Last year, a friend from my university days cut off his beautiful, curly, long hair. Yes, he shaved it all off! Why? Because Mat has a big passion. A passion that will see him do anything to spread the word that people are still being trafficked in the 21st Century.
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| Mat before, after and now. See the shave here |
And now he wants you! Mat is on a mission to stop this generation becoming more apathetic towards social justice. His tool of choice is social media. The reason: we are spending more and more time on social media so if you want to make people care, take it to Facebook! For a better explanation of this, watch the video below:
Mat’s passion is catching. People all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are using #NotAnObject to share photos of them holding signs telling the world that ‘I Am Not An Object’. In fact, it is so catchy that even in my small rural town ten people took the time to have their photo taken for the campaign.
These ten people joined me in the cold December weather to make a stand against human trafficking. But why bother having our photos taken? What effect can these photos have? Well, if you watched the video, you will know that any photos Mat’s group are given will be paired up with facts about the modern slave trade. For we respond to visual stimuli better than words yet words relay facts better. Mat is now combining the two to grab your interest in order to raise awareness of slavery.
What can you do?
So, you have heard what Mat has to say. You’ve seen and heard about what eleven people in my town did. But what will you do?
- Take your own photo. Get a cardboard sign reading I Am Not An Object or People Are Not Products and snap yourself holding it. Then send it to Mat via https://www.facebook.com/iamnotanobject.
- Visit http://slaveryfootprint.org/my-footprint to find out how many slaves work for you. (49 work for me. I hate that!)
- Visit http://europe.love146.org for more information on 21st Century human trafficking.
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