Pacquiao’s fight to end sex trade
Editor’s note: This article is part of The Fighters, a series of reports from a full-length film that premieres on CNN International TV on May 17 and 18 at 1900 HKT; 2200 CET; 2200 ET. The documentary is a result of two years of undercover work and filming in the Philippines.
Manila, Philippines (CNN) — Birds chirp outside. A motorcycle groans up a nearby hill. And in a small, warm room filled with books and framed drawings, a young woman we’re calling Maria tears at a tissue as she prepares to tell how sex traffickers corrupted her life.
“I was 15 when I was recruited,” she said. “I had to find a job because my father had a lung problem and I needed to find money so we could send him to the hospital.”
Maria met a person in her province who said he could find her a job in Manila.
“I thought I was going to work as a dishwasher in a restaurant,” she said. “But when I arrived I realized it was a ‘casa.’” ‘Casa’ is a code word for brothel in the Philippines.
Many young girls fall prey to human traffickers. They often leave their homes and villages in the provinces, seeking opportunities to support their families.
The traffickers are adept at convincing them to travel with them.
Cecilia Flores-Oebanda is presented with The World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child by Sweden’s Queen Silvia on April 28, 2011.
Manny Pacquaio, with Oebanda, meets girls rescued from human traffickers. The girls shared their stories with Pacquaio, who also spoke at congress in support of an anti-trafficking law.
Oebanda with President Jimmy Carter at the 2008 Skoll World Forum where she recieved the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship
Oebanda meets with Desmond Tutu in 2008 while both were speaking at the Global Philanthropy Forum.
Oebanda receives the 2005 Anti-Slavery Award at Chatham House in London on November 29, 2005. The award was presented by Lord Bill Brett, director of the International Labour Organization.
Oebanda speaks before the Philippine Senate during deliberations about the Magna Carta on Domestic Workers in 2002. The legislation was designed to improve conditions for domestic workers in the country.
Oebanda attends the first Southeast Asian Consultation, meeting to draft legislation on domestic workers in 2005. The meeting was organized by the Visayan Forum.
Oebanda is seen in the late 1990′s working in poor communities of Manila with the Child Watch Network.
Oebanda’s first day outside prison, with her children on February 26, 1986. She was captured while fighting for rebel forces against the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos.
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Anti-trafficker attracts power brokers
Government: 100,000 sex workers are kids
“I traveled through the islands. It took me 24 hours to reach Manila. When I got there, I found 16 girls staying in the same small place. Some were as young as 13-years-old,” she said.
Maria was trapped and forced to have sex with a number of foreign and Filipino men.
Although she was there for only a few weeks before the Filipino police raided the apartment and freed her and the others, the damage had been done.
Maria routinely saw up to 13 customers a day. Her captors forced her to go to extreme lengths to deceive them into thinking she was a virgin in order to command higher prices.
“We were forced to take a cotton ball and dip it in pigeon’s blood, then put that in our sex organ,” she says. As outrageous as that is, it is not unusual.
In some parts of Asia, anti-trafficking groups have found that men believe sex with a virgin can cure their HIV/AIDS.
Social workers say that’s led to a disturbing trend with tragic consequences for the victims of human trafficking. UNICEF estimates as many as 100,000 children work in the illegal sex trade in the Philippines.
Click here to get full infographic on human trafficking in the Philippines
Many women are also forced to prostitute themselves, not because of financial circumstances, but because they fear violence against themselves or their families, if they try to escape.
While filming the CNN Freedom Project documentary, we interviewed three girls, whose story was so profound and distressing, it left me in tears, the only time in my 15-year career that’s happened.
The interview started out normally, with the girls singing into the microphone and telling us about Tom Jerry cartoons and the crushes they had on the musician Bruno Mars.
They seemed like typical 12-year-olds, but what they would tell us about what they’d been through, stopped me cold.
“The trauma is really so deep,” says Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, the director of the Visayan Forum Foundation, an organization that cares for recued girls. “They wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying because they are so afraid the trafficker will come again. Sometimes one of the kids suddenly gets sick and vomits. Our psychologist said it’s because she remembers what these guys on the Internet asked her to do.”
One of the girls said: “At the internet café they tell me to take my clothes off and then they make me dance [in front of the camera]. I was kind of embarrassed because I’m not used to being naked like that.”
Child advocate wants Pacquiao’s help
Manny Pacquiao is known the world over for his boxing abilities, but in the Philippines he’s also a national hero beyond the ring. Click through to see moments of Pacquiao’s life.
