Category — Authors: Fellows

On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, January 11th, Polaris Project launched a month-long campaign to raise awareness about trafficking through photographs. We asked you to make a sign and tell the world that you want to take a stand against human trafficking. We received pictures from church groups, swim teams, artists and many others who joined together in the common desire to end human trafficking.  There were submissions from as far as Chab Dai, an anti-trafficking group based in Cambodia. [Read more →]

There are both struggles and rewards that come with working with survivors of human trafficking. One minute you’re leading clients through a group discussion about stress management; the next minute you are celebrating a client’s new job. In this work you experience the unseen hurdles facing survivors of sex and labor trafficking as they struggle to rebuild their lives. You also get the honor of experiencing their victories. This is a glimpse into a day in my life as the Social Work Fellow in the Client Services program. This blog was also posted on MTV’s Act blog as part of their Against Our Will Campaign.

7:30 a.m.
I’m in the van picking up Ama*, a client who has an 8:00 a.m. appointment at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office to take her fingerprints. Today is the last step in the five year process to break free from the diplomat family that brought her from Zimbabwe and forced her into domestic servitude in the U.S.

After dozens of lawyer visits, testimonials, and years of struggle, this is the final step before Ama can get her green card. In other words, it’s the last step before freedom.

Ama climbs into the van. She’s tired. For the past month while looking for work as a nursing assistant, Ama has been working the overnight shift at Walmart.  But Ama is also smiling and chats with me about what she’ll do when she’ll visit her family after more than eight years apart.

10:35 a.m.
The USCIS trip is successful, and we rush back to the Polaris Project client services office in DC where I have Sandra, another client, awaiting me. Sandra and I have been working together for three weeks.

Today is an important session. Sandra recently began working with an attorney to apply for the T-Visa (for trafficking victims); the process requires that Sandra dig into traumatic experiences. For Sandra, this means remembering the rape, abuse, and verbal assaults that she experienced after being trafficked from Mexico and forced to work in a brothel in New York City.

Therapy provides Sandra a critical time to be heard in a safe environment without an agenda. With every moment I am with her, I am reminded what an honor it is to serve as her witness and share these intimate moments.

11:30 a.m.
I escort Sandra out after a powerful session, and immediately spot Celinda in the drop in center. I have been helping Celinda apply for jobs, and she’s come in today to work on her resume and cover letters.

I take a moment to collect myself.  I know that the upcoming time with Celinda could be hard. She’s been looking for a full-time child care job for three months — not much time in the scope of things, but for Celinda it feels like ages. These days, many of us know how hard it is to be unemployed —but Celinda isn’t just responsible for paying her own rent. She also pays schooling costs for dozens of nieces and nephews back in her native Sierra Leone.
For the next couple of hours it is my job to share the fear and frustration that mount in Celinda every day she goes without a paycheck.

1:45 p.m.
Celinda and I apply for four new jobs, and I’m starving and feeling pretty exhausted. I grab a quick bite and check my email. I do some research on food banks, English classes, a GED program, and cooking classes for clients. I make some calls and draft some quick case notes; I’ll have to come back later to complete them.

3:00 p.m.
I’m responsible for our client group session today at 3:30 p.m. I’m going to lead a discussion about healthy coping strategies to reduce stress and sadness; afterwards, we’ll make collages to serve as a reminder. I’m excited about this group because it will allow clients to speak honestly about their feelings. Many of our clients don’t have many outlets, and this safe space can be extremely powerful.

4:40 p.m.
Group was awesome. Despite some language challenges, clients shared strategies like cooking, running, deep breathing and calling friends. I head back to my desk to finish up notes, check emails, and plan my day tomorrow.

5:15 p.m.
As I leave, I take a moment to reflect on everything I got to experience with clients today. I start thinking about all the things left to do, but then I stop myself. It’s important to take time to celebrate the victories.

Do you want to be a Polaris Project fellow? Visit our website to find out more.

*Names and biographical details have been changed to protect Polaris Project client confidentiality. But the scenarios throughout this blog provide an accurate representation of the day-to-day challenges faced by Polaris Project clients and the social work fellows like Ali who support them.

