Today I have something special I’d like to share with you.
2.5 years ago, I was contacted by Claire Harris, an award-winning investigative journalist with the BBC.
Claire had heard our story and was interested to help develop ‘Sisters for Sale’ as a 10-episode serialised podcast.
I knew the podcast format would allow us to share more of the interviews and other audio recorded for the documentaries, and allow a deeper exploration of the issues involved.
I gave Claire access to a huge amount of notes and transcripts, and she did a fantastic job of assembling them into a coherent, cohesive narrative.
By mid-2018, Astrid Hofer had come onboard to assist with production. Claire had scripted seven full episodes, and was preparing to record the podcast.
Claire, who has a wonderful radio voice, was to narrate the podcast herself.
Unfortunately, after we couldn’t get the funding we needed for the podcast, Claire was forced to move on to other projects.
While the podcast itself was never produced, Claire did record a shorter episode – “Episode Zero” – to test the format.
For the past year, Episode Zero has been sitting unheard – a monument to what might have been, if only our human trafficking awareness work had a more reliable source of funding.
It was never quite completed: the interview audio has not been treated, and there are no credits.
I’ve just added some of the gorgeous music Johanna N. Wilson wrote and recorded for the ‘Sisters for Sale’ documentary, and today we’re releasing it for the very first time.
If you make a second contribution of any amount to our fundraising campaign, you’ll receive Episode Zero as a special bonus with your rewards.
(If you’ve already made a second contribution, you can expect an email with a link to the podcast very soon!)
There are now only three weeks remaining of our fundraising campaign.
In just three weeks, access to the ‘Sisters for Sale’ book and documentary will be shut down, and I can’t say how or when they will become available again.
Claire’s podcast was essentially designed an expansion of the documentary, with a highly-involved approach to production.
If we can raise the necessary funds, we will revive the podcast – though in a very different style.
This time, we’ll take a more personal approach along the lines of the ‘Sisters for Sale’ book, to which we’ve had a fantastic response.
If you’d like to support our fight against human trafficking, the time is now, and the place is www.sistersforsale.com
Thank you,
– Ben