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RFL1000 blog
The RFL1000 blog features guest writers writing on the subject of modern slavery, further information about the campaign and, in due course, updates from the road.
Training tips from Full Potential and Pure Sports Medicine (11/02/13)
It was great to see lots of you at our training evening last Tuesday. There was loads to take in so Matt kindly sent over the list of exercises and some fruity videos to accompany them (see below). In terms of injury prevention the key tips I picked up on were firstly to focus on core strength (Pilates, yoga, swimming and running specific strength work). It was also great to hear that rest days are as important as pounding the street so make sure you give yourself enough recovery time after each big run. And finally dont try and run though injuries, if you are feeling sore ease up and stretch. If this persists go and see Pure Sport Medicine, the longer you leave it the harder it will be to fix! If you dont have health insurance, ure Sports Medicine have agreed to give 20% off initial consultations for all Run for Love runners, they have practises in Kensington, the City and Canary Wharf so should be easy to get to…
In terms of exercises we went through the below ones during the evening. There is the thought of doing more regular sessions with Matt, in smaller groups of 5-6 people; this should really help you stay injury free and improve your running so let me know if this is of interest and we can set this up.
1. Rear foot elevated hip flexor and quad stretch () tight side stretch first and then after looser side
2. Glute 90/90 stretch hold stretches for 2 minutes each
3. Single leg mid shin touch 3 x 10 reps in a circuit with the other strength exercises 3-4 times per week
4. Reverse lunge 3 x 10
5. Side plank 3 x 30s
6. Single leg small step control cant find a video but sit back into hip and keep the hip knee and toe in line, only go as deep as you can control 3 x 10
7. Foam roller IT band (outer thigh), inner thigh and glute
If you have any specific questions about the presentation please get in touch with Richard (+44 7770 523 227, ) and/or Matt (08447 700 800, ) directly.
Run for Love on the Trails: Training in Pictures.....
6-a-side football tournament on Friday 8 March 2013 to raise funds for Run for Love 1000
The Run For Love 1000 team are organising a 6-a-side football tournament at the London Soccerdome on the afternoon of Friday 8 March 2013 to raise money for Love146. The London Soccerdome is a fantastic venue with lots of experience of running charity tournaments of this nature.
The tournament is aimed at companies from around the City (although individual teams are more than welcome). It will be a great day out and no matter how far any team progresses, there will be a lot of football to be played.
A few key details of the afternoon are set out below:
Entrance Fee:£550 (This includes a strict entrance fee of £350 and a recommended further donationof £200)
Time and date: 3.30 pm to 7 pm on Friday 8 March 2012
Venue: London Soccerdome (http://www.thelondonsoccerdome.com/)
Prizes: Secret prizes for the top 4 teams in the competition
After party: We will be holding drinks in a venue close to the Soccerdome and a guest list at a club for those still keen after
Please contact George Stancliffe () or Eddy Dallas () for further details and if you would like to enter a team.
RUN FOR LOVE 1000 NEWSLETTER No. 2 (25/11/2012)
All is progressing well towards Run for Love 1000, with just 120 days until departure from the Potemkin Steps in Odessa. The campaign is really taking off:
Campaign update
- Catherine Bearder MEP (MEP for the South East), Matt Stephens (Love146 Trustee) and Lynne Chitty (Childrens’ Service Manager, Barnardo’s Trafficking Services) have all written on human trafficking issues for the Run for Love 1000 blog in recent weeks.
- Lots of exciting plans coming together for meetings and visits with local human trafficking charities in Bucharest, Sofia and Pristina during the run itself.
Upcoming Run for Love 1000 fundraising events
- Singer Tommy Ludgate (http://tommyludgate.bandcamp.com) is organising “GLOBE JAM Presents @ The Bedford” on 27th November. An amazing line-up is booked in, including Sarah Lillie, Sarah Grace, Herel Vocals and Escapists.
- Holly Millward is organising the Hong Kong Christmas Jumper Party in December 2012.
- Acoustic duo, The Luck (www.theluckmusic.com), will be busking in Central London in December 2012.
