Raymond Bechard, connecticut cool person of the week

thank you for founding ahava kids and thank you for caring

............Child Trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing crime in the world for organized crime syndicates. It is also the most profitable crime simply because a child can be sold for sex multiple times every day for many years. Along with the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), young people are also used for forced labor (cocoa, coffee, diamonds, rugs, silk, etc.), illegal activities (begging, selling drugs), child soldiers, forced marriage, illegal adoption, and in the international trade of organ harvesting. Domestically, child trafficking occurs in every community in America. The FBI has determined that 300,000 young people are trafficked within the United States each year and that the average age for females entering prostitution in America is 13. Young victims are usually runaways or otherwise disenfranchised youth who are then recruited in malls, bus stations, shelters and online........

A mission to save the children of Iraq
Old Saybrook (WTNH) _ In a matter of weeks, an Old Saybrook man will be embedded with U.S. soldiers in Iraq on a mission of his own.
Raymond Bechard founded Ahava Kids in 2003. He will be the first person to investigate the condition of children in Iraq and says human trafficking is often seen where there is war, poverty and economic chaos.
"Iraq has all three," Bechard said. "What we look for are children who look desperate."
Bechard says you do not have to look far and wide to find human trafficking or prostitution. More than 400 women and girls in Eastern Connecticut alone can be found with a click of the mouse on your computer. Bechard's group offers anonymity and a safe place to stay for those who want to leave that life and the people who profit from them. .....