Exhibit details child trafficking; fundraiser to help give girls shelter

The four best friends pressed themselves together, each mugging for the camera with a different playful pose.

They seem like any group of little girls, and without the caption, it is impossible to tell that only days earlier they were rescued from a Thai brothel where their parents had sold them into slavery.

The “Four Angels” photograph is one of 10 powerful images featured at a fundraiser Saturday at Chroma Projects Art Laboratory. The new gallery and studio opened last month in downtown Charlottesville.

Titled “Metamorphosis: New Life for Trafficked Children,” the event supports the nonprofit group Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia, which began operating a shelter for trafficked children last fall near Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“It’s such a small organization that, what seems like a small amount of money to donate, actually can make a huge difference,” said Cecilia Laseter, event coordinator for COSA and a Charlottesville resident. “It can have a positive, concrete effect on the life of a little girl.”

The new shelter, called Baan Yuu Suk, which loosely translates to “house of lasting happiness or comfort,” currently serves 12 girls, some as young as 5, with meals, counseling and schooling, according to Laseter.

More importantly, she said, Baan Yuu Suk gives the girls a new home and a new lease on life.

“Stories are stories, so we only know what they tell us,” said Laseter, who helped to construct the shelter last year. “I would say all of them have been sold at one point and they are all there because they are far from their home and had no place to go.”

The man behind the lens is Mickey Choothesa, a freelance photographer. With his wife, he founded COSA in 2004 in response to what they already knew to be a rampant and insidious problem.

Between 4 million and 27 million people are estimated to be trafficked worldwide, with 1 million children exploited each year in the global commercial sex trade, according to reports published by the U.S. Department of State in 2005 and 2007.

“However, we really don’t know how big the problem really is,” Laseter said. “These children are not even counted as citizens — they essentially don’t exist, so I highly doubt they make it into the international statistics for human trafficking.”

Choothesa, who lives and works at the shelter in Thailand, had documented human trafficking in Southeast Asia for years for well-known non-governmental organizations, such as UNICEF and Save the Children, before he started getting involved, according to Laseter.

“For every project, he would then sell the photos and do something for the village,” she said.

He eventually began helping nonprofit groups until he decided to take it a step further and start his own group, partly in response to what he saw as corruption among some existing charities.

While COSA hopes to launch a coffee shop and bakery to teach the girls job skills and bring in revenue, Choothesa’s photography remains a key fundraising ingredient for the organization and a way to highlight the issue.

“As far as the formal design of the photographs, they are uncompromised and have very strong emotional content,” said Deborah McLeod, director of Chroma Projects. “I think any art that can play both songs has my respect and admiration.”

Laseter and McLeod were introduced through a mutual friend. McLeod agreed to hold the fundraiser at Chroma Projects, a 4,500-square-foot facility that leases studio space to local artists in addition to serving as a gallery.

“I’ve always been interested in the helpful role of art in society,” she said. “Whenever art can do this kind of good, a space should be made for it.”

Each dollar they make will directly help improve the lives of girls at Baan Yuu Suk, said Laseter. She estimates it costs $1,100 to sponsor each girl and $16,000 to operate the shelter each year.

“This one fundraiser could help a couple new girls move into the shelter, which is pretty significant,” said Laseter. “It’s really critical.”

“Metamorphosis: New Life for Trafficked Children” will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Chroma Projects Art Laboratory, 418 E. Main St.

The event will feature Choothesa’s photography, a silent auction and music by Beleza Brasil and the Olivarez Trio.

The suggested donation is $10. All donations cover the living expenses of the girls at Baan Yuu Suk. For more information on COSA, visit www.cosasia.org.

AT A GLANCE

“Metamorphosis: New Life for Trafficked Children” will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Chroma Projects Art Laboratory, 418 E. Main St.

The event will feature Mickey Choothesa’s photography, a silent auction and music by Beleza Brasil and the Olivarez Trio.

The suggested donation is $10. All donations cover the living expenses of rescued girls at the Baan Yuu Suk shelter in Thailand.

For more information on the Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia, visit www.cosasia.org.