February Fellowship Meeting Recap
SUSAN MUNSEY Generate Hope - PLNU (Gates) and USD (Carpenter) research
works with women 18 and up, mostly early 20’s some in their 30’s and 40’s who are getting out of “the life”
not just poor people, not just overseas, women are lured from malls, bus stops, etc. Target: runaways, homeless, throwaways, looking for anyone vulnerable. mental health issues, also LGTBQ also makes vulnerability
She is Constantly amazed by the stories, what they’ve been through. Often sexually abused as children, traffickers really appreciate that. Teaches women to think, “my body is not my own” and “if I want something that looks like love, i have to trade my body.” These women are often going from the frying pan into the fire. not allowed to dream or think. everything is controlled by like how much money you have to earn each night
Happens: these women are young, brains not yet fully developed, grasping, looking for hope, something better. They are moving toward something they think is
Almost all have PTSD — at the level of Vietnam vets. We think the connection is the shame these vets came back to, the same way these women feel shame. Low self esteem. Depression and anxiety. Nightmares, fears. Usually takes about a month to feel safe sleeping w/o worry of being beaten up.
“Sherry’s” Story, foster group home, sexually abused, across the street from the liquor store, traffickers would sit there, lured into some substance abuse or a party from the guys across the street when she was 15, came to Generate Hope at 21, dead eyes, hardened, lots of behaviors, began to soften as she saw the love of Christ, she started to begin to think about and dream about what she wanted to be “when she grows up.”
Research: gathered evidence from traffickers in prison and recovering women.
Underground Economy estimated annual revenue is $800mil. (The San Diego Padres is only $224mil just for reference) http://www.statista.com/statistics/196680/revenue-of-the-san-diego-padres-since-2006/
the traffickers make about 50k/mon (tax free of course)
recruitment is happening in SD high schools (also jr. high, but unrearched) (CSEC Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children)
make friends with the new kid, buy them small things,
SD average age of entry is 15.
8-12,000 women annually being trafficked (if this was a new bird flu, we would all know!) majority is domestic, US citizens, have only seen two women from Mexico in six years. national average is 10-20% international
clients:
all soci-economic backgrounds, demand has to be the way to end this
most people think that women are there because they want to be, feel like it’s victimless, feel like they are helping the women out, currently the client gets almost nothing legally. Wives, girlfriends, churches, etc. never find out.
the sellers:
are sociopaths, they show no remorse, what are the damages, physically, socially, emotionally, spritually
equally white, black and hispanic. gangs are highly involved. more than 110 gangs in San Diego
what do girls like Sherry need?
asked current women, adapted as we go,
needs:
crisis intervention, clothing, food, housing, case management and social services advocacy, medical services (FYI medical takes 30-60 days to come through), emotional support, financial assistance, tattoo removal (branded by their “owners” takes about a year to remove a good tattoo), employeement assistance, job readiness, court accompaniment, legal (transportation, translation, they may be in trouble for robbery or drug muling, but they were coerced into that), counseling for trauma, literacy is usually around middle school (being trafficked, maybe being pushed through the system, but not getting educated).
Generate Hope property
built in 1928 as a boy’s orphanage, has 15 bedrooms, house moms, clothing closet, second den, we have between 6-8 women at the same time, women can graduate to the adjacent two bedroom apartment, third building is offices and counseling and programs.
We are doing all the things mentioned earlier, but primarily we address spirituality. We were nervous, but we eventually realized that the women who were seeing real change were the women who were “getting’ God.
888-3737 hotline if you have a suspicion
how to help:
prayer, spiritual battles on a daily basis, pray for the staff and the women and the women that God is preparing to bring in
political, bills to expunge prostitution charges, and raise the fines for traffickers, etc., and funding for programs for minors
There are a grand total of 26 beds (rescue housing) in San Diego for trafficked women. About 500 in the entire country (some of those are for domestic violence).
People can come in and teach a class. Yoga, self defense, guitar, photography, finance,
have a forum in your church. talk about it.
educate your church. You’ve probably got some kids who are vulnerable in your church, get some awareness (on the leadership level) and on the kids level, you can tie it in with homeless ministries