The Triumph Over Abuse Blog
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By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder
Although attention to the issue of human trafficking has increased, in many communities, specific services to support survivors of trafficking have yet to be developed. In some areas, agencies that typically serve survivors of intimate partner violence and/or sexual assault are leading the way to ensure that survivors of trafficking also can receive the support and resources they need. There are many potential overlaps between trafficking and intimate partner violence, including the following:
According to Futures Without Violence, some of the services that survivors of trafficking need include physical and mental healthcare, legal services, assistance with immigration issues, and tangible resources, such as housing. Across the country, many agencies are collaborating with others in their community to ensure that survivors of trafficking have access to these resources. For example, in New York, Sanctuary for Families has a comprehensive Anti-Trafficking Initiative. In New York City, Safe Horizon has an Anti-Trafficking Program, which both provides services to victims and works to educate the community about this issue. In Dallas, Mosaic Family Services offers support, such as legal representation and counseling, to survivors of both trafficking and domestic violence. Other organizations, such as the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence in Corvallis, Oregon, help raise awareness about trafficking by providing information on their web-site. Other resources exist to help agencies who wish to provide competent services to survivors of trafficking. These include a manual for domestic violence service provider agencies from the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a set of recommendations from the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, and an assessment guide from the Polaris Project. There’s a lot of work to be done to continue to educate the public about trafficking and to ensure that there are adequate services for survivors in every community. We’re thankful to those who are leading the way in communities across the country to both prevent and respond to this important issue. 6/12/2014 Want to Learn More about Trafficking?Human trafficking, including sex trafficking, is recently gaining greater public recognition and media attention. If you’re looking for resources to learn more about trafficking, we’ve pulled together some of the sites we’d recommend for credible, useful information.
Here’s our list:
This list is just an introduction to the many resources available for learning about trafficking and ways to help. For even more ideas of ways you can get involved in anti-human trafficking efforts, the U.S. Department of State offers a great list of 20 ways you can get involved. Also, be sure to check if your own state or community has coalitions or organizations working to address trafficking in your area. Three listings of these organizations can be found through Humantrafficking.org, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, and Wikipedia. 
Have you ever heard of social problems--like human trafficking--and wanted to take action, but you didn't know where to begin? If so, we hope you'll be inspired by our Q & A today with Angela Moran, who is one of the founders of Change Purse. Through Change Purse, Angela and her colleagues collect donated purses, sell them, and use the profits to benefit organizations that are working to support survivors of sex trafficking. We were inspired when we heard her story, and we invited her to share some reflections with our See the Triumph community. Her story is an amazing example of how everyone can take action to help provide support to survivors of abuse!
Q: What is Change Purse? Angela Moran: Change Purse encourages hope through raising awareness and by investing into the lives of victims and survivors of sex-trafficking. We are a 501(c)(3) non profit organization that collects donated purses and resells them and uses the profits to fulfill our mission statement. We do not have any employees so 100% of the funds raised go towards the ministry of Change Purse. Q: How did you first get the idea to create Change Purse? Angela Moran: I heard about sex-trafficking in October of 2006 and knew I needed to do something about it. Being a stay at home mom, I had every excuse in the world to not do something but God was calling my heart to action. The only thing I could think that I had to offer was my love of Jesus and my love of purses so I prayed a wild and crazy prayer that went something like this "Jesus, I love you and I love purses and so if I could use my love of you and my love of purses to change the world, that would be awesome." The ideas just came flooding in after that. I called my best friend and told her I was thinking about selling my purses to fight sex-trafficking. We never expected this to take off like it did, but it has just been amazing! People want to help and Change Purse is just an easy way to do that. Q: Why purses? Angela Moran: I have always had a love of purses. I collected them for every occasion and always found myself looking for that "perfect" next purse. I realize now that it was God stirring this in me -- and when you surrender even your "weakness", He makes it perfect! Q: Why should people care about sex trafficking? Angela Moran: Because it's somebody's daughter... sister... what if it were your family member? It's so easy for us to think of Sex-Trafficking as a faceless crime, but people who are being sold for sex did not choose this. There are no young girls who want to grow up and sell themselves for sex. It's a crime against vulnerability and we have a responsibility to care for those