Global Slavery
1.2 million children are sold into slavery every year
They’ve been trafficked from Nepal and sold into prostitution.” The words crashed into my comfortable life of twenty-four years.
Moments earlier we had walked through an alleyway in a red-light district. Five to six young women stood in a line offering services to passers-by. Looking distinctly different from the other sex workers we had passed by I had asked, “Why do these girls look different from everyone else?”
We were visiting friends, who at the time were running Freeset, a social enterprise offering alternative employment in Sonagachi, Kolkata, India. We had decided to have cha (tea) with one of the women we had met. She still lived in the district, hence we were making our way to her house.
Sonagachi is Asia’s largest red-light district. An estimated 11-15,000 sex workers work there, living with their families in approximately two square blocks. It’s crowded, narrow streets and alley ways divide multi-storey brothels. Women line the side of the streets offering their services to the thousands of men who pass through each night. Busy, loud, colourful and overwhelming would be my key describing words.
It hit me, that what I had seen could only be described as modern day slavery. Until that point, slavery in my mind conjured up thoughts of the transatlantic slave trade. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. There are more slaves today than ever before.
The Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 40.3 million slaves across the world. Women and children are estimated to make up 71% of that number. It’s a big business with huge profits, billions of dollars, 150 according to the ILO. Definition of ILO?? It’s a fast growing industry. One that has seen alarming growth in the last couple of years.
So how does one end up in slavery?
If you could take a moment to imagine the following. You’re the eldest daughter of a large family living in rural Nepal. Your family has been farming in this area for generations. Your parents love you and like many, want the best for you.
A man from the city comes and visits the village. He has a garment factory in Kathmandu. He’s looking for workers. More specifically young women. “The city girls aren’t good workers, bad morals - lazy. Would you consider letting your daughter work for me? She’ll earn twice what you earn off the farm and can send money home.”
Her parents are hesitant. He assures them you will earn twice what they can. Your father asks, “Will she be safe?” The man puts his hand on his heart, “I will treat her like I would my own daughter.” So they leave.
And now you’re standing in a dark alley way in another country. Surrounded by foreign languages, feeling deeply ashamed, selling yourself for someone else’s profit, with no way home.
After this experience, I wanted to do something more. I got a job working in the New Zealand office for Hagar. Hagar works with survivors of slavery and severe abuse in countries across the globe. I would often come home and share stories with Pete of women, girls, boys and men – who we were fundraising for.
My beloved is the vineyard manager for Terrace Edge. It’s our organic family vineyard in North Canterbury. My poor husband – he would feel, “Well you’ve told me this - now what can I do?”
The answer to that question presented itself in 2017. The summer was hot and the Riesling grape crop estimates above what was needed. Pete came home and suggested we make a wine. One where 100% of the profits could go towards helping Hagar. I thought it was one of his better ideas.
At first it was going to be just Riesling. A week later, Pete informed me that there was some extra Pinot Noir that we could use too. It made sense, we needed a red and a white wine. The next week he managed to wrangle some Sauvignon Blanc. Later he decided it was Rosé that was essential to the line up. Somewhere in this all we thought, “Let’s not do this as a fundraiser, let’s see if we can do this a business.”
When you break that down, it’s 3,300 every day, 137 every hour and one every 27 seconds. We decided to call the wine range “27seconds.”
We had the product, but needed a name. We thought of all manner of names. All these were silenced when we thought of the Unicef statistic, that estimates 1.2 million children are sold into slavery every year.
For us, it was imperative that the wine was good quality. People would only buy once if they identified with the cause. They wouldn’t buy again if it was no good. We wanted our wine to be one that people could keep coming back to. Greystone hopped on board and became our wine makers, transforming our grapes into delicious wine at a discount.
I was all very enthusiastic until one night lying in bed, I asked Pete, “So how many bottles does that add up to?” 9000 bottles. We both had this realization that it was a lot of wine! Our friends will buy some, but it’s not like we have THAT many friends. Fear gripped us that we had made a mistake.
It’s a rather dumb way to spend our mortgage. I remember Pete saying, “What if it does work? What if we do sell it? What if people do get it?”
Fast forward four years, we have over 70 stockists across the country and looking to scale up production.
Last night we transferred a considerable sum over to Hagar, bringing our giving total for the 2022 financial year to $100,000. I know for some philanthropists - it’s small money. For us, in the throes of raising a young family, paying off a mortgage and gasping at petrol prices, it’s no small moment. To be able to give $100k away in a space of 12 months is a fist pump moment.
But our true heroes are our customers. Without them choosing our wine, we wouldn’t have any donations to make. They are the ones who caught the idea, that they could use their wine choice to play a small part in making a difference to modern day slavery. And we love’em for it.
Written by
Alanna Chapman
27 Seconds - Social Enterprise Wine - Waipara
