Freeset Bags -
bringing women and their daughters in off the streets.
I got this info from a group I joined on facebook.
By purchasing products from Freeset Bags, you can help get women and their daughters off the streets and into a safe and productive occupation. Imagine your sisters, daughters, nieces, or friends selling their bodies just so they can afford food.
Click here to watch an enlightening, heartbreaking 5-minute movie about the sex industry in Calcutta and the Hilton family, who packed up their four children and moved there to do charity work, finding out only after moving into their apartment that they were in the middle of a red-light district. And find out what they are doing to help. May the Lord bless these people for staying and working in the situation in which they found themselves. If the Hiltons can do this, surely we can open our hearts and minds to the ministry opportunities God brings us!
Here's the story and below it, a link to the Freeset Bags website.
Freeset Bags
"Freeset bags was started by a family from New Zealand who wanted to work with the poor in Calcutta, India in some capacity. When they migrated to India, they moved into their house during the day. Later that night, they discovered they'd moved into a huge sex-industry district. As they started to get to know their neighbours, ideas started to come and from one came Freeset. Freeset bags manufacture bags made from jute, a natural fiber found in India. Styles of bags range from conference bags to gift bags to carry bags. Freeset is establishing markets through Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Most importantly though, Freeset is NOT a sweatshop operation, like run by many multi-national corporations (Nike? Gap? IBM?).
Freeset is a business of freedom taking over a business of slavery.
Each Freeset Bag tells a story of one woman's journey to freedom. She used to stand with 6,000 other prostitutes in a small but well known area of North Calcutta. She didn't choose her profession; it chose her. Poverty does that. It robs people of their dignity and children of their innocence. She still lives in the same area, but instead of selling her body she makes Freeset Bags. Now she has choices, the choice to work decent hours for decent pay, to re-establish her dignity in her community and to learn to read and write. Now her daughter won't have to stand in the street selling her body like her mother used to. Freedom has been passed on to the next generation.
By purchasing a Freeset Bag, you become part of the story of freedom. As many of us do bow to the retail pressure of Christmas, let's give Freeset bags as reminders that freedom is a gift that we in the West do take for granted. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!"
~Shane Cammell
http://www.freesetbags.com
The bags are really good-looking. You can also design your own for group orders (conferences, church groups, etc.). They are very reasonably priced, too. Click here for a shopping link (there are several U.S. distributors). Take a look; you'll be surprised by the attractive styles of the bags. Even if you don't plan to buy one, please say a prayer over the site, the Hilton family and their efforts, and the women and girls who are trapped in these deplorable situations.
Go to the Links page for more U.S. retailers! Click Here.