A person slipped past their captor and had a few scarce seconds in public to relate his predicament to a stranger.

APOPKA, FL, USA, March 6, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Unfortunately, the note he scribbled on a napkin was seen by his trafficker and confiscated, punishment ensued. How could this situation have turned out better? The captive having a universal silent signal to flash that would leave no trace would be the answer. Thus, the birth of H T signal to end Human Trafficking.

As flight attendant Anne Birt-Lillison and retired Supervisory Federal Air Marshal and Rotarian Sonya LaBosco watched a news report of a woman rescued on an Air Alaska flight, Birt-Lillison wondered, “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a signal that she could have used to let them know she needed help?”

Then in February of 2017 LaBosco attended a symposium put on by Rotary District 6980 in Central Florida run by Rotarian and Founder/CEO of The Lifeboat Project, Inc. and Co-Founder and Vice President of Greater Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force, Inc Jill Bolander Cohen. The symposium included mention of several dangerous scenarios where victims were caught asking for help. This triggered LaBosco’s memory of Birt-Lillison’s question. What if?

LaBosco posed the question to Cohen and that started a discussion back at The Lifeboat Project, Inc.’s (TLP) administrative office in Apopka, FL, USA between Cohen, TLP’s Director of Programming Mary Belmonte-Lindhartsen, and Rotarian Phyllis M. Olmstead, EdD. Cohen had been dreaming of using the American Sign Language letters H and T for the signal. “After all, it is soundless, could be done right in the presence of the captor without her or him seeing the action and would leave no evidence trail to be found,” explained Cohen.

Dr. O., as Olmstead is known and charter president of the Rotary eClub of Florida, jumped on the concept and started producing signs and designed a shirt and bag with the signal in English then surprised the members of TLP with them a couple of days later. She translated the sign into a couple of languages and had them copyedited by native language speakers. Rotarian Gloria Esteban changed the generic Spanish translation to apply to Mexican natives and Dr. O. found a Haitian native to translate it into Haitian Creole. Rotarian Eddie Zhu, who also attended the symposium with Dr. O. and LaBosco translated the sing into Mandarin Chinese. A professional translator in Germany, Katherine Pirkle, is working on converting it to German, Polish, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch. Native speakers of others languages are being sought to make it available to more potential saviors and those needing to be saved.

The director of national airline Birt-Lillison works for is interested in placing the signs in the aircraft rest rooms, on the back of aircraft seats/tray tables, and other public locations. The signs have been picked up around the world through Facebook, Rotary International’s Rotary Ideas crowdsourcing program, LinkedIn, Twitter, and

The Lifeboat Project, a 501(c)(3), offers the unprecedented Returning to Wholeness program for all survivors of human trafficking. This Returning to Wholeness Program includes, but is not limited to: Counseling, healthcare, group counseling, job skills, life skills, career skills, and job placement internship programs by calling 407-310-8905.

Rotary International clubs focus their efforts in six areas: promoting peace, preventing diseases, providing access to clean water and sanitation, enhancing maternal and child health, improving basic education and literacy, and helping communities develop (www.Rotary.Org, www.RotaryDistrict6980.org).

The Rotary eClub of Florida supports the elimination of human trafficking, improving literacy and mother and child survival, and providing clean water, sanitation, and disaster relief locally and worldwide. Contact members at www.Facebook.com/RotaryeClubofFlorida @RotaryeClubFL and RotaryClub@USA.com. The club meets on line at www.RotaryeClubofFlorida.org.

Jill Bolander Cohen
The Lifeboat Project
407-310-8905
email us here