A Closer Look

Sandra (fake name, same girl from the other posts) was the first girl that I met who was involved in prostitution. Lucy first told me that she started working the streets because her mother encouraged it, she wanted her daughter to work because she couldn't afford to send her to school. When I first heard this I had such a hard time understanding how someone could do this to their daughter, of course I still have a hard time imagining the amount of desperation that someone must be in order to do such a thing. Even though I know I will never comprehend fully, the economic burden, the cultural acceptance, the natural instincts of doing anything to survive, I understand a little more now.

The other morning Lucy called me and told me that three girls were arrested last night for "smoking" and they had to spend one night in jail. She wanted to go and bail the girls and talk to them about how the police treated them. When I arrived there with Ruben and my friend Camielle, two of the girls were already gone, they were bailed earlier that day by an aunt, and the last girl Sandra was just getting ready to leave with her mother when we arrived.

When Sandra and her mother were outside of the prison it was time to decide where they were going to go next. Now logically for us we would assume the mother and daughter would go home, but for this child, she really has three or more homes. She could return to San Bartolo with Lucy where she could study, she could go back to the streets and live with her pimp or rent a room with a friend, or she could go and live with her mother.

Of course I would prefer San Bartolo, but in their eyes this option was out of the question. Sandra never felt like she fit in there, and her mother kept saying she has "problems" in San Bartolo. The real fight was if Sandra was going to go back to the streets or go with her mother. Unintentionally, I was in the middle of fight between a mother and daughter. Sandra wasn't saying much, but her mother kept telling me that she wants to be able to take her daughter home with her but she just doesn't have the money. She works so hard selling candies in the streets but she doesn't have enough money to support her daughter. She can't saying to me, miss please help, please help me and my daughter I don't know what to do anymore.

Hearing those things was so hard, I didn't know how to react. Giving them money would just be a quick fix, it would only help them for a little while, but they really need to know how to help themselves long term. This girl needed to understand that it was important to stay in school, that would be the only way that she would be able to get herself out of this situation. Prostituting is making money now but she can't do it forever. She needs help with an alternative that she can sustain herself and her family. Something that she can take pride in. When I ask girls to tell me a little bit about their work, they say I'm embarrassed a lot of times. Why should a 14 year old girl have to go through such a thing?

This day, I got a little bit deeper into the problem, and the deeper that I get the more complicated and tragic it becomes.

Juvenile Hall in Salamanca

Yesterday, I went to visit a juvenile hall for kids from the streets of Lima in Salamanca. This jail had about 32 girls from ages 14 to 17 and two very young kids, a 3 year old and a 5 year old that were there with their mothers.

It doesn't look like a typical prison. There was a volleyball court, television, and tons of giggling and gossiping girls. But surrounding the institution were gates, reminding the girls that they couldn't leave. I asked a lot of them, why they were there. Most of them just told me, that they were in trouble. Others said that it was because they stole something or that they were caught smoking. Ruben told me that a lot of the girls, were prostituting and that's why they were in jail, but I don't know this for sure. According to law, any sexual act against a minor would be the fault of the person that committed the act, it would be considered rape. However in Peru, and even in our country, girls that are forced into this profession are the ones that are prosecuted.

But I didn't want to talk to these girls about that today. I just wanted to talk with them and have fun with them for a while. When Ruben, my friend Camilla and I arrived we had a bag of fresh bread and fruit juice for the girls. Lucky for us we arrived during their lunch. As we walked into the cafeteria all of the girls stood up and said in unison "Good Afternoon Senor, Good Afternoon Senoritas. Thank you for your visit" (In Spanish of course). It was so cute. The girls were so happy that we came to visit. One of the girls said to Ruben that no one has come to visit them for 3 months. I couldn't believe that not even some of the girls parents came to visit.

I asked the girls if they've liked living there. They said that they really didn't, they missed their houses or the streets of Lima. I also asked if they had any school there, and they said no they didn't have any school but they would like to have it. When I asked them what they did all day, they pretty much just spent time with their friends.

I have mixed emotions about places like this. It is good that the girls are off the streets for a while and they have food and a they are in a safe place. What I am not happy with is how these young girls are pretty much rotting there. Those girls would not be there if it wasn't for their families situation. Because they are from poor families they got involved in drugs or stealing or prostitution and the jail that they are in is just making it worse. They aren't given options to do anything different with their lives. No one is showing them how to change.

Centro Yanapankusun

When I went to Centro Yanapankusun in Cuzco, I met with Angelica who is responsible for the center and sees the trafficking cases that come through. The center works with people that are from rural and agricultural areas that are brought into the city in order to work in the domestic setting. Girls are brought into the city at 7 or 8, and they don’t speak Spanish they speak Quechan. The families can’t understand them, so often they are discriminated against. If the child experience a violation against their rights, and the police officers somehow become involved, the child will be referred Yapakanukusun. The center is more than a home for these girls, it’s also a hostel. The girls work at the hostel and they don’t get paid but they are provided an education. Also, those that need it can receive physical and mental assistance.
After Angelica told me a little bit about the center, she went to on to explain some of the typical trends of trafficking the center has seen and also specific cases of trafficking. She has seen many cases of middle men or even teenagers recruiting girls from rural cities to get involved in prostitution by convincing girls that they can have a good job in the city. Two common locations are Juliaca and Puerto Maldonado. Other times, girls from rural areas find their way to the city on their own looking for work and one of the first jobs that girls get when they come from rural is selling phone calls from a cell phone on the street corner. These children are very vulnerable to traffickers because they are easy to find, they are out late, and they usually do not have adults with them. The police don’t really care about this, they feel like there are more important things to do. Angelica lamented to me that the center is one of the only places trying to change and do something about this, and it’s really hard without other organizations support.

One of the cases the center has seen was of two girls that speak Quechua from a community called Ocongante which is in Urcos. The girls were deceived to belive, they were told that they were going to go to the city to get an education and go to a place where they could earn more than 300 soles a week. The person that told them these lies set up a certain time and day where they could meet. When they met there was only a van and a women grabbed them and put them in inside along with 4 other girls that heard the same lies. They went with the van it Juliaca, that’s when they realized that it was all a lie. There the girls cut their hair, they used to have very long traditional braided hair. After that, they were taken to a market to buy new clothes and heels. The girls figured it what was going on and ran away to a police station; the police officers took the girls to the center. In the center they contacted the girl’s families and the families came to the center to pick the girls up. When the police tried to find the lady that contacted that told the girls the lie in the first place, they realized that she gave the girls a fake name, so the police were not able to trace her.

Another case the center has seen was of 8 year old girl, who arrived at the center covered in cuts and bruises. This girl was taken out of her community by her aunt. Her aunt told her family that she was going to bring her to the city to get her an education and a job because the family didn’t have enough money. At the aunts home she forced her to work, abused her, and did not send her to school. One of the girl’s worst experiences was when she was burned in the eye with a hot spoon by her aunt. Angelica did not explain to me how she was brought to the center. But she did say that when she first arrived at the center, she was very shy, she felt like she couldn’t talk to the other girls, and she was very scared of her surroundings. For 6 months the girl received intense psychological services. The girls arrived at the center 2 years ago, and now she is doing much better. All of her cuts and bruise are gone, her eye is healed, and she is a normal, happy, 10 year old girl. Yanapankusun tried their best to follow up on the case and persecute the aunt, but the state can’t do anything about these cases because the child was removed from the home by a family member. When they try to arrest the aunt, she just says that she was trying to help the family because they couldn’t afford to feed her. Angelica said that ehe police don’t really want to get involved in that situation.

