Modern Day Slavery

You can't engage in any form of  media today without seeing something about missing people. Most often it's a child.   Hope for safe return is always at the forefront. Most often than not, it's not the case. 

A section of the  National Underground Railroad Freedom Center- Cincinnati, Ohio displays various forms of this heinous practice.

Rumors flourish as to what happens to those never found.

Below  is Margo's story

When Margo's dad stopped fondling her because he'd collapsed into a drunken  stupor, it was her chance to escape. She ran away with no place to go and no plan beyond getting away from the constant abuse.

Lenny, the guy buying cigarettes at the convenience store, saw that she was looking for something to eat, and he offered to buy her some snacks. Crying, she told him about home and he cared.

"Margo, he said soothingly, "I can give you a place to stay until you sort things out at home."

BELOW is how Lenny helped Margo.

Inside the circular  window above is a soiled mattress. It states, "After 16 her (Margo) new life had begun." 

Above.  Salila is riding to the city for her first day on a new job. Salila is unaware of what type of job awaits her.

A replica  maze of beds as depicted in sex slave operation.

The boxes indicate people being taken and moved around the same as  one would pack personal inanimate belongings. 

These unfortunate people are not seen as human beings but as chattel to be done with by the owner as he or she wishes.

The text on the boxes indicate numerous ways the uninformed and desperate become victims. 

•        parents who sell their children so that they (the remaining       family) can survive,
•  child soldiers, 
• parents who are told their child will receive an education in a nearby city or a different country never to be seen again,
•  farm laborers. 
• kidnapping and abduction

The very young are most vulnerable because of their innocence, lack of knowledge of life and they are not as strong.

There were other displays on this subject but I'd seen enough.

That's it ***

Fabric Covered Boxes

      At one time storing your record albums, LPs, vinyl, (or whatever YOU want to call them) in a milk crate was the thing. I've had these since I don't know when. There's also another box underneath the ones you see here on a lower shelf.

      I had the living room painted and spruced up, so I decided to replace the crates with decorative boxes similar to the ones I've seen in home and craft stores. I first consulted YouTube to get some ideas on how to cover the boxes. In the end, I did my own thing.

I happened to be at Moe's Southwest Grill  and saw one of the workers about to throw away what looked like sturdy,clean, tomato boxes. I asked if I could have them and he said yes. BTW- These boxes also came with lids, but I didn't need those so I took them to the recycling bin. After wiping the boxes down in a bleach solution, drying in the sun, then spraying with disinfectant, I proceeded with my project of covering the boxes in fabric.

 The fabric came from Walmart. We're limited around here as to where we can buy fabric. You can see my blue glue gun in the background.


After a lot of folding, pleating and cutting I was able to hot glue the fabric to the box. It could have been neater but this was my first time trying this.

 I didn't bother to line the inside since no one is supposed to be examining this and it's just for me.

Cutting out the space for the handles wasn't too bad. I made an  "X", then folded the fabric to the inside. 

Folding the edges of some of the material to finish it off and then gluing it on allowed it to come out a lot neater.

Here I am gluing on the folded strips for a clean finish on the handles.

 

You can see the finished handle has no raw edges.  I did this method on both boxes.

 

The box still looked a little plain ...

so I brought out the metal lock icons I had in my stash that I'd gotten for $1 at Michael's some time ago. I didn't know what I was going to do with them at the time but, I knew they had a future in some project I'd concoct. I was able to get 2 rolls of the trim you see below with a gift card I've had since 2016, along with asking for a seniors discount. (Being a senior citizen has it's perks😀. It's only 10%).
 

No, I didn't measure before I put the trim on.

Still,the albums look a lot more dressy on the shelf. The locks didn't show up as well as I'd like and I'll probably go back and dry brush them with a little silver paint to enhance the detail.

Here's a close up of the trim and lock.I'm satisfied with how this project turned out.

That's it***