Trafficking Survivor Quotes

Slowly, I'm beginning to realise that what happened to me wasn't my fault, that I was taken advantage of by a group of vile, twisted men.

You're never too old or too damaged to make a difference. Nancy Walker

Penxi swallows thickly. “I’m a scammer.” “You are human trafficking victim. No. You are human trafficking survivor.

Her name is Nikki. She’s a recording artist. A famous one. She was in Cambodia setting up a women’s home for survivors of sex trafficking.” I scanned my limited knowledge of current recording artists. “Nikki…Nikki who?” “Her stage name is Lola Simone.

It is indeed true that when the Word becomes flesh in the here and now it changes us.

It’s just a scar. He doesn’t own me anymore.

There is always a trafficker to fight, a victim to help, a survivor to champion.

Ritual abuse is highly organised and, obviously, secretive. It is often linked with other major crimes such as child pornography, child prostitution, the drugs industry, trafficking, and many other illegal and heinous activities. Ritual abuse is organised sexual, physical and psychological abuse, which can be systematic and sustained over a long period of time. It involves the use of rituals - things which the abusers 'need' to do, or 'need' to have in place - but it doesn't have to have a belief system. There doesn't have to be God or the Devil, or any other deity for it to be considered 'ritual'. It involves using patterns of learning and development to keep the abuse going and to make sure the child stays quiet. There has been, and still is a great deal of debate about whether or not such abuse exists anywhere in the world. There are many people who constantly deny that there is even such a thing as ritual abuse. All I can say is that I know there is. Not only have I been a victim of it myself, but I have been dealing with survivors of this type of abuse for almost 30 years. If there are survivors, there must be something that they have survived. The things is, most sexual abuse of children is ritualised in some way. Abusers use repetition, routine and ritual to forced children into the patterns of behaviour they require. Some abusers want their victims to wear certain clothing, to say certain things. They might bathe them or cut them, they might burn them or abuse them only on certain days of the week. They might do a hundred other things which are ritualistic, but aren't always called that - partly, I think because we have a terror of the word and of accepting just how premeditated abuse actually is. Abusers instill fear in their victims and ensure silence; they do all they can to avoid being caught. Sexual abuse of a child is rarely a random act. It involves thorough planning and preparation beforehand. They threaten the children with death, with being taken into care, with no one believing them, which physical violence or their favourite teddy being taken away. They are told that their mum will die, or their dad will hate them, the abusers say everyone will think it's their fault, that everyone already knows they are bad. Nothing is too big or small for an abuser to use as leverage. There is unmistakable proof that abusers do get together in order to share children, abuse more children, and even learn from each other. As more cases have come into the public eye in recent years, this has become increasingly obvious. More and more of this type of abuse is coming to light. I definitely think it is the word ritual which causes people to question, to feel uncomfortable, or even just disbelieve. It seems almost incredible that such things would happen, but too many of us know exactly how bad the lives of many children are. A great deal of child pornography shows children being abused in a ritualised setting, and many have now come forward to share their experiences, but there is a still tendency to say it just couldn't happen. p204-205

We must do our best to alleviate suffering, but never by eliminating the sufferer. We do not advocate for sexually trafficked survivors by calling for their deaths. We don’t work to protect the elderly, the frail, the poor, or the disenfranchised by saying it would be better to end their lives. Imagine how ridiculous it would have been if abolitionists had called for the killing of slaves to spare them the pain of their enslavement. If we love someone, we don’t wish that they die. We should always fight to save lives and to make life better, not to end lives.

Religion is for people that don’t want to go to hell spirituality is for people that have already been there.

One out of every four. I have repeated this statistic over and over and still cannot fathom the depth of what it really means. One out of every four girls is sexually abused before the age of eighteen. For boys, the number is one out of six.9 This means one out of every four women at the grocery store, at the bank, at the mall, in the pew at church, and everywhere in “normal” life have had this traumatic experience. For me as a teacher, this means that one out of every four of my precious eighth grade girls will, before they graduate from high school, become one of those victims.

