As we launch into another season of Can’t Stop the Serenity, you may find yourself being asked why you attend these events and what your support means. You may even be asking this of yourself. Can’t Stop the Serenity is not just about watching Serenity on the big screen, enjoying the company of Browncoats, and winning prizes is raffles, contests and auctions. It’s much bigger than that.

Being part of Can’t Stop the Serenity – as an organizer, a sponsor or an attendee – means that you are helping to put a stop to violence and discrimination. By using your voice and opening your wallet, you are helping to change the world for the better. For each friend you tell about the work of Equality Now, you are adding a voice to the chorus for change. For every dollar that you spend on tickets, merchandise and donate, you are giving Equality Now the ability to make change happen.

It’s the people at Equality Now and their partners who do the really hard work, who help rebuild the lives of women and girls who have experienced horrific treatment at the hands of individuals and governments, and who fight to change the communities and laws to protect instead of injure. And by giving generously of your time, energy and money, you give them the power to do what they’ve been called to do.

But what exactly does Equality Now do? This month, we’d like to highlight one of the areas where Equality Now has been working for change.

Alma is a survivor of commercial sex exploitation, coerced into prostitution by the owner of a bar near a US military base in the Philippines. Alma’s story is the first in a series of Survivor Stories. Each month, a new story will be published at www.equalitynow.org/survivorstories amplifying survivor’s voices to expose coercion, trafficking and sexual abuse in Cambodia, Brazil, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, the US, and the UK. The series highlights the work of anti-trafficking advocates around the world and offers online actions readers can take to support global efforts against the multi-billion-dollar trafficking industry. The Survivor Stories series aims to firmly establish the link between trafficking and how it fuels the large and diverse commercial sex industry. Equality Now and its partners are committed to reducing the demand for commercial sex by advancing policies that criminalize buyers of sex while decriminalizing those who are sold for sex and providing them with support services.