A new student charity initiative has been launched in Cambridge this term, raising awareness of human trafficking and modern-day slavery, and fundraising for related charities. Treated Right, founded by St John’s undergraduate Katherine Ladd, aims to teach students how to stand up to trafficking and exploitation by developing their understanding.

The fundraising will primarily be conducted through a weekly baking scheme involving 10 students. During term time, each of the bakers will provide a weekly delivery of goods for 10 of their friends, in return for £10. The group will also provide baked goods for welfare teas run by Newnham JCR and Corpus Christi MCR.

All of the proceeds raised through this will be split equally between three different charities: Hope for Justice, Unseen and Beyond the Streets.

In keeping with their ethos to “sugar-coat the cakes, but not the harsh truths”, Treated Right will also publish a weekly blog to highlight issues surrounding trafficking and the sex trade.

Speaking to Varsity, Ladd explained that “so much of what’s going on, particularly in the human trafficking side of things, just seems so huge and impossible to access”. Therefore, the blog aims to “offer a little insight into the exploitation which goes on in trafficking and in the sex trade, and to understand both the problems and some of the potential solutions.”

Ladd explained that she started the project in her final year in order to “look beyond the university and city itself” and “to stand up for something I don’t think we hear enough about”.

She continued, “It seemed so horrific and so enormous as a problem, I thought there was absolutely nothing I could do for anyone affected.

"These years at uni, when we’re surrounded by people full of courage and passion for different causes, is such a good moment to let ourselves hurt deeply for the things which, quite frankly, ought to hurt”.

She said the project had begun as “a very basic idea – underneath it all there’s a seven-year-old version of myself selling cupcakes at primary school, longing to make a little difference somehow.” Ladd added “I think we need to hope, dream and pray that change might be possible even when it doesn’t seem to be”.

In future, Treated Right hopes to extend their scheme. They encourage students willing to bake for their friends to volunteer to be added to next term’s list. Alternatively, in return for a £10 donation, it is possible to sign up to receive baked goods from participants of the scheme