Ending Human Trafficking

Unfortunately, human trafficking reaches nearly every place on the planet in some way. Sandra Morgan, the Director of the Global Center for Women & Justice and Dave Stachowiak, one of the Center’s board members, discuss Sandie’s recent trip to Zambia and the efforts being made by humanitarians in that county to end human trafficking. Sandie and Dave also explain how Zambia is an origin, transit, and destination country.

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Transcript

Dave: Sandie, today were going to talk about your recent trip abroad and how the center is working to end HT and how we’re continually working to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in the global conversation of ending HT. So I’m so glad you are just back from your trip and can share some of these tools and resources and experiences that you’ve had.

Sandie: Thank you. I just got back from Zambia. And I have to tell you honestly, when they called and asked me to come and do training on counter HT, I had to look on the Africa continent map to make sure I actually knew where Zambia was.

Dave: I would have too. In fact, I meant to do that before we stared the show here. I know it’s in southern Africa and I think it’s on the eastern coast, is it?

Sandie:  No. It’s really pretty central.

Dave: Oh okay. See, it goes to show you my geography. And it’s pretty embarrassing because I took a class on African history in college and one of the things we had to do was an entire map of the continent of Africa. I speak for myself here but I think I can lump a lot of us as Americans into this bucket. We are very poor with African geography, most of us.

Sandie: I understand that. It’s there in the southern third of the continent of Africa and on the northwest side, the border is with the DR Congo which is very problematic and is one of the aspects of trafficking there and in the northeast they are bounded by Tanzania and east Malawi and then southeast Mozambique and then southern Zimbabwe and then Namibia and on the west, west Angola. One of the things that people often remember about Zambia is that is where the city of Livingston is located, on the very southern border and the famous Victoria Falls.

Dave: Oh interesting. I did not know that.

Sandie: But I was not here as a tourist, so I didn’t go see the falls.

Dave: Actually, we were talking about Zambia before we started recording today. One of the things that you mentioned to me was Zambia, from a standpoint of HT, is an origin country, a transit country, and a destination country. And this is language that a lot of folks who do work to end HT utilize. I was wondering if you could explain what you mean by those 3 things.

Sandie: Well when we say origin country it means that it’s a source of victims and there’s a reason. There’s a reason they’re more vulnerable. A lot of the trafficking I learned about from the local people, these were first hand reports, was trafficking from rural to urban. So the poverty and the lack of knowledge in the rural areas made these families much more vulnerable to trafficking tricks. That’s what my friends call them, the tricks of the traffickers. And they wanted to know, what is the profile of a trafficker? What we began to understand is you couldn’t say, “Well a trafficker is a big guy with body guards around him.” No, sometimes a trafficker was a grandma or an aunt or an uncle or a young cousin. So there wasn’t a profile. So origin is, it’s a source country. Transit, and I just told you all the countries around Zambia, and Zambia has what they call porous borders which would indicate that there are places on the border where it’s pretty easily accessible to just walk across. So from these other countries that are also origin countries going south to a destination, most likely South Africa, either to fly out to another continent, I have case studies of victims who have gone to Ireland from South Africa but they were originally from Zambia. And I’ll tell you a story a little later on about a Zambian boy who was trafficked here to the US. So origin is a source country. Transit country just means it’s like a highway to take people through. Destination is usually trafficking that is going to work in the urban areas, a lot domestic servitude and a lot of commercial sexual exploitation. And then of course, because the copper belt is on the northwest area of Zambia, trafficking in the mines and that can involve internal trafficking but it can also involve trafficking from outside. There are cases already on record of young men and even women and children that have been trafficked from as far away as Bangladesh and China to work in those mines.

Dave: You mentioned, one of those things, both here and when we were talking earlier of the vulnerability that is there in Zambia. Why so vulnerable? What is it about the culture and situation that is so vulnerable?

Sandie: Well I think partly it is about poverty but it’s also about lack of knowledge. People don’t understand the risks. So if you go to a family in a rural area where there are no resources, the idea of an education is very well communicated to people. So if you’re in a rural area where there is no school for your children and an aunt type person comes and says, you know, “Let me take your kids to the city and they can go to school and  I’ll take care of them. They can just do some chores in exchange for living here.” Parents are like, “Oh, yes. I want my kids to have an education.”  And off they go and then we find them in some sort of horrific slave like conditions or they’re actually sold to a brothel or to some other work industry in hotels and restaurants working 7 days a week and not getting an education.

