Yes. Here.
The slogan used by the Rochester Regional Council against human trafficking. This campaign focuses on an issue that is happening right here in our own backyard, often in plain sight. The statistics seem unfathomable, yet as one begins to be aware of the signs, it is very real. Many think human trafficking as being in other countries, women kidnapped and held against their will.
That is just one scenario, many times one person can traffic another without ever leaving their neighborhood. For the young girl in the photos, her relationship with an addict has led them both to homelessness while she sells herself to support their drug habit. Alone on the streets, her boyfriend recently arrested, she is barely surviving. Her relationship and heroin are trafficking her.
As I walked up to her she is pushing a needle in her neck and is wincing from the pain. She says her boyfriend is the one who injects her, however with him in jail, she has to do it by herself. She is 21 and has been using for 3 years, the last year resorting to prostitution. I give her my socks, water, a care back I keep on hand and stay with her for a while. Debating as to whether I should try and save her or just befriend her, I listen to her story and it is clear it needs to be told, her reality seen. Yes. Here. Right now in Rochester, NY, our young men, women and children are being trafficked.
We exchange numbers before I leave her and as modern technology works, she pops up as a friend suggestion on my social networks. Her Facebook timeline filled in the gaps in her young life and tells her Story. 3 years ago, only 18 years old, she started using heroin. There is a life event, "In a Relationship" her new boyfriend commenting on it that he is out of rehab and suggesting she call him. Photos on her wall show a 14 year old girl laughing and making silly faces with her family, who unknown to them at the time, would lose her to the streets.
Healthy. Unhealthy. Dangerous.
For young girls, the largest group targeted are between 12 and 16. Girls are at high risk of being trafficked if they have experienced two of these three things: child sexual abuse, foster care, or running away from home more than once. The sexual abuse makes it hard for them to believe sex is something they can make decisions about- instead, it's something that "just happens", and they have developed psychological tools to block it out. Being in foster care, or running away from home more than once, means these are people who are used to being treated violently, who are used to instability, and who believe nothing in this world is free. A history of child abuse also makes these girls more vulnerable to drug addiction. Their circumstances lead them to believe there is no other option. They feel desperate for anyone who offers a sense of normalcy and comfort. Once a pimp gains their trust in the guise of a relationship and their hope for something better, it is often too late. The young girls become controlled, are employed as prostitutes, and are brainwashed into believing the person hurting them the most is the only person that can save them.
One local girl's story:
"I was kicked out of a local halfway house for breaking a rule of smoking past a curfew. So I then left town with a friend as I was not ready to face my consequences of violating drug court and being kicked out. She introduced me to a man that was willing to take me in...Except his version of taking me in was having me prostitute for his profit. During this time I was exposed to gun violence and beaten many times for his enjoyment. I would be woken up during sleep to be beaten.
At this part of my addiction I felt so worthless. I did not want to die but I became accepting of the fact if I did, I felt I deserved nothing less than this after what I had done to hurt my family, friends and others. I felt that I would never overcome this disease of addiction and that I would be a heroin addict the rest of my life."
Michelle, In long term recovery