About this website
Posted: 2011
This website was inspired by the Lukas Moodysson film, Lilya 4-Ever starring Oksana Akinshina as Lilya. Although I knew that life was very hard for many people, it was this great film that really drove the point home for me. It broke my heart to realise that millions of young free spirits like Lilja are suffering terrible injustices right now in all parts of the world. I felt I had to do something. 4-Ever was the result and I hoped that information about prostitution and suicide plus an avalanche of signatures in response to the petitions against human trafficking, sexual slavery, poverty, drug use and violence would make an impact. There have been nowhere near enough signatures to send a petition to Downing Street, however, so…
Petitions are now closed and this website is for information only.
There are still useful links and good information for anyone genuinely interested in the issues.
Lessons learned
It seemed a good idea to make it easy for people to sign petitions but with 4-Ever it did not work because:
- Multi-issue websites don’t work with regards to listing in directories or SEO
- Multi-issue websites are like information overload to visitors
- People already give time to high profile websites
- High profile websites want to stay focused and not trade links
- Information overload in general, plus conditioning by the mass media, means most people use the internet for entertainment so without considerable effort and resources (and this was a hobby for me) it will always be difficult to drive visitors to ‘good cause’ sites or motivate them to act.
What is the solution?
I have an incredible life. In worldly terms I do not have much but in my own terms, in my feelings, I am rich, successful and have everything I ever wanted. Extreme gratitude must go to Prem Rawat for his inspiration and his gift of Knowledge. If more people listened to him the world would be a better place because his message is unique. He is the only one offering what he offers – fulfillment in this lifetime rather than the promise of heaven after death. You need to know why you are alive while you are alive, not just swallow belief after belief until it is too late.
You are on the same planet, in the same boat as myself so I think you also want to help those who need it if there is a simple way. It is natural, isn’t it? But first of all please help yourself and find what you are looking for. When you’ve found it, then you will naturally want to help others because you will have so much more to give. What Lilya 4-Ever did for me, as well as making me want to make this website, was make me realise yet again just how lucky I am to be alive and to appreciate what a gift this life is.
“Breathe. Breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care.” (Pink Floyd)