A MUSICIAN who is spending two weeks in solitary confinement in a shipping container in a bid to raise awareness of human trafficking has minimal food left with four days to go.
Phil Knight, who teaches music at Brandles School in Baldock to children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is locked inside a 10ft x 6ft iron-clad shipping container in London’s Euston Square Gardens until 5pm on Monday.
He entered the container on Monday, July 25, with a journal, a sleeping bag, some battery-powered lights, a chemical toilet, a web cam, a few boxes of cereal and some water.
With less than four days remaining, Phil is now down to his last rations.
Phil’s stunt, called The Everyday Project and backed by UK-based human rights organisation the Helen Bamber Foundation, aims to illustrate a small part of what those being trafficked endure every day.
His experience is being captured via live video streaming at www.justenoughfortherealworld.com
Phil got involved with the Helen Bamber Foundation about three years ago through actress Emma Thompson, who is trustee of the foundation and who met Phil at a gig he was drumming at.
When Miss Thompson invited him to view an exhibition in London called Journey, Phil said he “saw this story of a girl who was explaining about the shipping containers” and human trafficking.
“It was eye-opening and sickening and I couldn’t get back to normal life after that,” he said.
In 2009, Phil broke a world record by drumming for four-and-a-half consecutive days in London’s Leicester Square to raise �4,000 for the charity.
In 2010, he wrote, produced and released a fundraising CD called Just Enough for the Real World.
A single from this album, called Everyday, was released on Monday, July 25, to coincide with the start of Phil’s solitary confinement.
“My mission in life is to stop human trafficking and I will do whatever it takes to make this happen,” he said.
To download the track Everyday, visit www.iTunes.co.uk
For more about the Helen Bamber Foundation, visit www.helenbamber.org
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