Why All You Really Need is Love
I’m a fan of the Beatles, but I have to admit that “All You Need is Love” was never a favorite. The opening line “love, love, love” makes me shudder and nauseous. In a world where divorce and break ups conquer, true love seems to be some sort of fictitious and overtly idealistic concept that I can’t buy into. Furthermore, growing up in Thailand where prostitution has unfortunately become somewhat a social norm, I have learned to emotionally distance myself from the issue of sex trafficking. Nonetheless, last Thursday I attended an event hosted by Tufts chapter of Love146, an organization that works to abolish child sex trafficking, and found myself moved by the unbreakable dedication and stamina of the women who run the organization. They are Elaine Kim (’13), Charmaine Poh (’13), and Jane Yoon (’12). Here, we will find out more about what Love146 and the issue of child sex trafficking personally means to them, and why the Beatles may be right.
Her Campus: In a word or phrase, what is Love146?
Jane Yoon:
A word? One of them would definitely be compassion.
Charmaine Poh:
Compassionate action.
It’s not enough just to have compassion, but to really act upon it and use that compassion as a root for that action and understanding the issue. I think that’s how Tufts Love146 started. That is we did not want a student group that was interested in this vague thing called human rights…at every event, we want to make sure that people understand more about the issue; our intention was never fundraising; it’s about raising awareness and understanding. That is much more important than funds and money.
JY:
We want our events to be an interactive environment so that people don’t just come in and feel obligated or guilted into making donations and just walk out. The goal is not to make them feel guilty but empowered about this issue.
CP:
Yeah. If we can genuinely inspire a small group of people, doesn’t have to be large group, to take action and allow them to see the significance of this issue, and really join in the movement, I believe that the result will be a broad, sweeping effect.
Her Campus: How has the response been at Tufts? Satisfied? Getting there?
Elaine Kim:
I’ve totally been blown away by the campus response so far. It was really humbling to see so many people come to our Broken Hearts Club Event this past week. I would say the best compliment I’ve received regarding Love146 is the fact that we now have 12 people in our “core team”– it’s a huge growth from the 3 of us meeting in a single in Carmichael. To see people commit to the Love146 Tufts chapter and the cause is absolutely awesome to see.
JY:
The response has been incredible. We’ve gotten so much support. Our first benefit concert last year we raised over $1000 and 250 people attended. We had no funding. It was just the three of us doing this on our own.
CP:
We didn’t think about raising $1000 when we planned the event or while we were overseeing it. But at the end of the night when we counted up the sum, we were like “Wow, that’s a lot of money!”
Her Campus: I guess this is a good example of how for some people, the more they think about the money, the less successful they are, whereas some people who do not think about money are very successful. Oh, the paradox of life.
What’s your vision of Love146 after you graduate? And will you still be active in the organization after you graduate?
EK:
Definitely! I have no idea where I’ll be after I graduate, but I’ll be looking for (or starting!) a Task Force in whatever neighborhood I end up in.
I always joke about how awesome it will be to finally say I can’t be active in Love146 because child sex slavery and exploitation is completely abolished!
JY:
For me, Love146 was a way to make a big change on campus and a way to touch people in the beginning. But now it’s really become a part of my life, and is not a little hobby anymore. It’s a part of me. I think about it when I wake up in the morning and before I go to bed. I know I’m going to take it past college. I do hope to raise my children and let them be aware of child sex trafficking and empower them. Basically, once you adopt something as a part of your life, you take it everywhere you go and you can’t let it go.
CP:
For all of us, Love146 is not just another thing to add to our resume or some temporary activity to pass the time. Having been exposed to this issue, we can never go back to being indifferent. What we do is not exactly enjoyable and fun. Ideally, I wish that we did not even have to do this.
And to add on this, we can all agree that child sex trafficking is wrong. I don’t think there’s anyone out there that believes that sex trafficking is right. So there’s a common denominator and I think that’s a good starting point.
JY:
The biggest problem with fighting against this issue is that it’s so heartbreaking. It’s so hard to talk about that people choose to turn a blind eye and decide to not talk or think about it. So my hope for Love146 is to make people feel like they could do something about it—that the issue of child sex trafficking is not a dead end, that they can do something about it.
Her Campus: Valentine’s Day just passed. What did you guys do? Would you like to say anything about love?
EK:
Believe in a Love that protects, defends, restores, and empowers!
CP:
I had class and a romantic date with my books and I wrote a poem for class [laughs].
JY:
I babysat two-year olds and they gave me baked chocolate goods (from their moms) and kisses [smiles].
And about love, true love sticks around—that’s actually going to be our theme for our upcoming benefit concert in the end of March. Our goal is not to just have people come to our events,
CP:
These children have to know that they don’t have to settle for their pimp as their source of affection and love. As a member of Love146, we care about them and will stick around and fight for them.