NO MORE TRAFFIK
How I became involved in fighting modern day slavery.
In the beginning of 2012 I was living in Belfast, Northern Ireland working on my own small streetwear clothing line called MCHN with my friend Stephan. We were looking for a Brand Ambassador and came across DJ PTYK who told us about his experiences in Cambodia working with child trafficking victims.
We were shocked to hear that it’s also happening in Europe, right around the corner, on our streets. The next morning I woke up at 4am with this crazy idea of using street culture against modern days slavery. I came up with the name “No More Traffik On Our Streets” and the idea of organizing a street festival happening right in the middle of Belfast.
Over the next three months we talked to many local activists, politicians, businessmen, media, and friends. We ended up with a nine-day long festival hosting over 20 different events run by 30 different organisations in Northern Ireland. Our aim was to raise awareness of this problem of human trafficking.
No More Traffik Flashmob – 12 May 2012
NMT – Modern Days Slavery Video
CHARITY
NMT (No More Traffik) campaign brought so much attention to the issue of trafficking that we decided we needed to keep going. In January 2013 we became a registered charity and in May 2013 we held our second campaign called No More Traffik Here.
From the very beginning No More Traffik had a three-pronged approach.
- To facilitate community activism of awareness and victim-aid at a very local level.
- To educate: this is both to ensure people know the signs of trafficking and how to report them; but also in a bid to prevent trafficking amongst vulnerable people in NI.
- To promote cultural change: awareness, education and legislation by challenging the culture that condones trafficking.
NMT had the privilege to bring a change to Northern Ireland because of all the hard working people who decided not to remain silent about the issue of Human Trafficking. I had the privilege to start it and watch it grow. I stepped down from the board of No More Traffik in 2017.
In November 2017, Pete Kernoghan, known as DJ PTYK, became a Development Director and he will be driving the direction of No More Traffik, developing relationships and partnerships within the anti-trafficking network in NI as well as creating and initiating new campaigns to connect a variety of demographics to NMT. Pete is involved in No More Traffik from the very beginning and together with Gemma Brown, Cheryl Jenkins, Mel Wiggins and many other activists they are fighting trafficking in Northern Ireland.