Dave: Wow. Just an incredible number of factors that come together here that really do cause a difficult situation there. I want to ask you in a moment what you were doing there because our job as the GCWJ is to study the issues, be a voice, but ultimately to be able to make a difference and I know that’s part of what you were doing. But before I ask you that, I want to remind our listening audience that if you have questions or comments for us about anything that we’re speaking about, here on this episode, either about Zambia specifically for Sandie or on any of the topics that would be applicable for trafficking anywhere in the globe we’re here to help answer and respond to those so we can help you study the issues effectively. So there’s 2 ways to reach out to us. One way would be to leave us a message at the GCWJ here at VU and our phone number is 714.966.6361. So that is the best number to reach us at. Probably even easier though is just to send us an email. And our email address is [email protected] and the GCWJ is global center for women and justice and Sandie is the director of that center here on campus. Sandie, we’ve talked about the challenges Zambia is experiencing in relation to trafficking. What brought you there?

Sandie: Well I worked here in OC with the Sisters of Saint Joseph and have been an educator going out to predominantly their health care professio...

Survivor advocates are some of the bravest voices in helping us all end human trafficking. Sandra Morgan, the Director of the Global Center for Women & Justice and Dave Stachowiak, one of the Center’s board members, interview Holly Smith, Washington Times columnist, on her efforts as a survivor advocate. Sandie and Dave learn how Holly has played an important role in influencing new legislation in the State of Virginia and her efforts as a columnist to educate others about human trafficking.

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Transcript

Dave: Sandie, speaking of making a difference, I’m so glad that we have someone with us today that has been making a huge difference. Last episode, #29,  we talked about leading community advocacy and this episode we have a great example of someone who’s been doing that and forming some wonderful partnerships and so I’m going to let you take it and introduce our guest today.

Sandie: I’m so excited to have Holly Smith with us. Holly comes to us from the east coast, so we’re on the line. I think one of the most amazing things about her is she just comes across as a very demure, quiet young woman. But behind that smile is a powerhouse of initiative and influence and drive to end HT. Now, a lot of people say things like, “well, a survivor advocate has a louder voice.” But as you understood if you listened to the last podcast, there is a lot more behind becoming an effective community advocate than having a loud voice. It takes a lot of preparation and studying and developing the growing trusted relationships so that people invite you to share what you have to share. And just as a point of making a little more of an emphasis on her credibility, Holly was invited to provide testimony for a congressional hearing so her voice is recognized nationally. Holly, welcome! We’re so excited to have you!

Holly: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for that introduction. That was very thoughtful.

Sandie: I’m very excited to have you here. I think that probably when you were a teenager, you probably never had a dream to go and give testimony for congress.

Holly: No! If you told me I was going to do that even a year or 2 ago, I would have never believed you.

Sandie: Was writing for the Washington Times ever in your dreams?

Holly: I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but my advocacy has taken me in a direction where I’m now writing for the Washington Times. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect to be a journalistic writer, but I love it.

Sandie: You’re so effective. I’m really impressed. I see links in how important this is. I remember as a high school student myself competing in a speech contest and the title of my speech was, “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.” It’s a great quote and I believe that your written words will go places that you would just be exhausted if you had to go yourself. So I commend you on that.

Holly: Thank you so much.

Sandie: Let’s get into a couple of things that you talk about here. First of all, we do know that you are a survivor advocate. So can you, in like 2 sentences, just give us a timeline that starts when you were 10 and then how old you were when you escaped?

Holly: Oh, sure. It happened in the year 1992. I was actually 14. It was my summer vacation between 8th grade middle school and 9th grade high school.  I was a typical kid in a typical American suburb. I went to a good school. I met somebody at the mall who was looking for a girl just like me, who would be easy to manipulate and ultimately control once I was in his possession.

Sandie: I just want to say to people, this blows all of many people’s preconceived ideas out of the water. First of all, from an average home and the idea that it can happen and it wasn’t because you were in some dark alley in some place and you were in the wrong place. It was because you were at a very vulnerable age with particular sets of circumstances and predators know how to find the most vulnerable. That begins to argue for how to we begin to protect, not just give information. A lot of things have come across my desk lately for prevention tools in junior high and high school. Did anybody tell you not to talk to strange men at the mall?

Holly: Well sure, I mean I heard not to talk to the old men at the mall, but this guy wasn’t the creepy old man at the mall. He was young. He was cool. He looked like somebody from a music video or someone’s really cool older brother.

