Guest, Author at Shared Hope International

May 9, 2014 by Guest

In Congressional Briefing, Panelists Discuss Exploitation of Vulnerabilities That Lead to Child Labor

By: Elizabeth Clapp

On Tuesday, April 8, a Congressional Briefing was held on Capitol Hill, entitled “Combating Exploitative Child Labor.” In attendance was Senator Tom Harkin, along with a panel of activists and professionals working within the anti-child labor trafficking movement. These individuals are on the front lines, helping young children who have been exploited by working in harsh conditions for the profit of others. David Abramowitz of Humanity United noted that child labor is “morally, physically, [and] socially harmful,” and that it keeps children from gaining opportunities such as education. One of the focuses of the briefing was on the exploitative roots of the industries that feed off of child labor trafficking.

A primary way that children end up working in these dangerous conditions is through the economic vulnerability of their families. Shauna Bader-Blau of Solidarity Center observed that in Liberia’s rubber plantations, if parents are given more than they can handle in workload, they will often recruit their families to help them fill the quota in order to pay the bills. Another way in which children end up in exploitative labor is if their families cannot afford to put them into school. As Ms. Bader-Blau confirmed, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) there are often school entrance fees that families cannot pay. Therefore, their children may join the tens of thousands of other kids working in the DRC’s cobalt and copper mines. The promising futures of children are stolen because the economic tables are turned against them and their families.

Shared Hope International acknowledges that economic vulnerability can be a factor that leads to exploitation, whether that comes in the form of labor or sex trafficking. That is why we partner with organizations worldwide to fight the epidemic of exploitation, focusing on sex trafficking. One of our partners is Asha Nepal, an organization that provides Nepalese trafficking survivors a welcoming home. These women are often lured by the prospect of a better job – only to become trapped in the sex industry. By offering education and job skills training programs, we work to encourage financial stability and independence.

Learn more here about Asha Nepal and the stories of Nepalese trafficking survivors.

We also partner with Sparsh, an organization based in India that provides a sanctuary for survivors of sex trafficking in India’s brothels and their children, as well as the children of the mothers still trapped in the brothels. One mother recalls she had worked long hours in a factory and heard about a job with higher wages. What she didn’t realize is that the new job required her to sell her body, health and dignity for hours each day in an Indian brothel. Economic disincentives such as these steal opportunities for a better life and drive people of any age into the exploitative sex trafficking and labor trafficking industries.

Learn more here about Sparsh and the stories of women escaping from India’s brothels.

November 22, 2013 by Guest

Shared Hope Director, Nancy Winston, Receives Maryland Governor’s Service Award

By Melanie Mah

Twenty-seven Maryland residents were selected as recipients of the 30^th Annual Governor’s Service Award, honored on November 4, 2013.

Nancy Winston, Senior Director at Share Hope International, was honored with the Governor’s Service Award as a Special Honoree. This prestigious award is given to individuals who display an outstanding record of volunteerism and service.

Nancy has served as an integral part of Shared Hope since its inception. In the early days of Shared Hope, Nancy hosted President and Founder Linda Smith during her travel to Washington, D.C. and served as a local volunteer. As Shared Hope grew, so did Nancy’s position within Shared Hope and she was elected to sit on the Shared Hope International Board of Directors, a position she held for six years. During this time, Nancy assisted in organizing the War Against Trafficking Alliance in 2002. She participated in the Path Breaking Strategies Conference in Washington, DC in 2003 and in the Next Steps Conference in Mumbai in 2004, as well as the Justice Department Domestic Trafficking and Prostitution conference in Tampa in 2004 and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Mid Term Review in D.C. in 2006. She represented Shared Hope at the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, she left her career in healthcare information technology at Cerner Corporation to begin a second career with Shared Hope International.

Today, Nancy is a Senior Director whose diverse responsibilities include speaking, writing, training, donor relations, restorative shelter initiatives, and partner relationships.

Since 2008, she has served on the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force where she currently chairs the Legislative Committee is an active member the Victim Services committee. As a task force member and a Shared Hope employee, she provides expert testimony at committee hearings in the Maryland legislature in support of legislation that would toughen the state’s anti-trafficking laws.

Congratulations Nancy!

