TGIF?

Depends. Friday marks the end of our ASB: Human Trafficking trip, but waking up this morning, we were not expecting the wrap up that we got.

BAM!

The first organization we met with today is not exactly what you would call conventional. HIPS takes a more open approach to improving the lives of sex workers, trafficked or not. With their harm-reduction model, they believe in putting the person first and meeting them where they are in their lives. The first thing we should mention is JD: peer outreach coordinator and our host. She was something else. After giving us the low-down on HIPS, having us paint a few rooms, and pick up trash and dog crap, she proceeded to give us our HIPS thank you gift: “the sex talk” on safe sex with Woody, Bam, and Judy. Needless to say, that and a bag full of condoms were not exactly what we were expecting. But even this thank you was true to the HIPS spirit.

Multi-tasker much?

After we got back, we met with Dr. Bletcher: rabbi, psycho-therapist, expert witness, and gay-activist. He detailed his experiences testifying as an expert witness in psychology, at trials involving unjustly persecuted immigrants. He gave specific examples of foreign immigrants abused by the current legal system to express the need for change. Dr. Bletcher dove into the effects ,possible causes, and remedies of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) as it relates to trafficking victims such as child soldiers, forced domestic laborers, and children exploited for sex. Through his insight there was an eerie feeling that the legal system is not practicing “innocent until proven guilty” but instead “guilty until proven innocent”.

Power to the FOOD

Then it was dinner time and no other restaurant could have fit into the end of our anti-human trafficking trip better than Bus Boys and Poets. The delicious food was only one of the perks. There was an atmosphere of change and empowerment and, of course, their dedication to fair trade fit perfectly into the anti-human trafficking movement.

“It was perfect!”

Our last reflection – a bitter sweet moment. It’s difficult for us to put this into words. It was a crazy, emotional moment and the next few lines can’t do this moment justice.., but we’ll try. While all of our other reflections focused on what’ve been learning about human trafficking, this reflection was about us.

-“Reach Out and Touch Someone…” – Through this activity we shared who made us laugh, who challenged us, who inspired us, and who we believed in and all this without words.

-“The String Connection” – We said what we thought, what we wouldn’t have shared otherwise, but what we were glad to put out in the open. Passing around the string, we said what that person meant to us, how we felt and what we would come away with from this experience because of them. This is the point where most of us started tearing up because we have all become so close this week. But so that we don’t forget this, we turned the string from our “web” into bracelets – our snapshots of this moment.

-Final Thoughts – We shared anything that we wanted to say. What we had expected at the beginning of this trip, how our outlooks have changed, etc. Although our trip centered around a specific topic, we came away with a lot more than just learning about human trafficking.

M&M

After our emotionally-drenching reflection, it would only make sense to crush the rest of our ice cream supply. When we were finished with our exhausting task, we tried to steer clear of another emotional rollercoaster, because we still had to finish writing some thank you cards, but even this task would not be complete without some more inside jokes.

So to close, we would like to thank:

-Project to End Human Trafficking

-US Department of Health and Human Services (Program Specialist in the Trafficking in Persons Program)

-DASH

-Boat People SOS

-Gaithersburg high school (Officers Jesse and Laura)

-Fairfund

-Free the Slaves

- Stop Modern day Slavery

-Shared Hope International

-Courtney’s House

-HIPS

-Dr.Bletcher

-Mara and Barbara – For making this trip awesome from start to finish!

-Christine – The only way we can say thanks: we love you!

And we cordially invite you to the M&M wedding… jk!

-Miguel and Sonaly

A full Thursday...

Sorry for the late-post for those who are following. The bloggers for Thursday were completely wiped after arriving at the hostel around 12am.

We had a chance to raise awareness about Human Trafficking in the community (around Dupont Circle) with Fair Fund again (as we did on Weds) in the morning. Most members found it was a much more "successful day" since we had "experience" from the day before. For instance, I took a new approach that if someone did not "have a minute to talk about modern day slavery in D.C.," then I could at least offer them a flier with not only information on the issue, but a way to contact the city councilman to endorse a bill that criminalizes trafficking people in D.C. (Maryland and Virginia have this in place, but DC does not).

