Many of you know that my heart is significantly drawn to those who are trafficked into the sex industry, and the new ‘abolition’ movements that are addressing this global ‘slavery’. In the past years, I have sought out ways to get involved locally, jumping into any opportunity I get to learn more & educate others about this issue, including creating an independent study last year. My eyes have been opened to the reality of ‘Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking’ (DMST). Like many others, I have gone through the transition from thinking of sex trafficking as an issue that mainly plagues SE Asia, to seeing its nasty outreaching hands that encompass the globe…even the USA.
Now I get to be involved in both areas.
Last January 2010 I organized a 2-hour panel at our local transit center called ‘STOP Trafficking’, through my work at Skagit Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services. The panel included a local woman whose daughter was trafficked 20 minutes from where the panel was held, as well as the director of Washington Anti-Trafficking Network, a local sheriff (who was unaware of the issue locally), and a woman whose started an org to raise money for victims of trafficking. 135 people came, packing the room to the brim. Out of that I started Skagit Against Slavery, (www.skagitagainstslavery.org), that still meets at TN, seeking to educate the community on trafficking for both sex & labor.
In April I went to an 8-hour trai
ning on DMST by Shared Hope International and decided I
wanted to bring that training to the Skagit Valley. This past Monday, we did it! Beth Mauden, from Soroptomist International (in pic), and I organized two events for Shared Hope International to train & expose our community to what this issue looks like locally and how we can respond.
January 24th Tierra Nueva and our next-door church hosted a 6 1/2 hour training by Shared Hope International on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking....and 130 social service providers and law enforcement came! That evening, we trained 160+ educators, parents, youth, and concerned citizens who came to the Sedro Woolley Community Center. If you don't know anything about Sedro Woolley, its a very small community...and we were astounded by this attendance. People also came from surrounding towns such as Marysville, Bellingham, La Connor, Anacortes, Mt. Vernon, Burlington, and Arlington. It was amazing and very gratifying.
I was also on a radio broadcast with Seattle Police Department's Sgt Detective Ryan Long on the topic, to hear it go to speakupspeakoutradio.org
In addition, in the past two weeks, I have been invited to fulfill another dream of mine...
go to SE Asia and visit organizations that are working there with survivors of trafficking! I am amazed at this opportunity and can’t describe how excited I am! A friend named Yonnie is leading the trip, who Bob Ekblad (TN’s director) met while visiting Iris Ministries in Mozambique. She has welcomed me into the team of mainly other Iris folk, whose goal is to pursue the planting of an Iris base in Thailand. Things are coming together and (thanks to the generous support of donors these past months!) I will be joining the team’s trip to Thailand March 1-15th, and going to Cambodia March 15th-27th! Both coworkers at Tierra Nueva and at SDVSAS are very supportive of me going on this trip, knowing its importance to me.
We will join up with Nightlight as they do street outreach one night, visit with YWAM in Bangkok, meet a missionary couple who specifically focuses on the men who are involved in prostitution, and celebrate God among the masses in Pattaya Praise! (Pattaya is one of the largest sex trafficking destinations in the world). I am excited to learn about the work these people are doing, as well as learn alongside the Iris team as we minister to both staff and participants that we meet. It is a huge privilege! (Nightlight has a beautiful jewelry making business, if you would like to send any orders along with me, let me know :)
In Cambodia, I hope to visit Hagar International, Servants of Asia’s Urban Poor (who Bob & Gracie Ekblad met with last year), and a dear friend of mine who moved there last year!
I am so grateful…both of these are DREAMS come true…the training and mobilization of local leaders to address Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, and now soon to visit these organizations AND do so with a team of people, rooted and grounded in prayer.
Thanks again for YOUR SUPPORT of me, you help make this happen!
As led, I’d love your INTERCESSION for me as I enter into preparation and for me during the trip (Feb 28th to March 27th).
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