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Who we are:

JOY International was founded in 1981 by  Dr.  Jeff  Brodsky as a non-profit organization and immediately began devoting itself to meeting the needs of orphaned, abused, and abandoned children. At  JOY International we see the needs of children in every dimension imaginable. Orphans, Homeless, Poverty, Neglect, Disease, Malnutrition, Starvation, Abuse - - - We see it all. Our workers have held many of these children in their arms.

As the years went by, Our Organization studied and researched the plight of needy children across the globe. The more we researched, the more we realized how great the needs were. How could we help them all? We realized it was just not possible. We saw children suffer one-at-a-time, so we try to help them one-at-a-time.

 

What we have Done:

 JOY International has helped needy children in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya, Uganda, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Russia, Romania, Mexico, Brazil, Fiji and Venezuela.

JOY International established Orphanages and Children's Homes. We also aided in the design of a program where the Children’s Homes we established would be self-sufficient within 5-7 years where-by the children were taught such things as vegetable gardening and small animal husbandry skills. These skills could be life-saving for them in their respective villages.

JOY International started the project "Children of JOY": to assist with International Adoptions by helping potential parents fulfill their desire to adopt orphaned children internationally.  Aid includes helping parents raise the sometimes costly but necessary funds for the international adoptions.

JOY International sent teams and funds to build a children's home in Maracay, Venezuela to aid in the rescue of children found living in a garbage dump. JOY International also helped establish a new work in the Fiji Islands, which now includes a home for women called Homes of Hope.

JOY International went to Beslan, Russia to bring comfort and counsel to the victims in hospitals where terrorists murdered and wounded hundreds of innocent children.

 

Where We are Going:

Several years ago, during our research, We found articles about the plight of children who were either sold or kidnapped and forced into prostitution. These children did not choose this lifestyle. They are forced into becoming child sex slaves. In our nearly 30 years of working with orphaned, abused and abandoned children, we can say without hesitation and in our personal opinion – this is unquestionably the worst atrocity ever perpetrated against a child. Many of these children are forced into this life as young as 5 years old. Once they are considered used up, many will be thrown into the streets and continue in a life of prostitution and crime. Most will die of venereal diseases or HIV/AIDS by their teen years. Many will commit suicide from the profound psychological effects.

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  • Just a sample of the many statistics:

  • ·         1.2 million children are trafficked annually

  • ·         2 Children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation

  • ·         32 billion dollars is generated from human trafficking each year

  • ·         Child prostitution affects more than one million children throughout Asia

  • ·         200,000 to 250,000 children are involved in prostitution in Thailand alone

  • ·         Hundreds of thousands of child prostitutes are exploited in Cambodia and Vietnam

  • ·         200,000 to 500,000 children are involved in prostitution in China

  • ·         500,000 child prostitutes exist in Brazil and thousands more across Latin America


All these statistics are just the tip of the iceberg.

SUPPLY and DEMAND - WARNING: I’m about to share a graphic description of how these children are indoctrinated:

The "demand" of this multi-billion dollar global sex industry puts children throughout the world at-risk of becoming the “supply.” Criminal gangs, pimps and pornographers seek to profit from this demand by enslaving and abusing children, preying on those made most vulnerable by poverty, lack of education, minority status, gender bias and homelessness.

Most often, captors will threaten, beat and starve new recruits to “condition” them for the fate that awaits: sex with multiple customers every day. There are some captors who will take a small child, tie them to a bed and gang rape them 10-15 times per day until the “conditioning” is complete. The child comes to a place where they know that in order to survive – they must comply. Eventually this abuse “breaks” the child. They learn to survive by forcing a smile for the pedophiles, sex tourists and others that frequent the brothels where these children are held captive. How can any modern society allow this to happen every minute of every day?

Through extensive research, We have accumulated over 10,000 pages of information relating to the horrors and dilemma of the Child Sex Trade Industry with many heart-breaking stories from girls who were rescued or escaped and shared that many times it was their own parents who sold them – usually unaware of the fate that awaited their children.

