It's Not My Fault

Imagine with me, if you will, your happy place.  You know, the place you go in your mind when your children are close to ripping you limb from limb as they form a revolt against you, or the place you go when you take a deep breath as you see your boss heading towards your office, and he’s anything but content. The quiet place where your mother’s nagging has no voice. Where do you go? The beaches of the Caribbean? Ooh, I know, a cruise on the Caribbean right? Disneyland? The top of a dangerous 14,000 ft mountain in Colorado where you’re as close to God as you’re ever gonna get?  Go there for a minute. How do you feel? Quiet? At peace? Protected? There is a place like that existing in real life form–the here and now– for Survivors of human trafficking in Asia. It’s called the Love146 Round Home.

The Round home, founded, built and maintained by Love146 is a place of safety for a group of girls formerly victims of  the sex trade in Asia. Partners with Love146 rescue these girls from brothels, “madames” (women who run the brothels) and pimps and bring them to The Round Home to be renewed, to be given a second chance at a normal life.

Once upon a time, for whatever reason, these girls were traded, sold, or stolen and put to work in brothels, doomed to a life of rape and abuse, all for someone else’s profit, and someone else’s pleasure. Life was dangled in front of them and ripped out of their hands before they could even grasp what was going on.  Hope of return to their families, hope of an education or a successful life is held captive from them, just as they  themselves were being held captive. “You have to work off your debt.” They were told by an uncaring madame. A debt which they incurred by being sold for sex. It’s unthinkable. I can’t even imagine what kind of place these girls have to go to in their minds while they perform these actions on auto-pilot, and they don’t even have Disneyland!

Then one day, as if someone is tearing down the brothel brick by brick, sunlight began to shine on their hearts. Strong, un-intimidating arms gathered them up and whisked them away, soothing them with promises and a loving embrace, and the next thing they knew, they’re here:

So what does it feel like when you finally get to your happy place? All those things I mentioned right? You’re away from the nagging realities of your life. You’re without a care in the world. You’re safe.

One child, upon arriving to the Round Home was asked what her one wish would be if she had one.  She replied, “my wish has come true, I am home.”- Love146

Recently, Peter Bone, a Member of Parliament (MP) for Wellingborough and Rushden had the privilege of visiting the secret location that houses The Round Home. He observed the tight security surrounding the facilities and marveled at the 12 smiling girls who greeted him with a song of all things! Imagine that! Trafficking Survivors smiling… and singing much less He told of how moved he was by the girls demeanor, especially because of the fact that he knew where they’d come from, he had heard their stories.

He says,  “The resilience of these children was overwhelming and I felt very privileged to have met these girls.”

Just like, unfortunately, we can’t remain in the bliss and sanctum of our “happy place”, these girls don’t remain at The Round Home. But for them, it’s not with despair and regret that they leave. It’s with excitement, and anticipation because…they are being given a second chance! They’ve been given back the vital tools for survival that were stolen away from them in brothels night after night. They’ve been given back self confidence, and the ability to trust, to believe that there is good in the world, and that they are worth more than a monetary ammount. They’ve been given life.

MP Peter Bone had the amazing opportunity to attend the wedding of one of The Round Home’s reintegrated girls. I have to stop here and just give you a minute to digest that. Former sex-slave meets The Round Home meets new life meets husband? If that doesn’t bring you to your knees in tears, then you have no heart. Ok, I take it back. You have a heart, but you should probably make sure it’s still beating.

This is what he had to say about the experience:

“What struck me the most was that they were just normal children. They had endured so much and to be so happy and in particular for Serey to marry and trust in a man was just a pleasure to see. Love146 have to be commended for this.”

Just normal children? How could that be possible? How could anyone recover from such travesty? How could a former sex-slave ever learn to love and be intimate with a man again?

“It was credit to the work Love146 has been doing in the Philippines that these girls were so happy and have a real chance of life now.”

He went on to say that his experience in the Love146 Round Home gave him some incredible tools to use in the fight against human trafficking in the UK, and  most importantly, he acknowledged Love146′s perfect record:

“I found it very comforting to find out that every girl who had been re-integrated has not been re-trafficked; this is fantastic and is such an important statistic.”

It is an important statistic. It’s a statistic that lives depend on.

So the next time that you find yourself closing your eyes, leaning back and dreaming of your happy place, I hope you’ll remember that there is a place in the world that is creating happiness every single minute of every single day, a place that is allowing children to be reborn, and that place is called the Love146 Round Home.

-Julie Presley

INMF Volunteer

The issues of human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children are receiving increased attention in North Texas as the area prepares for a massive influx of people coming to town for the big game. The ‘It’s Not My Fault’ campaign and others like it are beginning to get the word out that there is a dark side when large sporting events like this one come to a city. With many visitors in town away from their families and without accountability there is an increase in demand for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation.

But it should be noted that the increase in demand that many experts are expecting surrounding this big event is only a magnification of a problem in the state of Texas that is already a problem of epic proportion.

According to the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot, Texas already sees 10,000 human trafficking victims a year. Dallas, Houston and El Paso are major national and international hubs for both labor and sex trafficking. According to the Polaris Project, Texas has the dubious distinction of having more calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline than any other state.

The ‘It’s Not My Fault’ campaign is trying to seize this important moment in North Texas to promote awareness and prevention. But when all the fanfare has ended and the visitors have all gone home, there will still be victims of human trafficking who need brave men and women who will take up their cause and bring them justice, love and hope.

Kim Jones

INMF Volunteer

We most often think of big, ugly issues being in far off corners of the world – in countries we can’t really find on maps. Major issues like trafficking, sexual slavery, and brothels filled with unwilling captives…that happens over there, right? We don’t have those issues here….

The big, ugly issues are not far away…they pass mostly unnoticed in our cities and neighborhoods throughout the United States.

In the U.S., 1 out of every 3 children are lured, tricked, and forced into prostitution with 48 hours of running away. National Center For Missing and Exploited Children estimates that 100,000 American children are victims of sex trafficking and exploitation every year. This heart-breaking statistic is only compounded by the trafficking of 14,500 – 17,500 men, women, & children from other countries into the United States every year. (US State Dept.)

In light of this, are we really “the land of the free”? The obvious answer is an overwhelming “NO!” The trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and adults are a daily occurrence, not simply a tragic rare occurance.

The opportunity (or mandate, as some see it) falls to ordinary people not be silent or disinterested bystanders, but rather passionate practioners of Abolition. Take action. To be silent is to be complicit.

Abolition!

David Henry

INMF Volunteer