20 Questions with Julia Smith-Brake

1. Name: Julia Smith-Brake
2. Age: 25
3.Hometown: Montreal, Quebec.
4. Where you are on the planet right now: Montreal, Quebec (alternately in Manchester, New Hampshire doing my Masters).
5: Favourite Book: Right now, really enjoying A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism (by Muhammad Yunus) andDevelopment as Freedom (by Amartya Sen).
6. Favourite Movie: The Sound of Music.
7. Favourite Band: Sarah McLachlan… not really a band, but fabulous enough to count!
8. Favourite Food: Khmer beef lok lak, Indian butter chicken and naan, Pad Thai, Russian pelmeni, West African peanut sauce.
9. What you wanted to be when you grew up: A carpenter.
10. Your ‘day job’: Community Economic Development research intern; director of Chab Dai Canada.
11. Your dream: A world where the vulnerable are given the dignity, respect and attention they deserve.
12. What you do for fun: Work in my community garden and bicycle (summer), skate and snowshoe (winter), brunch with my friends, read a LOT!
13. What opened your eyes to the reality of human trafficking: Working with Chab Dai Coalition, an anti-trafficking organisation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
14: What you are doing to change it: Setting up Chab Dai Canada as a charitable organisation; participating in awareness-raising events and leading anti-trafficking training; networking with others who are fighting trafficking.
15. Specific justice issue you’d like to address most: Giving the poor access to credit and markets so they may finally be understood, not as an economic liability, but as an important voice in the global economy.
16. Country you consider to have the greatest need: Wow, that’s a loaded question.
17. Literature/media you recommend to help people get acquainted with the issues: Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade–and How We Can Fight It (by David Batstone); Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves (by Kevin Bales); The Natashas and The Johns (by Victor Malarek); see www.chabdai.org for a great recommended media list!
18. Heros you look to for inspiration: Helen Sworn, director of Chab Dai Coalition; Roméo Dallaire; Amartya Sen; my parents; Jesus-Christ (I’m not saying that to be facetious, I find his story to be one of the most inspiring, and his interactions with the poor and vulnerable humble and teach).
19. Organizations, groups you know of effectively addressing the injustice of human trafficking: Chab Dai Coalition, Cambodia; Free the Slaves, U.S.A.; The Restavek Foundation, Haïti; The Salvation Army, Canada (and I’m assuming other place as well, but I know them specifically here).
20. How the modern-day slave trade will be abolished: Addressing more directly the demand sideof trafficking; more and better laws; more police and court training; poverty-reduction initiatives addressed at preventing trafficking in vulnerable areas.