Pacquiao, center, and his wife Jinkee, right, display their certificates of candidacy at the election office in Alabel, Sarangani province, in the southern island of Mindanao, on October 2, 2012. Pacquiao registered to run for reelection as a congressman for the southern province of Sarangani, with Jinkee filing to stand for vice-governor.
Pacquiao attends a plenary session discussing a proposed reproductive health bill at the House of Representatives at Congress in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines, August 6, 2012.
Pacquiao gestures during a prayer rally at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila on July 28, 2012. The prayer rally was a way for Pacquiao to thank his fans and supporters for the blessings he received.
Pacquiao gives a sack of rice and relief goods to a woman after floods struck in Glan, Sarangani province, southern Philippines, June 17, 2012.
Pacquiao speaks to flood-affected residents at an evacuation center in Cagayan de Oro City, a southern island off Mindanao on December 23, 2011.
Pacquiao is conferred the rank of lieutenant colonel by Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, left, and Brig. Gen. Alex Albano, right, in Manila, on December 5, 2011.
Pacquiao sits with fellow lawmakers during the 15th Congress at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 25, 2011.
Pacquiao shakes hands with a Special Forces Operation Course student during the 49th Special Forces Regiment anniversary at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, north of Manila, on June 27, 2011. During the event, Pacquiao received the Honorary Special Forces Warrior Badge, and wore the exclusive Special Forces uniform popularly known as the “Tiger suit.”
Pacquiao looks toward Congressman Edcel Lagman, right, at the House of Representatives on May 18, 2011.
Pacquiao speaks at a news conference during the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in May 2011.
Pacquiao and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid exchange flags in Washington on February 15, 2011.
Pacquiao waves as he joins hundreds of other runners in Manila on October 10, 2010, to raise funds and environmental awareness to help revive the Pasig River, a heavily polluted major waterway that cuts through the city of 12 million.
Pacquiao joins Harry Reid, a Nevada senator, on the campaign trail at the Orr Middle School in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 29, 2010, ahead of the midterm U.S. elections.
Pacquiao tries out whitewater rafting to promote tourism in his district in New La Union in Maitum, Sarangani province, on August 14, 2010.
Pacquiao attends a session of the Lower House as congressman representing his home district of Sarangani during the State of The Nation address of President Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino on July 26, 2010.
Pacquiao listens during the turnover ceremony for the new commanding general of the Philippine army at Fort Bonifacio on July 23, 2010.
Pacquiao takes his oath of office as congressman at the provincial capitol in Alabel, Sarangani province, on June 28, 2010.
Pacquiao holds his daughter Queen Elizabeth as he talks to members of the media during his victory party for winning a seat in parliament — held jointly with her birthday celebration — at a convention center on the southern island of Mindanao on May 15, 2010.
Pacquiao celebrates with local officials during his proclamation as congressman of Sarangani province in May 2010.
Pacquiao plays billiards at his recreational center in General Santos, Mindanao, in May 2010.
Pacquiao places his ballot into a vote-counting machine in Kiamba, Sarangani province, on May 10, 2010.
Pacquiao greets supporters during a campaign rally in Kiamba in April 2010.
Pacquiao, center, greets supporters with presidential candidate Manny Villar, right, and vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda, left, as he starts his campaign for Congress in March 2010.
Pacquiao poses with his certificate of candidacy next to his wife, Jinkee, after filing in the town of Alabel, Saragani province, on December 1, 2009.
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Pacquiao outside the ring
In these rarely seen photos, taken by Manny Pacquiao’s personal photographer James Dayap, we take a glimpse at the boxer’s training regimen for the Timothy Bradley fight in June 2012, which would become one of the most controversial bouts of his career.
Pacquiao was awarded the title “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2000s by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), World Boxing Council (WBC) and the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
At the age of 14, Pacquiao moved to Manila, the Philippines, and started boxing. For a time, he lived on the streets.
Pacquiao trained in Los Angeles for the welterweight title match against Bradley.
The WBO welterweight title fight was held on June 9, 2012, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight ended with Bradley winning a split decision that sparked controversy throughout the boxing world.
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Pacquiao in training
Often that wasn’t enough for paying customers on the other side of the sex chat room. For $27 an hour, anyone could tell the girls what to do, and a man behind the camera would make sure they did it.
