Friday, February 25, 2011

The Mukti Ball


from the facebook invitation page: "Mukti is the Bengali word for freedom. Freedom is something that many of us don't think about when we celebrate Valentine's Day, because we've never known a world without it. Sadly, that's not true for the millions of men, women, and children caught in the sex trade. This event isn't a fundraiser, and it isn't a guilt trip, it's a celebration of the freedom that we have the power to bring, if only we re-think how we celebrate this holiday. Last year Americans spent over $14 BILLION dollars on Valentine's Day. This year, instead of spending money on something temporary, invest in something permanent. Do something different.

Skip the expensive, overcrowded restaurants and instead join us in a celebration to bring freedom for those caught in the sex trade. Come hear one women's freedom story and see what is being done to overcome the evil that’s enslaving over 20 million worldwide. 

This will be a fun, semi-formal ball, and it will include cocktails, dinner, and dancing."


This is a picture of my table that I set up for the ball.
   

The Cooking Activist Table

I made these Coffee Gateau cupcakes with fair trade and organic ingredients.   I used fair trade brown sugar, cane sugar, and confectioners sugar...everything was organic with organic pecans on top!  I used organic espresso in these and they were like a shot of espresso...yum!

Coffee Gateau mini cupcakes

These are Vanilla Brown Sugar mini cupcakes also made with fair trade and organic ingredients. I ended up putting one fair trade/organic chocolate chip on top of each cupcake for decoration.  They were so good!  This was my first attempt decorating with icing using a decorating bag and tips.  They came out really cute!

Vanilla Brown Sugar Mini Cupcakes for the ball

I also had a basket of my signature cookies, Delightful Oatmeal cookie, which I packaged individually with a label, for the guests to take home with them.  Here is the link to the rest of the pictures from the event.

 The other organizations that were there with me were:  Love146, Grace Ministries of Jacksonville, Transitions Global, Made by Survivors, Shop to Stop Slavery, The Defender Foundation, and Mukti Imports.  Kristin Keen is the woman who put this ball together, she is a founding member of Sari Bari, they are providing, for women from the red light district in India, a chance at life outside of the brothels.

I meet a lot of really cool people that night!  I was also able to share the importance of buying fair trade products for the guests.  We are all fighting for freedom from slavery for people all over the world.  People, children, women, and men are forced to work on farms, plantations, factories, brothels, strip clubs, prostitution, nail and hair salons, massage parlors, as domestic workers, construction workers, janitors...the list goes on and on.  This is happening everywhere around the world, even in America, the land of the free and home of the brave.  I am being brave and stepping out to tell the world about this atrocity.  We can't allow this to continue, not here in America or anywhere else in the world.  I want everyone to see that one person can make a difference, one person does matter, one person can have an impact on the world around them.  My goal is to bring God glory with my life. I will lay my life down for Jesus and follow Him to the ends of the Earth.  I am an abolitionist. I will do whatever I can do, with the talent God has given me, to raise awareness about human trafficking.  I will change the world one cookie at a time!

Have a blessed day!
Remember, you can make a difference in someone's life...

Libby
The Cooking Activist