For the 50th Episode of the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak interview Kimberly McOwen Yim, co-author of Refuse to Do Nothing: Finding Your Power to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery. Similar to the theme of the podcast, they focus on an individual’s power to make a difference in modern-day slavery through education, collaboration, and advocacy.

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Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 50. This week’s topic Refuse to Do Nothing. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:29] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave [00:00:32] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. And we are recording our fiftieth episode today, Sandie, and it’s a great milestone for the show.

Sandie [00:00:46] Isn’t that great? It’s like our Golden Show.

Dave [00:00:48] It is our Golden Show, and we have a golden guest today.

Sandie [00:00:51] That’s right! She’s a California girl.

Dave [00:00:53] There you go.

Sandie [00:00:54] I am so happy to have Kimberly McOwen Yim, who is coauthor with Shayne Moore of the newly released book, Refuse to Do Nothing: Finding Your Power to Abolish Modern Day Slavery. Welcome to our podcast, Ending Human Trafficking, Kim.

Kim [00:01:16] Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Sandie [00:01:18] Well, I’ve known Kim since she started coming to a local task force meeting several years ago. And I remember the first time that she started really being an outspoken advocate. She called herself an abolitionist mama, tell us how that happened, Kim.

Kim [00:01:37] I kind of stumbled upon that name. My co-author, Shayne, was writing a blog called Theology Mama. And I was just starting to do research and going to meetings and trying to figure out my place in this movement and trying to figure out what I could do from my busy kitchen and from being my life as a mom. One of the first things I did was create these postcards on Vistaprint and it had the facts on one side and had a list of 10 things to do on the other side. And I had to name my project for Vistaprint, and I just named it Abolitionist Mama, not knowing that once I purchased those postcards when they came to my mail that that was actually printed on the corner of every postcard. I did not know that the naming that project would actually end up on the product. So, kind of by default, I ended up with all these materials that said abolitionist mama on it, and I just kind of ran with it.

Sandie [00:02:40] Oh, I didn’t know that part of the story. I just thought you were just so okay I’m a soccer mom and now I’m going to be an activist.

Kim [00:02:47] Yeah, I don’t think I’m quite that clever.

Sandie [00:02:49] So, how old are your kids?

Kim [00:02:51] My oldest is 11 and my youngest is 9.

Sandie [00:02:54] OK, so it’s not like you can just take off and become an on the road activists or become involved in being available to pick up victims anytime day or night.

Kim [00:03:04] Right. Absolutely not.

Sandie [00:03:06] So, finding your place in the anti-human trafficking movement, was it just crystal clear for you right from the get-go?

Kim [00:03:15] Absolutely not. No, no, no. It probably took me close to nine months of reading and kind of stumbling into meetings and conferences and asking questions and doing a ton of other reading and signing up to kind of slowly start finding my place and my voice. And being okay that I wasn’t an expert at those events or those meetings, that it was OK, that I didn’t come with a card or I wasn’t with someone. Once I kind of said, OK, maybe that’s what I’ve got going for me is that I’m not with something. Maybe I saw that what I thought was a limitation actually kind of became my place. Then I started kind of getting a little traction and kind of hope and the next step emerged.

Sandie [00:04:06] One of the things that really attracted me to the work that you’ve done in this book is that it leaves space for every single person to take a role, but not to leave behind the rest of their life. It’s not like you’re being called out to do this, but that we all can do something. And I love that you call it Refused to Do Nothing. So, there is a decision-making process. So, tell us a little bit about why you decided to write it into a book.

Kim [00:04:38] Well, my coauthor, Shayne, and me. She’s actually an old friend from college. I actually was very good friends with and still am with her husband and started following what she was doing with the one campaign in her fight against extreme global poverty and the HIV AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Kind of started seeing what she was doing and thought if she’s doing all these traveling, she’s going to be seeing some of this. And I’m sure she’s seen this. I need to tell her about it. So, I kind of was reaching out more as when you’re doing all this other stuff, you need to also be paying attention to this. And she kind of kept pushing back, saying, well, you need to be writing about this. You need more of a broader voice. And I kept saying, well, I got San Clemente covered. I got my four friends, and we’re kind of educating our community and doing these events. And she said, “no, you need to do more.” And she came to my house one day and started my blog for me. She’s like, “you need to push your voice out, there are more women like you.” And so, in time she had called and she’s like, “I’m ready”. I said, “What are you ready for?” She’s like, “I’m ready to write our book.” And I’m like, “What book?” And she said, “the book that you have in your head.” So, we both kind of feel...