A Canadian Jew has taken up the mantle of war against the horrifying Da’esh (ISIS) campaign of enslaving women and girls as sex slaves, with the only ammunition he can find: money and brains.
Entrepreneur Steve Maman formed The Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq (CYCI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing the young girls and women who were captured by the terrorists and are being used as sex slaves.
Maman said he was inspired by German businessman Oskar Schindler, who was instrumental in saving the lives of more than a thousand Jewish children by purchasing them from the Nazis as “employees.” For him too, he said, “Nothing is impossible.”
Since June he has already raised thousands of Canadian dollars, and is involved in raising as much more as possible, to finance rescue operations to free the slaves.
The effort began with a GoFundMe campaign that targeted “remarkably generous,” mostly Jewish business contacts. He is currently hoping to raise $500,000, to free 2,700.
Thus far, more than $100,000 has been raised, and 120 of the girls have been freed.
“I said to myself, I cannot and will not stand idle,” Maman said in an open letter attached to a YouTube video.” “I will not look at the daily reports and stay passive.
“As I was always taught: ‘One who saves a life, saves a world.’
“The price of a child’s life to remove them from the hands of ISIS is between $1,000 to $3,000. We, as avid consumers, spend that money on gadgets and tools. “Why not spend that money to save a life?”
“Many young adolescents are sold to brothels, where they are raped 30 to 40 times a day by ISIS fighters. The U.N reports that ISIS militants have forced overly abused sex slaves to undergo virginity restoration surgery, up to 20 times after being raped and sold.”
Some of the slaves are as young as eight years old; they are at the mercy not only of the fighters, but also of men still residing in Mosul, men of various ages, including some up to 60 years old.
“We liberate children from their captors through the use of on-the-ground brokers,” Maman said. Slaves sell for as little as $125 at times, he added.
“This is a finite problem that can be solved with money,” he added in an interview with Tablet Magazine. “We need Christians to open up, at the same rate as my Jewish friends have,” he said simply.
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For further information or to make a donation, the reader can contact Steve Maman via email at:
[email protected] – Attention: Steve Maman, President
Foundation C.Y.C.I. (Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq)
An official tax deductible receipt will be issued, according to the organization.