This Child Singing Tree is focusing on some of the odds children are up against:
1:6 UNESCO reports that one in six children in the world are not in school, but are working to support their families

1:170 The Department of Justice estimates that 1 in 170 of American youth are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation

1:2 According to international anti-narcotics agencies, Myanmar has most heavily armed drug-trafficking organization in the world. More than half of this 20,000-strong army consists of children, many of them 10- or 12-years-old.

I am excited to report Unity Through Creativity hired its first teen employee, joined by a teen volunteer, to work on the current Singing Tree this summer. We have begun UTC’s dream of employing young to do something real about combating poverty. Lili and Detroit of Santa Rosa helped to prepare the image of the world by painting it, gridding it and cutting it.  Yesterday I sent 50 pieces to Cheryl Perara in Toronto. She is founder of One Child and will be taking the pieces for young girls and boys who are survivors of the sex trade in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand on July 1st.

With this 12′ x 8′ mural, which will be made by over 800 people, we hope to bring awareness to the possibility of a world without Poverty, the Child Sex Trade or Child Soldiers, – a world where children are nourished to grow their talents and give their gifts. If you’d like to participate, and/or have a group of people who’d like to contribute artwork for this purpose, contact me. The Child Singing Tree will be displayed in US Congress in 2011 and will be exhibited in high-traffic public places as well as online to help decrease the exploitation of children.