- George Stancliffe, Tom Ansell and Eddie Dallas are organising a charity football tournament in March 2013.
40+ stage runners confirmed
- The Run for Love 1000 Road Book - containing route information, distances, timings, mindless trivia - has been launched. To request a copy, please email .
- Following recent drinks in central London, another seven stage runners have signed up to take part meaning that than 40 “stage runners” have now signed up to join the Run for Love. It’s not too late to sign up…
- Rob, one of the Founders Runners, was out in Dubrovnik test-running the final-day half-marathon route (taking place on Saturday 4 May 2013) with the race organisers last weekend. The East-West Beach Club in Dubrovnik has been book for the afterparty that night (http://www.ew-dubrovnik.com/). Registration will open very shortly.
Training diary
- Harry Savory, Rory Normanton and Rob Martineau ran the Florence Marathon on November 25th.
- If you are interested, there is a 20-mile training run taking place across central London (from Richmond to Victoria Park) on 2nd December. To get involved, please email .
Inspiration for the week
- Known as the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet, 90 nutcases take part each year in the Badwater Ultramarathon covering 135 miles non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, California:
Quote of the week
- “When we build, let us think that we build forever.” John Ruskin.
Run for Love 1000 Ambassadors organising three fundraising events (in London and Hong Kong) in next few weeks (23/11/12)
In the coming weeks, Run for Love 1000 Ambassadors are organising numerous festive fundraising events to raise funds for Run for Love 1000:
- Singer Tommy Ludgate (http://tommyludgate.bandcamp.com) is organising “GLOBE JAM Presents @ The Bedford” on Tuesday 27 November 2012. An amazing line-up is booked in, including Sarah Lillie, Sarah Grace, Herel Vocals and Escapists.
- Holly Millward is organising the Hong Kong Christmas Jumper Party in December 2012.
- Acoustic duo, The Luck (www.theluckmusic.com), will be busking inCentral London in December 2012.
Photos to follow!
If you want to join the campaign and become a Run for Love 1000 Ambassador then please do get in touch (). We really want to hear from you…
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE UK - CATHERINE BEARDER, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FOR THE SOUTH EAST OF ENGLAND (07/11/12)
Whenever I say: “It’s happening in your community,” I see the raised eyebrows. I am a Euro MP representing the South East of England. Surely the region is a world away from the horror of human trafficking? But the doubters are seeing the bubble burst. It is happening. Along leafy suburban streets, quiet cul-de-sacs, in sedate country backwaters. Human beings are being bought and sold and business is booming. Modern day slavery means men, women and children are being hawked for sexual exploitation, forced begging and domestic servitude. Customers and victims are not confined to backstreets in third world countries. Like all business, the gangmasters who profit go to great lengths to make sure their cargo get to places where demand is highest. I have raised the issue of a spike in trafficking around large sport events, such as the Olympic Games and Euro 2012 football championships. It wasn’t a popular thing to say. Then again, I’m not surprised, it’s not something people wanted to hear. Meanwhile, I have worked with airlines, police forces and community groups to help raise awareness of the problem. The message is clear: Open Your Eyes. We need to be alert to the signs. But if it is happening in our communities, then it can be tackled by our communities. It is vital we create a hostile environment for traffickers. Run for Love 1000 is helping people open their eyes by staging an arduous physical challenge. Row for Freedom saw five women make it across the Atlantic to put trafficking in the spotlight. It had an enormous impact. I’m sure Run for Love 1000 can do the same.
RUN FOR LOVE 1000 NEWSLETTER No. 1 (05/11/2012)
All is progressing well towards Run for Love 1000, with just 140 days until the off in Odessa. It’s been a really exciting start to November with loads going on:
35 stage runners and counting
- An amazing 35 “stage runners” have now signed up to join the Run for Love. Harry Langdale, Chloe Shann, Will Trenchard, Georgina Leechman, Holly Clifton-Brown and Giles Stevens have signed up in the last week to punish themselves over a combined 1,000+ miles across Eastern Europe! If you fancy something to beat the Winter blues, it’s not too late to sign up…
- Registration for the half-marathon taking place on the last day of the run, “Run for Love: The Road to Dubrovnik”, will open shortly. Watch this space for futher details as some of the team will be in Dubrovnik this weekend firming up plans.