Sandie: So, all those warnings from adults didn’t really go dinging off in your head when you met him.

Holly: No, they didn’t. I mean, I think that when I first met him I was weary of him at first. He called me over to him in the mall and I actually shook my head at him at first. But then, I wound up walking over there because I think that I was intrigued by the fact that this cool looking guy picked me out of the crowd and not my friends. I always felt less pretty than my other friends and less cool. So I felt special that he had pointed me out and asked me to walk over.

Sandie: So now, knowing what you know, do you feel like he was being pretty intentional by singling out of the group?

Holly: Absolutely. I was sort of shuffling behind my friends. I think I displayed that I was going through some depression. I was definitely struggling with the transition from middle school to high school. My friends were changing. I was afraid of the kids in high school and he was definitely able to pick up on that.

Sandie: So, one of the things about your story that really struck me was the role that teachers played in your life. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Holly: Sure. I had wonderful teachers through elementary school, middle school, and high school. My teachers in intermediate and middle school, they really tried to help. This was before I was trafficked. They could see that I was in trouble, but they just didn’t know how to help me and I couldn’t tell them. I was unable to articulate what was wrong. I think I didn’t understand what was wrong. After the trafficking, teachers throughout the different grades and the different schools that I attended, they all helped to keep me moving forward. I definitely strayed from the path a bit. But they all helped me to head in the right direction and ultimately they helped me go to college.

Sandie: Wow. Where did you go to college?

Holly: I started out at Ocean County College in Toms River, New Jersey. And then after 2 years there, I was accepted into the Richard Sexson College of NJ for the for the biology program.

Sandie: That is so amazing. Teachers have so much influence. Now I want to read a quote from your most recent column in the Washington Times. It says, “These teachers wanted to help me, they just didn’t know how.” What can we do to change that?

Holly: I think I’m going to work my next column to have some tips for teachers. I think for me the most important thing that comes to mind is to know your local volunteer programs. A program like Brothers and Sisters would have been perfect for me in intermedia...

It’s easy to assume that community advocacy just happens with luck. Sandra Morgan, the Director of the Global Center for Women & Justice and Dave Stachowiak, one of the Center’s board members, discuss the importance of long-term efforts in becoming a leader in this area…and why people falsely assume that this takes less time than it may first appear.

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Dave Stachowiak and Dr. Sandie Morgan are joined by Amelia Franck Meyer as the three discuss the prevalence of victim blaming against commercially sexually exploited children, how it affects the children, and how to help them.

Amelia Franck Meyer has been the CEO of Anu Family Services since 2001, a child welfare agency located in Wisconsin and Minnesota. She is an advanced practiced social worker, a licensed independent social worker, she has a master’s degree in social work from University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in sociology from Illinois, and a graduate certificate from the University of Minnesota. Amelia Franck Meyer was a workshop presenter at the Ensure Justice Conference on “Standing Together to End Exploitation of Girls.”

Key Points

Resources

Transcript

Dave 00:00

Sandra Morgan 00:28

Dave 00:34

Sandra Morgan 01:09

Dave 01:29

Sandra Morgan 01:29

Amelia Frank Meyer 03:00

Sandra Morgan 03:02

Amelia Frank Meyer 04:13

Sandra Morgan 06:43

Amelia Frank Meyer 07:16

The labels that we use define how we understand problems. Sandra Morgan, the Director of the Global Center for Women & Justice and Dave Stachowiak, one of the Center’s board members, identify some common labels that our society uses and discuss best practices for finding better ways to describe issues in human trafficking to help end it.

Transcript

Dave: You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast; this is episode number 27, airing on April 26th, 2012. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, my name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: 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 were going to be talking about labels today, but before talking about labels, we have had some cool media coverage that has happened as a result of the podcast here.

Sandie: You know, it was very exciting to open my inbox on Sunday morning and have an email from Holly Smith who is a survivor who has testified before congress and at that time had cited our podcast on development, mental development of kids and why they are so vulnerable, so in an article in the Washington times, she also cited our podcast.

Dave: Oh wow!

Sandie: Absolutely, and it’s really important, we will eventually do an interview with Holly, we’ve talked about that and Holly and I are talking about a schedule so put that on your calendar.

Dave: Good, good. Excellent.

Sandie: And if you have any questions that you’d like us to ask survivors like Holly Smith, please send them in to us at GCWJ.vanguard.edu or you can call and leave a voicemail on our phone number which is…

Dave: (714) 966-6361, and you can reach us there anytime.