We had some more time in the sun to walk around or eat our packed lunches before heading to Alexandria, Virginia to meet with Shared Hope International. While there, we had conversations with three different people about three different approaches to combating human trafficking. The first was Amy who shared with us Shared Hope's origin (congresswoman Linda Smith's exposure to "the cages" in Mumbai) and current work to rescue and restore survivors of sex-trafficking (http://www.sharedhope.org/). We learned how they do an array of things such as raise awareness, train law enforcement to identify and care for trafficking victims, research the "demand" side of sex-trafficking, as well as run (and empower survivors to take over) "villages of hope" in Jamaica, India, Nepal among others. They also support 3 partners in the U.S. that shelter and restore survivors. We had the added bonus of meeting with Jennifer from Courtney's House. Courtney's House is an organization that provides services for victims of trafficking in the D.C. area and is about to open the 6th safehouse/shelter/group home in the United States for Human Trafficking victims (definitely a shortage of these). The most unique thing about Courtney's House is it was started up by a survivor of sex-trafficking who better understands the needs of victims (not just things like therapy, but things like tattoo-removal to help women remove "brands" of their pimps' names). Finally, we heard from Max, a Shared hope intern, about the men's group "Defenders" who seek to fight the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children by taking the following pledge: "Defenders pledge to stand up and speak out, holding other men accountable for their actions. They educate and protect children from the dangers of online recruitment by predators. Defenders refrain from looking at, buying, or collecting pornography, knowing it is the gateway to child victimization in the commercial sex industry, and refuse to purchase sexual services." We also spent time talking about the ways we can combat trafficking as well as the power of language (using words in certain ways such as "prostitute," "pimp," and "whore"). That is merely scratching the surface of all we learned there.

When we got back to the hostel, the team got all "fancified" to attend a Maryland alumni reception. We shared our stories with Maryland alum as well as heard from a recent Maryland alum about her experiences with Alternative Spring Breaks. After the reception, we headed to Georgetown to get some late-night dinner from a trip member's uncle's place (Wingos).

Yet another day full of good conversations all around the issue of human trafficking and what we plan to do to expose this issue, serve the victims & survivors, and create a world where slavery is truly abolished.

Sometimes my roses hurt.

We met with three organizations today, including Fairfund, Free the Slaves, and Stop Modern day Slavery. We experienced many things, and learned a lot.

Roses and thorns is a crazy thing that Mara invented in which everyone in the group describes a rose(good thing) and a thorn(bad thing) that happened to them that given day.

Here is a synopsis:

roses:
1. We learned that people holding full time positions can indeed fight modern day slavery. This was exhibited by the extraordinary people that volunteer for Stop Modern Day Slavery. These people donate their free time to fight.
2.The weather was great. Dupont circle was popping. We met with Fairfund to discuss their initiative and to help advocate the new DC legislation on human trafficking. While we were casually sitting on the fountain located in the middle of Dupont, we were awestruck when a raid of about 50 cops swarmed around us, thinking we were about to protest. Nevertheless, we proceeded to handout flyer's.
3. We ate lots of ice cream today. Not only did some of us purchase frozen treats from Ben and Jerry's, we also had an ice cream party after the meeting with Stop Modern Day slavery. During the ice cream party, the group bonded and a sense of community was officially established. YUM!
4. Handing out flyer's was eye opening. It was the first time on this trip where we could be hands on. Many of us were against the "powerpoint lectures" that we had been seeing throughout this week, but today was an opportunity that forced us to get deep into the issue of change.
"Education is the first step towards advocacy, advocacy is the first step towards change, and change is the last step towards freedom (Miguel, 2010)."

Thorns:
1.One of the thorns of today, involved the Sun's ultraviolet rays, and the subsequent destruction of some of our member's skin. This occured while we were working in Dupont. Hopefully we will get some sun screen before we continue with this work manana (spanish).
2.I thought people were nice until I met this man on the block of Dupont. I proceeded to educate him about the severity of Human Traffiking. I approached him, tense and anxious.... and said " Yo, whats up man."
He responded, " Get out of my face." and continued on his way.
You might think I'm trying to be funny, but this situation elucidates the ignorance that our communities contain. We sit here, unthankful for the food we eat, the beds we sleep on and the family we talk to. We are unaware of our surroundings, unaware of the problems that millions around the world face, but yet we sit here, sheltering ourselves from the misfortunes of others.
3. Another thorn of the day was when our group was walking home from the meeting with Stop Modern Slavery. When we were reaching the U street metro stop we witnessed a gentlemen collapse to the ground. Members of our group immediately rushed to his aid, and tried to communicate with the man, but he was obviosuly experiencing a lot of pain and was in serious danger. This was a scary situation and it greatly retracted from the happiness of the group. A policeman eventually arrived and took control of the situation, and our group dispersed after a couple more moments of helping out. The care demonstrated by our group was admirable, but we understood when it was time for us to leave to make way for the professionals.
4. Its wednesday, which means we only have 2 more full days. That is really unfortunate. We are establishing a great bond with eachother. We feel like a family. And the trip is almost over...blown. Back to reality, back to school, back to CP, back to exams, back to our boring lives.