The more we learned about this atrocity the more appalled we became. JOY International had to do something to try and rescue as many of these children as possible, from a life of degradation that should make any human being livid that this travesty is still going on in our society today.

As a result, several years ago we began a project specifically for the purpose of both the rescue and rehabilitation of these children. we call it The Safe Harbor Project. When a ship is tossed through the seas, their number one desire is to reach a Safe Harbor. We don’t understand why – but this has become one of the most difficult projects we have ever tried to raise funds for.

This is a heart-breaking picture of a 6 or 7 year old Cambodian girl being “offered” to a client. Something MUST be done to stop this from happening. One of the greatest minds of modern history once said:

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”

~ Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Pictured here are just 4 of the 9 girls (aged 5-10) who were rescued from a brothel in Svay Pak, Cambodia after a covert undercover operation.

“No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.”

~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)


JOY International is one of just a few organizations with a desire to make targeted investments in grassroots organizations that are working to eliminate the commercial and sexual exploitation of children. With our far-reaching global contact base we will (through extensive research) identify and invest in innovative community-based educational programs for poor children around the world. We recognize that some of the most creative projects operate on a small scale, exist in marginal locations, and have very few contacts in philanthropic networks. We will be seeking out existing non-formal Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) currently offering educational programs that integrate basic education with awareness building and training in reproductive health, hygiene, vocational skills, environmental issues, micro-enterprise development, human rights issues, computer skills and artistic expression.

With proper funding and ongoing resources, our commitment at JOY International is to give children who have been rescued – a renewed hope with enhanced life opportunities and a joy for living. For those children who have been abused for an extended period this can be a daunting task. Many of these children will come to us with HIV/AIDS. In these cases it is simply a matter of giving these children something they have never experienced - - - dignity before their death.

At the current time, our main concentration will be to develop and support projects in Cambodia, Thailand, The Philippines, India and Nepal. As funds increase we would explore the feasibility of expanding our operations throughout Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central and South America and Europe. This would take exhaustive research, planning and development.

Proper funding would also give us the ability to implement the mobilization of undercover and covert rescue operations with the help of the Justice Mission for Children, ECPAT, local trusted government agencies and Interpol. These rescue operations would be for the purpose of direct rescue of children being held captive in brothels and various secret locations

 

The Safe Harbor Project

Our Objectives

 

RESCUE
Our main objective is for the rescue and rehabilitation of the youngest children we can locate who have been either sold or kidnapped and forced into the child sex trade industry throughout the world. As mentioned previously, the rescue operations would (in most cases) be underground and covert.

We will only work directly with established local and international law enforcement agencies such as Interpol and the International Justice Mission. To ensure the integrity of our workers, at no time and under any circumstances would any of our workers or employees enter any brothel alone during investigative and rescue efforts.

REHABILITATION
After Care Programs are vital in the lives of these children and will be a main priority!Along with working with established children’s homes devoted to the development of rescued children from the sex trade industry – the immediate plans of The Safe Harbor Project is to design a prototype home to provide for the immediate and long term needs of survivors of child sexual exploitation and trafficking. Currently recognized and established homes will be given consideration for financial support and become part of The Safe Haven Home Network with a regulated Safe Harbor Seal of Approval.


After being liberated from a life of sexual slavery and abuse, one of the first things a child needs is a place of safety. The Safe Harbor Project will be committed to increasing the number of Safe Harbor Homes worldwide for these survivors of child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

There will be continuing research and development in the area of Psycho-Social treatment and care to assist in the Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reintegration in helping these children to become productive citizens in the communities they choose to live.

A Safe Haven will make it possible for these sexually exploited children to receive IMMEDIATE and LONG-TERM PROTECTION in the following areas:

EMOTIONAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL
One of the first goals will be to get these children to feel safe from any further violence, exploitation and abuse. They need assurance that they are truly safe and have not been relocated for further abuse. Due to years of abuse and mistrust, this can sometimes take days, weeks or months. Sometimes - - - Never. Some of the Counseling will be towards Psychological development, trauma counseling, social skills and healing the deep emotional scars from years of abuse and neglect. 