October 8, 2013 by Guest

Seattle Chosen Premiere Summary – Sept. 26, 2013

Guest post by: Jo Lembo

With the Seattle Aquarium as the backdrop, guests of Shared Hope International heard, many for the first time, that sex trafficking is real and it’s here in our neighborhoods. The Seattle Premier showing of Chosen drew a registration of over 300, many of them sponsored youth from the Puget Sound area. The diverse crowd included Senators who sponsored new, stricter laws, law enforcement who enforce them, caregivers who support the victims, and providers of housing for survivors. Parents, teachers, media representatives, coaches, youth leaders and nearly 100 teens came to learn how to Defend Their Friends, the theme for the evening. Students from University of Washington Law School seemed to represent the United Nations in their small group of ten. One girl shared with a staffer, “I was trafficked twice in Africa. Then I became a prosecutor but it’s very hard to protect women in a country where they are considered property. So I came to the US to get my degree!” Her fire and passion resounded with the promise of greatness as she declared, “I will be the best prosecutor ever to return to my country!”

Nine partners stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Shared Hope including Seattle Archdiocese Council of Catholic Women (ACCW), Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST), Connelly Law Firm, Federal Way Coalition Against Trafficking (FWCAT), The Genesis Project, Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST), Union Gospel Mission, Washington Women’s Network (WWN) and Youthcare. We all recognize there is a war raging and none of us can win it alone. Shared Hope is grateful for others in the Puget Sound area who are fighting the same battle.

A hush fell over the crowd when survivor, Brianna, stood up to declare the vulnerabilities that were exploited in her, a then barely 18-year old college-bound girl. Her story breaks all stereo-types as she shared how she was an A-student, a cheerleader, an athlete, in a youth group, and the youngest of five children in a two-parent home. She thought she was making choices when a regular customer where she waitressed invited her to Seattle for the winter break. But she didn’t know he had chosen her to groom and sell her into the sex industry. Her friend, Evan, recognized the signs of trafficking because his dad had heard a presentation based on the book “Renting Lacy” at a Rotary Club and had talked to his son about defending his friends. Evan betrayed Brianna’s trust to save her life.

Everyone was riveted as she spoke through tears, “Where were my parents, you might ask?” Brianna answered her own question, “I lied to them. I wasn’t where I said I would be. I kept things from them. They did an amazing job raising me, evidenced in the fact that I can stand before you after what happened to me. I want to thank my parents who are sitting on the front row tonight.” She then urged young people to be aware when a friend is hiding things, being isolated from support networks, has a significantly older boyfriend, suddenly has expensive gifts or is planning to go away without telling her parents. “Talk to them! Tell them it’s dangerous! If they won’t listen, go to a responsible adult and ask for help!”

The program faded into the evening as guests left armed with new knowledge, new tools and new hope shared that I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Click here to see more photos from Chosen Seattle.

September 20, 2013 by Guest

A Father for Freedom

Written by: Marissa Montalvo

Life is one of the most precious things in the world and it takes tremendous courage to save one. Sparsh Founder, Timothy Hirwale, shares what motivated him to rescue and raise dozens of India’s children as his own and how his organization is making an impact.

“There was a time in my dad’s life he was left alone to die on the street of Marathwada, a rural place in Maharashtra, India. An American missionary named Elizabeth Walton picked him up as a malnourished child and cared for him and gave him the name Daniel. Looking at the beautiful lifestyle of my orphan mom and dad I was inspired and thought I would love to care and love these precious children.”

Dedicated to offering that same love and care that Walton gave his father, Timothy decided to create Sparsh, an organization that offers protection and a family to children and orphans.

“For me the thought of a child being left alone without care and protection and without love makes me move in my inner spirit. You can call it a call of God or inner urge to do something for children, but from the age of 18 there was only one aim and goal or ambition and that was to serve the children.”

When he was 18-years-old, he was called “bachelor dad” because he had already taken in two 3-year-old children.

“The first time when we picked up Payal and Sunny from the red light area to Sparsh, there was this tremendous joyful satisfaction in my heart but it took 10 days for Payal to accept me as a father because she had horrific time with her father.”

His mission isn’t easy. Timothy says some of his greatest challenges are overcoming the helplessness he feels when he can’t accept more children because his home is full, caring for the education and development of so many children, and finding the time between fundraising, administration and running the home to offer individualize love and support to all 17 children. Not to mention the logistics of transporting 22 people using one small six-passenger van. Placing his challenges into perspective, he says stories like Nandini’s are worth it.

“We brought Nandini from the street. She was full of mud and carbon all over her body. When we started giving her a bath, all the black water flowed from the bathroom. Seeing that, all rest of the children screamed and ran away saying that she is very unclean. But as the days pass by, when I look back, I thank God for this little life, full of joy and smiles every day.”

Timothy says being a good father means being a good role model, building comfortable communication so children feel free and open to be themselves, finding creative and resourceful ways to provide for the family, and by taking the time to instill values in the children.

