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Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Updated: Thursday, May 27, 2010
NYC’s faithful give hope to victims of sex slave trade Main Image
At least 27 million people are enslaved today, more than any other period in history, according to statistics.
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Christians in New York City are making a stand for freedom. Churches and faith-based organizations all over the city have dedicated themselves to helping victims of sex trafficking, a growing crime wave, in which 700,000 to 2 million people annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide, according to the U.S Government’s “Trafficking in Persons Report” of 2003. Furthermore, 18,000 to 20,000 of those victims, including men, women and children, are trafficked into the U.S., The country is drenched with people who are forced into labor or sexual exploitation, and New York City is no exception.
In a press release issued in early May 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that they arrested a Bronx, New York man on charges of sex trafficking of a 16-year-old girl. The arrest came shortly after 36-year-old Rasheed Davis sold the girl’s services to former New York Giants linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, who later admitted to paying the teenager for sex. Court papers said that Davis told Taylor the girl was 19.
It is cases like these that supply Christian New Yorkers with the compassion to reach out to slaves of the sex trade.
“People think of this as being something that’s happening in other parts of the world, and it’s happening in our own backyards,” said Faith Huckel, executive director of the Christian aftercare program Restore NYC. In a video featured on the organization’s website, Huckel said that the need to protect women who escape the brothels is one that has yet to be met in the city.
She went on to say that the program’s goal is to launch a safe house, which she says costs about $200,000 to launch and $600,000 to sustain each year.
“This will bring them one step closer to freedom,” said Huckel. “We do not see our services as being a revolving door system. It’s a holistic response to someone’s recovery.”
Restore began in 2004 when three friends decided to create a way to serve survivors of sex trafficking in New York City. They began training in Canada with Servants Anonymous World Services, a Christian organization that is “initiated at the community level and driven by community involvement,” as described in its mission statement. In February 2009, Restore became officially operational and began welcoming clients.
Restore’s project manager, whose name is confidential, said the organization has one case where a girl was smuggled into the city for $50,000.
“She was told that she could make a lot of money in the U.S. doing restaurant work,” said the project manager. “However, upon arriving in the U.S., she was charged interest on top of her smuggling fee and then forced into prostitution to pay it back.”
She said the girl was assaulted and threatened while her debt was increased due to interest and fees issued by her traffickers.
“Since our client was courageous in sharing her story, she is now able to receive assistance via counseling, case management and legal services,” she said.
One faith-based organization that contributes to the cause recently received a surprising visitor. Leslie McMillan, executive director of the Russian Community Life Center in Brooklyn, New York, said an immigrant man from Kyrgyzstan came into the center confessing to be a former sex trafficker. She said a man named Azim, who had been to the center a few times before, told her his story of “running into” a minister on the street, becoming a Christian and turning from a life of corruption and deception.
“I hadn’t seen him for about a year and a half,” said McMillan. “Azim just came in, out of the blue, and was just telling how his life had changed because he had received Jesus and now he was getting out of his bad life and now he wants to help other people get out of the same bad life.”
McMillan said prior to Azim’s visit, she had been burdened to help a couple of potential trafficking victims who were being pursued by sex traffickers. Two young female students from Russia were taking a bus from Washington D.C. to New York City on some type of travel exchange program sponsored by a Russian travel agency based in New York.
One of the girls’ friends suspected it was a trafficking scam when she told him about the program and how they offered to pay her three grand. He decided to reach out to the Internet community through a query site to spread the word and get help for his friend.
“Someone called me from Russia wanting help,” McMillan explained. “Somebody had to go meet some girls…there was a bunch of people on the Internet trying to stop them before the traffickers got them. It became like a big story on the Internet, and these people finally were able, as an Internet community, to intervene and intercept these girls before the traffickers picked them up at the bus station.”
She said although she was not able to directly help the girls, the situation opened her eyes.
“I was just on the edges of involvement of that, but it caused me to focus again on the knowledge I already have and the concern I already have for these trafficking victims,” she said.
The Russian Community Life Center is a ministry that helps Russian-speaking immigrants adjust to life in America, more so life as a Christian American. McMillan said that Azim coming to her when he did with the desire to help was not a coincidence.
“We’ll find out what God’s way is,” she said. “I don’t know what it is yet, but whatever God puts together we’re willing to do because obviously he’s doing something.”
Other Christian organizations in New York City who are committed to fighting slavery and rescuing the trafficked include Hope For New York, a nonprofit sponsored by Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Sanctuary for Families and The Salvation Army. Visit www.nyc.gov for a full list of advocacy groups within the city and for information on how to help the victims of sex slavery.
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