Volunteers pose with a poster advertising the benefit concert of the La Strada Foundation. The shelter functions successfully as a temporary home, providing indispensable assistance to victims of forced prostitution in their reintegration into society. Warsaw, Poland. 08/12/2009.
The benefit concert organized by the Collective Anarchipelag is on December 10th, at club CDQ at ul. Burakowska 12 in Warsaw. It aims to collect the funding necessary to maintain the shelter.
The La Strada Foundation has for the past 15 years worked in the interest of victims of human trafficking and slavery. It remains the only nongovernmental organization principally devoted to this cause in Poland.
Besides working directly with victims by offering them medical, legal and psychological care, the foundation also organizes workshops and hosts trainings for police, border guards as well as other NGOs.
Six years ago, the La Strada Foundation established a shelter for women victims of forced sex labor. The shelter continues to function successfully as a temporary home, providing indispensable assistance to victims in their reintegration into society. Women transitioning out of forced prostitution are often shunned and excluded from both social and family life. This situation of abandonment is further exacerbated by societal and media criminalization of sex work, the forced aspect of which is rarely considered. As a result, the transition period proves difficult for most victims and providing effective help poses many challenges in turn. The shelter represents the only home and safe space available to women transitioning out of forced prostitution until they are able to stand on their own two feet. With a caretaker who is a qualified social worker always on premises, the shelter provides vital support around the clock.
In order to sustain the shelter, and herein the psychologists, doctors, lawyers and social workers who offer their services to the shelter’s residents, the La Strada Foundation requires financial support from outside sources. The benefit concert organized by the Collective Anarchipelag on December 10th, at club CDQ at ul. Burakowska 12 in Warsaw, aims to collect the funding necessary to maintain the shelter. Artists performing at the concert and in generous support of our initiative are: Indy-rock group BETTY BE, oriental-electronic sound system MASALA, as well as the artistic group TERAZ POLIŻ who will present their theatrical production “LIMINALNA. Jestem snem, którego nie wolno mi śnić” (LIMINAL. I am the dream, which I am not allowed to dream) which deals with violence among and against women. Other groups and organizations taking part in this event are the Feminoteka Foundation, UFA, Stowarzyszenie Na Rzecz Przeciwdziałania Przemocy w Rodzinie „Niebieska Linia” (“Blue Line” Association for the Prevention of Domestic Violence), the publishing house Czarna Owca and the La Strada Foundation.
During the event these organizations will put up information stands where books, flyers and other items of interest will be available. Furthermore, the La Strada Foundation’s collection of posters will be on display and all in attendance will be able to enjoy delicious vegetarian food and fair trade coffee.
All are warmly invited!