Sandie: And I had a great conversation going on with one of our listeners in South Africa in the last few weeks and it begins to make it very clear to me how important it is to get information out there and assessable to the everyday person, because we are all in this together and we are not going to be able to end human trafficking just from a law enforcement perspective or just from a victim’s service perspective.

Dave: And it really is a global issue, Sandie, many of the things that we are struggling with here in the states and similar things that they are struggling with in South Africa, similar challenges that the European countries are struggling with. The more we can all learn together and support each other, we really do work to end this on a global scale, because of course its not enough just to do what a lot of law enforcement did back in the 70’s and 80’s around gang enforcement, which they did a great job in one place then the gangs would just move somewhere else down the street or to the next neighborhood, so having a global conversation is really essential for this issue.

Sandie: And I think especially in the area of commercial sexual exploitation, that’s what we’ve talked about several times, and that’s what the article that Holly Smith wrote is about, that there are some things that the everyday person can do which will just become a part of their household vocabulary that can change how this is perceived in their community, among law enforcement professionals, among clinicians, among school teachers. If we can begin to understand how important that is, we can all do something every single day that does change and does contribute to ending this kind of sex trafficking.

Dave: Well Sandie, I am going to throw myself into the category of ‘everyday person.’ I feel like an everyday person, so I am curious, what are some of the things I can do around using the correct vocabulary and using the correct labels, so I am very interested in our topic today to really look at what is in a label, and why is that important for us to consider when we are talking about human trafficking and many of the things that go along with it unfortunately.

Sandie: I think its best summed up in a quote from Sergeant Byron Fasset of Dallas, Texas. I met him a couple of years ago at a Department of Justice conference on human trafficking and he said, if a 45 year old man had sex with a 14 year old girl and no many changed hands, he was likely to get jail time for statutory rape. We would call is statutory rape. However if the same man left 80 dollars on the table after having sex with her, she would probably be locked up for juvenile prostitution, and he would probably go home with a fine, a ticket as a john. So, the difference because she is being sold changes who she is and who he is. Changes the penalty on both sides of the equation, and we aren’t going to talk about him today, that’s another show. We are going to talk about her and while we use the term gender ‘female’ most of the time when we talk about this, I also want to make it clear that this happens to boys as well. And depending on whose statistics you are reading, anywhere from 14 and I heard as high as 20% of commercially sexually exploited children as boys and this is an area that will require more attention as well.

Dave: The example you just gave, Sandie, of the two situations where an older man has sex with a younger woman just r...

Prosecutors play an important role in raising awareness about human trafficking issues and serving victims. Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak interview Tamara Ross from the office of the San Bernardino County District Attorney. Tamara shares the lessons she’s learned in working with juveniles and what others in the legal profession may want to consider to help end human trafficking.

Key Points

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 26, airing on April 13th, 2012. You’re listening to the ending human trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:28] And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave [00:00:30] 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, in the last episode we had summarized the conference that we had this year in the Global Center for Women and Justice.

Sandie [00:00:45] Ensure Justice 2012 is over.

Dave [00:00:47] It is. And So, if you missed it, go back and take a listen to episode number 25, because that leads right into our topic today and our guests today. And I’m going to let you get us started on that, Sandie. Actually, before we do that, let me jump in with the contact information here, for those of you who maybe are listening for the first time and wanting to learn more about how you can study the issues and educate yourself and your organization about the issues, that will help you to be part of our team to end human trafficking. And as you’re listening today, if you have questions for us or for our guest, please give us a call. You can reach us at (714) 966-6361. And we will respond to you and we will address them on a future show. And of course, you can always email us at the Global Center for Women and Justice at [email protected]. And that’s a great way to reach out to us with comments or questions. And so, Sandie, I think it’s time for us to introduce our guest today.

Sandie [00:01:56] So, in the last podcast, I talked about the panel on Saturday afternoon at Ensure Justice 2012 that was moderated by Judge Doug Hatchimonji here in Orange County. Carissa Phelps our victim who became a survivor and now an advocate was on the panel. And then we had two prosecutors, Theresa Lourey from Las Vegas and Tamara Ross from San Bernardino. And Tamara was raised in Tallahassee, Florida. You will hear that when she talks to us and has a degree in journalism from Florida A&M and also, a JD at the University of Southern California Law School in Los Angeles. And she began her career as a deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County, prosecuting a variety of misdemeanor and felony cases. But since 2005, Tamara has been assigned to the juvenile division, where she developed a strong interest in cases involving sexually exploited youth. Her insights into the issue and vocalization about the lack of treatment resources for children arrested for prostitution activity led to the development of the San Bernardino County Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation case, a multi-agency coalition with the primary tasks of ending sexual exploitation within the county and providing effective restoration options for its victims. Tamara, welcome to Ending Human Trafficking.

