It would be so much easier to write something nice and fluffy but I along with KarryOn made a commitment to support “Project Karma”.
In mid-August myself, Matt Leedham from KarryOn (who flew down for the meeting), Glen Hulley and Carissa Pritchard met to discuss how we could support Project Karma. To support something you need to get on board, to get on board you need to understand.
There is nothing easy about coming to understand child exploitation and slavery. Please do though.
Not very fun fact number one
“25 known pedophiles per week fly from Australia to the number one city for pedophiles”.
That’s not 25 dodgy offenders, not 25 suspicious characters, but 25 known sex offenders who have spent time in jail for sex offence on minors.
Around 1,200 paedophiles per annum to one city, the world number one destination for child sex offences.
You want to know where it is?
Less than fun fact number two
Where is the current number one city in the world for paedophiles?
Bali. It’s held that title for nearly a year now.
Of the ‘popular’ destinations, Indonesia is the only country that has not tightened up on child sex offenders. In fairness though, the judicial process means it can only happen once somebody lays a complaint.
So where else do they like to go?
Getting uncomfortable fact number three
Looking at some to statistics from 2012 onwards:
In a 12 month period, 1,194 of the 14,000 offenders on the Australian National Child Offender Registry travelled overseas but, because most were not considered at risk of re-offending, no warnings were issued in 83 percent of cases.
Where do they go?
The 10 top countries known sex offenders visited in a year included: Denpasar; Singapore; Bangkok; Kuala Lumpur; Auckland; Nadi; Hong Kong; Manila; Dubai; and Wellington.
Alarming fact number four
“The campaigning group Free The Slaves estimates that around 21-30 million people worldwide are trapped in slavery.” Another site says 27 million. Another one suggests it’s 21-36 million.
There is no better way to explain why we need to take notice than this comment from Free Slaves:
“Slavery flows into our homes, offices, and schools through many of the products we buy. Slaves harvest cocoa in West Africa, and it ends up in our chocolate. Slaves make charcoal in Brazil, which is used to run smelters; raw materials such as tomatoes, tuna, shrimp, cotton, diamonds, iron, sugar, and gold are produced through slavery.”
Yes, the travel industry is connected.
Fact five: there is hope.
It’s a really to get people on board to support because it’s so bloody hard to discuss. It’s so much easier to say ‘how about we sponsor a school’ or ‘let’s restore some historical art work at a tourist destination’.
Definitely worthy causes but the dollars they raise are not helping stop kids being abused.
But there is hope.
Over the coming weeks and months we are hoping that you will be brave enough and bold enough to keep reading with us about the journey of Project Karma and Glen Hulley.
Don’t ignore the elephant in the room.