But on the BRIGHT SIDE.. we are Aware.

-Zan and Christian.

Dashing on Boats to Law Enforcement

We woke up at 8 am this morning, preparing for our busiest day thus far. We multi-tasked eating breakfast and making lunch and then headed to Fort Totten to meet with the deputy director of the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH). Due to a lack of funding, most battered womens shelters have to limit the people they can serve, which usually excludes victims who are prostitutes, drug addicts etc. However, DASH provides low-barrier housing for victims of domestic violence, which basically means that there are fewer restrictions upon the types of victims that they will serve. The presentation at DASH focused largely on the intersection between domestic violence and sexual trafficking. We learned about the 'Power and Control' wheel, which describes the tactics used by abusers to manipulate and repress their victims. These tactics includes minimizing, denying and blaming as well as using coercion and threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, children, male privilege and economic abuse. This was the first very interactive presentation that we attended. The representative paired us in groups of two and asked us to differentiate between the uses of these methods in domestic violence and sexual trafficking situations. We found that there were many more similarities than differences under these circumstances. Offenders in both situations used manipulations, abuse and isolation to control the victims. A big difference that arose was the transport of victims of sex trafficking to unfamiliar environments whereas victims of domestic violence experience the traumas within their own homes. Lastly, we briefly touched upon the controversial issue regarding the labels of prostitute versus sex worker, without coming to any definite conclusion.

We then traveled to Virginia to meet with Boat People SOS, an organization mainly concerned with labor trafficking in Vietnam, Malaysia and the US. These representatives stressed that victims of labor trafficking are often in fact documented workers that are coerced and forced into terrible working conditions rather than undocumented aliens. They explained the Coalition to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) and Victims of Exploitation and Trafficking Assistance (VETA). CAMSA is more involved with prevention of labor trafficking cases by placing pressure on governments and corporations as well as with rescue missions. VETA, on the other hand, is concerned with helping victims once they are rescued by giving them the appropriate visa or implementing other necessary actions. The T-Visa, which treats victims as refugees, affords them access to different services, although it requires a higher burden of proof. While the U-Visa is easier to obtain, it does not give access to the same multitude of services. The representatives then gave examples of big cases they have fought such as the 2001 Daewoosa Laborers in the American Samoa. Over 250 Chinese and Vietnamese laborers were rescued in this operation. It was based on this case that the TVPA was modified to include all U.S. territories and not just the states.

We came back at around 4:30 with just enough time to order pizza for dinner before leaving for a presentation at Gaithersburg high school at about 5:45 pm.

The presentation was delivered by two law enforcement officers, and was directed at raising awareness about child prostitution, run-aways and helping parents prevent their children from engaging in risky behavior. They emphasized ensuring that the child is receiving sufficient love and attention at home so that he/she does not seek this elsewhere. This makes them highly vulnerable to offenders who prey on the insecurities and unfulfilled needs of the child in order to manipulate them. the next topic he discussed had to do with sex and the internet. He described how children who aren't having their internet browsing monitored by their guardians are at a greater risk of being preyed upon by online predators. Predators are increasingly turning to their computers to find their victims because it affords them anonymity while also increasing the number of kids they can target. He also mentioned that children need to be cautious on what they post/send on the internet, cell phone, or other electronic devices. He emphasized that once something is on the web, it is there forever. He preached to parents that in order to decrease this issue, it has to start at home. Parents need to reinforce positive ideas to instill a higher sense of self-worth and esteem for their children. By doing this children won't feel the need to involve themselves with this type of activity, and they will feel comfortable talking openly to their parents about their internet activities.

We need to raise awareness by attempting to integrate this issue into the school curriculum, as well as creating student groups that can promote advocacy and put pressure upon government officials to take action immediately and effectively. Overall, today was very busy, but very informative because all of the presentations focused on different aspects of human trafficking, such as sex trafficking, labor trafficking, child prostitution, and domestic violence.

Monday...2nd day of the trip!!!

We all awoke early and ate a hasty breakfast in order to begin our documentaries/movies on Human Trafficking. We voted on watching the MSNBC dateline documentary and the movie Trade. After some technical difficulties, we began our exploration on this intriguing topic. The MSNBC documentary focused on sex trafficking occurring in our own country. It opened with the story of a middle class teen who was forced into prostitution by a fellow student who threatened to kill her family if she did not comply. The documentary opened our eyes to a new aspect of human trafficking- the fact that it can happen to anyone, even teens in our country, and trafficking is not limited to foreigners. The documentary also revealed law enforcement officers cracking down on the issue and how police are patrolling the streets for prostitutes and arresting them. Our group found this controversial- why are the victims being arrested instead of the pimps?