Training diary
- Guy Hacking and Rob Martineau were pounding the streets of Venice on 25th October despite blizzard-like conditions and rising sea waters.
- Harry Savory, Rory Normanton, Rob Martineau and Tom Stancliffe have signed up to [do the Florence Marathon] / [have an intense 48-hour carbo load] on November 25th.
- If you are interested, there is a training weekend taking place in the Lake District on 1st/2nd December. Contact for further info.
Fundraising highlights
- Run for Love 1000 has now raised a whopping GBP35,000 for Love 146 (towards our target of GBP150,000).
- Acoustic duo, The Luck (www.theluckmusic.com), will be braving the winter chill and busking in London in December 2012.
- Loads of other exciting ideas - from football tournaments to art exhibitions - are being planned by runners. More to follow.
Inspiration for the week
- Check out these guys who ran 4,300 miles across the Sahara in 111 days to raise awareness of the water crisis in Africa: .
Quote of the week
- “I always listen to the little boy inside of me in these situations – when you have to make the harder decisions in life. What does he want?” Robin van Persie, reflecting on whether to sign up for a stage of Run for Love 1000.
ENDING TRAFFICKING IN OUR LIFETIME - MATT STEPHENS, LOVE 146 TRUSTEE (04/11/2012)
Matt Stephens is a board member for Love146 Europe and a member of the Centre for Social Justice working group on Slavery. The CSJ Slavery reports on its findings and recommendations for the improvement of Britain’s response to slavery and human trafficking in January 2013. Matt is running in his first marathon in Dublin at the end of October on behalf of Love146.
Sometimes in life you can be hit with the overwhelming feeling of thankfulness for the hand you have been dealt often when you become aware of the hardship of others. Over six years ago after the birth of my eldest son, I had such an experience. Holding this tiny baby in my arms, with his little fingers curling around mine and looking into those beautiful trusting eyes, I was reduced to tears as I thought of how I would do anything to protect him but what about those children who are not born into such a fortunate environment?
My son now attends our local primary school a short walk from our home and he and his friends like to climb trees and race down the grassy banks to the school doors. On Saturdays he goes to football and swimming with his friends. Each evening, after a fun packed day playing and learning with his friends and his younger brothers, he is tucked into a warm, safe, comfortable bed and read to, or more often now he reads the story to me. At the end of the story I always ask for a big kiss and a bear hug from my beloved son and I tell him I love him.
Today, right now, quite possibly just down the road from you and I another child will be tucked into bed and given a kiss, except this time it wont be a kiss full of a father’s love for his son. Rather it’ll be a kiss perverted and diseased and one that signals the start of a horrific experience that they will be forced to endure over and over and over and over and over again. Most likely trafficked into the country or groomed and stolen from the local children’s home, they may not know what it is like to be a carefree child where the adults around them keep them safe and protected. Instead they are slaves.
Rather depressingly while the latest government figures show that during the first 18 months of the National Referral Mechanism (determining status and next steps) there were 1048 referrals made. Children comprised just under a third of the 1048 individuals referred to the NRM. Of the 276 referred children 89 were sexually exploited. However most agree that there are no reliable figures to show the true extent of the problem here in the UK or the rest of Europe. Yet surely while one person still suffers at the hands of those who seek to profit or gain from their vulnerability, there is still much more work to be done. The NRM exists for international children, there is no national joined up service for UK children sold across communities.
Of course none of these statistics and conversations matter to the perpetrators – they are busy working out new strategies, new routes and new methods to traffic slaves into Britain. In fact none of these debates matter to the victims - children or adults who continue to be victims of the perpetrators whims from domestic servitude to sex slavery.
So my plea is that we concentrate on solutions and collaboration.
I feel extremely privileged to be in a very small way part of the solution for the girls and women who have been rehabilitated in the Love146 Safe Home in the Philippines and through the prevention work we do across the world. Sadly our work is growing and expanding rapidly now in Europe and the UK as this problem grows and expands through the western world. It is also a privilege to have the opportunity to be part of the CSJ working group looking at the whole spectrum of slavery in the UK and wrestling with the solutions, old and new, we need to see for the abolition of slavery and the restoration of victims.