This next case is different from the others because of how young the child was when she was first trafficked. Her mother died when she was 4 years old and since that time she has had very little stability in her life, she was moved around so many different places against her will. First the girl was living with her father, but he was an alcoholic and it wasn’t a good environment for her. The girl was moved to live with her sister who had a family of her own. At this home the girl was abused. The brother of the girls realized that the girl was being abused in the house so he took her out of the house and brought her to the city, Cuzco, and left her there on her own. The police found this girl and took her to the police station, and one of the people that work there took her to her house. She was staying with that person, and working in the home. The girl told the center that she really liked that house because everyone treated her well. However, the person that took her in could no longer take care of her as she was growing up, so they took the girl to another home, that is similar to an orphanage for older kids, she was there for 4 years. The home decided that 4 years was a long time for her to be there so she was moved to a temporary family home where she was raped after a week of staying there by the owner’s brother. She reported this to the police and that’s when the police officers took her to the center. Instead of going back to the original home where she was for 4 years, the center was looking for another location because she said that she didn’t want back and explain to everyone how she was raped. She wanted to go someone where no one knew her. At the center she is trying to make the girl realize that it is not her fault, and they are trying to make her feel better. The girl is afraid because she thinks that by reporting the guy he is going to want revenge. At the center they are trying to reassure her that they are going to protect her and that by reporting the guy she is preventing other girls from experiencing the same thing. Even so she has been frustrated that it’s been 4 months and no one has done anything.

After Angelica’s stories I asked her how she thought that trafficking cases could be prevented. They want to focus more on prevention but the state doesn’t pay attention to them so they don’t receive a lot of help. Right now they are working with the girls that have already been abused. Yanapankusun works mainly with domestic workers. They go into homes that they know girls are working and make contract with the girls bosses so that they ensure that their rights are respected.
The girls with these contracts are insured a minimum wage, a day off, and they are treated well. The center wants to make these contracts available to all domestic workers. The ones that don’t have these could potentially be in trafficking situations.

Another prevention method of the center is a program called, “Comunidades Campecinas.” They work in different communities where the girls come from to talk to the fathers and tell them not to send their daughters to the city when they are too young, otherwise they will be abused because they are so little. In addition, they have a radio program that plays every week where they talk about the rights of the domestic worker, the problem, who to call if they need help, some advice, how to look for relatives when in the situation.

They also try to improve the educate and the health centers of the rural areas. If the girls go to the city, sometimes they aren’t ready for the correct grade for their age. Instead they have to go to night school, which usually isn’t very good and they are discriminated against because they don’t have enough money or because of where they are from. The center is trying to improve the education that they provide there, taking into account that the girls may not have had much schooling before. The classes try to focus more on their future and teach skills.

Before I left Yanapankusun, I got a chance to talk to Tania, who used to work in Cuzco hospital and she has seen trafficking cases there as well. She knew of a case of 2 minors that were trafficked from Cuzco to the jungle town of Puerto Maldonado. One was 15 and the other was 16. The girls were told in Cuzco that they were going to go to the jungle to be a “cook” in but they were forced to work in a bar from 4 am until whenever the clients leave. The girls worked there for 2 years, providing sexual services to clients. Eventually one of the girls ran away back to Cuzco because she was pregnant and she didn’t want to give birth to her baby in the bar.

While in Cuzco . . .

I gave my microphone to my friend Ruben who knows a lot of the girls on the street very well and he went and asked them some questions. The interviews were shocking. Again the name "Jorge" is not real, and the names of all the girls interviewed were omitted.

• What’s a night on the streets like?
o They don’t pay us much, the clients pay the pimp. It’s about 20 soles per client or “trick.” The pimp gets 5 soles and the girls get 15 soles. I have one kid and the father of the kid doesn’t help at all with money so she needs to work.
• What do you think about your friends, can they change?
o All of us want to change, they don’t want to be prostitutes, but they reality is we need the money so we have to do it.
• What do you think about La Casa de Veronica?
o I think that it’s going to be really good and helpful for the girls. She hopes that her friends can get help there.
• Do you want to live there?
o She doesn’t know because she’s not sure if they would accept her and her child.
• Question about Jorge
o The girls sleep with him sometimes. She has slept with him before but she doesn’t like it because he just sleeps with whoever is there and she doesn’t like that. Jorge charges the girls 5 soles a night for a room.
• Has he ever touched you?
o No, he only does that with the other “kids.”
• Have you ever seen any of your friends being touched by these guys?
o Yes, all the time.
• Do the guys watch you change your clothes?
o Jorge gets mad when they go to other rooms to change. Karen usually goes to the bathroom but the other girls are used to it and they change in front of them. Karen doesn’t live at the hostel anymore because she doesn’t like the environment. Now she’s renting a room somewhere else.
• Do you think these girls shouldn’t be here anymore?
o The little girls shouldn’t be here, they should be somewhere where they won’t be sexually abused. Her friends are 13, 14 and 16.
• Do you want to give any advice to your friends?
o They should take the opportunity to change when it’s given to them. If they have kids they need to think about their kids future. They can’t spend their whole life in this. She doesn’t like it but she doesn’t know what to do.


• Tell me a little bit about your life here in Grau
o I don’t really like it, I want to change.
• You work here, right?
o Yes.
• How much do you charge?
o 30 soles
• Do you work for someone?
o Yes
• Who do you have to pay?
o Mrs. Rosa
• How much?
o 10 soles, sometimes when she comes. When she doesn’t come she doesn’t pay her. When I don’t pay Mrs. Rosa, I gets hit or yelled at.
• How is your life here with the girls?
o It’s ugly because people touch us. They get touched a lot by people just passing by in the hostel and sometimes they don’t get paid for it.


• Why do work here?
o We need money to eat and to survive. We live in a cuarto with a man, he’s very nice, his name is Jorge.
• Has he ever abused any of the girls or you?
o Yes. One time he abused me, but I didn’t say anything. The girls have to pay for the room, 10 soles a night. Sometimes he tells the girls, if you do something for me he will charge 3 soles for the room.
• What is “something?” like having sex with him.
o Yes. One time he kicked me out of the house and I had to take all of her stuff with him.
• What do you think about Jorge?
o Jorge also gives me drugs. He can be really mean because he physically abuses the girls by kicking them.
• Do you want to leave this work?
o Yes. Lucy is helping me. I am studying now. Thanks to Lucy I want to do something else with my life.
• What do you think about La Casa de Veronica?
o That place really changes us.
• So you don’t want to do this anymore?
o No I don’t want to. I want to study and I want to do something else with my life. Thanks to Lucy I’m studying again.
• What advice would you give to your friends?
o To study. Move on. Stop doing this. Studying is way more important than being here in the streets.