There is a moment when you realize you have the capacity to make an impact on the world. When a cause, practice or single idea moves you so much that you couldn’t ignore it even if you tried. Some pursue fulfillment through exploration, swiftly moving through places and ideas. Others prefer to dig in and relish a challenge. For Flora Baik the anti-trafficking movement sparked a deep passion for social justice and in celebration of her 21st birthday, instead of asking for shoes or clothes, she collected more than $2,400 for Polaris Project.

Flora was introduced to the anti-trafficking movement through a documentary about the exploitation of men, women and children around the world, called Nefarious. As a volunteer for the International Labour Organization team Towards Elimination of Child Labour program in South Africa, she worked with victims of neglect and abuse. Living with a host family helped her realize that she already had the material possession she needed to survive. Instead, she wanted to liberate and restore the lives of people who had theirs stripped away.

She initiated a fundraising campaign thought the Polaris Project peer-to-peer fundraising webpage and slowly donations began to come in. By November 24, she had 40 donations from family, friends and even people whom she hadn’t spoken to in years. With the money that she raised, Flora’s efforts will be able to provide one week’s worth of food for 48 survivors, that’s more than 1,000 meals!

While all clothing and jewelry will eventually get lost or fall apart, the joy and love that Flora’s fundraiser gave will always be remembered. Here are some simple acts that you can do right now to make a difference in the fight against human trafficking.

1. Start your own peer to peer fundraising campaign
2. Share this blog with 10 of your loved ones
3. Post a link on your Facebook wall
4. Tweet about it on Twitter
5. Make a donation to Polaris Project, even $10 will make a difference in the life of a survivor of human trafficking.

When it comes to the issue of human trafficking, there is a tendency to think of victims almost exclusively as women. My time at Polaris Project has made me acutely aware that human trafficking is not only a women’s issue. Victims can be men or women, adults or children, and foreign nationals or U.S. citizens. Men play many roles in human trafficking; as victims, perpetrators, and advocates. If we are to succeed in combating the beliefs and practices that promote human trafficking it is crucial to recognize that these different roles.

While labor trafficking affects men, women, and children, sex trafficking disproportionately (although not exclusively) affects women and young girls, and is inextricably linked to the way society views women. To counter the trafficking of women and girls for commercial sexual exploitation requires a shift in societal norms that psychologically empowers both men and women by redefining gender roles and expectations. Human traffickers typically employ psychological manipulation, either in place of, or in tandem with physical force, preying on human desires for love, safety, and security. This is one of the many reasons that we must no longer tolerate objectification of women or the message that a woman’s worth lies in her body or rests on being loved and accepted by a man.

It is essential that the anti-trafficking movement include both strong women and men.  Men are the primary consumers of commercial sex and generate the demand for sex trafficking. While the media promotes unrealistic images of women, it also exacerbates the issue by promoting a pimp culture that encourages young men to objectify women. Empowering men to avoid these behaviors and encourage “anti-pimp” attitudes among their peers serves to create an environment less hospitable to sex trafficking. Educating men, as well as the population in general, improves the likelihood that victims are recognized and treated with fairness and respect. Additionally, empowering more men as anti-human trafficking advocates will serve to broaden the movement. The anti-human trafficking movement might consider the models of the anti-rape and anti-domestic violence movements which have achieved momentum by publicly engaging male supporters.

We should never forget that human trafficking is a human rights issue that affects both men and women. A gender-sensitive approach to the issue is vital because it recognizes the consequences of our societal norms and expectations and emphasizes the significant contributions that both men and women make to the anti-human trafficking movement.

Donate to Polaris Project on November 9 and help the D.C. area break the national record for best online giving metro region!

Give to the Max is a day for Washingtonians to come together to raise as much money as possible for area nonprofits in just 24 hours, starting tonight at midnight through tomorrow at midnight on November 10. Donors can simply visit the site, and use the search function to search for “Polaris Project”. [Read more →]