Hello everybody! My name is Eric Cagenius and I recently became a volunteer here at RealStars. I thought I would tell you guys how I got in touch with RealStars, and what got me to want to be engaged.
I could start off by mentioning a lot of overwhelming numbers and statistics. But what actually opened my eyes to the horrors of trafficking thats taking place all around the world were not graphs or charts that showed how many people are sold, bought and used sexually every day, although those can be very effective in conveying strong messages.
What made me react and later become involved in RealStars was my own uncertainty. A few weeks ago I and some classmates were in school and talked about a little bit of everything and came across the subject of trafficking. After one of them said that trafficking “Kind of doesn’t exist in Europé, right?” we decided to do a search on google to verify.
If I could have seen myself from outside, I had seen a guy whose pupils doubled in size and a chin that fell onto the floor. An awkward unpleasant feeling struck me when I realized how little about this problem I actually knew. I felt stupid, if nothing else I was ashamed a lot.
A couple of weeks ago I did not know that RealStars existed, or that the problems they struggle every day to overcome could start to affect me everyday in the sense that I onstantly am aware of them. Fortunately, things can change quickly and today I am very happy that I found the RealStars website and spontaneously sent in an application for volunteering.
So if you ever see or read about the unjustices in the world and feel motivated to help out, do not hesitate, just jump on the helping-train straight away. The best time to start helping is NOW.
I’ll finish my first blog post with a quote that I think fits well on how I felt when I first was informed about the seriousness and spread of trafficking, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.