Tamara [00:03:32] Thank you very much. It’s wonderful to be here.

Sandie [00:03:35] And you were a fabulous guest on our panel. And we want to thank you now for participating in Ensure Justice this year.

Tamara [00:03:44] Oh, it’s my pleasure. It was a great opportunity to be there and to interact with the other panelists and audience members.

Sandie [00:03:53] Well, when I first met you, I was at an event in San Bernardino, and then later you participated in a subject matter expert panel. And both times we talked about who that child is that you are prosecuting. And I always thought the prosecutor was the bad guy until I met you. Just, you know, I watch too much law and order. I’m sorry.

Tamara [00:04:19] On law and order, we are supposed to be the good guys.

Sandie [00:04:21] That’s right. You’re right. That’s right. So, tell us about your job and how you developed this interest in sexually exploited youth.

Tamara [00:04:35] As a prosecutor assigned to the juvenile division, of course, all of my cases involve juveniles. So, we see juveniles who commit a variety of crimes. I had actually been a juvenile prosecutor when I first started in 2000. And then I was reassigned to that division in 2005. And that was the first time that I saw girls coming in charged with loitering for prostitution. And the first one or two I really didn’t pay any attention to except to have that same thought So, many people think, like, what is she doing, you know, out on the street? That’s weird. But I just thought of it like any other case, OK? You’re breaking the law, there has to be a consequence. It’s just a six-month misdemeanor, So, go home and be on probation or whatever little thing that we do. But about the third one came through and it was a 16-year-old girl. And for some reason it just hi...

The Global Center for Women & Justice recently hosted the Ensure Justice Conference, the Center’s annual conference to help people study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in bringing justice to women and girls. Sandra Morgan, the Director of the Global Center for Women & Justice and Dave Stachowiak, one of the Center’s board members, discuss lessons from the conference and how we can best implement those lessons.

Transcript

Dave: Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, this is episode number 25 airing on March 30th, 2012. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, my name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave: 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, we have been certainly working hard in ending human trafficking especially over the last few weeks because just a few weeks ago was Vanguard’s Global Center for Women and Justice annual conference and we are here today to share some of the results and some of the knowledge and some of the conversation and dialogue that came out of that conference for those who are listening across the globe who obviously weren’t able to attend it in person hopefully can get a small piece of what we were able to do at the conference here.

Sandie: I’ll tell you Dave, Ensure Justice 2012 was absolutely amazing, the highlights and the takeaways, we could spend hours talking about it.

Dave: And we had a great turnout this year too.

Sandie: Oh yeah, and they came from a lot of different walks of life, public and private and I think that was the big takeaway, we talk about collaboration, we talk about community engagement, we talk about public and private sectors, but it doesn’t work if the public sector professionals aren’t there, if the community volunteers and community resources aren’t there. So at Ensure Justice 2012, they came. The judge, the prosecutor, the probation officer, the juvenile detention supervisor, the child welfare and social service provider, the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force members and church leaders, after school program directors, non profit directors and everyday people and students of course, at Vanguard. The students are key in the whole process. But they came, and at the end of every plenary session, the conversation was about collaboration.

Dave: Yeah, it’s such an important topic that we’ve talked about so many times on this podcast and in fact one of the sessions I facilitated at the conference was about that fourth key in the ending human trafficking and persons report. And we talked about that fourth ‘p’ and the importance of partnership and we often haven’t talked about our partnership with the business community and really raising awareness around this issue and really partnering from the standpoint of resources and tools and knowledge and because of our ability to engage in that conversation I do think people, I hope, walked away with some new perspective on new ways to engage not just the non-profit world and not just the faith based community, which has been wonderful supporters of fighting this issue but people in the business world who care deeply about this issue, many of them, so that was really exciting to see and  be part of those conversations. I know that you have a tremendous number of notes for us and things for us to take away, so let’s jump in.

