A quick introduction: My name is Douglas Voon and I’m married to a beautiful and mysterious fashion designer called Sophie Voon. My time is usually split between running various aspects of our business and looking after our two daughters Poppy (5) and Olive (2). It’s not what I’d call a typical existence for a 30 something NZ male but gee, I guess someone has to do it.

At the tail end of March of this year I was fortunate enough to find myself involved in a project that scared the pants off me. I use the term fortunate because I have come to realise that the fear I felt was a fantastic motivator, not just for me, but also for the wonderfully frightened team working with me to make Hands Up 2008 a success. For those who attended the show in Wellington’s New St Paul’s Cathedral few could argue that this wasn’t right up there with some of the best catwalk shows around, all the elements were there ...a stunningly beautiful backdrop, beautiful people, designers, music, dance, media and a healthy dose of Wellington’s finest fashionistas.

Step back several months to last winter and Hands Up 08 is like one of those 5,000 piece puzzles that is spread out on the kitchen table. Actually it’s like two puzzles, one being the show itself and the other being the reason behind why we did the show. I literally stumbled upon ‘Stop The Traffik’* on the web. It seems strange in hindsight that I didn’t already know about this wonderful movement that works with over 1000 member organisations in more than 50 countries. We had been actively seeking an organisation that worked to free children from sexual exploitation (that was our primary focus). ‘Stop The Traffik’ however has a broader and more balanced approach to combating the many injustices of this world and we were soon made aware of the evils of human trafficking/slavery and the circumstances by which these situations occur.

NZ’s link to ‘Stop The Traffik’ is the Salvation Army and I was thrilled to hand over a cheque for just over $15,000 to the Sallies, which was the entire, proceeds from Hands Up 08. The money will go to a specific project in Malawi which works to not only free children from unthinkable situations, but also to educate the villagers about the tricks used by traffickers to lure unsuspecting children away from their families. Chris Frazer is the social justice advocate for the Salvation Army and puts a human face to ‘Stop the Traffik’. She has witnessed first hand the positive impact that projects such as these are having in Malawi and spends much of her time at speaking engagements offering challenging and insightful perspectives on issues surrounding human trafficking and what we in the western world can do about it.

Fast fwd to 8pm, March 27 and as a much loved and respected Warren Maxwell captivates an expectant audience with a chillingly powerful Karanga on his saxophone I feel a lump in my throat which I’m sure can’t be hastily chewed remnants of the pizza I’d scoffed pre-show. I was really proud. Proud to see that the desperate prayers of the Hands Up team really were answered (I kid you not, we prayed hard) and the result was a slick and professional show which proved a wonderful vehicle for raising finances and awareness of an organisation that deserves to be supported. *www.stopthetraffik.org

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