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Backyard: Human trafficking an issue globally, domestically

By Samantha Peer op/Ed Editor 5 min read
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Imagine performing backbreaking labor around the clock.

Imagine being beaten if you did not keep pace.

Imagine being made to sleep on the cold, hard kitchen floor.

This was the life that Rwandan genocide survivor, Sabine, lived for six months.

Sabine, left alone upon the death of her entire family, jumped on the opportunity to travel to America with a wealthy family who offered her the chance to come to the United States.

However, upon arriving to their home, the family imprisoned her, forcing her into domestic servitude.

Fortunately, Sabine, with the help of a kind Rwandan man, was able to escape and has since recovered from the traumatic months she spent enslaved.

However, this true account of modern-day slavery is not the only one of its kind.

Millions of people are living in conditions similar to that of Sabine’s today.

This epidemic is commonly referred to as human trafficking.

On Nov. 12, five of the Vira Heinz Scholars sought to educate students and community members about the issue of human trafficking through their event, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind: the Hidden World of Human Trafficking.”

The event resembled that of a visit to the Holocaust Museum, in which attendants were given the identification of a victim of human trafficking whose story they could follow throughout their visit.

Sabine was among the victims whose story people could follow.

Senior public relations major Northe Campbell-Escalante followed the story of a victim named Rachel Canfield.

“Her story really took a toll on me,” said Campbell-Escalante. “I read about this innocent young girl around the same age as I go through such a horrible experience and it was completely heart breaking. To think that this could happen to anyone, and even myself if I’m not careful, is frightening to think about.”

Allyson Wernert, senior international cultures and political science major, studied in Japan through the Vira Heinz scholarship over the summer where sex trafficking is prevalent.

“Japan has a huge sex-tourism industry,” said Wernert. “When I would go out at night with my friends, we would see men advertising for strip clubs and hostess bars.”

Caley Blankenbuehler, junior secondary education major, studied in Sri Lanka, India over the summer where labor trafficking is widespread.

“In India, a lot of domestic slavery takes place where people are forced to work long hours in the brick kilns,” said Blankenbuehler.

Though the Vira Heinz Scholars wanted to educate people about the human trafficking issues taking place internationally, they wanted to impress the locality of the issue upon their audience as well.

“One of our goals was to educate those in attendance that this isn’t just an international issue, it is very much a domestic issue as well,” said Blankenbuehler. “Another of our goals was to educate people of the various types of human trafficking. Most people associate human trafficking with sex slavery, but they are not aware of the other forms of human trafficking that also exist.”

Those in attendance were guided by footprints through the realistic depiction of the lives of human trafficking victims, which included the stories of the victims, information about human trafficking, computers with links to websites to learn more about the topic and representatives from several organizations that assist victims and work to combat the issue.

“I thought the event was great and that the Vira Heinz girls did a great job of making it a realistic walk through,” said Victoria Keslar, senior human services major. “I know a lot of college students and community members came through and as they were talking to us about getting involved, they were saying how moved that they were by the event and how it brought them to tears. The event really put into perspective how these people lived and the reality of it.”

“Out of Sight, Out of Mind” discussed an issue close to Keslar’s heart.

In addition to serving as president of Waynesburg University’s Chapter of the International Justice Mission, an on-campus organization that works to bring awareness to and combat human trafficking, Keslar is also a counselor at Abundant Life Ministry Center, an organization that offers aftercare for victims of sexual violence.

“Human trafficking is a huge injustice that often is overlooked in our country,” said Keslar. “Slavery is greater today than it ever has been in the world yet it is still hidden and forgotten about in every day society, so I think that it is our job to be the voice of the lost and of those who do not have a voice or do not have the opportunity to be rescued. These women, these girls, these children that are in other countries and are taken are expecting no one to come for them, and that is something we have to live with everyday. I don’t want to just sit and think about that, I want to be doing something for it.”

Over 80 people attended “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.” Those in attendance were asked to fill out a survey describing their experience for feedback.

“It was really cool to see people share that they were unaware of the locality of human trafficking, but now they knew of its nearness,” said Blankenbuehler.

Among those in attendance was Annette Aho, senior athletic training major, who was one of those enlightened by the event.

“I think the fact that trafficking happens here in America, here in Pennsylvania, is very impactful,” said Aho. “It becomes something that we can’t run from. It’s present and we are all aware, so the question is now, what are we going to do about it?

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