Sandie: Oh my goodness, well I am glad that you said that about partnership though, because I think at the beginning of any overview of what we are going to do, we have to start with assessing what is our own expertise and what resources do we bring to the table? We can’t just say oh I want to do that, unless we have the resources to do that. For several reasons, one of course, we are going to end up in big trouble, but secondly, if we say I want to do something and we say I am going to do it and then we don’t have the expertise and we don’t have the resources, we overpromise, under-deliver and we compromise our reputation in the community and we make it less attractive for the public sector to engage with us because oh, we’ve done that before and it didn’t work out so well, they said they were going to do this and they didn’t show up, so we want to keep that in mind in any effort, on collaboration and community engagement, so if you are interested in more details about the conference, if you are interesting in ordering CDs or DVDs from anything we talk about now, that will be available on our website at GCWJ.vanguard.edu.

Dave: And we probably should mention before we get started here, Sandie, is if you do have any questions or comments about anything we do today and of course any questions on human trafficking prevention efforts in general, Sandie of course has tremendous expertise at the Center at Vanguard. You can reach out to the Center for Women and Justice here at Vanguard University anytime at (714) 966-6361, and if you don’t reach us live, leave a message and we will get back to you. We also, if you’d like us to respond to your question here on the show and you can also email out to us at GCWJ.vanguard.edu, and of course that stands for the Global Center for Women and Justice.

Sandie: Great, so we started our day with a panel from Las Vegas that works with this particular population of commercially sexually exploited girls, Esther Brown is the victim’s service person and Craig Christianson supervises the detention facility and they brought with them a considerable amount of expertise based on experience and we kept on hearing over and over again, we need a safe house, we need a better place, we need a way to treat these kids like victims but also keep them in a place where they are safe and se...

Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak reflect on the anti-smoking campaign in the U.S. and how we can learn and use from successful public health campaigns to end human trafficking.

Key Points

Transcript

Dave  00:00

You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 24, airing in March 2012.

Dave  00:07

Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandra Morgan  00:28

And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave  00:29

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, did that all sound coherent? That what I just said.

Sandra Morgan  00:41

Oh, yeah, that was great.

Dave  00:42

Okay, good. Because we have a newborn here at our house who’s two weeks old, and so I’m only going on a limited amount of sleep before this episode here today. So for you and the audience, if there’s anything that I say that does not sound coherent, that’s because I became a parent.

Sandra Morgan  01:00

He’s a new daddy, and I already got hold Luke Stachowiak. And, you know, that really makes me even more motivated to address the subject that we’re going to talk about today.

Dave  01:13

Which is why I was thinking about it, Sandie. As we were just talking before the show here and prepping our notes, you do look at these things differently as a parent and through the eyes and the lens of a parent than I think that we do when we’re not parents. And thinking about the messages that we send to kids and the importance of learning early, both on a positive and a negative side. And we’re going to talk about that a bunch today.

Sandra Morgan  01:42

Well, and the whole idea of development strategies for raising kids because their brains and all these things that we feed into them, because it really is what you put in is what you get out.

Dave  01:53

Yeah. So what are we going to discuss today, because I knew you have a whole bunch of things here?

Sandra Morgan  01:59

I really want listeners today– I know you listen sometimes when you’re driving, so if you’re driving, don’t pay attention right now. But if you’re not, please get a pen and paper out. Because I’d like you to brainstorm with us as we go through this podcast today. We’re going to revisit prevention and community engagement. And at the end of this, I would love to get emails at [email protected] or call us at

Dave  02:32

714-966-6361. We just changed the number recently.

Sandra Morgan  02:35

I know, we just changed the number. I never call myself.

Dave  02:39

Yeah, right, exactly. And so again, that number is 714-966-6361. And by the way, we’ll have links to this in the show notes. So if you’re on the road and listening to this, you can always hop on to the website later and check us out there.

Sandra Morgan  02:53

So when we look at prevention, I want us to start with our basic understanding. Early on, we talked about the law of supply and demand, and look at the things we know that are part of driving supply and driving demand with regard to sex trafficking in specific. And so a couple of those things that drive demand, Dave.

Dave  03:18

Yeah, a couple of them that we have talked about here this morning, Sandie, is certainly pornography and how that drives demand for trafficking. And I know some people would say, wow, that’s not necessarily connected. People who are involved in pornography workers are there by choice. And as you know, you and I both know, in many situations, they’re not there by choice. And even if they are, quote, unquote, there by choice, you know, they aren’t really in many situations. And so, that certainly drives demand for human trafficking. And we have tons of evidence we could point to around that. We should do an episode on that Sandie, but if you’re looking for resources around that, of course, send us an email and Sandie can put you in touch with those. And then part of it too is also this what we’ve termed pimp culture, and especially some of the language and some of the things that are happening in popular culture that do contribute to this. I don’t want to say being, you know, supported but tolerated in our culture.