The girls told of men coming in off the street and the girls having to perform sexual acts. Animals were sometimes involved. And perverts took deranged pleasure in watching the girls suffer these terrible abuses.
“Sometimes we had to urinate,” says the girl in the middle. Her friend to the right adds: “The urine is mixed with juice as a drink.”
“That’s what the American client wants. He demands anyone who feels like urinating should do so, but that he wants us to do it in front of the camera.”
I asked the children what they think about Americans.
“You’re maniacs,” one of the girls says, sharply. “You need to stop victimizing girls like us.”
Read what happened when CNN journalists went undercover in Manila’s red light district
The Visayan Forum Foundation, which has operated in the Philippines since 1991, says it has reached out to more than 70,000 victims or potential victims of human trafficking, and provided services to, or helped rescue, more than 15,000 victims.
“The cases we handle in the Visayan Forum is always on trafficking for prostitution and domestic servitude,” says Oebanda. “Now there’s a new phenomenon of trafficking for cybersex. We observe that [the victims] are becoming younger and younger.”
During filming, we witnessed several raids conducted by the Philippines Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, referred to commonly as IACAT.
One of those raids involved two suspected traffickers and four teenage girls coming in to Manila aboard a passenger ferry. Officers with the Coast Guard and Port of Manila police intercepted the group before they could disembark.
“One of the [girls] is around 15 years old and another one is around 16 or 17 years old, so that’s a qualified case of human trafficking,” says Oebanda.
They told social workers they were heading to a city north of Manila where the trafficker planned a live show in a cybersex den and where they would be prostituted.
Oebanda and lawyers with the Philippines’ Department of Justice filed charges against the two suspects, realizing it could be years before the trial is finished.
New cases like these were always heartbreaking for Maria, whose own attempts to embrace a new life were cruelly snatched away. In March this year, she died from complications as she gave birth to her second child, social workers told CNN.
One of the last things Maria said to CNN was a message to warn others.
“Please, do not to believe all the promises, especially from people you don’t know, because a lot of things can happen if you leave with them.”
Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/06/world/asia/freedom-fighter-victims/index.html?eref=edition
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/MnDymKbcKHQ/pacquiaos-fight-to-end-sex-trade
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RipleysStuff/~3/_vNafL_HyRo/pacquiaos-fight-to-end-sex-trade
Bad night: Rubber duck recreates a scene more familiar in Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong or Wan Chai bar areas.
No inflatable fun here. A yellow slick is all that remains of the duck.
But that didn’t stop onlookers flocking to the scene.
No inflatable fun here. A yellow slick is all that remains of the duck.
Not your everyday sight in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. A giant 16.5 meter (54 feet) inflatable duck, creatively called ‘Rubber Duck’ sails into town on Thursday.
The duck added a surreal touch to the city’s iconic skyline. No doubt those in the Central financial district found time in their busy days to post countless photos to social media taken from their high office perches.
The duck has visited 12 cities around the world, including Osaka, Sydney, Sao Paolo and Amsterdam.
The duck “refers to your childhood when there was no stress or economic pressure, no worry about having to pay the rent,” says Hofman.
The duck is about six stories tall. It is hollow and air pumps work non-stop to keep the duck’s shape. Three huge anchors will hold the duck in place in the harbor.
The duck is on show at Tsim Sha Tsui, beside the Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, until June 9. 
After Hong Kong, the duck will head to the United States, though exactly where won’t be revealed until about a week before floatation.
Deborah Knight, the grandmother of kidnapping victim Michelle Knight, participates in a community balloon-release service in Michelle’s honor on Thursday, May 9, in Cleveland. Four females were found in a home on Seymour Avenue in the Clark Fulton neighborhood on Monday. Since then, the neighborhood and the nation have wondered how they were held captive without anyone noticing sooner.
Authorities say Ariel Castro held three women — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. DNA tests confirmed that he fathered a girl born to Berry, who was among those rescued, the Ohio attorney general’s office said Friday. His house, third from left, is now a crime scene.
57-year-old Ronice Dunn moved into the neighborhood in 1984. For years after Berry and DeJesus disappeared, she joined in neighborhood vigils and prayer groups for their safe return.
A building sits boarded up on Seymour Avenue. The Clark Fulton neighborhood is beset by nearly double-digit unemployment, and one in every five houses is in foreclosure.
The media set up tents near Castro’s home. 
Kinkel Avenue is a few blocks from Castro’s home. 
