Monday, March 30, 2009

Sex Trafficking Stories

Karin’s Story:

SINGAPORE: Karin, a young mother of two, was looking for a job in Sri Lanka when a man befriended her and convinced her that she could land a better job in Singapore as a waitress. He arranged and paid for her travel. A Sri Lankan woman met Karin upon arrival in Singapore, confiscated her passport, and took her to a hotel. The woman made it clear that Karin had to submit to prostitution to pay back the money it cost for her to be flown into Singapore. Karin was taken to an open space for sale in the sex market where she joined women from Indonesia, Thailand, India, and China to be inspected and purchased by men from Pakistan, India, China, Indonesia, and Africa. The men would take the women to nearby hotels and rape them. Karin was forced to have sex with an average of 15 men a day. She developed a serious illness and three months after her arrival was arrested by the Singaporean police during a raid on the brothel. She was deported to Sri Lanka.
Source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/c16482.htm

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• Pray for Karin’s illness and that through the Lord’s grace he heals her from this sickness.
• Pray that Karin knows she is beautiful and that the Lord loves her.
• Pray that Karin’s memories of the nights spent with various men are removed from her memory so she can move past this injustice.



Anitchka’s Story:

Anitchka managed to escape from a horrific cycle of abuse which involved being beaten and raped up to 25 times a day after she climbed through the window of a Peterborough brothel while another girl was asleep. The 30 year old Czech mother- of-two who was forced into prostitution following her arrival in the UK in August 2006. [She] was persuaded to travel to Britain by a man who promised a lucrative job as a waitress and a better lifestyle.
Anitchka entered the UK via a regional airport at which time she was taken to a Gloucester brothel, where her ID documents were taken away.
She was subjected to beatings and was forced to work as a prostitute, but did not receive any money for this work.
She escaped in 2007.
Source: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news?articleid=3090109&articlepage=2

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• Pray that victims like Acquilina are rescued from this institution of slavery
• Pray that Czech leaders will become advocates to end sex slavery
• Pray for God to be present in the lives of those involved in cases similar to Acquilina’s


Neary’s Story:

CAMBODIA: Neary grew up in rural Cambodia. Her parents died when she was a child, and, in an effort to give her a better life, her sister married her off when she was 17. Three months later she and her husband went to visit a fishing village. Her husband rented a room in what Neary thought was a guest house. But when she woke the next morning, her husband was gone. The owner of the house told her she had been sold by her husband for $300 and that she was actually in a brothel.

For five years, Neary was raped by five to seven men every day. In addition to brutal physical abuse, Neary was infected with HIV and contracted AIDS. The brothel threw her out when she became sick, and she eventually found her way to a local shelter. She died of HIV/AIDS at the age of 23.
Source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/c16482.htm

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• Pray for those women who are thrown out on the street with no resources after they become pregnant or contract HIV/AIDS.
• Pray for Neary’s husband that he realizes his sin and asks for forgiveness.
• Pray for others who have been betrayed by their families as Neary was. Pray they are able to recover mentally from their abuse.


FREEDOM WEEK!

This is the week.  We will be having extensive activism and awareness campaign on the campus. Be sure to make it out to all of the events.  It is guaranteed shake up your life a little bit.

Check out the facebook event for a schedule of events.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=61005488927&ref=ts

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

First day advocating in Anaheim

Saturday was the first day starting our advocacy campaign in Anaheim.  I was very happy with how the day went.  We were able to put up 4 "look beneath the surface" posters (The posters have a 800 Trafficking hotline number on it and information about what trafficking is). These are the first posters on display on this street.   I consider that a 400% increase in trafficking awareness on the street.  Definitely a success. 
Conversations were not as productive as i was hoping.  It was difficult developing significant dialogues into places of business because of customers.  So we are going to change up some of the initial vision we have had for the advocacy groups. We still want to post as many signs as we can, but in addition to that we are going to start doing door to door awareness.  We're hoping that this will create opportunity for deeper dialogue.  Stay posted for more stories from other groups' experience.  

Rich