Fear The 'Fad' of Sex Trafficking

Transitions' girls making 'worry dolls' with Naropa art therapy students.

When Transitions began its journey to see young girls find hope and healing from being sexually trafficked in 2006, we had one fear. That fear was that this issue would become a fad, which would fade from public popularity and move on to the next big thing. This issue for us, is about the girls - real girls with real needs to find restoration in their lives and a revival of their dreams. This is not something we did when it was popular. In fact, we began this journey in 2004, when the word sex trafficking was an anomaly to the general public.

Eight years into our journey, we are seeing significant progress - more awareness, more education, and a growing body of foundations, funding agencies, and people that realize the critical need for services to the survivors of this horrible crime. The world of aftercare, treatment, and reintegration is just now beginning to mature to a place that we are having meaningful conversations about what success (in working with survivors) looks like.

Worry dolls created by the girls at Transitions' Dream Home.

But, there is a problem. For a large percentage of people, this issue is something that captures their attention for a time and then they move on to the next big 'cause'. In fact, even within our own field, we are seeing a shift. Major organizations, like IOM (International Organization for Migration) have shifted their focus from repatriation and services to looking at migration in regard to climate change! This shift was due to the interest of donors and an increase of funding for climate issues instead of trafficking. But, we are seeing a movement to no longer focusing on sex trafficking to look at other issues.

The 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) emphasizes that the 'new' issue is labor trafficking and not sex trafficking, which is deeply disturbing. Sex trafficking has not disappeared, nor has it been curbed; rather, sex trafficking has become more complex and pushed further underground. This means that we are making progress, but we need to adjust the methodology for investigating and rescuing victims. The fact that criminals have become more complex in the way they are trafficking and exploiting victims should not dissuade us from making the effort or changing focus to something else.

We certainly can't believe that sex trafficking has gone away and that now traffickers are only exploiting human beings for labor? Yet, by the shift in attention, you would be led to believe that sex trafficking (particularly of minors) has been greatly eliminated. Yet, we see an increased influx of foreign men in Cambodia (Southeast Asia as a whole) and the 'chatter' online would also give the impression that sex tourism is on the rise.

Survivor at Transitions doing sand tray therapy.

We need to maintain our resolve to persevere in our efforts to identify, rescue, and restore the lives of survivors - girls, women, and even boys are counting on us to stay our course. We cannot allow sex trafficking to become a trend, like skinny jeans or dub step. These are human beings crying out for us to see them, hear them, and help them. In order to do this, we need to find innovative ways to engage the global community to stay involved.

Transitions is committed to the long-term effort of restoring the lives of young girls rescued from sex trafficking, through the power of a dream. We believe in giving survivors a new future and providing them with the services and tools they need to begin a new life. This means that we need people (like you) to continue to care and keep your attention on the precious lives that have been affected by sex trafficking. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through sponsoring a girl. Project Every Girl gives you the ability to make a tangible impact in the lives of survivors. You can also advocate with your friends, church, school, and community to get involved.

We also need new and innovative solutions for keeping a focus on this important and critical issue. This is where you come in. If you have ideas for how Transitions can increase awareness of the work we are doing with survivors, let us know. Comment here or on our Facebook page!

All photos by Lauren Huntley 2012

Let Your Heart Break

Every night I heard the rhythm of rape-for-profit. It was all that I could do to try to sleep at night. I spent my days feeding and holding children with severe mental and physical disabilities; the last thing that I wanted to do was go to sleep in a brothel buried in the forgotten corners of Saigon.

As soon as the sun set, management would place numbers on the doors of the vacant rooms in the hotel. Minutes later, girls and boys would arrive on the back of motorbikes and get directed as to which room they were to occupy. After that, the johns would show up, a group composed of a disturbing blend of natives and Western tourists.

And for nearly twelve hours, from sundown to sun up, these men would filter in and out of the rooms that held the girls and boys captive.