We also watched the movie Trade which was based on the 2004 New York Times article by Peter Landesman. The movie focused on two stories, one of a young virgin and another of a young woman tricked into sex slavery. The thirteen year old girl is kidnapped while riding her bike. Her older brother was initially involved in promoting sex for money, but he risked his life to save his sister from being sold to the highest bidder, meanwhile assisting in the arrest of her pimp and saving other young women from being sold. The young woman left her son behind in Poland to create a better life for him in the United States. Unfortunately, the young woman was tricked into prostitution where she was raped, sold, and beaten. The movie revealed the truths about sex trafficking and left unforgettable images in our minds, propelling us to open our minds to the extent of the problem and engaging in possible solutions.

Next we jumped on the metro, three stops to L'Enfant Plaza, and headed into the US Department of Health and Human Services building. After dealing with security, we met with the Program Specialist in the Trafficking in Persons Program. After a brief overview of the issue, we began firing questions about the government's role in addressing foreign and domestic forms of trafficking. She surprised us with data about the extent of labor trafficking in comparison to sex trafficking. We learned that foreign victims are eligible for certain types of aid which are unavailable to domestic victims. While they do not provide direct victim services, they award grants to organizations that provide an array of services and opportunities. After yesterday's broad introduction to attacking this problem, today's discussion was more narrowly focused on the government's response to this issue.

Next, half of the group hopped back on the metro while the others decided to walk in the rain back to the hostel, making a detour through Starbuck's (of course). After a delicious burrito dinner, games of Uno and Taboo we engaged in a deep reflection. We commented on statistics about all types of exploitation and marginalization of women and children. We shared our opinions on the objectification of women, labeling of pedophiles and cultural relativism. We found it especially interesting that society glorifies the sexiness of school-age girls while simultaneously demonizing the demand aspect of human trafficking.

Sunday-- Excursions and Reflections

This morning we slept in and had breakfast at the hostel. There was a St. Patrick's Day parade on Constitution Ave. so some of us walked down and stood on the sidewalk watching the parade pass by.

Later in the afternoon we jumped on the Metro to go down to Bethesda for a meeting with the assistant director of the Project to End Human Trafficking. She gave us a presentation about human trafficking and sort of the lay of the land of the issue. There are between 4 million and 27 million people enslaved at any one time, but what we were thinking about on the way back is how subjective the definition of slavery can be for each researcher, which can lead to discrepancy in the numbers and different understandings of the issue. We also learned from another person's research that there are 246 million kids, ages 5-17, presently involved in some type of debt bondage or forced labor, which many of us would consider slavery, but others may not. So the question arises, who is being missed and why? What can be done for the people not being counted in these numbers and therefore not receiving these services?

So tonight our reflection centered on the questions we were pondering after the presentation, and also general questions about what it means to do service in a community of survivors. We again convened after dinner (stirfry!) in the girls room and talked as a group about the events of the day. We started by talking about what our individual expectations are for the week and what we want to learn, as well as where we want to go now that we have attended our first meeting. Definitions of service were a particularly important focus of our discussion, especially because our trip is perhaps less hands-on than other ASB trips. This quote sparked some real debate among us: When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole.... Fixing and helping create a distance between people, but we cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected....Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul (Rachel Naomi Remen). Some of us understand service as something that produces a tangible end-result and our trip, which emphasizes learning, challenges us to rethink this. Service may be more of a mindset of sacrifice, as one member of our group suggested. But even so, when we leave here and go back to life at UMD, what do we leave with?

First day

It's Saturday, the first day of our alternative spring break trip in Washington, D.C. With the exception of a few stragglers, most of us left College Park at 9:30 this morning and Metro-ed down to the hostel. A few short, rainy blocks from the stop and we arrived at the adorable HI-DC hostel in NW.



In the stairwells are murals and fun facts about countries, the rooms are nice and big, and the second floor is a sweet dining/common area where some of us spent the afternoon eating sandwiches and snacks and playing UNO. We went grocery shopping and divided up chores for the week. Christine and Barbara were the chefs tonight and they made a delicious spaghetti dinner which everyone devoured. The hostel is pretty full and nearly everyone cooking in the kitchen was making some form of pasta.



After dinner we watched SCREAM 3 while we waited for other guests to vacate the TV room so we could watch a film about human trafficking. That never happened. So we convened in the girls' room and played Taboo for two hours and almost to 100 pts. It was nice to spend some time laughing and getting better acquainted. Tomorrow we have our first meeting with the Project to End Human Trafficking in the afternoon and then, hopefully in good weather, we will get to explore the neighborhood a little better.