Allies

Yesterday I met with an extremely elegant, gracious and passionate woman named Alooka. She is the founder and director of the Womens Interlink Foundation. Alooka has been tirelessly advocating for and helping trafficking victims for over 40 years! She is a major force to be reckoned with and one I'm glad we have as an ally.

During the 2 ½ hours I spent with her I learned so much more about trafficking then I already knew. She laid out the layers of the trafficking groups for me and showed me just how sophisticated and advanced these groups are. There level of sophistication and manipulation is STUNNING and SICKENING to say the least.
 

One problem that has started recently and is gaining is traffickers posing as human rights workers. This is so appalling to me and really underlines the levels at which these evil people will stoop to enslave as many people as they can. Imagine a girl that is at risk of being trafficked ,or worse yet has been trafficked, and reaches out to what she thinks is a member of an NGO there to help her, only to find out they are the ones she's trying to run from all along. And believe it or not, in some cases these fake NGO workers are actually officials from government agencies that have been secretly implanted to gain trust, respect and admiration only to really be working with an alternative agenda. When this happens who is she to trust going forward? Police? NO. Aide workers? NO. Everyone that's supposed to be in a position to help betrays her. In many cases they can't even turn to there own family for help. Again...where does she go? Who does she trust?
 

The sad answer is no one. She stays in the predicament she's in and disappears. Never to be heard from again. This happens over and over and over again. Day after day. All throughout the country. In fact in some parts of India women and girls are openly sold in the streets at auctions. Just like Africans back in the 17th to 19th centuries in America. You can say it's disgusting and appalling and whatever else you want, but to be honest there are no words to describe how truly sickening it is.
 

This is why the mission of TEN and other's is so vital. We have to empower these girls so they never find themselves at risk of being trafficked. If you give girls the financial freedom we all take for granted then that risk is obliterated. They have options for escaping. They have a way out. They have true allies. Like Alooka. Like Sarah. Like you!