Sandra Morgan  04:25

It normalizes.

Dave  04:26

Exactly. That’s a better word, Sandie, it normalizes what we expect in the culture. And it is interesting when you think about just how much the word pimp has become, which is not a good word.

Sandra Morgan  04:40

No. You can go to prison for pimping.

Dave  04:44

And you should.

Sandra Morgan  04:44

It’s against the law.

Dave  04:45

Yeah. And pimping means, we should have actually looked it up in the dictionary before we hopped on the air here, Sandie. So I’m going to do that if you want to just ...

Understanding the complexity of serving tracking survivors helps us better understand the issue of human trafficking. Sandie interviews Sherri Harris from The Salvation Army to discuss how The Salvation Army works with trafficking victims in Orange County and helps us understand all the resources needed to serve the whole person.

Key Points

Resources

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 23, airing in March 2012. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:28] And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave [00:00:30] 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, it’s great to be back with you on another episode of the Ending Human Trafficking podcast and our continued efforts to study the issues so we can help others to learn how to best join the effort to end human trafficking.

Sandie [00:00:53] Well, I’m really encouraged with the growing audience of listeners and participants, the community engagement that I’m experiencing, just getting emails and phone calls. And last week, Dave, you would have been really encouraged. I got a call from the East Coast.

Dave [00:01:08] Oh, cool.

Sandie [00:01:09] And the words were exactly, “I’ve been devouring the podcasts because I need to present at a university function and we need information.” And so it was very rewarding and we want to have more opportunity to engage with our community. If you have questions, you can email [email protected]. If there’s something you’re looking for and you can’t find it, send us a question and we’ll do our best to research that and find good information for you.

Dave [00:01:40] And we do respond to everything. And if your question or comment is helpful for our audience as well we’ll even include it here on the show. And you can also reach out to us by phone and that number is 714-966-6361. So feel free to reach out to us, whichever way is most convenient for you and you get to tap into Sandie’s expertise and the expertise here of the center to really help you to study the issues more effectively so you can understand how to best support our efforts in ending human trafficking.

Sandie [00:02:13] And that’s a really good lead in to where we’re going today because our center is more about a community of experts and people that we partner and collaborate with. And one of our partners is the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, and part of our partnership includes the victim services aspect for international foreign victims of human trafficking right in our community. And that service is provided by the Salvation Army and the director of their NETS program, which I’m going to ask her to explain what that means is Sheri Harris. So welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, Sherri.

Sherri [00:02:55] Thanks. Fun to be here.

Sandie [00:02:57] So tell us, what is your job description? What do you do?

Sherri [00:03:02] That’s a really good question and it depends on the day. But I work as the director for the Network of Emergency Trafficking Services. And so in Orange County, basically what that means is if we get a call from law enforcement or a social service agency or a local partner, and they say that they have a victim of human trafficking that’s from another country, we come alongside them, we do an assessment, and we will start pretty much taking care of that person until they can take care of themselves. And we really consider this a long term process because it takes a while for the foreign born victim to understand their human rights, to get access to all the resources that they need to kind of trust us, for us to figure out what they really need and to begin the journey together. So that’s kind of what we do, and we do that as part of the task force. So it’s a community response and we’ve been working really hard to get our partners in place and find the different organizations that we need on our team to help our victims become survivors. So that’s kind of in a briefly what I do, but I, you know, I love working at the Salvation Army because if you look at our history, we’ve been doing this since we started. You know, in 1869, our founder, William Booth, started working in the streets of London helping prostituted women get off the streets and rescue homes. And so ever since we started at the Army, we’ve been looking out for women and men who’ve been victimized in trafficking. And so I love that I get to do it in Orange County because it fits our mission so well to serve without discrimination. And I’m considered privileged to actually get to do it at the Army because I would do it anywhere. But it’s a actual real joy to do it with a Christian organization that actually has it as part of their mission.

Sandie [00:04:46] And I appreciate that as well. And one of our other really good friends from the Salvation Army that has spoken at conferences at Vanguard’s Global Center for Women in Justice is Lisa Thompson, who is out there in Washington, DC and really is an advocate for ending human trafficking. So, dave, we’ll have to add an interview with her really soon too. So let’s get into this, Sherri. Let’s assume that you just got a call in. It’s 3:00 in the morning and they’ve got three victims from a country where it’s like maybe they’re from Thailand. Do you speak Thai?