PHYSICAL
Here is a brief list of the immediate physical needs to be taken care of:

·         Housing,

·         Food

·         Clean Water

·         Clothing

·         Medical Care

·         Hygiene Training

·         Recreation

EDUCATION and the ARTS

·         Basic Elementary and Continuing Education

·         Vocational Training

·         Music

·         Art

·         Music Therapy

·         Cultural Understanding and Social Skills

·         Life planning

·         Reintegration to Society.

Each child will be given every opportunity to begin or continue their education through every level including graduate work when applicable. There will also be every opportunity made available for vocational training in Administrative and Computer Technology.

SPIRITUAL

At JOY International, we believe that faith and a healthy spiritual life greatly contributes to the recovery of children who are victims of sexual exploitation.  We will always strive to communicate in a loving but not forceful way to each child, that they are a precious child of God and that His love for them is unconditional with complete forgiveness of anything that has happened in the past. We will never deny or give any preferential treatment to any child regardless of their faith.


WORKERS RESPONSIBILITY

 ALL workers in The Safe Harbor Homes will go through an intense interview process with the most extensive investigations available. They will be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis. Each worker will go through a training program at various levels to help them develop the knowledge and skills necessary to adequately meet the diverse needs of victims of child sexual exploitation. No worker will be allowed to work with these children until they are staff certified. 

 

The Safe Harbor – Havens

Our main goal is to establish Safe Harbor Havens for girls rescued from the
child sex trade industry. Each House would encompass the following:

LAND – Whenever possible, each home would be built on land no less than 5 acres. We would always look outside the city for privacy, protection and healing. The land could then be used for the following:

LODGING – The homes would be designed for 2-4 girls per room with a maximum of 50 girls per home. Depending on the country, facilities, amount of land and trained personnel, a home could be designed to house up to 100 children.

EDUCATION – In most countries where we will be working, these children are ostracized from society. In many cases, these girls will be infected with HIV/AIDS. As a result, they will not be welcome in the public school system (where available). Each home would include educational facilities and would use curriculum already available. Each child will have every possible opportunity to go as far as possible in their education and chosen vocation.  The following would be part of the education facility.

Arts – this is vital in the healing process

Drama
Music
Art


FOOD
– The food will come from 2 sources. Purchase when necessary and grown or made on the property. Using our already proven and successful models in India and Venezuela each property would have as part of the program, the planting of vegetable gardens to teach small farm skills (very necessary in some countries). Again, depending on the country, facilities and personnel, there would be the potential of the following:

Planting of local fruit trees for both food and to bring to the market.
Raising chickens for both eggs and marketing
Several cows, sheep or goats
Bread Making
Small fish pond

PLAYGROUND – The facility would include complete playground activities conducive to the country. Play is an integral part of the healing process.
 

MEDICAL – A vital part of each facility. Depending on the size, each home would have a small clinic as well as build a relationship with a local Dr and Medical Facility. Many of these girls will be infected with HIV/AIDS. Their treatment and care would be a major priority.

Rehabilitation – These children have deep emotional scars. Some that will never heal. Each facility will have trained professionals to help the child in the psycho and bio-social rehabilitation with the goal of them becoming productive citizens in their society.
 

SPIRITUAL – A “Hiding Place” where the child can go for a time of prayer & spiritual healing
 

A comprehensive study would be prepared in each location to determine exact costs. We would also be traveling to various nations to meet with local officials and NGO Directors to determine future locations for Safe Harbor Havens, as well as already established homes we can support and work with.

 

How you can help:

This is a picture of a rescued 8 year old child prostitute in Cambodia. It’s because of children like this that we do what we do.

If you do want to make a (tax-deductible) donation, it is very simple.
Just click on the PayPal Donate button

Please email us at safeharbor@joy.org