Volunteers from St. Irenaeus’ Health Ministry anti-human trafficking ministry, Bridge of Light, staffed a booth at the Cypress Festival on Saturday, October 12th, to raise awareness about all forms of human trafficking in our midst. Varied materials provided a wealth of information on how to detect possible human trafficking victims and how to help them. Red flags were listed to identify domestic servitude labor trafficking. These were taken from Shiyma Hall’s book, Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern Day Child Slave, which is about Shiyma Hall who was sold into slavery at age seven by her Egyptian parents and taken to the United States. She lived as a slave with a wealthy family in Irvine until she was rescued.
Other flyers gave tips to help parents protect their kids. One flyer gave parents questions to ask organizations teaching children, such as dance programs, about their instructor training to ensure a commitment to child safety. For example, “Does the organization restrict personal contact between children and staff or volunteers outside the activities of the organization?”
Other materials explained “sextortion.” “Sextortion is a criminal act and a form of sexual exploitation. It involves coercing a minor using, or threatening to use, images/videos previously obtained to demand additional images/videos that are sexual in nature.” Flyers gave tips on how to help someone under 18 who becomes a victim of sextortion. The important point is letting the minor know it is not their fault. Law enforcement should be notified. A case report can be made with CyberTipline at 800-843-5678 or Cybertipline.org. CyberTipline is run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Another source of help is the local FBI. Contact information is available at fbi.gov or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov.
The take-home message was that if you suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s 24-hour toll-free hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Thanks to volunteers Carol Reed and her grandson, Noah Barkol, Rick Tkach, and his daughter, Mary, Donna Kriesel, Terry Arenz, and Rosemary Lewallen this important topic was part of the Cypress Festival. If you are interested in more information about human trafficking and how you can help to stop it, contact Monica Kovach, chair of the Bridge of Light: Human Trafficking to Human Triumph Ministry at St. Irenaeus Church, at 310-490-6113.