And if me writing a love story about two survivors of that dark world creates the perfect storm of conditions for you to rail and rage against me, then that’s all you. Not me. It’s got nothing to do with me. All I did was write a book to highlight the fact that child sex trafficking exists and it’s the victims that get left behind who matter. In Sick Heart – I made the victims matter.

And if me writing a love story about two survivors of that dark world creates the perfect storm of conditions for you to rail and rage against me, then that’s all you. Not me. It’s got nothing to do with me. All I did was write a book to highlight the fact that child sex trafficking exists and it’s the victims that get left behind who matter. In Sick Heart – I made the victims matter. And I did that by turning them into survivors.

Chrystul Kizer, at seventeen a survivor of sex trafficking and abuse, was charged with first degree intentional homicide. LadyKathryn Williams-Julien of New York State killed her husband during an act of domestic violence and was charged with his murder.

This is not every man. Dao is in another place, another time. The savagery of his ejection may have triggered some deep rooted trauma. In 1975, Saigon had fallen. His home was no longer his home. Dao was forced to flee as a refugee, and he and his wife raised their family of five kids in Kentucky, a new home that – if reports are to be believed about his checkered history – had its own share of absurd hardships. Dao was caught trafficking prescription drugs for sex and lost his medical license, after which he earned his income as a poker player. While I agree with his defenders that his rap sheet is irrelevant to the United Airlines incident, it's relevant to me, since it helps us to see Dao in a more complex, realistic light. Dao is not a criminal nor is he some industrious automaton who could escape the devastation of his homeland and, through a miraculous arc of resilience, become an upstanding doctor whose kids are also doctors. For may immigrants, if you move here with trauma, you're going to do what it takes to get by. You cheat. You beat your wife. You gamble. You're a survivor and, like most survivors, you are a god-awful parent.

But to jump so quickly from a woman who could have been trafficked and was lucky to escape with her life to the brave survivor?

When people rally together to support a good cause, it shouts a second message to the community at large, that people can work unselfishly together if our eyes are on God and on those in need, rather than on our own advancement.

When evaluating aftercare homes to support (beyond the six featured in the IN PLAIN SIGHT documentary), we encourage you to ask these types of questions. Good intentions are not enough. Professionalism and accountability are critical when working with survivors of sex trafficking.    Does the program include trauma-informed counseling by a licensed professional?    Is the identity of each child/woman kept confidential?    Are minors used to fundraise for the organization?    Are females and males housed on completely separate properties?    Is the facility licensed so there is accountability for policies and procedures?    Do those working and volunteering for the facility have to undergo a stringent vetting process?    Is the location undisclosed?

First, educate the traffick-aged victim on how to stay safe - especially in regards to social media. I don’t think they have nay idea that once they hit that send button just how far that message or picture can go and how it can be used. I think we should help parents understand their responsibility and what they can do to keep their kids safe. In addition to that, I think to educate the schools and school counselors, school nurses, teachers to be aware of the signs of the student who suddenly either begins to withdraw or become hyper-sexualized. Something is going on there.   Also, I think society as a whole needs to look at prostitution differently. There is no girl who wants to become a prostitute. It’s just not like that. And, we really didn’t play with hooker Barbies when we were kids and say “that’s what I want to be when I grow up.” No, we wanted to be nurses or stewardesses or something else. Don’t drive by prostitutes and look down at them and call them names and be hateful to them - but love them, pray for them.   Everybody can help in some way whether it’s through prayer, financial support, or volunteering. Everyone can help in some way.   Selling people for sex is a profitable business right now. I would love for the purchasers to stop buying. I think that’s wrong. If there’s no buying of the product, people will quit trying to sell the product, so it would end the market. I’d like that!

country. These children are not seen as credible. No one believes them, and all the funding goes to other countries. Our hope is that children in our country will have the same value as people in other countries. It is much easier to send your money to a third world country instead of getting your hands dirty right here.   Again, we have this whole segment of children in our country that we call throwaways. We want to eradicate that term, and we want to make every child in our country have value and human dignity.     Traffick911

Because you’re a survivor.” She retorted. “And that’s evidenced by the fact you’re still sitting here today.