• What do you do every night here?
o I work.
• How much do they pay you for a trick?
o 50 to 100 soles.
• Do you do this to help your family?
o I mainly do this for me.
• Where do you stay?
o I was staying with Jorge but there was a problem. He tried to abuse her and her friend.
• How many girls sleep in the same room?
o A lot, 4 or 5 in a room.
• Is he good to you?
o I guess he’s bad. One time he pushed me down the stairs. He curses a lot when he speaks to me.
• Does he ever tell you to have sex with him instead of paying for the room?
o No never.
• Have you ever seen him abuse some of the girls?
o Yes when he’s drunk.
• Can you tell me about the police officers around here?
o One time the police office Tito and he “broke her head.” Tito doesn’t care if the girls are pregnant, he will hit them anyway.
• Does someone ever try to rape you?
o Yes.
• Do you want to change and get off the streets? Find something better?
o Yes.
• What do you think about La Casa de Veronica?
o I would want to live there.
• What do you want now?
o I want to get out of here. I don’t want to do this anymore.
• What advice would you give to your friends.
o To change.
• Okay, so you have to change too.
o Yes I do.


• Where do you live?
o Pueblo Libre
• How many years have you been on the streets?
o 6 years.
• What do you do on the streets?
o I am a robber.
• Have you ever prostituted?
o No.
• How much do you pay for that room?
o 3 soles
• Do you want to change and leave this world?
o Yes, definitely.
• What opportunities would you like to have?
o I want to study and go to law school.
• What do the police officers do to you?
o People are really mean here, even though I’ve been here for 6 years the police offices hit me with sticks. Once one of the police offices broke my finger.
• Have you ever received a really bad hit from a police officer? Where?
o Yes. In my face and in my finger.
• What would you like to do to stop the police officers from abusing the girls?
o I just wants the police officers to stop.
• What advice would you give your friends?
o They shouldn’t allow people to hit them. The police officers have no right to hit us because we have rights to. They have the right of speech. Just because they are authorities doesn’t mean that they can hit us.


• Tell me what happened today
o One lady came to me and tried to take me to this whore house.
• Where is this house?
o Vila El Salavador
• Have you ever been there?
o One time because a friend took me there.
• What does it look like?
o It just looks like a regular house.
• How many girls are there?
o I don’t know, I was the only girl there. A lot of men used to go there a lot. This lady wanted to girls to charge 20 or 30 soles for each trick.
• Have you ever worked there?
o I worked with her one time, but I wanted to get out of there. I didn’t want to go out with the lady’s husband.
• What did the lady do?
o She was telling me to go with him (her husband). Today the lady came to the street where she works. She wanted to take her to the house but she didn’t want to go there.
• What did she tell you?
o She wanted me to go with her. She told me that if I didn’t go with her I’m going to hit you but if you come I’m going to give you a soda. The lady threatened her with a knife. She was going to kill me she was going to hit me. This is the first time that I’ve seen him come to this street looking for girls but she’s been to other streets before.
• Do you want to report her?
o Yes.
• Yes we need to tell the police about this person, we shouldn’t allow people like this to come to the streets and take the girls and abuse them.
o Yes.
• Are you scared right now?
o Yes.
• Okay, I’m going to stay here so I can take care of you.
o Thanks.
• Anything that happens here, just let me know so we can tell the police and do something about it. You don’t have to be afraid, if you show them you afraid it’s worse.

Intervistas con las chicas

The last few days that I had in Lima before I went to Cuzco were spent going to Iquitos Ave, the main drag of prostituion in Lima and talking to the girls. I had to go while I could because my friends from the church group in Georgia were leaving on Sunday, and they were great translators. The interviews were pretty successful. Very similar answers across the board. The girls that were currently prostituting were not going to school, although they would like to be. When I asked the girls to tell me about their work in the streets many of them said things like "I´m embaressed" or "I don´t want to." One question that had really different answers was: "How much money do you make a night?" I got answers from some nights nothing to 400 soles. I don´t know how common it is to make 400 soles a night or if that´s true. Finally, one of the last questions was "Would you prefer other work?" and all of the girls except one said of course, but there is no other job where they could make as much money.

Okay, so I know that the entry before this one was VERY confusing, but that´s because 1) I honeslty didn´t know at the time what all happend and 2) I prefer not to use names. However, I am going to post an interview with the girl (I´m going to call her Marie) who was dragged from Genericion with one of the girls (I´m going to call her Sandra) who wanted to go back to the streets. Hopefully it will make a little more sense:

Sandra brought Marie to Contumasa, the hostel where 6 girls that are being trafficked live(6 to my knowledge). When they got there, two of the girls yelled at Sandra for bringing her along. Marie met Jorge (not real not), the man who runs the hostel. There she went into the bedroom of Jorge which had many things like a tv and dvd player. There was a big bed and there were also bunk beds. When Sandra is there she sleeps in the room in bed with Jorge. Sometimes Jorge sleeps with two girls. Marie saw Sandra get into bed with him. That night, Jorge bought food for all the girls. Sandra left Isabell and Jorge alone in a room. Then, Jorge asked Marie, “What are you doing here? You should go back to San Bartolo (Genericion), otherwise you would become a prostitute and find a “husband” (pimp).” Marie said that yes she did want to go back. He told her that if she wants to stay she can because he won’t do anything bad to her. After Marie said she wanted to back he reassured her that she can always come back. Marie said she’d prefer to sell candies. Jorge replied that that’s how they all start, but once you start making money and points (clients) she will be back. If she chose to stay in the streets she could come back. After that another girl Candice (not real name), age 14, came back and said she was going to buy a case of beer and they could drink all night long.

Lucy asked Marie if she thought that places like this should exist. She said that it’s supposed to be a hotel for adults but it’s filled with kids. She did see one older couple there that smelled like drugs. Marie also saw a man pay Jorge 120 soles, when it only cost 3 soles to sleep there for the night. She said she thinks these places shouldn’t exist and that he’s doing something wrong. He would tell Marie that she could make 400 soles a night. She thinks that he says those things just to make her stay.

Sandra told Jorge not to let Marie leave because if someone found here than she would be in trouble with Lucy. The other girls found Marie in the hostel and told her to leave with us “the gringas” (slang in spanish for white people). Marie left that night because we were there and she could go with us.

So from this interview, we found out a lot more information about the hostel. Right now I am working on building more evidence about this so that the information can be turned over to authorites when I leave. Another interview that gave us a lot more information was with Candice (not real name):

Candice lives with Jorge in the hostel. When asked what kind of guy is he she says that he’s hit one of the girls before, he yells at the girls, and he has the girls change in front of him. One time he asked one of the girls for 200 soles and never gave it back. Candice said that she isn’t treated badly by Manuel. Sometimes he gets jealous of her because she is with someone else, (she says it´s not her boyfriend but he kind of is). He even told her that he gets jealous and she can tell that he gets grouchy. He asked her to sleep with him and offered to pay but every time she’s said no.

Right now, I am taking a little break from the craziness of the streets of Lima. I´m in Cuzco for a little bit relaxing, and seeing Machu Picchu. While I´m here, I am paying a friend of mine to do some really infromal interviews with these girls while I am gone. When I get back I´m going to pick up right where I left off.

Second Chances, Third Chances, Fourth Chances

This afternoon, there was a party in a park in downtown Lima for any homeless child that wanted to come and have some fun. We played volleyball, listened to kids played music, and served tons of food. Also, there were many donations of really nice shoes that were being given out to the kids. I loved this party. I felt like the kids were given a chance to be a normal kid for a little while. They didn't have to worry about their lives on the streets, how they were going to feed themselves, where their families were. They had a few hours a bliss, and it was amazing to be there and witness it all.