I have to confess, I was more annoyed than I was heartbroken for the victims of rape. But two weeks later, I was curled up in a ball on the rooftop of a hotel in Phnom Penh convulsing from the reality of what I had experienced in Vietnam – and then from what I was witnessing in Cambodia.

My heart was breaking in the most painful way imaginable.

I heard someone say a few years ago, “Our hearts must break before our hands can move.” Until that experience in Phnom Penh, I had never really experienced a genuine shattering of my most intimate visions and dreams for life; equally, I’ve never been more provoked to movement.

For four years, I’ve educated myself as extensively as possible on the issue of human trafficking. I’ve attended conferences, written articles, spoken at events, engaged in conversations, and even traveled back to Southeast Asia to assist other organizations, such as Transitions, in their efforts to plant a future in the hearts of survivors of modern day slavery.

But you want to know what the hardest thing for me is? The hardest thing for me is when I’m standing in front of a group of grown men, with their focus fixed like flint on everything but the thing that I’m talking about, and knowing that I’m going to walk away having made no dent in their hearts.

It’s discouraging when hearts don’t care. Yet… there’s hope.

I was recently at a fundraising event for an anti-trafficking non-profit that assists victims of childhood sexual abuse and sex trafficking in Atlanta. Some friends and I had created a walk-thru experience of a typical American girl and her journey into, and out of, sex trafficking.

Hundreds of people walked through the exhibit, but one of the most moving visuals I had from that evening was seeing grown men – fathers, sons, and possibly abusers – standing in a river of tears at the end of the exhibit. Their hearts had shattered as they moved through the story of a little girl’s life gone awry.

It says a lot about the power of story.

For me, my heart was broken in Cambodia so that I could affect change on the injustice of modern day slavery. For some women, the thought of abuse is provocation enough. And for grown men, perhaps they have to walk through an experience before they “get it”.

The point is: I’ve been moved to action, but I guess I’m wondering though… have you let your heart break yet?

Matthew Snyder is a twenty-something writer, abolitionist, and creative living in Atlanta, GA. You can read his blog and follow him on Twitter @matthewlasnyder

If you are interested in contributing to this blog, please contact us at: info@transitionsglobal.org.

Learning Lessons from Aftercare

Working with survivors of sex trafficking is difficult work. There are no easy solutions and there is not a singular way to do this 'right'. In fact, at this moment in history, we are a learning community, exploring the best options for services and models of care. We have chosen an approach that is highly individual and we are focused on quality care. This means that the cost of 'doing business' is much higher than the typical model, which provides basic needs, love, and some specialized services.

Instead, we are taking the approach of 'this is what we would do for our own daughters', which creates a much more challenging situation. Girls that have been sexually trafficked are not your 'normal' teenager. They are girls that have been exploited and exposed to some pretty horrible things. They have been mistreated, abused, and conditioned to respond to things like 'love' in a much different way than a normal, healthy teenage girl. They see things through a lens of their experiences and perceive the world in a skewed way.


Our job, is to create a safe place for girls to begin the process of re-conditioning their emotions, perceptions, and view of the world in a healthier way. That means, for girls, that they need a place (and a program/staff) where they can talk about their pain, their experiences, their hopes, and their dreams for the future. Transitions Global's approach is a holistic one - so we incorporate a highly therapeutic environment for girls to work through their trauma, but at the same time, also providing a 'home like' environment for girls to belong and be a part of a family. Life skills, socialization, education, and lots of love (and patience) go into our work in Cambodia.

The area of victim services to this population is continuing to grow. As we do, it will be important that we seek quality over quantity and look for new and innovative ways to help victims heal. Not just healing to the place of a 'survivor', but beyond that. We need to help survivors develop the strength and capacity to engage in the world and make a difference in the next generation. We owe it to them and we owe it to the next generation of vulnerable girls and women globally.

If any of you reading have insights into what 'healing' looks like or ideas about recovering from trauma, we welcome your comments. We don't have all of the answers, but we are committed to seeking them out - because, it is what we would do for our own daughters.