SWO "Human Trafficking" Committee Update

~ Wilma Dublin, Committee Chair

On June 18, 2015, we had our first event hosted by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Alexandria, VA. About twenty seniors, mainly women from the community, attended along with two officers from the Alexandria PD. The Alexandria police officer who works with Human Trafficking (HT) surprised us by claiming that Alexandria does not have a teen HT problem, just adult prostitution. However, the audience was engaged as the officer showed news clips and survivor testimony videos that addressed the problem in general within the USA.

Fellow committe member Barbara O’Keefe and I addressed the “What can we do?” question. We were able to distribute fliers to the attendees and to stress the importance of raising awareness and of talking to their grandchildren, and, that by just attending the event, they had already started their education about HT.

One outcome:  A recently retired health care professional and member of Good Shepherd asked for information/referral to become a volunteer to actually work with victims.

We are very grateful to Pastor Jen and Good Shepherd for hosting the event.
 

 

Recap of "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR" Plenary Session on HT

Metro DC Synodical Women's Organization's Annual Convention held at The Village at Rockville on Saturday, April 11, 2015, was a huge success! The morning Plenary Session was a discussion on Human Trafficking, which helped to raise our consciousness on what is really going on in our world... and possibly in our own neighborhoods. While the topic is a tough one to learn about, the
presenters did an excellent job of educating us about this incidious problem. The Rev. Dr. Charles H. Oberkehr, pastor of Epiphany
Lutheran Church of Mount Vernon in Alexandria, introduced the three speakers.

 

Our first speaker was Gail Hambleton, Vice President of the Global Peace Foundation-USA, Director of Interfaith Partnerships, and National Director of the Safe Haven Campaign, Interfaith Alliance to Abolish Human Trafficking. Ms. Hambleton has been a driving force in humanitarian aid for women, both internationally and here in the USA. She spoke about the efforts to introduce the Safe Haven Campaign—which is now active in eight states—to the churches in our area, which involves teaching congregants how to
recognize when a woman—especially a young woman—is in jeopardy and introducing effective ways to help without putting yourself in harms way, even if that help is just to call 9-1-1.

 

We next heard from G. Zachary Terwilliger, who is currently an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia-Alexandria Division and the Co-Chair of the Northern Virginia Task Force on Human Trafficking. Mr. Terwilliger spoke to us on his experiences with federal grand jury investigations and jury trials involving organized crime and gang prosecutions with respect to the human trafficking problem—I don’t think any of us in the audience had imagined the extent of the problem or how long such things have been going on both internationally or even in our own neighborhoods.

Even more eye-opening was the testimony of Barbara Amaya, who is much more than a survivor of domestic sex trafficking—she is an internationally recognized award winning advocate, speaker, author, and survivor leader in the movement to eradicate modern-day slavery. Her testimony and telling of what she endured was riveting, brutally honest, and poignant. For those of us in the audience, it was also difficult to learn about what she suffered and the truth of what is going on in our world— even in our own neighborhoods—but it was a message we all needed to hear and to learn what we can do to help.