All together, there were 150 kids that were fed and given donations that day. Incredible. Even though 150 is a lot, Kique estimates that there are about 300,000 to 500,000 homeless children in Peru. The next thing he said was, "but that's not that bad, that's solveable." Which I think is very true. It will take a lot of dedication, a whole lot of heart, and of course money. With project things get better. With every kid that taken off the streets and educated, it gets better. We just need to keep doing what we've been doing, and it need it on a bigger scale.

After the kids vacation for the day, they went right back to the streets, and I went too. Ruben, Ellie, Lizbeth, and I went to the streets that night to start doing some interviews with the girls. As always, I bought bread, juice, ham, and some bananas to give out to the girls before the interview, and candy and cookies for after. I interviewed 8 girls. Many of the girls had very similar stories. They started working around age 12, they work because they can make more money in that job than any other, they use the money to help support their families, and most of them did go to school and they would love to return. After the interview we were tell them about La Casa de Veronica, the home for girls who do not want to be doing this work anymore. Four of the girls were very excited and they ended up leaving the next day to live in the house. That simply amazes me, I'm still in awe. We took about 10 minutes to talk to these girls and it really was the beginning to a change in their lives. Right now, as I am writing this, they are safe miles away from any clients, they are given a second chance.

Besides the rewarding aspects of the night, we also ran into many problems. Right now, at Genericion, there are no adults watching the kids. The guy that is usually there need a vacation because he's a little stressed (I don't blame him!) But because of that, the kids come and go and hope not to run into Lucy or one of us. When we were downtown doing interviews we saw two of the girls from Genericion have snuck away. One of them was there because she wanted to work for the night and make some money to give back to her mom, and the other girl was pretty much dragged along with her. Either way, it was a battle to get the girls to come back with us. Some of the other girls that were working the streets were making fun of the girls, saying that they weren't free if they go with us, they are prisoners at Genericion. Even when we finally convinced our girls to come with us, we had a back of girls following us trying to get them to come back. One of the girls that was on the streets at the time decided that she wanted to stay with the girl that snuck away, so now we had three girls to watch and get to safety.

The rest of the night was not as easy as I had hoped. One of the girls that snuck away did not want to come back. She kept telling us that she needed to stay for the night because she needed to see someone. She wasn't going to tell us who, but she needed to see someone. She also said that she would go back to Genericion on her own the next day. She was very back and forth, wanting to come and not wanting to come.

Eventually, we called Lucy and the girl got into her car. Now, when Lucy Boraj goes places, it is always a show. There were children piled into her car, there were a least 10 inside, and another 10 surrounding it. All of them saying Lucy, Lucy we need chicken, we need shoes, or whatever they needed. It was insane, and when Lucy wasn't paying attention, the girl snuck out of the car. At this point our group was gone with the other two girls. We went back to the new girls room so she could get her things and go to La Casa de Veronica. At this point I took a taxi back because they were pretty much getting ready to go back themselves. I didn't realize that there would be more excitement after I left. Just as the rest of the group was getting ready to get in a taxi themselves, they saw the girl that everyone that was with Lucy, huffing glue on the corner. They grabbed her right away and put her in the taxi.

The girl that wanted to sneak away from Genericion is very new to the home, my second day in Peru was her first day there. Lucy says that this is really normal because these kids have been living the lifestyle of the streets for such a long time that takes time for them to adjust. Most kids leave the house 3 or 4 times before they decide that they want to stay. This little excursion was her first trip away from the home since she's arrived.

Before we met up with the two girls from Genericion, they were in a hotel where the "services" are provided. The man who runs the place asked the girl who was dragged along if she wanted to work. She said she didn't need to because she lives at Genericion and there she has food and clothes and she studies. And the man said to her, you wouldn't be here if you didn't want something. You can make much more money working here, and here you are free, you can do whatever you want. I don't understand how that man could say that to a 14 year old girl. Here you are free. Here you are free to sell your body for sex. It disgusting. I'm so proud of that girl for standing up to that man. The other girl will get there eventually too, but it will just take a little bit of time.

La Casa de Veronica

Thursday morning Ruben and I went to find the 21 girls that said they were interested in checking out La Casa de Veronica (the home that Lucy is building to house girls that do not want to work as prostitutes any more) so we could all take a bus together. The first “house” that we went to had quite a few girls there. The girls live in a very old house in not the best part of Lima. The place is dirty, falling apart, and smells terrible. There were about seven girls there that we were trying to convince to come with us. Only one of them seemed very excited to go. After a lot of talking, we told them we would come back after we looked for the other girls.

We went to three other places to look for girls. Two houses didn’t answer at all, and at one of them a man answered and wouldn’t let us in. He told us that the girls changed their mind and they didn’t want to come. There’s really no way to know for sure, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it. So we went back to the first house. After more convincing, and a visit from Lucy, we had 8 girls come with us.
When we arrived at La Casa de Veronica, the church group from Georgia was there and they set up a mini spa area for the girls with manicures, facials, makeup, and foot massages. The girls had a lot of fun, and it was very relaxing. After first class spa treatment, we ate lunch or dinner, I never know what meal I’m eating in Peru. Then later in the night we had a conversation about sexual transmitted diseases and the importance of protecting yourself. A lot of the time these girls don’t use protection because it is very expensive and because clients at times refuse to let the girls use condoms. We talked about how it is important to realize how our actions today will affect us in the future. It is clear that all of the girls realized that it is important to protect oneself, however it’s easier said than done.

At La Casa de Veronica, I spent a lot of time talking to a social worker. Her job is to talk to the girls and record their histories. Basically she’s an expert at a skill I am trying to get into for this project. She helped me with my questions and showed me the ones that she uses for interviews. She also told me that I could have access to results of interviews with trafficking victims that she’s already done, (yes, perfect!) The next day, I sat in during an interview with the social worker and one of the girls. I learned a lot about how to interview and how to conduct mine differently the next time that I go to the streets.

Overall, the two day workshop at La Casa de Veronica was a success. Even though there weren’t as many girls as hoped, there will be more in the future. For sure there are two girls, probably three that want to stay at the house. They’ve said that they don’t want to work on the streets anymore and they are ready to put that life behind. There are other girls that are back and forth on whether they want to go or not. I think it’s because they feel like by living at the house they are giving up their freedom and they would be away from the city life. I think what they don’t realize is that they wouldn’t be giving up freedom at all, they would be gaining it. By living at the house, they will be able to get an education and will be able to eventually support themselves. It’s going to take awhile for this concept to sink in for the girls, it’s a life they haven’t considered before. First, La Casa de Veronica needs to prove that it can be successful by helping the few girls that are there. Once the others see what their lives can be, I think they will want to live there too.

Smart Activism

After my meeting with La Casa de Panchita, Kique and I returned to CHS to talk to Luis. Last week, Luis told me that it would be very possible to get access to the 210 cases that CHS has. We were meeting with Luis and his boss to fully explain what Not For Sale is doing and what would be done with the information. After we explained Not For Sale's methods, CHS was willing to provide us with the cases (after a few legal hoops to jump through of course) but over all the meeting was a success.

