Well it looks like there are more bugs in the system, so I am posting this on Heather's behalf. See forum topic brainstorming for more on Heather's work -aden

So I hope all had a good holiday, the other weekend.

These last week and few days, I have been trying to just stay with what I said was going to start out with: HIV Pretest/ Postest Counseling, ESL Classes, Referral Services, and Community Education. Why is it every time, I start on something, another piece of the puzzle decides to push itself in before its time to complete the entire puzzle?

I have looked some websites such as the following:
Korean Immigrant Worker's Association(www.kiwa.org)
Coalition of Immowalkee Workers (www.ciw-online.org )
Latino Union of Chicago(www.latinounion.org)
Mississippi Workers Center (www.msworkerscenter.org)
Student Farmer Alliance ( www.sfalliance.org)
Farmers Labor Organizing Committee (www.floc.com)
and
Open Society Institute (www.soros.org )

I realized that the human trafficking issue is also a worker's rights issue, hence the reason I visited the first 6 sites. The last one i visited to learn more about HIV "harm reduction" programs. Unfortunately, the computer that I am typing this from does not have or will support adobe acrobat reader, so i could not get the entire articles that were posted on the pages. There was one that Aden had sent me about a woman here in Memphis, who tried some years earlier to start a needle exchange program. At the time it was turned down, but i can say that I do believe that there is a program here in Memphis that is doing it now. If my information on that is wrong, that is something I could look into doing, once i get some progress rolling.

I have emailed a few of the organizations that I listed above. Mainly because most of these groups had some kind of survey that they have done of certain neighborhoods. I sent an email mainly to the Korean Immigrant Worker's Association because they have a workers' clinic and they have done surveys of the Korean and Latino communities of the immigrants who work in restaurants or are day laborers. They asked them about how they are treated, how much they make, gender issues, are they familiar of their rights, and they were also asked questions about their marital status (that i really didnt understand why that was a big deal personally).

There was another website that i did not list on here but I could not help but really fall in love with their program because they offer occupational training, ged training and esl classes. This what i meant when i said "Why is it every time, I start on something, another piece of the puzzle decides to push itself in before its time top complete the entire puzzle?".

Since all of this seems so new to me, I cant help but want to cover any and all issues involved here but i do realize that its better to start out small. I like what i have to start off with so far.

I know there is plenty of research still ahead that needs to be learned before i dive into this full steam ahead.

I do realize that at some point maybe visiting some cities will also help my awareness. to clarify, maybe coming up and meeting with some of these people (organizations)face to face. Telephone conversations are good but you really cant get hands on over the phone all the time. I do want to chicago at some point within the next year or so. More than likely, this will lead to visiting other towns as well. I am planning to meet with another organization here in Memphis called the Midsouth Peace and Justice Center. this way i could learn how they run their organizations.

Ok...ill do a part 3 sometime within the next week or so.

if you want to contact me privately: animeheather[-at-]gmail[-dot-]com -edited for spam reduction