Me

but we do what we can, both locally and around the globe. One of the projects we’re developing in Puerto Rico is a holistic youth center in Loiza, a town on the north coast of the island, where there are many gang-related problems. The idea is to build a place where we can keep these kids occupied and off the streets. The center will offer classrooms, but there will also be a place where we teach meditation, yoga, arts, and all kinds of other activities to keep them busy. I believe that one of the most serious problems faced by our society’s youth is idleness. When they have too much free time on their hands, they have more opportunity to get into trouble, so our goal is to create a place where they will always be busy, a place that will be like an amusement park for children of all ages, from zero to eighteen years old. We also want to offer support to pregnant girls so they can deliver their babies in a healthy environment. The idea is to start healing these wounds that have opened within society, and help the gang members who are killing one another begin to realize their so-called enemies are kids just like them. In June 2009, the RTL Foundation of Germany selected our proposal for the construction of the Loiza center as their international project (along with four other European projects) and will support us with funds raised through their renowned telethon. It is a long-term project that will take a long time to implement, but we are doing it with a great deal of love.
    From the moment we created the foundation, it was as if I had sent out the message to the universe that I wanted to do something, and so many ways of helping suddenly began to appear before me. All you have to do is say, “I want to do something,” and boom , the opportunities start to crop up. It is really a question of selecting the causes that are most important to you personally or touch your heart in some way, because there is so much to do. I started with music and a rehabilitation center for kids with disabilities. Those covered the areas of health and education, two causes I consider very important. Social justice would come later on.
    What I know is that giving back felt wonderful. Actually, it felt better than anything else I had done previously. And I know we could have done more at that time, but with the little we had done, I started to see very positive results, which filled me with joy. It was healing for the world, and healing for me to do it.
    Even though I do devote as much of my time as possible to my foundation and we accomplish quite a lot, I still don’t feel it’s enough, and we’re always looking for a way to do more. But sometimes things happen; in my case, I got a call from a colleague in India that led me to discover the horrible reality of human trafficking. No matter what the cause is that draws you, or inspires you to educate yourself further, hopefully the knowledge that it is almost impossible to eradicate issues such as these will inspire us all to do as much as we can, and then just a little bit more.

THE HORROR OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
    WHEN WE BEGAN to work on the issue of human trafficking, one of the obstacles we had to face is that it’s such a colossal and brutal problem that it is often hard to get people to pay attention. It’s like looking directly at a battlefield. It is so painful that people are inclined to turn their gaze elsewhere. That’s what happened to me when I first saw it. I said, “What? There are people who buy and sell sex with a four-year-old child? This just can’t be.” But it is. And just because it is such a horrifying subject, we cannot cast it aside. It is instead the very reason why we should face it head-on, with our eyes wide-open, with the goal of bringing as much awareness to it as possible.
    Like so many people, sometimes it happens that when I discover some of the atrocities that happen in the world, I feel like running in the opposite direction. I don’t want to know what it is that’s happening because I’m not ready to hear it. Like everyone, I also have my own problems, and it can be hard to think about what I can possibly do to help. But I have learned that the more I study, the more I know, and then I feel more prepared to face the reality of the situation and make my contribution toward finding a solution to the problem.
    So, when I am seeking the support of others, I have learned that the best way to go about it is to ease them into the whole picture: