Dan Christopher’s Ta To project may have started at a Global PACT training, but it certainly hasn’t ended there. In late January, Dan and Ta To were featured for their continuing work in Rutgers-Focus Magazine, a faculty and staff publication.
Dan continues to take his learning far beyond the traditional classroom by pushing his organization forward. In addition to returning to Thailand to finish his short-film Dan has succeeded in some small scale fund raising for Ta To. Ultimately, he hopes that his organization will empower young people in Southeast Asia to use film and other media technology to tell stories of human trafficking and other challenges specific to the region.
Background: What social issue does Ta To focus on?
“In developing countries, the trafficking trade steals away an individual’s basic human rights. Traffickers use coercion, abduction, fraud, and economic leverage to steal people and sell them into forced labor, prostitution, unwanted marriage, and other forms of servitude. According to the International Labor Organization at the United Nations, there are an estimated 12.3 million people in forced labor, bonded labor, and sexual servitude at any given time. Annually, approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders; 80 percent of them are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors, according to U.S. government-sponsored research completed in 2006, ” the article in Rutgers-Focus reported.
How did they create their social change?
Dan said in the interview, “I am somebody who is perceptive to the issues and just cares. I don’t think of myself as special. I consider myself to be lucky and aware, and things just happened at the right place at the right time.” His organization, Ta-To (”wide eyes” in Thai), was one of two organizations to receive continued funding from Global PACT last year. But Daniel is not the only one involved in this noble cause. Dan works with his project partner Greg Mills, a Northeastern University student from Christopher’s home state of California. In a 16 minute video, they used a mini camera and encountered people and issues that adressed the trafficking issue. In the Article Daniel said, “I met a woman who was contemplating selling her child because her husband had a kidney disorder and they needed money for surgery. We were observing the roles of duty and family: Should the daughter have a choice? She is 15, should she say, ‘I want to go to Bangkok to help my dad raise money?’” Christopher said. “It is pivotal to make people aware of these situations because we want to portray the women as rational agents in making the documentary. They have to make very difficult ethical decisions.”
Future plans for Ta-To:
Dan and Greg want to provide dozens of Thai youth with video cameras to that they can record their own stories and others. They hope that Ta-To will transform the minds of both Americans, Asians, and the locals as well. Daniel explains this by saying, “”The big thing is to change Americans’ perceptions but also to raise awareness among Thais and others that they do have other alternatives. They don’t have to sell their children into some random maid job that they don’t have details about,” Christopher said. “Awareness is the first step to prevention.”
Where can you get more information about Ta-To?
Credit: Alex Alvanos
