficking is
endemic, to teach parents,
plus the village chiefs and
elders, how to avoid human
traffickers who seek
to recruit their women and
children. The micro-grant
program gives seed money
to the most vulnerable female-headed
households so
they can learn to produce
something that will support
their families, from charcoal
making to gardening
to raising animals.
Among the event attendees
were Crystal Dyer and
James Bowers, who are
business partners from Chicago.
Dyer owns the Gone
Again Travel and Tours
agency and Bowers is an
attorney who concentrates
in civil rights and owns
Turn Back the Hands of
Time Antiques. They are in
the same building, owned
by Bowers, on Chicago Avenue
in the west side Austin
neighborhood.
Dyer also operates the
nonprofit Chicago Austin
Youth Travel Adventures,
which provides cultural
programming to inner city
Please see trade, 8
No Sound Bites...
Just Sound Facts
Today’s older adults are savvier than ever. They want facts
and straight talk. So we’d like to share an interesting fact
about our Life Plan Community.
Each year we conduct a survey of residents to find out
how we’re doing. And when they were asked if they would
recommend us to others…
ARRANGE A
PERSONAL VISIT
SAID THEY WOULD
RECOMMEND LAKE
93 % FOREST PLACE
That’s a pretty convincing majority – which should
entice you to take a closer look at everything our Life
Plan Community has to offer. To learn more, visit us at
lakeforestplace.org/facts.
1100 PEMBRIDGE DRIVE
LAKE FOREST | 888-570-8466
Lori Dillon (left), a Lake Forest resident and president and founder of Right To Be
Free, talks to attendees at a reception for her nonprofit organization Sunday, Nov. 4,
at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest. Alex Newman/22nd Century Media