Girls rescued from sexual slavery sell jewelry in OC
December 2nd, 2008, 9:30 pm · 11 Comments · posted by Lori Basheda
Stephanie Pollaro looks a lot like celeb beauty Liv Tyler and has the heart of Mother Teresa. 
She had just gotten her master’s from Long Beach State when, while lazing by the pool at her parent’s home in Fountain Valley, she spotted an article about the hundreds of thousands of children sold into sexual slavery in India. Long story short: Stephanie sold all her worldly possessions in a garage sale to move to Mumbai, 8 miles from the recent attacks, where she lives on $200 a month that her mom sends her. She spends her days teaching girls, 13 to 15 years old, how to make jewelry and then selling it for them, filling their bank accounts with money and their lives with hope. The girls were either sold by their parents or stolen from their homes, and then beaten, starved and bullied into prostitution. They are the lucky ones who, rescued by an international organization, are now living in safe houses. If Stephanie is not teaching the girls to make jewelry, she’s scouring the streets of Mumbai for more beads (Give us more beads, Dee, Dee, the girls say, referring to her as ”sister”). 
Her sole partner, Wendy Hicks, who lives in Fountain Valley, then sells the jewelry on International Sanctuary. Most of the jewelry is $15. Nearly half of every sale goes directly into the savings accounts of the girl who made the item. The rest is used to pay taxes, buy more materials and pay for shipping. Neither Stephanie nor Wendy draw a salary. You can read the rest of Stephanie’s inspirational story when I write a Morning Read in another week or so. But in the meantime, go to her website and do some holiday shopping.
Each piece of jewelry is attached to a tag signed by the girl who made it. Stephanie is visiting her parents in Fountain Valley for the holidays and returns Dec. 28 to Mumbai and the girls she misses.
Links:
Slumdog Millionaire, an underdog tale set in Mumbai
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Thanks for the great story; that’s inspiring.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
GIVE me a break all you bleeding hearts! After all… she gave up SO much so her mommy could support her!
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:08 am
Sounds like she is following in the footsteps of Amy Charmichael.
I hope she shares the same message of hope.
†
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hey, Mary:
At least this young woman is DOING something instead of criticizing others. She is not sitting around a pool anymore, wasting her life. What are YOU doing to help people like those girls in India? Do you give money to charity or just grouse about the Salvation Army bell ringers?
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I am so impressed by what this young woman is doing. Thank You. I have my own website, and I am going to contact them to list their products on my site.
It is nice to see some folks who get up and do something to solve the problem, instead of sitting around complaining. Hats off to Stephanie. Very few people are ready to move to a completely different country, work with the abused girls, and enable them to become independent.
Thank you for this story.
Kate
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Mary,
From your posting it seems that you know nothing about iSanctuary. Instead you attack one of the founders of an organization that is helping in the fight against human slavery. So if you know nothing about iSanctuary, how can you judge Stephanie?
You should be ashamed of yourself!
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Mary Says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
GIVE me a break all you bleeding hearts! After all… she gave up SO much so her mommy could support her!
Mary…please use your brain to think verses a need to find something wrong! This young girl is giving up a lot…Comfort, Personal Safety (somewhat preceived, she may not be any safer here in O.C.), she likewise is giving up the possibilities of her own dreams that she most likely had before in countering this issue (marriage, children, a carreer which provides a home, care, retirement), she also is very far away from home, family and childhood friends. All so that, as you put it “so her mommy could support her”. This young girl can easily earn $200. a month here in the states with her skills…but, she is choosing to give up all of this to help very young and vulernable children/girls/women to live with a sense of hope and the possibilty of a better, safer future… Mary Think, you have the ability to do so…why was the subject so threatening to you that you needed to react without thinking and with such a cold hearted knee jerk response?
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hi Kate. This is Lori, the reporter on the story. Awesome that you’re putting their line on your website. Feel free to put the post link up too!
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
mad props this is soooo cool that your doing this for everyone.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Wow that is great! I checked out the iSanctuary website, not only to see the jewelry but to understand more about the ministry behind the scenes. This whole ministry has really opened my eyes to the slavery going on worldwide. I’m so glad Stephanie has taken steps to make a difference, one girl at a time. Keep up the good work!
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 am
sympathetic location! nicely done!