To India, with love.

Written by Bill and Nichole McCharen (of Hundred Year Storm)
VOCALIST STEPHEN CHRISTIAN AND FRIEND, SARAH FREEMAN, SPONSORED A TRIP TO
KOLKATA, INDIA WITH MEMBERS FROM SHOWBREAD, ANBERLIN, HUNDRED YEAR STORM,
AND CLASSIC CRIME AS WELL AS STAFF FROM TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS (TWLOHA) AND
MEMBERS OF XXX CHURCH. THIS TRIP WAS THE FIRST MOVE FOR THE NEWLY FOUNDED
FACELESS INTERNATIONAL TO HELP BRING AWARENESS ABOUT HUMAN MODERN DAY PRACTICE OF SLAVERY, IN INDIA AND AROUND THE WORLD

“I felt like I was in a mix of the National Geographic magazine and the Crazy Taxi video game,” Matt
MacDonald, vocalist of Classic Crime, explained about his initial impressions of Kolkata, India. “It
felt like the four of us crammed in the taxi couldn’t decide whether to scream for our lives or for the
people we saw on the street. It was shocking, to say the least.” It was clear at this point in the
trip that navigating this foreign city would prove to be challenging and different. For many of the
volunteers, this was their first time on a trip like this. Deon Rexroat, bassist of Anberlin said, “My first thoughts were, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ But that quickly changed after I met everyone at Apne Aap and realized what we would be doing and how much of an impact it could potentially
have.”

In one of the red light districts, the group walked the busy streets filled with people, homeless
dogs, beggars, and waste; but this was not what impacted them most. It was watching a 16-year-old
girl standing on the corner for sale surrounded by her peers dressed in provocative clothing. Many
children also ran freely on the streets. The group visited a late night shelter for the children in the
midst of the red light district and Jamie Tworkowski, founder of TWLOHA, was deeply moved, “Today
was when everything changed for me. Ten little girls live in the shelter as either their mothers are
prostitutes or dead. It was heavy beyond words, I wanted to cry, scream, fight.”

UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year primarily for sexual exploitation
and cheap labor. Many of the young girls that are sold into sexual slavery, are kidnapped,
deceived, or drugged. After being sold to the brothel for about $1,000 dollars, they are beaten,
malnourished, and forced to have sex. Many of the girls contract AIDS or other STDs. When Christian
and Freeman first learned about this, they were burdened to learn more first-hand and spread
awareness. They formed Faceless International to focus on educating, equipping, and mobilizing
the willing through first-hand, real-life experiences in places of need all around the world. Faceless
International also has a unique focus on the music scene, because of Christian’s obvious influence.
After understanding how severe the problem of sex trafficking is in India, they felt like it was a
good place to go learn more about the issue. They made connections with Stateside non-profit, The
Emancipation Network (TEN), to partner together in a trip to Kolkata, India.

TEN has been fighting trafficking since 2005. They partner with anti-trafficking organizations to
economically empower survivors of trafficking or those at risk of being trafficked through
development of craft programs. They import and sell these handicrafts in the U.S. In their first eight
months of operation, they sent over $50,000 back to their overseas partners, which paid a salary to
many of the girls making the handicrafts, supported trafficking prevention, legal aid, and rescue being
done by their partners. Their work provides opportunities for survivors to live independently,
provides an alternative to those at risk, and helps support anti-traffi cking organizations. They have
also been educating Americans about human trafficking all over the nation through small
group settings where these handicrafts are sold. TEN routinely visits their anti-trafficking partner
organizations several times a year to ensure fair practices and maintain positive relationships and
communication.
The vision of the trip was to learn more about human trafficking, assist the anti-trafficking partner
organizations, and for the bands to adopt the issue of human trafficking as an issue they want
to educate their fans about with the possibility of selling Made By Survivor (TEN) products on their
tours. “It only costs about $80 a month for one girl to be fully employed and to live independently
outside the shelter. When the older girls become independent, this also makes room at the shelter
for new survivors,” explained Chandranath Nag, San Laap’s craft director. Deon Rexroat expressed the following: “I was intrigued by the idea of the trip, but I had no idea what we would actually see and experience. I honestly had few expectations and mainly just wanted to be helpful in some way.”

Throughout the week the group worked at Apne Aap’s Kiddepore Center, located blocks away from a red light district, leading a week of workshops for the children in music, dance, and art. The end of the week finished with a grand finale where the groups presented a dance, music, and a mural and shared a meal. These times of music and art brought joy and hope to the Kiddepore Center. “A highlight of the trip was singing and playing with the kids. They laughed and played and sang in the face of such adversity, it brought a new kind of joy to my heart,” shared Matt McDonald.

From Tuesday through Thursday, small groups from the team started going out to the San Laap shelter
to visit and volunteer amongst survivors. Trisha Ivy, staff member of To Write Love on Her Arms, shared
her experience, saying: “I sat next to a girl who had been forced into prostitution. She was rescued out
of it at the age of 13. How long she had been in it, I don’t know. She sat with me and sang for me her
favorite song. She told me of her past, her family that is gone, and how at night, crying on her pillow,
she sings herself to sleep.” The workshops were a success and the girls had a lot of fun doing the arts,
crafts, songs, and music and the team was deeply moved in many ways.

Despite the horror of human trafficking, heroes and survivors emerge out of the tragedy. Many women
and girls have overcome the horrors committed against them and are now fighting against it. The
volunteers’ lives were changed forever. Rexroat said, “I haven’t stopped thinking about Apne Aap,
San Laap, and the girls there. What changed me the most was meeting and working with the
girls and being able to put a human face on the problem.”

At this time, many of the bands have partnered with TEN and will begin selling Made By Survivor products at their live shows. Bill McCharen, lead singer of Hundred Year Storm, said, “My life is marked forever. We hope to spread awareness about the issue and see freedom and hope brought to these girls as well as others rise up to fight this atrocity.”