involved. This includes the men. The saddest part for me is not that women are selling themselves for sex, but rather that people are buying sex. People are not for sale. Sex is not for sale. Sex was created by God to be an intimate union between a husband and wife. It has been distorted by our society and we have lost sight of it's original plan! Q: How is sex trafficking related to intimate partner violence/domestic violence? Angela Moran: Sex used to leverage power is the basis of sex-trafficking. The PIMPS sell the victims because they have convinced them that they are owned. The men or women (yes both do it) who purchase sex of the victims (both girls, boys, men and women - no one is excluded) do this to exert power over the victims. Victims of intimate partner / domestic violence are often forced to have sex with their abusive partner despite how they feel, or sex is used to be a "peace making" act in hopes that the victim will forget the abuse. Regardless, it's about power and control. Sex is not about power or control. Sex is a consensual loving act between a husband and wife who want to give themselves fully to the other person out of love and adoration, not fear, control or shame. Q: How can people get involved in the work that Change Purse is doing? Angela Moran: There are many ways. Set up a collection site at your church, local business or agency. Once the box is full, sort the purses for the new/like new ones and mail them to us! You can also request a Freedom Kit that will walk you through how you can host your own event. After collecting the purses, you set up a time/place for people to come shop (such as a Women's breakfast, a group of friends, or a monthly event at your social organization). Before the event, you clean out the purses, put price tags on them (which we provide!) and then sell the purses. Send us the money you raise! It's a simple, practical strategy anyone can do to help fight sex-trafficking. Q: Your full-time job is being a stay-at-home mom. What unique insights does that role offer you in your work to address sex trafficking? Angela Moran: My #1 job is to raise my boys to know 3 things. 1. They are a child of God and He has a great plan for their lives. 2. They are not for sale, from anyone. No one should offer them money, goods, or services with an expectation that they will do something for them. This is not ok. 3. Women, and their bodies, are to be held in high esteem, respected, loved and cherished. They are not for sale. I always hope that being a stay-at-home Mom doesn't make me less credible, but simply more personable. I'm in this fight with everyone else. I want my children to be safe and for everyone else in my sphere of influcence to be safe too. We encourage people to take a NIMBY stance... Not In My Back Yard. Tell everyone you come in contact with about sex-trafficking. Let them know they are valuable (because if you don't tell them, someone else will... and more than likely their motives are not pure). And tell them they are not for sale. Make sure NO ONE that you know is a victim or buyer of sex-trafficking. We outnumber the bad guys -- together we can make a difference! *********************** Note: You can learn more about the work that Angela is doing through Change Purse in this news story: http://myfox8.com/2012/01/12/inspired-living-change-purse/. 
By Allison Crowe, Co-Founder of See the Triumph
This month, See the Triumph is focusing on human trafficking. Human trafficking is defined as the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with an ultimate aim of exploitation. Sex is just one aspect of trafficking, and forced labor, slavery, and servitude are other forms of this disturbing and growing activity. One startling fact is that human trafficking brings in an estimated $32 billion a year and is tied with arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world; illegal drugs is the largest (http://nightlightinternational.com/resources/facts-about-trafficking/). Unfortunately, human trafficking occurs most frequently with women and children. Young women are often lured by perpetrators with the promise of a modeling, acting, or nanny position. Not In My Backyard: One of the common attitudes out there about human trafficking is that it is a problem only outside of the United States. Many Americans view the issue as happening in places like Thailand, Russia, Asia, or Singapore - certainly not in our own backyards. The truth is human trafficking is happening everywhere. In our own communities - big cities, small towns, east, west, north, and south. Human trafficking is very common in the United States. In an article from Psychology by Dr. Wendy Patrick, the following statistics go to show just how big of a problem it is in our own backyards:
Today I urge all of you to consider what you can do in your own communities to raise awareness and fight against human trafficking. Here are a few resources where you can find information and support.
Let’s take some time in June to focus on this issue. Unfortunately, it is happening in our own communities, so it’s up to us to educate ourselves and each other about human trafficking and ways to end it, one backyard at a time. Take our Causes pledge to send the message: "Human Trafficking? Not in MY Backyard!" at the following link: A couple months ago, we heard from a group of local high school students in Greensboro, NC, who were interested in developing an on-line resource on human trafficking, and we were honored to partner with them. This highly motivated group of young people developed the video above for See the Triumph as part of our month-long focus on ending the stigma surrounding human trafficking. Please take a look, share it with others, and be inspired by the energy and passion that this group of young people showed through their work!