After this meeting I realized that this project needs to create a hand out that informs all of the organizations about what we are doing, a website, an email, and business cards. I feel like I am doing a lot of the grunt work right now, I am here laying a lot of the ground work and finding out what works and what doesn’t. Even though I feel like I’m not making too much progress, I know the volunteers that come after me, or when I return again, this project will go much smoother.

Below is the information that I have put together for the handout, it outlines the project to the organizations that we are working with.

Not For Sale
Not For Sale is one of the largest anti-human trafficking NGOs in the U.S. The mission of Not For Sale is to end slavery in our lifetime. The way we do this is by equipping and mobilizing Smart Activists, Not For Sale volunteers, to deploy innovative solutions to re-abolish slavery in their own backyards and across the globe. Together, we can end slavery in our lifetime.

What Not For Sale is Doing
Not For Sale is creating an independent report on the state of all types of human trafficking in Peru. We are interested in reporting solely on the social issue through the facts and the numbers in order to influence the Peruvian government to take notice of the problem, and to encourage an accurate rating of Peru in the TIP report.

The TIP Report
The TIP report (Trafficking in Persons Report) is an annual report released by U.S. Department of State that reports on the current situation of human trafficking in almost every country in the world. Each country is given a rating Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, Tier 3) based on the countries status in the areas of prosecution, protection and prevention. A Tier 1 rating is the best. At this time, Peru is rated as a Tier 2. At Not For Sale, we want to use our report to influence the TIP report by highlight stories of the victims and the organizations on the ground working for change. An accurate rating in the TIP report is important because the report is a diplomatic tool for the U.S. Government to use to encourage continued dialogue and to help focus resources on prosecution, protection, and prevention programs and policies.

Human Trafficking Definition
A modern salve can come in many different forms. Below is the TIP report definition of a human trafficking victim:
The TVPA defines “severe forms of trafficking” as:
a. sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
b. the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
A victim need not be physically transported from one location to another in order for the crime to fall within these definitions.

What We Need From You
For the investigation, Not For Sale needs the history of past cases of human trafficking or information about cases of human trafficking that are progress. Depending on the type of data, the information will be posted on a public website or a private website. When the independent report is being written, Not For Sale will refer to the data that has been collected from these sources.

Our Methods
Slavery Map- The cases that have already occurred will be posted on a public website www.slaverymap.org. These posts would include the chronology of the crime, information about the trafficker, if law enforcement was involved, and how the victim was emancipated. If there is any information that is unknown about any of these areas, cases can still be posted. These posts would not include specifics such as names or exact locations if the provider of the information feels that it would put the victim at a greater risk.
Internal Mapping System- Theses cases are those that currently in progress. For the safety of the individual in bondage and the organization providing the information, these cases are posted on a private website that can only be viewed by the trained volunteers of Not For Sale. Any information that can be obtained about these cases will be used because the site is private. The purpose of this site is to record the numbers of victims and to collect enough data about the individuals in bondage so that a solid case can be built and brought to authorities in order to begin an intervention.

How this helps Peru
In this investigation, Not For Sale partners with Peruvian organizations to raise global awareness about human trafficking. The current state of the social issue will be described by highlighting the concrete data, and the organizations that are working with the survivors. The greater goal of our efforts is the abolition of modern day slavery.

This project is more than sex trafficking

This past Wednesday I met with La Casa de Panchita which is an organization that works with women and girls that are domestic workers to provide them education and provide legal assistance. Sofia Mauricio, the coordinator of the organization explained to me all about the organization and their work. The people that Panchita works with aren’t always trafficking victims. Some of them are domestic workers that are treated very fairly in their work and they simply need classes on how to do certain tasks in the home. However, there are many other girls that they work with that need much more than a cooking class. A typical girl that Panchita works with is from a rural area in Peru and they were deceived into coming to Lima under the false premise of the prospect of a good job and education. Usually they are recruited by a person that they trust such as a family member, a family friend, a teacher, or a pastor. Once they arrive here, they are forced to work in the home. Some of them are paid for their work but it is extremely low and they are told that they need to pay off the cost of their trip to Lima and their living experiences, which are exaggerated prices. These women and girls are victims of debt bondage.

These cases are usually discovered because La Casa de Panchita goes to night schools, many of the girls that are domestic workers are permitted to go to school for a few hours in the evening. There Panchita talks to these girls and informs them what trafficking is and their basic human rights. Many times, there are girls in the class that speak up and admit that they don’t feel like they have a choice to leave the situation that they are in. This is when La Casa de Panchita steps in a tries to help the girl escape the situation. However, it is very difficult because at this time there are no safe aftercare facilities for these girls to stay if they are removed from their situation. If they aren’t working in a home, they will probably end up in the streets and area likely to get involved in drug trafficking, prostitution or begging. There are orphanages that the girls can go to, but again many of the children at the orphanages are involved in these trades, and the girls from the domestic homes have been exposed to these things before because they are from rural cities.

This was a great meeting, because once she was done explaining the situation some of her clients go through, I knew that she has seen trafficking victims. I than explained to her the purpose of my investigation and what we are trying to do. I asked if we could have access to the cases that she has seen for our report, she agreed and I have a meeting with the lawyer at the organization this Sunday. This is exactly what Not For Sale needs because we need to make it known that we are not only just concerned with sex trafficking, but we want to investigate all types. Sex trafficking is just the easiest of all of them to study because it is so visible.

After explaining the situations that La Casa de Panchita sees, Sofia lamented that she knows there is a lot of work be done and she doesn’t think that the organization is doing enough. Finically the home is struggling, barely having enough money to sustain the programs that they have now. The legal system isn’t designed to properly protect these girls. The police don’t see it as a priority to prosecute and find the people that recruit the girls in the first place, so even if they do catch ones that have procession of the girls, the supply will keep coming. Sofia said the problem is just so big that she doesn’t know how to intervene. I would have to agree with her, but she is trying.

Fiesta en La Calle

If you have been a loyal blog reader, you may recall my post on how amazing it felt when I was in San Francisco and I was in a room filled entirely with people that cared about human trafficking and want to do something about it. This Tuesday night, the same thing happened to me. I met an amazing group of people from a church in Georgia. They were excited and dedicated about helping out the girls that needed it, and they were willing to do anything to make a difference. When I meet people like that, I am just so inspired and so prepared to keep doing what I’m doing. That night, we all went to Iquitos Avenue to find girls to invite them to La Casa de Veronica. That is the house that Lucy is building to house girls that were prostitutes. There is still a lot of work to do on the house, but there is no better time present. Thursday and Friday Lucy was inviting the girls to come to the house to see what the place was like, to have some fun, some good food, and to learn something too. The goal was to convince girls that they don’t need to be doing what they are doing, that they can live at this house and be safe and away from the streets.

We went around and explained to the girls what was going to happen for those days, and tell them about how much fun they were going to have. We had totally mixed reactions. Some girls were really excited and put their names on the list right away. Others took a little extra convincing, emphasizing that they would have good food and be close to the beach. We also found a few girls, not too many, that didn’t really to do with us. After an hour or so we found 17 girls that said they would want to come. All and all it was a very successful night and we were all really anxious for Thursday.

