According to the International Labor Organization, child labor has decreased by 38% since 2000, from 246 million to 152 million.  This is such great news and it is due to people like you, opening emails like this, and choosing to take action to end child labor!

We can all agree that exploiting children is wrong on all accounts and should not be happening in our world today. Right now All People Free is working to end slavery in the brick kilns of the Middle East and Asia where roughly 10 million children are forced to work with little hope of freedom unless there is intervention.

More resources:
Compassion International facts and stats
Unicef Child Labor info

"A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman."
- Melinda Gates

When women are given equal access to education, economics and  resources, it benefits the entire community by tackling the root causes of poverty. Do you know that statistically, educated women who have economic agency tend to invest 90% of their income into their families?

That’s why we have started 7 trade schools for girls. We educate women who would otherwise be slaving away in the brickyards--or worse, trafficked into the sex trade--and train them in practical skills such as sewing and business management. The long term impact of this is education, economic growth, and a more empathetic society.
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​“I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only educating our minds, but our hearts and our souls.” - Malala Yousafzai

I (Romay) was given the honor of addressing the women we serve - some of them teachers in our primary schools, some students of our trade schools, most brickyard workers, all of them human. All of them made in the image of God and all of them deserving of value, empathy and love. 

We are so amazed at how many women joined us for this incredible day! To look into the beautiful faces of such strong, resilient women and tell them that they have what it takes to make lasting change for their children was something so special.

We believe that empowering women with skills and agency is a giant leap towards creating a better future for the whole community - the whole world. 

“Education also strengthens economies. When female citizens are better educated, they have a greater chance of becoming gainfully employed, which then raises the income of the entire household. For proof, look no further than a 2003 study by UNESCO, which showed that for every year that a country's average years of schooling increases, its long-term economic growth increases by 3.7%.” Read more

The Importance of Women's Empowerment

“Improved literacy can have a remarkable effect on women’s earnings. As stipulated in the 2013/4 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, in Pakistan, working women with high levels of literacy skills earned 95% more than women with weak or no literacy skills, whereas the differential was only 33% among men. Educated women are empowered to take a greater economic role in their families and communities, and they tend to reinvest 90% of what they earn into their families.”
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“We define women’s economic empowerment as the transformative process by which women and girls go from having limited power, voice, and choice at home and in the economy to having the skills, resources, and opportunities needed to access and compete equitably in markets and the agency to control and benefit from economic gains.”
Read more

In the midst of Covid-19, we have seen some amazing acts of courage and comradery that are giving us hope.
All People Free has made temporary shifts in focus to be able to respond to the immediate needs of the families we normally support through education, skills training, and small business loans. Our team has quickly risen to the occasion, putting every effort into caring for those most vulnerable during this time. Here’s some things we’ve been able to do:

• Our sewing students have made over 3000 masks to be distributed to families to help them stay healthy through the spread of the virus. 
• Our teachers and partners began making sanitizer to be distributed to those in the brickyards who can’t access or afford these basic sanitation supplies. 
• Our team organized mobile testing for Covid-19 symptoms and simultaneously distributed masks in one village, and we hope to see that duplicated in more villages soon. 
• With your help, we’ve delivered food to 20 families and we hope to quickly increase that number to 400 in the coming days. 
• Through all of these efforts, we’ve been able to continue providing support and work to our partners and teachers and we are so honored to work alongside them during these times.
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To learn more about what we are doing in response to Covid-19, or to donate, click below.