Abi Ferrin: The Woman Behind the Freedom Project

I love chic comfortable clothing. I like outfits that I can travel with. The perfect combination of these two elements are the hallmark of fashion designer, Abi Ferrin’s line. However, that’s not why she is featured here today on my blog. Her purpose and passion has caught my eye. Her dedication and endless efforts to help support women from being involved in the sex trade is remarkable. She has created the FREEDOM PROJECT. Read her interview below as she tells us about her most recent trip to Cambodia in efforts to sustain what’s she started.  I relate to her and her mission. I will go to any length to protect young children so when I saw another woman putting her heart and soul out there to protect others, I knew I had to feature her.

1) What was the focus of this most recent trip to Cambodia? It was a follow up trip to my October 2011 trip wherin I began to understand in a tangible way what I was a part of supporting. The focus of this most recent trip was to introduce Rania Batrice from my team who is heading up our Freedom Project.  We went to identify ways to increase our support of these people who are making real changes in an ever growing number of lives.

2) What is new or upcoming with the Freedom Project? We just launched our first Freedom Project line, Sak Saum for Abi Ferrin. The thing that is truly special about this, is that the people are empowered through the success of this line  because they have built it themselves from the ground up and are now benefiting as successful entrepreneurs, not just factory workers. It is transformational to see a person who had no hope as a victim of trafficking become a proud and dignified land owner and leader in their community. There are no handouts or aid given, merely support of their hard work and guidance in their efforts. We also try to help support with supplies, training, design direction and equipment which encourages their success. I am in constant communication with them through Skype and email regarding design direction, but there talents drive this brand.

3) From watching your video we are so impressed, What inspired you to create such a project? I was a victim of abuse myself for over two years, and it was the first time in my otherwise privileged life that I realized intimately what it was like to live without freedom.  For me the best way to heal was to direct my energy towards helping others who were less fortunate then I was.  That was when I met Ginny and Eric Hanson who have dedicated their lives to helping the people of Cambodia as they recover from genocide and the intellectual destruction created by Pol Pot as he killed the majority of the countries leaders and intellects in the late 70’s and early 80’s. This is only the beginning of our project, but Cambodia has been largely forgotten or ignored by the western world so we really can see the immediate need and impact of the efforts on the ground.  Rania Batrice and I connected over similar abusive pasts and a common desire to help others.  Expect big things from us!

4) What can we do to help spread the word about The Freedom Project? We know many women here in the US would love to help your mission.

There are many ways to get involved. We would love people to watch the video, forward it to all their friends and begin to be further educated on their responsibility and power as a consumer. Where people spend their money really matters! When you are making a purchase, if the deal seems to good to be true, most likely someone is being enslaved in order to create that bargain. Most importantly for the people we work with, please spread the word on The Freedom Project page of the Abi Ferrin site (www.abiferrin.com/freedomproject). This is the next level above fair trade, and the more product we can sell, the more people will be employed, empowered and freed from slavery. I’d love to see The Freedom Project page become a “go-to” site for women, moms, sisters, aunts, cousins to give and receive gifts from. The product is amazing enough to stand on it’s own, but when you add the element of freedom to it, it’s priceless!

Follow Abi Ferrin on Twitter @AbiFerrin