The house of Onil Castro’s two sons, where he was staying when he was arrested on Kinkel Avenue. He and his brother Pedro were arrested along with Ariel Castro, but later were released and not charged. 
“Why didn’t I notice anything? What should I have been looking for?” asked Mickie Wodgik, who spent years living across the street from Castro and, it turns out, the three missing women. 
Around the corner from Seymour Avenue, graffiti is written on an abandoned building.
A street view shows West 25th Street, which runs perpendicular to Seymour Avenue.
Cynthia Conor, who has lived in the same house for 38 years, often drank with Castro and and his brother Pedro, she said. Her father trained Castro for his school bus job.
A man stands on Clark Avenue in front of painted buildings. 
This boarded-up building sits across the street from Castro’s house.
Pastor Joe Abraham has ministered to many in this neighborhood for more than 25 years, including as the leader of Scranton Road Bible Church.
People hold balloons during a community balloon-release service in kidnapping victim Michelle Knight’s honor. 
Residents gather outside a community meeting at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Thursday, May 9, to talk about the kidnapping case in Cleveland. Balloons were released as part of the ceremony. Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight escaped on Monday, May 6, after being held captive for nearly a decade.
FBI agents and other law enforcement officers stand outside suspect Ariel Castro’s home in Cleveland on May 9. Castro, a former school bus driver, has been accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his house. He has also been charged with rape.
Castro hangs his head low while talking with his public defender, Kathleen DeMetz, during his arraignment on May 9.
Ada Colon prays during a vigil held in honor of the kidnapping victims in Cleveland on Wednesday, May 8.
Relatives of kidnapping victim Georgina “Gina” DeJesus hug after she returned to her parents’ home in Cleveland on May 8.
Friends and neighbors cheer as a car carrying Amanda Berry arrives at her sister’s house in Cleveland on May 8.
Gina DeJesus gives a thumbs up as she arrives at her family’s house in Cleveland on May 8.
Ariel Castro was charged on May 8 with kidnapping the three women.
The family house of Gina DeJesus has been decorated by well-wishers on Tuesday, May 7.
Friends and relatives gather in front of the family house of DeJesus on May 7.
Well-wishers visit the home of the sister of Amanda Berry on Monday, May 6.
Investigators remove evidence from the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland where the three women were held.
An FBI forensics team meets outside the house where three women were held as they investigate the property.
An FBI forensics team member removes evidence from the house.
A relative of DeJesus brings balloons to the home of Amanda Berry’s sister in Cleveland on May 7.
Children hold a sign and balloons in the yard of Gina DeJesus’ family home in Cleveland on May 7.
Bystanders and media gather on May 7 along Seymour Avenue in Cleveland near the house where the three women were held captive.
A bystander shows the front page of The Plain Dealer newspaper to a friend outside of the house on Seymour Avenue on May 7.
Cleveland Deputy Chief of Police Ed Tomba, center, speaks at a news conference to address details of the developments.
The house where the three women were held captive in Cleveland was the home of Ariel Castro, who was arrested and is being held pending charges in the case.
FBI agents remove evidence from the houseMay 7.
A police officer stands in front of the broken front door of the house on May 7, where the kidnapped women escaped.
Neighbor Charles Ramsey talks to media as people congratulate him on helping the kidnapped women escape on Monday, May 6. He helped knock down the door after he heard screaming inside.
Amanda Berry vanished a few blocks from her Cleveland home on April 21, 2003. She was 16.
Georgina “Gina” DeJesus was last seen in Cleveland on April 2, 2004, on her way home from school. She was 14 when she went missing.
Michelle Knight was last seen on August 22, 2002, when she was 21.
On June 5, 2002, when Elizabeth Smart was 14, she was abducted from her bed, raped and held captive for nine months by Brian David Mitchell. On May 25, 2011, Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison.
Natascha Kampusch, an Austrian woman, was held prisoner in a basement for eight years from the time she was 10. Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, beat her up to 200 times a week, manacled her to him as they slept and forced her to walk around half-naked as a domestic slave after kidnapping her in 1998. Kampusch escaped in August 2006. Priklopil committed suicide shortly thereafter.
Eleven-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted in 1991 from outside her home in South Lake Tahoe, California. She was held by Phillip and Nancy Garrido in a hidden compound of sheds along with the two daughters to whom she subsequently gave birth. Dugard and her daughters were found in 2009.
Shawn Damian Hornbeck spent more than four years with Michael Devlin, passing as his captor’s son in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri. Shawn was 15 when he was found in 2007 and reunited with his family. 