The Seed

This past Tuesday I met with the director of La Semilla (The Seed), Alicia Parades http://www.lasemilla.org.pe/. I love this organization, it is the first that I have seen in Lima that really focuses on prevention. Alicia explained to me that there are still many families that are feeling the effects of the political violence from “The Shining Path.” There are families from rural areas that have migrated to Lima looking for work. These children are at an extremely high risk for trafficking crimes because their families are very poor and struggling to survive. La Semilla focuses on these children, and instead of waiting for them to fall into the path of drug trafficking, prostitution, or begging, La Semilla assists these kids by educating them about the consequences of these choices. La Semilla has 3 areas in rural cities in Peru that they work in. These kids are brought to these rural areas where they are educated about life skills and provided basic education in language, math, cooking skills, music, drama and sports. The life skills taught focus on building confidence, educating the children are how to handle dangerous scenarios, and teaching them about their basic rights. These rights include the right not to be beaten, the right to an education, the right to safety, and the freedom of choice.

Alicia went on to say that violence and poverty and interrelated issues. By empowering the children she is helping them support themselves and reducing rates of poverty, which decreases the likelihood of violence. I very much agree with Alicia. La Semilla’s model needs to be replicated in more cities and in more countries. Once child at a time, La Semilla is making a difference. I asked Alicia if I would be allowed to visit one of the schools to see what the classroom was like. She told me that at this time school is closed because of “el gripe” (the swine flu) but classes will start again around the 5th of August and I would be allowed to go than. I am really excited to see the work that La Semilla is doing in action.

The only negative aspect of this meeting was that the purpose of my research is to find the numbers and the stories of the victims that are being trafficked in Peru, and La Semilla doesn’t have those cases. However, it is very good to learn about because I want to share the strategy of La Semilla with other organizations. I’ve noticed that here in Peru, many organizations don’t know the others exist, even if they are all working toward the same thing. After this meeting I decided that I want to connect these organizations with my report and make them aware of each other and what they are doing so that they can work together for the same purpose instead of working separately.

La Conferencia

This weekend I flew to Arequipa, a beautiful mountainous town in Southern Peru. On Friday, there CHS was hosting the “Debate Regional Arequipa Contra La Trata De Personas.” People from all over Peru that are involved with the issue came to listen to speakers talk about the current problem, and after the speakers they were able to share their opinion in a debate.

The first speak was Ricardo Valdes, the director of CHS. The beginning of his speech focused on causes of trafficking that I have heard time and time again, the fact that trafficking is a consequence of economic and political decisions. If poverty was not so prevent in this country, or any other, the cases of trafficking would be drastically reduced. The girls that I met on Iquitos Avenue would not be working there if their mother’s didn’t ask them to help support their family. The kids that are begging on the streets or dealing drugs wouldn’t have to if there were affordable schools for them to attend. If their parents had jobs that they could support their families with, the kids would be allowed to be kids.

Valdes then continued to talk about some of the specific of trafficking in Peru in terms of the origin, transition and destination of victims. The origin is those in poor and vulnerable situations without education or capital. The victims are transitioned trough zones that have very little control, which appears to be the majority of Peru. Finally, the destination of the victims is the urban areas throughout Peru.(http://chsperu.com/chsalternativo/contenido.php?men=L&pad=32&hij=37&shi=61&pla=2&sal=2&id=IThe map created by CHS reflects common routes of trafficking victims in Peru. Since CHS has begun to keep records of trafficking cases in 2005, there have been 209 cases involving 522 victims. This is exactly what Not For Sale needs, this coming week I am going to be working with Luis of CHS to get the data on these cases to eventually work towards obtaining “accurate” (it will never actually be accurate) numbers of trafficking in Peru.

The second stage, transition, is one that I have not spent enough time reflecting on. During the debate, this issue came up time and time again. In Peru, there is very little control of transportation. Even though many of the organizations there recognize this, there were very few that offered suggestions for improvement. Peru has an enormous problem of missing persons, one person disappears every hour in Lima and 50% of those that disappear are minors. These people get lost in the transition stage. Using the government website Peruvanos Desaparecidos (http://www.latinoamericanosdesaparecidos.org/peru/default.php) the government is making the information of the missing persons public. I want to get in contact with this organization and see how the new technology has helped with combating trafficking in persons.

The end of Valdes‘ presentation focused on the social tolerance of the issue. There are too many people in Peru that see young girls in prostitution or see boys working docks and see it as scenery. They don’t dig any deeper, they don’t care to know, and they don’t want to help. The public’s apathy of the right of the child encourages and allows trafficking to flourish. Citizen participation and awareness is crucial in protecting these children.

The second speaker of the debate was Dr. Gisella Vignolo the director of Adjunta para los Derechos Humanos Defensoria del Pueblo. She described typical trafficking situations that she has seen of women and children being deceived by people that they have trusted, at times their own family members in order to make a profit. She compared human trafficking with drug trafficking. Trafficking a human is far more profitable because the product trafficked can be used repeatedly and it is easily replaceable. In drug trafficking, the product is sold once and the supply must be replenished instantly.

Vignolo, like many others involved in the field, recognize the necessity of aftercare facilities for victims in Peru. Without these facilities, those that have been rescued are very likely to fall back into the same situations because they don’t know any other life and are they are left with very few alternatives. An absence of these facilities counteracts the progress that Peru has made in the areas of prevention and prosecution.

I felt that at the end of Vignolo’s speech was focused directly at me. She stressed the necessity of knowing accurate numbers of the crime in order to make the government and the general public aware of the scope of the problem. One of the many objectives of Adjunta para los Derechos Humanos Defensoria del Pueblo is solidifying the numbers. I tried to catch Dr. Vignolo at the end of the debate but she took off early. I want to work with her and use the information that her organization has already obtained to contribute to my ongoing work.

The second part of the conference was the debate where the room split up into groups focusing on: prevention, assistance, and punishment. The group was to discuss the issues that they felt were the most prevalent and at the end of the discussion they were to agree on two main areas of focus.

Prevention
1) Teach families about the dangers of trafficking for their children and instill a sense of moral responsibility
2) Strengthen the power of the institutions that can help though education and legislation such as the police and department of transportation.
Assistance
1) Raise awareness of trafficking in police stations throughout Peru, and encourage the local government to work with the police.
2) The government should provide after care facilities specifically for people that have been trafficked providing housing, legal assistance, and health services.
Punishment
1) Instill punishments on transportation personal that fail to report a trafficking victim.
2) Those that are tried for trafficking offenses should have their properties confiscated by the government, and the capital from those assets should go to the victims.

Progress!

This morning, I had an excellent meeting with Luis of CHS (www.chs-peru.com). It’s a nongovernmental organization focusing on Trafficking in Peru. Kique warned me before I went to talk to them that they are associated with the government, so they will try to tell me that they are doing well. It’s true, Luis did paint that picture, but he also at times had that look like, “Well . . . at least we are doing something.” Which I think is very true. So far, CHS has been Peru greatest hope in the battle against trafficking, and even there is much more to do, they are the first to be making real steps of progress. One of CHS’s greatest contributions is the training program with the police officers in Lima on how to recognize and handle trafficking cases. Since they have started their training, the number of cases in Lima has gone up. That’s not because there are more trafficking victims but because police have started to recognize them. He feels that they are Peru is doing well in prosecution and investigation. Currently, the police have a TAP unit and there have been two separate cases in which the trafficker was charged with 30 years in jail. He realizes that there is more work to do, but because of recent efforts, process has been made.

