Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak hear from survivor advocate, Maria Suarez. She courageously shares her story through the Maria Suarez Foundation to mobilize communities through a prevention approach of education and empowerment to eradicate slavery.

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Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 6, Recording in June 2010.  Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:31] And my name is Sandra Morgan.

Dave [00:00:33] 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, glad to be back with you for another episode of the podcast.

Sandie [00:00:44] Well, I’m glad to be here too. I am especially excited because we have a guest, Maria Suarez, with us today.

Dave [00:00:51] And we actually have her on the line, and I’m going to give you an opportunity to introduce her, Sandie.

Sandie [00:00:58] Okay. Maria Suarez is a survivor advocate of human trafficking. And so, her story is very important to helping us understand why human trafficking continues to grow globally. Maria, hello.

Maria [00:01:17] Hello.

Sandie [00:01:18] I’m so glad this is working out. And we have her on telephone. And I love technology because nobody had to get in a car and drive through all the traffic. So, it’s really great to have you. Maria, I want to ask you some questions about when you were trafficked. And first of all, we’ll start with where were you born?

Maria [00:01:40] I was born in this little village in Michoacán, which that little village doesn’t even exist on the map now.

Sandie [00:01:49] So, it’s not even on the map. How many people lived in that village?

Maria [00:01:53] At that time when I was there, it was probably like five hundred people.

Sandie [00:01:58] And your sister left the village, didn’t she?

Maria [00:02:03] She left the village when I was probably in diapers. She came to Mexico City. Then from there she came to the United States to make a better life. And she got married and was living in the United States when I got here.

Sandie [00:02:21] And how old were you when your sister sent for you?

Maria [00:02:25] I was in my early 16s, in other words, I was 15.

Sandie [00:02:31] So, you were 15 years old and you came to live with your sister in California?

Maria [00:02:39] Correct.

Sandie [00:02:39] And you came across on a real visa?

Maria [00:02:44] Yes, I had my passport.

Sandie [00:02:47] So, this is something I think is important for our listeners to understand, is that lots of victims of human trafficking come here legally on their own and then they’re trafficked afterwards. So, you were 16 and you were living with your sister. How many days had you actually been here in the United States?

Maria [00:03:13] I was in the United States for not even a month. I probably was here for like 2-3 weeks.

Sandie [00:03:20] And how well did you speak English by that time?

Maria [00:03:25] Zero.

Sandie [00:03:27] So, tell us about how you met someone who began to recruit you.

Maria [00:03:37] Walking on the street, I met a woman who offered me a job. I got very happy that I thought I was going to have a job. And she told me not to tell my family.

Sandie [00:03:51] What kind of job did she offer you?

Maria [00:03:54] She offered me a job cleaning and answering phones for this elderly couple, which was never at home that they going to be traveling. So, she told me that I was just going to be answering the phones and cleaning the house. Yes, I got very happy. And when she told me not to tell my family, I also was angry with her because I wanted to surprise my family with a job.

Sandie [00:04:18] So, you wanted to surprise your family with your success.

Maria [00:04:22] Correct.

Sandie [00:04:25] And how did it feel? Was that the very first job offer you’d ever had?

Maria [00:04:32] Yes. That was the first offer that I had. We have to keep in mind that I was fifteen. I was supposed to be in school at that age, but I was here from Mexico. I was just new and here and I didn’t go to school yet. My family hadn’t been taught about school or anything like that, because according to them, I just go...