You can’t read Sold by Patricia McCormick without wanting to help the main character, Lakshmi. Following her bewildered, innocent, but intrepid spirit through Calcutta’s brothel system is painful. Her story leaves us wanting to help and protect her. Fortunately, Patricia McCormick, the author donates process of the book to Maiti Nepal, an organization that both rescues girls and educates communities about what happens to girls indentured to “rich ladies” who “need maids.”
When you buy the book, you play a role in saving Lakshmi. You are her guardian from afar, bearing witness to her struggle and supporting her triumph. Of course, Lakshmi is only a fictional composite of the thousands of girls trafficked around the world. She is the “every-girl” of Nepal. But that won’t stop you from caring about her. Lakshmi embodies them all. We, wander readers, can be the loving aunties to the Lakshmis of the world just by reading her story. But it’s not always that easy, is it?
As I read about the lives of women and girls around the world. I find myself discovering someone like myself. Someone I feel a connection to. Someone I want to reach out to. In some cases, like Lakshmi, the connection is fiction. But if there is one thing a reader understands, it is the profound truth of fiction. Long ago, I discovered a way to be actively involved in (rather than just passively moved by) the books I read.
Global Giving is a unique website and social network for philanthropists of all levels. I discovered them in 2007 and they are my first stop when I want to find a way to help after reading about a situation that seems too far away and beyond my reach. I visit the site and search for a specific project I want to help fund. I can search by country, by region or by type. Chances are, you can find a project that is dear to your heart. You can even set up a donation page to function as a gift registry or fund-raising effort.
Charity Navigator, an organization that rates fundraising efforts on accountability, transparency, and how much of your donation actually goes to the cause selected, gives Global Giving it’s highest rating of four stars.
So if you are moved by Lakshmi and want to do more to help her. Perhaps selecting a project to prevent the practice for selling daughters into servitude is what appeals to you. Learn about the Nepali Youth Foundation. They might be just the cause you are looking for. Perhaps your heart is longing to remove the frightened, bewildered girls from the brothels. In that case, check out Prajwala which rescues and rehabilitates girls and reintroduces them into Indian society.
You can read safely now. You are empowered to not just be aware of struggles around the world, but to have the tools and means to make your own small difference. No longer will you fear that the knowledge will depress you. From now on, it will only empower you.
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