Elisabeth Fritzl was imprisoned and raped by her father, Josef Fritzl, for 24 years. Fritzl lured his daughter into the basement in 1984 when she was 18 years old. She had seven of his children. She was released at age 42 after her ill 19-year-old daughter was taken to the hospital and police called the family in for abuse suspicions. In 2009 Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison. 
Carlina White was abducted in 1987 from a Harlem hospital room. She learned her real identity 23 years later after finding her case online. She contacted the police after finding a baby picture that looked like her baby pictures on a missing children website. She was reconnected with her birth mother in 2011. White said she’d never felt like she belonged to the family who raised her.
Steve Carter also discovered he was a missing person after an online search. He had been adopted at age 4 from an orphanage in Honolulu. At 35 years old, he heard about White’s case and clicked on Missingkids.com and found an age progression photo of himself as an infant. It came to light that biological father, Mark Barnes, reported him missing more than three decades ago after his mother, Charlotte Moriarty, took him for a walk and didn’t return.
Manny Pacquiao is known the world over for his boxing abilities, but in the Philippines he’s also a national hero beyond the ring. Click through to see moments of Pacquiao’s life. 
Pacquiao, center, and his wife Jinkee, right, display their certificates of candidacy at the election office in Alabel, Sarangani province, in the southern island of Mindanao, on October 2, 2012. Pacquiao registered to run for reelection as a congressman for the southern province of Sarangani, with Jinkee filing to stand for vice-governor. 
Pacquiao attends a plenary session discussing a proposed reproductive health bill at the House of Representatives at Congress in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines, August 6, 2012.
Pacquiao gestures during a prayer rally at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila on July 28, 2012. The prayer rally was a way for Pacquiao to thank his fans and supporters for the blessings he received.
Pacquiao gives a sack of rice and relief goods to a woman after floods struck in Glan, Sarangani province, southern Philippines, June 17, 2012. 
Pacquiao speaks to flood-affected residents at an evacuation center in Cagayan de Oro City, a southern island off Mindanao on December 23, 2011.
Pacquiao is conferred the rank of lieutenant colonel by Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, left, and Brig. Gen. Alex Albano, right, in Manila, on December 5, 2011.
Pacquiao sits with fellow lawmakers during the 15th Congress at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 25, 2011.
Pacquiao shakes hands with a Special Forces Operation Course student during the 49th Special Forces Regiment anniversary at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, north of Manila, on June 27, 2011. During the event, Pacquiao received the Honorary Special Forces Warrior Badge, and wore the exclusive Special Forces uniform popularly known as the “Tiger suit.”
Pacquiao looks toward Congressman Edcel Lagman, right, at the House of Representatives on May 18, 2011.
Pacquiao speaks at a news conference during the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in May 2011.
Pacquiao and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid exchange flags in Washington on February 15, 2011.
Pacquiao waves as he joins hundreds of other runners in Manila on October 10, 2010, to raise funds and environmental awareness to help revive the Pasig River, a heavily polluted major waterway that cuts through the city of 12 million.
Pacquiao joins Harry Reid, a Nevada senator, on the campaign trail at the Orr Middle School in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 29, 2010, ahead of the midterm U.S. elections.
Pacquiao tries out whitewater rafting to promote tourism in his district in New La Union in Maitum, Sarangani province, on August 14, 2010.
Pacquiao attends a session of the Lower House as congressman representing his home district of Sarangani during the State of The Nation address of President Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino on July 26, 2010.
Pacquiao listens during the turnover ceremony for the new commanding general of the Philippine army at Fort Bonifacio on July 23, 2010. 
Pacquiao takes his oath of office as congressman at the provincial capitol in Alabel, Sarangani province, on June 28, 2010.
Pacquiao holds his daughter Queen Elizabeth as he talks to members of the media during his victory party for winning a seat in parliament — held jointly with her birthday celebration — at a convention center on the southern island of Mindanao on May 15, 2010. 
Pacquiao celebrates with local officials during his proclamation as congressman of Sarangani province in May 2010.
Pacquiao plays billiards at his recreational center in General Santos, Mindanao, in May 2010.
Pacquiao places his ballot into a vote-counting machine in Kiamba, Sarangani province, on May 10, 2010.
Pacquiao greets supporters during a campaign rally in Kiamba in April 2010.
