Hey ma, look I'm on tv.

I've made a few cameos on tv since my start here with my work, Pacific Links Foundation with their anti human trafficking project, ADAPT. For those that don't know already we combat human trafficking at the borders of Vietnam through grassroots efforts. This is a different way of learning about what my organization does. See if you can spot me in some.=)

CBS

PBS (Forward to 4:50 to get to my org!)

A video myself and a fellow volunteer put together for SF State. =)

Lastly, my thoughts on women's empowerment and my work. I wrote this in an email to someone today. It may be a bit out of context (you don't need to know), but the ideas that I wrote best summarize my thoughts on why I am here.

For me the work of PALS and ADAPT redefines the definition of women's empowerment to mean much more...

Scholarship, life skills and vocational training dive into the power that all women and girls are born with, the power that they already have in themselves. I think that the word "Empowerment" is a very powerful one, far from being "soft" and "general." One that derives from the idea that girls and women are innately strong and powerful. And while many organizations have maybe used that word, I think our 10 years of work redefines "empowerment" and shows what it's really about. Personally for me, living here for two years, seeing and meeting the faces of young girls and women of our programs I know they are very strong, very resilient. For trafficking returnees our work is more than "freeing themselves" from slavery per say, more so they need help in realizing what has and always been in them. ADAPT does helps girls and women realize the power inside them. We empower them. 

Also the definition of empowerment: "Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this process are actions which both build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the organizational and institutional context which govern the use of these assets."


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Have you ever met someone who didn't believe in themselves? 
It's a very disheartening experience


Have you ever tried to make someone believe in themselves?
It's a very disheartening experience


Have you ever believed in someone, more so than they believed in themselves?

It's a very disheartening experience

but you can only do what you can
you should say what you can
because you don't know what kind of impact your words can have on a person if at all.
Silence will not, I know that for sure.