Special thanks go out to the production team that created this video: Dylan Erikson, Aidan Maycock, Sunwoo Yim, Stefano Romano, Ori Soker, Zachary Patel, Nathan Miller, Thomas Lawe, Junmo Ryang, Jeyla Savage and Pratham Chhabria! Here's a brief bio of the students involved in developing the video: "We are rising juniors at the Early College at Guilford in Greensboro, NC and originally began work on this video as a part of a project for our AP Environmental Science class taught by Mrs. Katheryn Cooper. We chose to address human trafficking because we felt that it was a social justice issue we personally knew little about, and yet it affects millions of teens and young adults each year. As a group, we hoped that by raising awareness about this often overlooked form of violence, we could make a difference. Via the use of modern media, we aimed to create an electronic product that would spread awareness to an audience beyond our school and local community. Through this experience, we became aware of the complexity and magnitude of human trafficking both locally and globally. We are now are better equipped to be a part of the solution and are committed to help end the stigma surrounding victims of human trafficking--many of whom are teenagers like ourselves." 
By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder
This June, we’re turning our attention to human trafficking, and especially sex trafficking. Increasingly, professionals and the general population are recognizing trafficking as a major category of interpersonal violence. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” More specifically, human sex trafficking involves trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution and other commercial sex acts (See The Advocates for Human Rights and The Polaris Project for more information). Our focus at See the Triumph is typically on intimate partner violence in general, based on our research with survivors. However, this month we wanted to address trafficking for three main reasons. First, there are many links between intimate partner violence and trafficking. For example, trafficking victims may be lured into trafficking situations through the guise of an intimate relationship with their abusers. Also, as power and control dynamics underlie intimate partner violence, so too are trafficking perpetrators masters at maintaining control over their victims’ lives and decisions. Second, domestic violence agencies and other community resources are increasingly called upon to serve the needs of trafficking victims and survivors. They may be asked to provide such services as shelter and victim advocacy for survivors in their local communities. Third, there is a significant stigma that survivors of trafficking face, and we believe the lessons we’ve learned about the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence can shed light on the stigma surrounding trafficking. What does stigma look like, as it applies to trafficking? In our research, we conceptualize stigma as having the following major components:
At See the Triumph, we’re passionate about ending the stigma that only compounds the challenges associated with abuse victimization. Those who survive any form of abuse deserve our support and admiration. We hope you’ll join us this month in learning about how we can work together to end the stigma surrounding trafficking as part of our efforts to end the stigma surrounding abuse. As Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General for the International Organization for Migration, said, “By breaking down the stigma and by empowering trafficked women to step forward and speak of their experiences, global efforts to counter human trafficking, particularly of women and girls for sexual exploitation, will be much more successful. But this can only be done by tackling ignorance and prejudice among the public at large as to why women fall prey to traffickers.” 
By Nick Wiley (featuring Cameron Fitzpatrick) See the Triumph Guest Bloggers Amongst an ocean of infinitely more well-qualified authors, I’ve found myself the recipient of an open invitation to write about something I hope will be fresh and interesting to the readers of See the Triumph. In that vein, I’d like to begin with a quick disclaimer: I am, by no means, an expert (or even mildly knowledgeable) on the subject of sexual assault. Rather, I am a musician who has found himself in the midst of a project that has been fortunate enough to catch the eye of some local charitable organizations and I’m here to tell the beginning of our tale. I believe a little back-story is in order. My name is Nick Wiley and I’ve been a semi-professional musician for around half of my twenty-six years on earth. When I’m not playing guitar, I make a living as an IT professional and help out when I can at a small Anglican church plant in my home of Asheboro, NC. Since 2006, I’ve played in bands with my brother Stephen (drummer) and, by way of several projects along the way, we reconnected with bassist/vocalist Cameron Fitzpatrick about a year ago and formed our current band, Kindler. Early this year we began exploring the possibility of producing a music video for one of the tracks from our debut EP “Afterglow.” It was decided very quickly that “Shifting Ground” would be made into our first video because it has an immediately palatable and vivid story along with catchy melodies. Cameron, who wrote the lyrics, had this to say about it:  “’Shifting Ground’ is a song about triumph. I took inspiration from a true story and my distance from the event gave me the idea to tell the story as if the narrator was watching things take place from afar. Lyrically, I did not want to focus on the event or the trauma it caused; rather, I wanted to highlight the strength of the main character throughout her story. She finds herself dealing with a terrible course of events and falling into despair, but her eventual triumph is what matters. My hope is that the song speaks to anyone who has experienced violence or trauma, either directly or through a loved one, and that it will give them some comfort and strength in knowing that they are not alone in their struggles and that the end is always in sight.” On April 25, 2014, we released our debut music video “Shifting Ground” at a live premiere in Greensboro, NC and made it available via YouTube.com to the free world. Right before the release we showed the video to some local charities and ended up partnering with the Randolph County Family Crisis Center to dedicate the video premiere to National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. See the YouTube video below, or click