Pacquiao, center, greets supporters with presidential candidate Manny Villar, right, and vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda, left, as he starts his campaign for Congress in March 2010. 
Pacquiao poses with his certificate of candidacy next to his wife, Jinkee, after filing in the town of Alabel, Saragani province, on December 1, 2009. 
In these rarely seen photos, taken by Manny Pacquiao’s personal photographer James Dayap, we take a glimpse at the boxer’s training regimen for the Timothy Bradley fight in June 2012, which would become one of the most controversial bouts of his career. 
Pacquiao was awarded the title “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2000s by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), World Boxing Council (WBC) and the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
At the age of 14, Pacquiao moved to Manila, the Philippines, and started boxing. For a time, he lived on the streets.
Pacquiao trained in Los Angeles for the welterweight title match against Bradley.
The WBO welterweight title fight was held on June 9, 2012, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight ended with Bradley winning a split decision that sparked controversy throughout the boxing world.
Cecilia Flores-Oebanda is presented with The World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child by Sweden’s Queen Silvia on April 28, 2011.
Manny Pacquaio, with Oebanda, meets girls rescued from human traffickers. The girls shared their stories with Pacquaio, who also spoke at congress in support of an anti-trafficking law.
Oebanda with President Jimmy Carter at the 2008 Skoll World Forum where she recieved the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 
Oebanda meets with Desmond Tutu in 2008 while both were speaking at the Global Philanthropy Forum.
Oebanda receives the 2005 Anti-Slavery Award at Chatham House in London on November 29, 2005. The award was presented by Lord Bill Brett, director of the International Labour Organization.
Oebanda speaks before the Philippine Senate during deliberations about the Magna Carta on Domestic Workers in 2002. The legislation was designed to improve conditions for domestic workers in the country.
Oebanda attends the first Southeast Asian Consultation, meeting to draft legislation on domestic workers in 2005. The meeting was organized by the Visayan Forum.
Oebanda is seen in the late 1990′s working in poor communities of Manila with the Child Watch Network.
Oebanda’s first day outside prison, with her children on February 26, 1986. She was captured while fighting for rebel forces against the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Beth Poledna walks through her garage on Thursday, May 16, in Cleburne, Texas, as she begins the cleanup process after a tornado swept through the area. At least six people were killed in a string of tornadoes that struck overnight Wednesday in North Texas.
An upturned vehicle lies next to an uprooted tree on Thursday, May 16, in Granbury, Texas.
Debris from damaged homes litters a neighborhood in Granbury on Thursday, May 16.
Rescue workers search through debris in Granbury, on May 16.
A rescue worker sifts through rubble on May 16 in Granbury, southwest of Fort Worth. 
Rescue personnel pass remnants of destroyed houses in Granbury on May 16. There were reports of homes in Granbury being flattened with people inside.
Pete Alaniz eyes damage to the garage of his Cleburne, Texas, rental home on May 16.
At least 10 tornadoes touched down in northern Texas late Wednesday May 15, including this one in Millsap, west of Fort Worth.
The living room of a Cleburne home is left without a roof on May 16.
An antique car sits in a collapsed garage on May 16 in Granbury.
Eva Zapata, left, waits with a relative, Dario Segura, on May 15 for news of her children, who live in the Granbury neighborhood of Rancho Brazos. Six of the storm victims came from that subdivision, the Hood County sheriff said.
John Bouyer collects a refrigerator on May 16 that blew away from his sister-in-law’s home in Granbury.
A trailer rests against a garage in Cleburne on May 16 after being blown into a house.
Josephat Torner is an albino activist from Tanzania. His fight for equality and acceptance of people with his condition has been captured in a new documentary called “In the Shadow of the Sun.”
In recent years, there has been an increase in Tanzania in the deaths of albinos. At the heart of the problem, are widespread misconceptions that albinos’ body parts bring good luck and wealth.
In a country where most albinos live their life in the shadows, Torner has stepped out to debunk the misconceptions in the hope of creating a more inclusive society.
Torner and director Harry Freeland spent six years creating “In the Shadow of the Sun.” While making the film, Freeland traveled all across Tanzania with Torner to follow the activist’s community outreach program.
Born with albinism, Torner has a lack of skin color, poor vision and weakened strength. But he doesn’t let any of that stop him from reaching his goals. In an effort to prove that albinos can achieve greatness, he climbed Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain.
“It’s my dream in my life that people with albinism are respected and given all rights which other human beings are being given,” says Torner. 