My hope is that a new generation of collaborators rises up to do all they can together, apart, across and amongst the whole spectrum of this sick and vile trade. We must extend thanks to those who have worked tirelessly to carry and keep alight the torch of Anti-Slavery. Thank you for doing all you can to rescue and restore the unknown slave, maybe the same age as my son, and for not allowing the public to forget, the government to rest on its laurels or the perpetrators to get away with it. Collaboration between the newcomers and old warhorses will strengthen and quicken the movement to eradicate this evil.
So I humbly ask that if you are not already, you too join the movement and become committed, determined and relentless in the vision to see the abolition of all forms of slavery – nothing less!
Tickets for the RFL1000 Launch on October 18th here: http://runforlove1000.eventbrite.co.uk/
*Runforlove1000*
The party marks the start of a campaign to raise funds for Love146, a charity that gives care and hope to trafficked children, and to raise awareness of the scale of human trafficking across Europe. At the heart of this project is a 1000 mile run from Odessa to Dubrovnik being undertaken by a growing team of runners.
The launch is being held in the Old Vic Tunnels, a network of caverns beneath Waterloo Station. For the evening of October 18th the tunnels will come alive. RunforLove1000 has teamed up with Lazarides Galleries and event production companies Kasimira and The Event Bears to bring you a night that will truly test your senses.
The evening will include:
*A live auction hosted by Christie’s International Auctioneer Hugh Edmeades*
*Theatre from immersive story tellers Reuben Feels (www.reubenfeels.com)*
*An exhibition of London’s most imaginative modern art brought to you by Lazarides Gallery (www.lazinc.com)*
*A selection of stalls from London’s leading street foodies: Rainbo, Baz & Fred, The Oyster Meister and Don Ceviche*
*A complimentary cocktail specially designed for the occasion*
*The incredibly talented Charlie Simpson and band will be playing an exclusive live set (www.charliesimpsonmusic.com)*
*Live music from Morgan Mackintosh & DJ sets from Emma Shenkman, Isaac Ferry, Ruaraidh Grubb & Wiz Bowlby*
*A series of short films about the work of Love146 and the RFL1000 project*
*Set design and creative production by Rachel Noel (www.rachelnoel.com)*
Trafficked Children: Why Rescue Only Opens The Door For Safety To Begin - Lynne Chitty, Barnardo's Trafficking Service 09/10/2012
The current landscape and why it must change:
Some years ago now, when the UK initially discovered that adults were being trafficked here on a growing scale (primarily for forced prostitution), we gave them care by placing them in the only thing available, domestic violence units for battered women. Since then we have seen considerable shifts in specialised residential care for these adults and their unique needs. Today the landscape for children is as it was then, they are being placed in what we have available, foster families and care homes which were never set up to cope or care with their complex issues and is unable to keep them safe.
Care:
The carers of professionally exploited children must be highly trained for this specific work. Security measures must be in place to protect the children and the carers from the traffickers. The carer must be able to identify social and cultural context of both victim and perpetrator. Care needs to provide a continuity of experienced and culturally matched staff, wherever possible, especially with a multiplicity of international children who are a long way from home.
Carers need to have an understanding of the potential threats exercised by organised traffickers. Survivor home carers are now acting in direct opposition to organised crime; they are, in effect standing between the trafficker and his product and profit margin. This is why a young person needs immediate care and protection as well as a sense of security. The young person needs an intensive and specific assessment of risk of exploitation.
There must be a prompt evaluation of the level of presenting and ongoing risks. The care must be 24/7 providing continued oversight and vigilance.
Carers need to understand that Trafficked children are just as likely to go missing after weeks, as within the first few days. Carers must be able to build a trusting and supportive relationship with vulnerable young people, empowering them and promoting their self-esteem. Depending on country of origin, human rights might be a new concept to them, in particular their right to care, safety, nurture and Justice. Care involves safety but also tending to medical and psychological needs if the trafficked child is to receive immediate holistic protection and regard.