here to watch “Shifting Ground.” Click here for lyrics. As artists, we often find ourselves the recipients of varied opportunities to use our platform as a voice to speak out about political and social issues. Much like Switzerland, Kindler’s default policy is to remain quiet and neutral in an effort to not isolate potential fans or make them feel uncomfortable. Sexual assault is an issue that is so innately senseless and wrong that we immediately made the choice to abandon our policy of neutrality without hesitation. I heard the other day that there is actually someone on staff with the state who crunches numbers and probabilities to determine an acceptable number of casualties when road construction is necessary. I don’t need a degree in civil engineering to be able to look at that situation and say that something is wrong and broken. When did it become socially acceptable to put tax dollar savings and driving inconvenience above human life? For me, sexual assault is the same way. I don’t have to be an expert on the subject to know that it needs to stop and that there is no point at which we should become satisfied until sexual assault has become a historical fact and not a present reality. There is no set of statistics that we should look at and be satisfied with until the numbers begin to look a whole lot more like zeros. To victims, families, professionals, and anyone affected by sexual assault and domestic violence: it is my sincere hope that this music video will serve as an inspiration to you and provide you with comfort and solace. To the perpetrators, enablers, and criminals: I hope this video conjures a never-ending and undeniable feeling of discomfort like ants beneath your skin. One day this fight will end and you are fighting on the losing side.  Nick Wiley (guitar) and Cameron Fitzpatrick (bass/lead vocals) make up two-thirds of Kindler, a progressive/experimental rock band in the style of Rush, Tool, Mastodon, and YES. The trio was founded in 2013 and is completed by Nick’s brother, Stephen Wiley (drums.) Kindler’s well-reviewed debut EP “Afterglow” was released in August, 2013 and was followed by a heavy tour schedule beginning in early 2014. In April, Kindler released its debut music video “Shifting Ground” in association with several local charities as a vessel for their promotional efforts during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Kindler will return to the studio in late June, 2014 to record their first full-length LP. For more information, visit http://www.kindlerband.com
By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder
All this month, we’ve focused on parenting toward nonviolence. We couldn’t let this month end without addressing an important topic about children and violence. Today we’re focusing on how children are impacted when they experience domestic violence in their homes, and what steps can be taken to ensure that children are safe and supported. When children witness domestic violence in their homes, they face many potential challenges that may occur throughout their lives. There are many ways that children can be impacted when they’re living in a violent home. According to the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic Violence, these include being abused themselves in addition to witnessing violence, being used as part of abuse tactics the abuser uses, and by making it more difficult for the parent victim to parent effectively. Would you know the signs to indicate that a child you know has experienced domestic violence in their home? The organization, Children of Domestic Violence, provides a useful chart that shows that the indicators can show up in many ways in children’s lives, including their behaviors, emotions, and social relationships. In many jurisdictions, children witnessing domestic violence is considered a form of neglect and is required to be reported to Child Protective Services. The US Department of Health and Human Services, through its Child Welfare Information Gateway, provides a useful resource for understanding the laws in your area. It’s important for professionals and community members to know and understand their legal obligations, as well as resources for helping to support the children in their lives who’ve been impacted by domestic violence. My colleagues and I in the Family Violence Research Group at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro recently developed a safety planning resource, Safety Strategies, for professionals to use when working with clients impacted by domestic violence. We based this resource on a series of 9 focus groups that we conducted with professionals in domestic violence agencies to learn about safety risks and safety planning related to domestic violence. We heard some great information from the professionals in our focus groups that help us understand how to think about children’s safety in the context of domestic violence. First, the professionals reminded us that it’s important for parents (and other adults) ultimately to be responsible for children’s safety. Young children especially should not be expected to keep themselves safe. However, it’s possible to do some basic safety planning with children to help them learn ways to become safer if violence occurs. This safety planning must be done in a developmentally-appropriate manner, using words and behaviors that match the child’s capabilities and understanding of the situation. Some of the strategies that adults can review with children include how to call 9-1-1 and developing a code word or sign to let neighbors or others know that they need help. It’s also important to help children connect with adults and friends with whom they can talk and share their feelings. This may be a non-offending parent, an extended family member, a teacher, neighbor, coach, or other trusted adult. Children also may benefit from counseling, especially play therapy, to help them process their emotional responses to the domestic violence. Children who have experienced violent homes need a lot of support and resources, including positive, trusting relationships with supportive adults, opportunities to be involved in activities where they can discover their strengths, connections with peers and community organizations, and relationships in which they can tell their stories and feelings. We can all help to promote safe, healthy families and communities for children. If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to connect with our partner, the Stop Abuse Campaign, in their campaign to give children the right to a safe home to grow up in. |
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