Rachel Goble

With the support of others, Rachel Goble started the Sold Project, which was renamed The Freedom Story, in order to raise awareness for human trafficking and prevention efforts.

The story that is told about human trafficking is very powerful. If the story does not represent the true struggles of the victims of human trafficking, it can be very detrimental to anti-human trafficking efforts, as well as prevention and funding.

The Sold Project began with a documentary about the vulnerabilities to sex trafficking of children in Thailand.

Sadly, there is a common story among people who have been subjected to human trafficking and helped by an organization. They tell their story to help that organization the way they were helped. However, when that survivor begins on the path to healing, oftentimes they don’t want their story to be available on the internet anymore. They don’t want to be known for what happened to them.

The theory of change has created a standard that The Freedom Story organization uses to help track prevention efforts.

Resources

The Freedom Story

Michael Kass: Ethical Story Telling

The Freedom Story Podcast

Give us some feedback! Leave a comment and tell us what thought.

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, this is episode number 243, Ethical Storytelling in Prevention.

Production Credits [00:00:09] Produced by Innovate 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, Sandie. I’m so glad we get to have another conversation today about the importance of prevention, and I’m so glad to welcome to the show today Rachel Goble. Rachel grew up in an interconnected and multicultural world, whether traveling to Central America with her family to survey land for the founding of a nonprofit or trudging through the Sierra Nevada’s as her parents sought to awaken Christians to our role as creation’s caretakers, Rachel learned early that the world’s peoples and problems are connected and that we must all help in overcoming them. Rachel co-founded the Freedom Story to prevent child trafficking in northern Thailand through education, resources, and mentorship. After developing close relationships with the children, the Freedom Story serves, Rachael founded Ethical Storytelling, a community of nonprofit practitioners and storytellers learning how to integrate a new standard of storytelling. Today, Rachel serves as the CEO of the Freedom Story and executive director of the Global Family Foundation. Rachel, we’re so glad to welcome you to the show.

Rachel [00:01:47] Thank you so much for having me.

Sandie [00:01:49] Rachel and I were kind of reminiscing about when we first met, and it’s been a very, very long time since we’ve seen each other. But I’ve watched you from afar, and I would love for our listeners to learn a little bit about how you started in this and the Sold Project and how it morphed into what you’re doing now.

Rachel [00:02:12] Sure, yes. I think the last time we saw each other was probably in 2007 when I was a student at Fuller Seminary in L.A., and I believe our paths crossed there at an anti-trafficking seminar. And so, when I was a student, it was the early 2000’s and I had just learned about human trafficking. And given that I had grown up so connected to the nonprofit world, I think, like many people, was surprised that this is happening in our world and wanted to do something about it and so was able to dedicate a lot of my studies to trafficking research. And that brought me their work in Los Angeles and through India, South Africa. And all along that journey, I kept hearing this narrative of the need of prevention and the lack of resources that were available for prevention work, whether that was financial resources or just staff capacity. And so, I came home from that trip with a really clear understanding that I wanted to raise awareness about the need for prevention and the anti-trafficking space, and then was able to meet a couple of other individuals, one of whom was a Thai national, and had a similar vision for his village. And so, we put our minds together and our hearts together and thus was born what was then the Sold Project and today has been rebranded to the freedom story.

Sandie [00:03:41] Wow. OK, so tell us then let’s jump right into our favo...