Education is Empowerment
The safe accommodation should have in-house education by a qualified teacher, ranging from English language to vocational studies. This is part of reparation to enter mainstream education which will involve liaison with the local authority and assistance with arranging Personal Education Plans.
Detailed and specific assessment of the immediate and ongoing needs in relation to the young person
The safe accommodation will promote a multi-agency approach to enable the child to find a supportive sustaining community. It is vital that a child’s care does not end at the door as there needs to be the same level of investment and energy in seeing the child successfully integrated into a community here or back in the country of origin.
Carers provide progressive and effective independence training through enabling practice. Providing continued oversight and vigilance. The aim here is to enhance social reintegration and strengthen their attachments, giving them clear and safe options for their future. This is part of helping the child discover the world can be a safe place once more or for the first time.
Care and assistance must respect the child’s cultural identity, origins, age and religious persuasions. Exploitation and the strong coercion/manipulation of the traffickers will seek to strip a child of any uniqueness or individuality and so the child needs to discover not only a sense of worth, but that they are a person.
Trafficked children who have experienced trauma and the complete loss of trust must have continuity of relationship with their carer. Multiple changes in carers will complicate and perhaps contribute to a slower recovery so designated staff throughout the care provision is critical. This is ‘above and beyond’ care but what a traumatised child needs and also deserves.
The Child/young person
When the child/young person is told who we are, what our role is and what we can and cannot do, when the child/young person is told they are safe and in a safe place no one will come into the placement and while they remain in the placement no one will harm them… then safety is beginning.
When the child is told we know what has happened to them, and we know they have not lied just told a story an adult has told them to say, when the child is told there are options and told what these are and they do not have to make that call to the trafficker – possibly the only person they know and who has told the child is their only friend… then safety is beginning.
When we tell them they are now safe and they themselves feel safe and the nest of care and protection keeps them from their exploiters… then safety has arrived.
Then and only then can we say that this wonderful human person, deserving of our very best, is Safe.
Lynne Chitty
Lynne Chitty is a Children’s Service Manager at Barnardo’s Trafficking Service. She is working alongside Love146 as part of an Alliance on Care to see the current national deficit in care provision and the perpetual losing of trafficked children from care, come to an end. Lynne did pioneering work in residential care for trafficked children long before trafficking was recognised in UK legislation as an issue
“Our message to the victims of human trafficking… We see you. We hear you. We insist on your dignity” - Barack Obama 25/09/2012
President Obama speaking on the subject of modern day slavery at the Clinton Global Initiative on 25/09/2012.
On What it Means to be Part of the Abolition Movement – Gaz Kishere, Love146 Europe Operations Director 10/09/2012
Travelling around many countries, one thing has become clear to me — I could get off of a plane in any country and it would not take very long to find a context to engage meaningfully with the pandemic which is modern-day slavery. It is the prevalence of this issue across all of our nations which leads me to fight vigorously for our organisations to keep the main thing the main thing — and this is abolition.
It would be quite easy for any of us working in this arena to get caught up in delivering a multitude of critical responses and programmes from survivor care right through to prevention for vulnerable young people and communities. It is all important and vital work and without question, something that we as Love146 must continue to pursue.
The critical thing about this word “abolition” is that is refers to an active pursuit of something ending and in this instance this is for the global exploitation of children to come to a full stop. It is this word “abolition” which has to remain our plumb line for the global anti-trafficking community. It is this need for an end which should be the factor which most defines us and drives us forwards together.
It is the main thing.
The Love146 Europe team
If we want to wear the abolition badge with pride, it’s good to understand that you cannot be an Abolitionist (adjective/noun) and forget that abolition (verb) requires us to do something participatory to bring about its completion.
Love146 works hard to keep this balance between immediate care for those children, who have been on the receiving end of what must surely be this decade’s most prevalent global issue, and that of implementing strategies which will turn the tide on the buying and selling of people. I am delighted to be part of the Love146 story and to participate in a growing global 146 community who will restlessly pursue abolition — the end of child slavery and exploitation.