Our Indiegogo campaign has now finished - but you can still donate and give vital support to our work with trafficked women by visiting our website: http://ourvoiceoffreedom.wordpress.com/donate/ 

Voice of Freedom is a participatory photography project that will work with a group of formerly trafficked women to bring their voices and stories to the world. We will run a series of workshops with the women, teaching them photography, so that they can confront and take control of their experiences – and ultimately share their stories, if they choose to do so, with worldwide anti-trafficking campaigns via exhibitions, internet campaigns and a book.

The first phase of Voice of Freedom begins in October 2013 - we will run three weeks of workshops with a group of women the Ma’agan (Harbour) Safe House for trafficked women in Petach Tikva, Israel. The house shelters women trafficked to Israel for the purpose of sex slavery, who have now escaped. Most of the women in the safe house are African, many from Eritrea. Some have given evidence against their former captors, as well as suffering traumatic and violent journeys before arriving in Israel.

Our team has spent two years developing thiis project unfunded and paying our own expenses - everything is now ready to start work with the women. But we need your help so that we can fund this pilot phase of the project - we hope to use the women's photography and narratives from the pilot phase to raise funding for in-depth work with them in the longer-term.

Voice of Freedom will work within the discipline of participatory photography – a recognised tool for advocacy and social activism where a facilitator works with a group of people, often marginalised, and teaches them to use a camera, supporting them as they define, communicate and improve their situation.

The project will offer the women in the safe house an opportunity to process what has happened to them, and the difficulties and decisions they now face, in a safe, compassionate environment. Confidentiality, anonymity and emotional welfare will be paramount, with social workers who know the women on hand at all times, and appropriate training from partner organisations for all staff and volunteers.

Workshops will be led by writer/photographer Leila Segal, and photographer Marijn Alders. The project is based in the UK and managed by Matt Daw, of charity PhotoVoice, a project partner. Other partners are Jewish human rights charity René Cassin (UK); Anti-Slavery International; and ATZUM, an NGO campaigning against trafficking in Israel. We are assisted by a team of brilliant volunteers, all dedicated to anti-trafficking activism.

Leila Segal trained as a barrister and has always been interested in advocating for women. She worked as a volunteer at Rights of Women legal centre, before going on to work on Change The Picture, a PhotoVoice project with sex workers in London's East End. She led the Jaffa Photography Project in Israel, with Arab and Jewish teenagers, and has spent two years, self-funded, developing Voice of Freedom – spending time in the safe house getting to know the community of women who will take part in the workshops, and the safe house staff. Leila has worked with trafficked women in London, and is mentoring one young woman from Nigeria as she writes and photographs the story of her trafficking and subsequent escape.

Marijn Alders is a Dutch photographer who has just completed a photographic project with Holocaust survivors in Israel, shown in Tel Aviv. Marijn is now working on a photographic project with African refugees to Israel. Part of this work in progress was selected by the Anna Lindh Foundation for their exhibition on migration in Israel. Marin has a keen interest in human rights and the use of visual media to represent and advocate for the needs of marginalised groups.

Where will my money go?

We have dedicated a lot of our own funds to this project up to this point, and we are constantly seeking to find ways to keep the administrative costs of the project as low as possible. Some of the ways we are going to do this are by:

• finding free accommodation in Tel Aviv for project workers for the duration of the workshops
• volunteers paying their own flights to Tel Aviv
• PhotoVoice is very kindly allowing project volunteers to complete their three-day training course free of charge
• purchasing second-hand equipment or borrowing equipment wherever possible

Cost of Phase 1: Photography Workshops

Your donation will be used to directly fund the following:

£1500 – cameras and equipment

£1500 -  flights and accommodation

£500 – Printing for participants

£500 – Workshop expenses (travel, refreshments)

£1000 – Support staff (counsellor, translator)

We will be seeking funding for Phase 2 (Exhibitions) and Phase 3 (Published book of work) of the project following successful completion of Phase 1.

When you commit your money to this cause, we promise to provide regular updates on the progress of the project, all the way up to completion of the project and beyond.

Your support is crucial in helping to make this project a reality and combating the enslavement and exploitation of women in Israel and across the globe.

Why is Voice of Freedom so important?

Israel connects Africa, Asia and Europe and serves as a hub for traffickers. Women are increasingly trafficked across Israel’s porous southern border with Egypt, from the Sinai desert, suffering rape and torture on the journey. Safe house staff do all they can to support the women in their care, but with such great trauma and facing uncertain future it is essential the women have ways to share and explore what they are going through

Women in the Ma'agan Safe House have told us that they are keen to participate in the workshops, for fun and creative expression, but also because they want their stories to reach the world and create change – and hope that their experience can help bring the traffickers to justice.

Major legislative progress has been made in Israel to combat trafficking, but weak law enforcement still allows traffickers to act with impunity. The women's photographs will be used in campaigns for enforcement of current law, and to increase police/public awareness of their plight. This will directly impact international traffickers. As demand dries up in Israel, through enforcement of laws controlling pimps and criminalisation of punters, supply chains will rupture, dramatically decreasing the risk to vulnerable women across Africa and the developing world.

But Voice of Freedom's scope is wider than just the Middle East: trafficking is an issue across the world. Photography from this project will feed into international anti-slavery campaigns via our partner organisations, highlighting the suffering of trafficking victims in all corners of the globe. For more on how our partners will use the photographs click here.

Anti-trafficking activists say women who have been trafficked are 'invisible victims' - it is their voices that are the missing link in campaigns. We believe that it is the voices of the women themselves that will most influence change – through powerful human stories in photography that crosses barriers of language and culture. We hope you will join us and be a part of bringing about this change.

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We realise you may have more questions – for answers, just
click on the links below:

How will the project be structured?

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Other Ways You Can Help:

If you can’t contribute, that doesn’t mean you can’t help ~ please share this campaign on Facebook and Twitter, and spread the word to friends, family and colleagues. If you write, blog or work in media, consider doing a piece on Voice of Freedom ~ we're happy to give interviews, share images and speak in your church, synagogue, mosque or community centre. Feel free to get in touch at voiceoffreedom@photovoice.org ~ and thank you for your support!

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