Sherri [00:05:24] No, I don’t.

Sandie [00:05:25] So what do you do? You’re supposed to go help them. And you just tell me you’re going to communicate to them their human rights and the resources available. So what do you do?

Sherri [00:05:33] Well, I get nervous and then I start making phone calls really fast. And I basically would do one of two things. I would head to the police station or wherever the victims were, and I would bring a survivor kit, which has 72 hours worth of things that they might need anywhere from a toothbrush to water to a journal and clothes. I would get that in the back. And it’s a wonderful tool to help them start realizing that I’m there to help them. I bring that and then I bring a phone number for an international hotline that can help me translate. And I start making phone calls and try to find our partners who volunteer to be translators that speak Thai. And I go and I meet them and I start a relationship. I kind of see what’s happening and assess the situation, and I get that interpreter either on the line or sitting next to us, and we start explaining that we’re here to help, that we understand that they’re scared and that there’s a lot going on in their head. But we’re hoping that we can figure out how to help them and we ask them for their what they’re worried about at that particular moment. And we work...

Sandie and Dave interview Rhonda Sciortino, keynote speakers for the upcoming gala event on March 1st, 2012. Rhonda is the author of the book Succeed Because of What You’ve Been Through and she joined the podcast to discuss her experience in the foster care system and how she uses that knowledge and experience to help children and child care providers today.

Key Points

Resources

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 22, airing in February 2012. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:28] And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave [00:00:29] 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, the last episode, number 21, we had Esther from Las Vegas on with a great perspective on really the in the trenches work she’s doing to end human trafficking. And I’m so glad today that we have another guest with us who is also going to be part of the conference coming up here in March that the Global Center for Women and Justice is hosting. And I know she has a fantastic perspective as well and someone that is just a very inspiring person. I’m so glad that we have her with us today.

Sandie [00:01:08] And if you’re listening to this podcast and you want to see her, if you go to gcwj.vanguard.edu and click on the conference and the gala button, you will see a lovely picture of my wonderful friend Rhonda Sciortino, who is also our gala speaker the night before our conference begins on March 2nd. Our conference to Stand Together to End the Exploitation of Girls. And Rhonda brings from her expertise a wealth of knowledge, experience, and personal passion for kids in our child welfare system. So, the interesting connection between what Esther presented to us last week, our last podcast on the kids who are in the juvenile delinquency system, they’re in detention, they’re going to court. Rhonda comes from the other extreme of kids with problems that are in our child welfare system. And we’ve already identified that bridging that gap is really important. We want to intervene before the kids become victims.

Dave [00:02:21] And as you listen to Rhonda and Sandie discuss the conference today and some of the issues that both of them have expertise on and ending human trafficking and particularly the exploitation of girls, which is the focus of the conference, you’ll definitely want to check out the conference website and give your advance registration so you can join us in March, March 2nd and 3rd here in Costa Mesa, California. For those of you who are in colder climates, it’s nice and warm here in March. And of course, that website is gcwj.vanguard.edu. And of course, you can always call us with feedback 714-966-6361.

Sandie [00:03:03] So, Rhonda Sciortino, welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast.

Rhonda [00:03:09] Thank you so much for having me. I love what you do. I love what the center does. I love that Vanguard has the Global Center for Women and Justice. And it’s such an honor to be included here today.

Sandie [00:03:24] So let’s dig right into this. And I want our listeners to understand the frame of reference that you bring to this. How old were you when you first became a ward of the court?

Rhonda [00:03:37] I was six months old. I don’t have any memory of the day that my mother left, but she left me with a neighbor and asked the neighbor to babysit while she went shopping. But she didn’t go shopping. Her clothes were packed and the car was loaded and she actually moved out of state.

Sandie [00:03:56] And so for 16 years, you were in a place where you often felt very alone, you experienced abuse. At some point I think I remember you talking about being homeless. Can you give us just a really short version of what that means?

Rhonda [00:04:22] Yes, I was in those days, this was in the early 60s. If a social worker could connect you with a family member, they were done. So, they found my maternal grandparents and checked the box and basically walked away. And those folks were, you know, it wasn’t a great environment. Hence the reason that my mother had left as a teenager. My grandfather was mentally ill. My grandmother was an addict. And we lived in a house really more like a shack...