Bella Hounakey

Bella Hounakey is a fierce advocate of anti-trafficking initiatives to combat and abolish human trafficking. As a survivor herself, she understands the adverse impact of trafficking. This empathy has guided her career and interests to support policies that contribute to supporting victims as they navigate life after victimization. Bella currently serves on two Human Trafficking Council- she’s a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and Framework -training and technical assistance project aimed at building capacity to address labor trafficking in the United States.  As part of the Council, Bella worked with the Trump Administration on an Executive Order on Combating Human Trafficking and Online Child Exploitation. Her goals remain steadfast: raise awareness, reduce the risk of victimization, educate members of the judicial system and general public, and advocate for victim protection and treatment. Bella received a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Spanish; and a Master’s degree from Western Michigan University.

Key Points

It is important to educate others on the toll trafficking takes on a victim’s mind.

It can be very difficult mentally/physically for a survivor to testify in court against. their captor.

In court, the words used to present victims have to ability to be very detrimental.

When a community comes around a survivor they have the ability to give them an opportunity to live a normal life.

Resources

Bella Hounakey’s Speech At Summit On Human Trafficking

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Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, this is episode number 233, Bella Hounakey, a fierce survivor advocate.

Production Credits [00:00:09] Produced by Innervate Learning, Maximizing Human Potential.

Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Today, we are honored to bring a story from a survivor here to the podcast. I’m so glad to welcome Bella Hounakey to the show today. She is a fierce advocate of anti-trafficking initiatives to combat and abolish human trafficking. As a survivor herself, she understands the adverse impact of trafficking. This empathy has guided her career and interests to support policies that continue supporting victims as they navigate through life after victimization. Bella currently serves on two human trafficking councils. She’s a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, and Framework, a training and technical assistance project aimed at building capacity to address labor trafficking in the United States. As part of the council, Bella worked with the Trump administration on an executive order on combating human trafficking, and online child exploitation. Her goals remain steadfast. Raise awareness, reduce risk of victimization, educate members of the judicial system and the general public, and advocate for victim protection and treatment. Bella, we are so glad to welcome you to the show.

Bella [00:01:52] Thank you. Thank you for having me here.

Sandie [00:01:54] So, Bella, you are a hero for me. I met you in Washington, DC in January and I’ve just been inspired watching you. I read the U.S. Advisory Council 2020 report and I’m going to put a link to that in the show notes so other people can join me. But the thing that really inspires me is how you describe yourself as a fierce advocate. Can you tell me what that looks like?

Bella [00:02:26] I did five years with Framework, an ability, effort, and personal commitment to take adversity into advocacy for either yourself or others. And for me, it’s doing what I can with what I have and not waiting for like a savior to see victims, instead being a part of that.

Sandie [00:02:48] Wow. I love that. Not waiting for somebody to come and rescue. But being a part of your own resilience, that’s great. I want to be fierce like you.

Bella [00:02:59] I think you can. It’s possible. Yes.

Sandie [00:03:02] All right. So, let’s dig into some of these things you’ve been working on. And you, after going from victim to survivor, you went to college and you speak Spanish. That is amazing. I really love that. Even got a master’s degree. I think sometimes people don’t realize what resilience looks like and the potential for someone to really attain their dreams. That often may have been how they were lured into being trafficked. So, let’s keep digging into training agendas. What would you make, like your top three things that you want judicial system leaders to know? You got ten minutes. They’re busy. What are you going to tell them?

Bella [00:03:52] That’s a really good question. You know, I think the first thing, like you mentioned, me going to college I’m actually a trained therapist. And so, the first thing I would say, based on my personal and professional views, is this idea of trauma in the brain. What victims go through beyond trafficking. After this idea of being rescued or being found, there’s another reality that is the first door that is closed. Right now, you assume that we’re going to be in this New Haven, but that’s not the reality. So, I would like to train them on the trauma in the brain so that they understand what victims go through when they have to comply with the investigation process of sentencing the perpetrator or the trafficker. So that would be my first thing is for a victim. This is what it looks like to testify in court. This is what my body feels like. And I’ll come back to this in a second. That’s the first thing. The sec...