When I asked what Peru still needs to work on, Luis admitted that they have a long way to go in the assistance and protection of victims after they have been recovered. In Lima and in Iquitos there are assistance centers which provide victims with legal and psychological assistance, however there is no available housing or specific centers for people that are have the specific needs of these victims. Luis went on to explain about “La Lunareja,” a women who run a child exploitation prostitution ring in Lima. The police are having difficulties with the arrest because the girls that she is exploiting are too afraid to testify against her because there is no safe place for these girls to go after they testify. Basically, all that I learned and saw in San Francisco with the victim center approach that organizations such as mastered MISSSEY, SAGE, and the Asian Cooperative are desperately needed here in Peru.

I told Luis that I am going to Iquitos for a week, and he told me that child trafficking is much more common there. CHS has made efforts to train the police but it has not done very much good. There is too much social tolerance of the crime for the people to recognize that it is child exploitation. The men that purchase sex thinks that they are doing the girls a favor because they are providing them work. The kids also feel like they are doing their part to help out their families by working. He also told me about the main pier in Iquitos where there are children performing manual labor, carrying heavy loads on and off boats for about 5 soles a day, that’s a little less than two dollars. And nothing is being done because it is tolerated, the people don’t see it as a problem!

Now, onto Arequipa for a Trafficking Conference!

I need to be on Peruvian Time

This past Sunday I went with Ruben and a friend of his to visit his friends mom in a women's jail. I was kind of nervous only about getting in because I was separated from Ruben to be searched and asked questions, and I need to use my Spanish to get in. But after they stripped me of all my IDs, keys to my room, my pocket dictionary, and my tights that I was wearing under my skirt (it's a requirement for women to wear skirts in the jail), I was allowed in! Now I know that the jail isn't usually like this, but while I was there, it was a Fiesta. Twice a week for two hours the jail has visiting hours and everyone comes out of their cells, and there's all sorts of food, music, little shops with things that the women have made, and kids running in every direction. Not what I would typically think a jail would look like. It was a lot of fun, everyone is in a great mood for those two hours.

I met a women there is from Amsterdam and she spoke english, so we talked for most of the time. When I her how she ended up in Peru, she told me that she had no idea, she smoked her way there. She was in jail for possession. She explained everything about the jail to me. The most interesting thing was that if a women is arrested for three years or less and she has children, the children go to jail with her if they have no other place to go. She said that the kids really don't have any kind of school though, but it's better than having them out on the streets. She told me that she thinks there's a few people that get arrested on purpose because they know that their kids will be fed in jail. When we were done talking, I promised her that I would come back at least one more time. She's really lonely because her family lives so far away and no one ever comes to visit her. Next time I go I'm going to bring her some things to read and some food. All the other prisoners get those things every week, but she never does.

I went back to the streets another night recently with Ruben to talk to the girls. It was a really cold night, so we brought them hot chocolate and some bread. When we get there Ruben always tells all of them that I work with Lucy and then they are cool with me being there. One of the girls pulled me aside, she was 14 years old, and she told me, if you work with Lucy you're a good person. Than she handed me two pieces of candy. I tried to give them back but she refused. I can tell that she appreciates me being here. I didn't stay very long that night because the girls started to disperse to go to work about a half hour I arrived. But it was still a good visit. I think they are getting used to me.

So these last few days have been a little, un pocoito, frustrating. Pero, esta bien. But I am getting used to the culture, letting the little things go, and going with the flow. I have time here, I am here for over a month so I don't need to save the world in one day right? Okay anyways, I've been trying to meet with organizations and had a lot of miscommunication, a no show, and one person in the hospital! But I've stayed positive and from this day forward it looks better. Tomorrow I have two meetings with two different people at CHS Capital Humano y Social (wwww.chs-peru.com) and hopefully I'll be able to get some numbers and some testimonials of the problem from the meetings. And right after the meetings I am off to the airport to fly to Arequipa because Friday there is a day long conference/debate there about the state of trafficking in Peru (http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.denuncialatrata.com%2F&sl=es&tl=en&history_state0=). I am really excited!!

Next week is also going to be much better because there is another volunteer, Yarra, coming from the states who has worked with Lucy and Genericion before. so she knows the kids and she also knows some of the girls on the streets. Also she is supposed to be an amazing translator. So next week will be very productive because Ruben, Yarra, and I will be going to the streets a lot more and getting testimonials, real field work data! I'm excited for this coming week!

p.s. Thanks to everyone for all of their support, I really appreciate it and I think about all the people that I have behind me everyday.

Harder than I thought

This past Thursday night was my first night of actual interviews with the kids. All the other days I just went to hang out so they got used to me, but it's time to start getting down to business. I found a person to translate for me, making my life much easier! Since my project really isn’t on the street kids, it’s about the girls in prostitution and child trafficking victims; I decided that it would be best to try out my research methods with them first.

So, like the other nights we bought food to bring to the kids first which consisted of bread, ham, and juice. To feed about 15 kids it cost around $6. I also bought some candies to give to the kids after I interviewed them. My questions were fairly basic: name, age, where are you from, where do you live (street, room, house), are you in school, do you work on the streets, how much do you make, and if they know about Genericion and if they want to live there or in a place like that.

The answers were pretty similar. The kids were between 12 and 16, they were from lima, they were living on the street some nights but other nights they lived in a room. There are lots of old buildings in downtown Lima where they let street kids sleep for 1 to 5 soles per night (3 soles=$1). I haven't seen one of these places yet but I want to. Only one kid was currently in school, the others said that they were in school but they aren't anymore and others said they have never been to school. Only one kid said that he doesn't want to be in school but all the others said that they would like to be. One of the older kids told me that he wish he knew how to read. They all worked on the streets either selling candies, cleaning cars, stealing from tourist or begging. If they didn't make any money that day, than they didn't eat. About 70% of the kids said that they know about Genericion and they want to live in a place like that, they want a home but there isn't enough room and they don't have the option.

We got to the kids pretty late around 10 pm, which was a mistake because while I was interviewing one of them, the rest of them were getting high sniffing glue.As the night progressed it was harder and harder to talk to them. The container in the picture costs 2.5 soles and that can keep a group of those kids high for days. They put a little bit into a plastic bag and breath in deep. So the last interviews were really incoherent and they were all getting pretty wild.














Also, one of the kids stole my phone out of my coat pocket, it was a really cheap phone that I bought in Peru. There's a store in downtown Lima that will buy stolen goods, so once that kids sold my phone, he would have enough money to feed him and all of his friends for about three days. So I'm really not that upset about it, can you really blame him? Ruben felt really bad, and yeah I really didn't expect it, but I don't think it would have happened if the kids weren't high.

Well, I got the information that I needed and now I know how to do things smarter next time. I knew this wouldn't be easy, but it's definitely harder than I thought.