“In my opinion, a good father introduces his children to the future and does not try to keep them from world. I feel [parent should] let them see everything, have experiences of their own and when the time comes for them to make the right decision of following any religion or career, it is their own choice. I will rest assured because the values, the love I have showed to them, is genuine and you will get a genuine result. Your love and values will always guide them to be a successful human being.”

The time and energy Timothy invested in being the best father he can is paying off. He says he has seen an increase in the children’s level of trust and sense of security since coming to the home. They are sharing their feelings, hugging and showing intentional acts of kindness-actions that indicate the children are developing healthy patterns of affection and relationship skills which can be more difficult for children with traumatic backgrounds to develop.

Timothy is a man of prayer, passion and purpose. He says men must step forward with courage and boldness to fight against injustice.

“I feel God has blessed America with everything, what other nations covet. The God given freedom is being taken away by human traffickers all over. Our negligence is bringing the HIV rates high on rampage. Our negligence is seeing our own daughters and sisters being taken away in front of our eyes…Feeling sorry for the horrific act is not just enough. It is the time to act. Many think it won’t happen to me or my family, but greed and pleasure does not know any relation and color. I pray and plead, let’s make human trafficking a history.”

About Sparsh
In 2011, Shared Hope International expanded its impact in India by welcoming a new partner in Pune. Sparsh, which means “touch” is a restoration refuge providing a family environment to women on a journey of restoration after sex trafficking, their children, and children whose mothers are still enslaved in Pune’s red light district.

August 23, 2013 by Guest

It Happens to Boys, Too

Special guest blog post by Anna Smith, Executive Director & Co-Founder of Restore One. Commercial sexual exploitation “happens to boys, too.”

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”– William Wilberforce

The words of William Wilberforce serve as a stark reminder that with knowledge not only comes power but responsibility.

In Spring 2013, ECPAT-USA’s groundbreaking study And Boys Too created a buzz in the sex trafficking movement and forced us to expand not only our knowledge of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and sex trafficking but it increased our responsibility to act on behalf of boys too.

Experts estimate that annually between 100,000-300,000 American youth are victims of some type of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) within the United States. Without any education, most Americans assume sex trafficking and CSE happens only to women and girls. The majority view men as perpetrators and seldom consider them as victims. However the 2008 study, The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in New York City, suggests that as many as 50% of commercial sexually exploited American youth are young males.

While the victimization of each gender requires an equal grade of attention, the sex trafficking movement has largely overlooked the fact that it happens to boys too.

Such knowledge shaped the work I do at Restore One and the population we plan to serve through our long-term aftercare program, The Anchor House. Opening in 2014, The Anchor House is staged to be the first in the United States to provide long-term residential care specifically to domestic minor sex trafficked and CSE boys. The issues facing DMST and CSE boys, while similar to girls, are firmly unique. Some of the trends unique to DMST and CSE boys we’ve observed both through study and through relational interaction with male survivors include:

The common age of first exposure to the sex trade is younger; studies suggest that a boys average age of entry is 11-13 years old.
The game is different; boys are not always ‘pimped out.’ There is often a market facilitator involved in the recruitment and brokering of boys to buyers.
Boys express greater amounts of humiliation and shame when associating themselves as victims of sexual exploitation, thus decreasing solicitation of services.
Boys have an increased bewilderment toward sexual orientation and gender identity.
Studies suggest that the bulk of boys identify as heterosexual. Yet gay, bi-sexual, transsexual and questioning (GBTQ) youth represent a significant portion of sexual exploited youth. Along with boys, GBTQ populations must be addressed.
Boys in the sex trade are at an increased risk for physical abuse, sexual transmitted infections and HIV.

Also worth noting, boys exiting the sex trade report complications such as: depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts, poor self image, sexual identity issues, sexual transmitted infections, HIV, lack of family support, drug dependency and obstacles with physical injuries.

At Sharing the Hope, I look forward to expanding upon not only these unique trends but discussing the framework application of The Anchor House program.

To hear more on this topic, join Anna Smith and over 25 national experts at Sharing the Hope, November 7-9 in Washington D.C. Early bird registration closes October 1. Book now!

Anna Smith is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Restore One. Anna works diligently on Restore One’s chief project, The Anchor House. The Anchor House will be the first shelter in the nation designed to meet the psychological, physical and sociological needs of sex trafficked and sexually exploited American boys. Aside from Anna’s work with the Anchor House, she oversees Restore One’s prevention program, Project So Loved, and serves as Chair of the Pitt County Rapid Response Team. Anna has dual a degree in Social Work and Religious Studies and is currently pursuing her Masters in Clinical Counseling. Anna is a strong advocate for sex trafficked and sexual exploited males. Anna has a resilient passion to see child sex trafficking victims experience true healing and restoration.

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