International humanitarian organisation, YouCanFreeUs has dedicated itself in a fight against human trafficking across the world through advocacy, rescue and rehabilitation. Founded by Sujo John, the organisation has prompted several global leaders to raise their voice against the issue. After moving to the US in February 2001, Sujo and his wife became one of the hundreds present in the North and South Towers of New York's World Trade Centre that fateful day of the attacks.
His survival became the launchpad of his career as a motivational speaker. Sujo, today, shares his story of hope, restoration, and change to universities, sporting events, Fortune 500 companies, and festivals in hundreds of cities in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Speaking about the 9/11 attacks, he said, “The terrorist attacks of 9/11 has truly changed my life in ways too hard to enumerate. Beyond the fact that I have now transitioned into motivational speaker post the event, the biggest impact has been the desire to think and work towards building my legacy. Till that day I was driven to chase success in ways the world measures success but now I am more passionate about making the world a better place.”
“Post 9/11, I have been involved with various charity causes around the world. My primary focus for a while was on education and healthcare. However, in 2010, I had an experience that changed me forever. A visit to the brothels of New Delhi and seeing the horror of human trafficking convinced me to step up and be a voice in the fight against human trafficking. This birthed YouCanFreeUs which is an international human rights organization fighting human trafficking around the world through advocacy, rescue and rehabilitation,” he added. “We now have our projects and resource hubs in USA, Canada, India, Norway, Poland, and most recently in the UK which is being lead by Clarissa Anderson who had been involved with the charity from its initial stages.”
The organisation holds awareness campaigns and events including 5k runs, fashion shows, art exhibitions, and TV and radio shows across many cities in the United States, Canada, India, Poland, and UK. They are currently expanding their scope to address prevention of human trafficking through a comprehensive educational curriculum called the VOX Initiative.
“Awareness events are a big part of educating society on the evils of human trafficking. When good people are made aware of this problem, there will be few that will step up in different ways to help fight this evil. Our awareness events also serves as a prevention strategy as information is disseminated to young people on the dangers of human trafficking. Awareness events also help us raise funds for our work and we find new partners who carry the same passion as we do to combat human trafficking,” Sujo said.
When asked what safety measures they provide women to stop gangs from re-capturing them, he said, “Locations of our safe houses are never published and access to them are also very limited. Our girls are encouraged not to reveal the physical location of our safe houses to anyone that are in contact with while they are with us. Our safe houses are also far from the red light areas and when we bring them to our safe houses on the first day, we try hard to make sure that no one is following us.”