Hablar con los niños de la calle

I got a personal tour of the streets from my new friend Ruben. He used to live at Genericion, but now that he is older he’s on his own. He wanted to give me a chance to talk to the kids and see what things are really like. It’s really not that easy to just start talking because 1) I can’t speak Spanish very well and 2) They really don’t care what I have to say. First, we went to visit a group of kids where they were trying to make some money on the streets by playing a drum and dancing, so to get them to warm up to me I just started dancing too. I don’t think that anyone really expected that, they all everyone went from looking rather bored to bursting out into laughter. After dancing for a while, I decided that I wanted to buy them some food, because the only money they had was the money they were making on the streets which was 1.5 soles, or .5 cents for seven kids. So Rueben and I went to buy a bag of bread, slices of ham, and some juice. All of that was only 12 soles, or 4 dollars, to give all of those kids some food. So after dancing and giving them some food they were very interested in talking with me. Mainly they just had a lot of questions about me. I want to learn more about them, but I decided that it would be better to return a different day so they can start to get used to me before I start asking them about their lives. I need to keep building their trust.

After we talked to those kids we were to Iquitos Ave., the main drag of prostitution in Lima. There were about 10 girls that Rueben knew that were working that night, and it was only 9 pm, he said it would be much busier later in the night. (Of those 10 girls 3 were pregnant, only one of the pregnant girls wasn’t working because she was 8 months pregnant, but the other two were.) The girls were a little harder to talk to than the other street kids because they were a little bit older, in their early teens, and weren’t as interested in talking to a stranger. But we did get to talk for a little while and they were receptive when they learned that I was a friend of Lucy’s. I am trying to think of ways to warm up to them, I am debating buying a bunch of nail polish and having a mini manicure session on the streets. Any other suggestions?

Basically after this experience there’s a lot of things I realized. Most of them were things that I pretty much already knew, but it took seeing it and being a part of it to fully sink in. The first thing being that this is an insanely massive far reaching multiple causes issue that I can’t even begin to understand or change on my own. The most obvious cause of child trafficking Peru and worldwide is poverty. These kids do not want to be doing this, I know that. They are there because they can make much more money selling their bodies than doing anything else. Ruben said some of the girls used to sell bracelets with him, but they weren’t making enough money. Especially for the girls that get pregnant, they need to work. Also, these kids aren’t in school. So when they are old enough to have a real job, there’s no way that they can compete. It’s a cycle, one that isn’t going to stop without interference.

The First Few Days in Peru

If there was such a thing as an angel on earth, I think I met her. Lucy, the director of Genericion (check out the international projects on www.notforsalecampaign.org under Peru to learn more) a home for street children of Peru is an amazing woman. These first few days so took me to the home, told me about her work, and personally showed me some of the terrible areas of the city.

The first day at Genericion was a lot of fun, I spent the day getting to know and playing with the children. We played cards for most of the morning, and I was very proud of myself because I taught them four card games by speaking in Spanish. They were very eager to learn, after we played one for a while they would ask, nuevo juego! (new game!) After playing cards, we walked around the city and went to the ocean. A few of the brave ones and myself walked to the edge of the bluffs overlooking the water. We were in the perfect spot to be drenched in the waves as they hit. As we saw them approaching we would all hug eachother close, shut our eyes, and scream waiting for the water. After every big wave they would yell uno mas! (one more) Which they said at least five times! Even though we have language barriers, it was an experince that we were all able to understand without words. When we got back to the house, Lucy just laughed and laughed. I don't think she expected us to come back soaking wet from our walk.

After we dried off, I gave the children the donations that I brought from famalies that I work with in Eau Claire, and friends that contributed. I wish you were all there to see that because it was amazing. They were all so happy and greatful for what we were able to provide.

Lucy than introduced me to a young girl, Carmen* (not her real name) who just arrived to Genercion because she was escaping her life on the streets as a prostitue. She just had her 14th birthday and she has been working the streets since se was 12. When you ask her why she was doing it, she will tell you that she was helping her mother. Actually, this is Carmen's second time to Genericion, the first time her mother came and took her and put her back onto the streets so that she could make money. This time I think she is there to stay because Lucy is there to protect her. I got to meet Carmen's mother yesterday and she seems like a nice enough women. I am just in the begin of understanding this problem, I need to know more about Carmen's situation and other families like her in order to learn how it starts and how to end it.

Carmen is a beauitful little girl, who came right up to me and embraced me the moment I walked into the door. She loves to dance and play with the other children. She is a child just like the children we meet in the U.S., it's unfair that she has been put through all that she has seen and been a part of.

Later that day, Lucy took me to Veronica's House, an old house that she has invested a lot of money into to fix up for girls that are recovering from being trafficking victims. There is a lot of work to do, and she still needs to put a lot of money into the building, (money that is mainly out of her own pocket). When it's done, it will be able to comfortably fit 12 girls to help them transition from their lives of working on the street to a better life.

The night of the first day has been my favorite so far. Lucy drove me around Lima to see the areas where the problems lie. When I'm with Lucy, there's no need to be afarid of these areas. I swear everyone in this city knows this women. She has built so much trust and community with the people on the streets that it is well known that you don't mess with Lucy, or there will be gangs of people behind her to protect her. The reason why is because it is evident that she loves and cares for everyone she meets unconditianally, without judgement. I have a lot to learn from people like Lucy.

As we drove around people would run to her car yelling "Lucy!! Lucy!!" We even had a group of five people surround the car and pound on the windows like she was a celebertity. At first Lucy and I both jumped and scream, we were not prepared for that. We would pick people up, and drop people off, give people money, buy people food, give out hugs and kisses on the cheek. Whatever people needed, we would do it. No questions asked. It was amazing. Then we drove around the streets where there are high rates of prostitution, because it was early there weren't that many girls working the streets yet, but I got to meet and talk to a few of them. One of the girls I met was 16 years old, 6 months pregnant, and still working. Lucy is building Veronica's house for girls like her, she realizes that she will have no place to go once her baby is born.

I have so much respect for Lucy and other people who work with her that I am so motivated to do a good job on this report so that I can inform others on the issue that she cares so deeply about. I don't want to let her down.

Abolitionist Academy Week II

If you were in the class with me and you read something that doesn’t sound right, or that you want to add too, please feel free to leave a comment.

Day 6
The entire day was dedicated to Nola B., the executive director and co-founder of MISSSEY which stands for Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting & Serving Sexually Exploited Youth. MISSSEY is an aftercare center which serves youth of Alameda County, California. Nola was a former sexually exploited youth herself, so much like Henry and the relationships he was able to build with the children in Caraceen, Nola has also been extremely effective in related with and understanding the situations that these children get involved in.

Nola spent a lot of time explaining the common myth that many people hold with them, that prostitutes are there by choice. In the cases that Nola has treated, it is very clear that these children did not choose this life. It is true that in America there are a lot of alternatives to prostitution and there are also many services out there to assist those that have become a part of the industry. However, these services are completely useless if people don’t know that they even exist. The children that are tricked into prostitution are often naive to the services provided making the services are irrelevant. The most vulnerable population in the US is a child with a broken family or no family at all, a history of abuse, and without knowledge of services available to them.

Here’s how it happens:
Targeted children are those that already have low self esteem and are desperate for love and attention. It is easy to build trust with these children by providing compliments, small gifts (a blunt and a happy meal is common according to Nola) and promises of a better life and someone (the pimp) to take care of them. To a child who is either abused or ignored at home, these things all sound really good. Once initial trust is built, sometimes the child is drugged, typically with E so that the pimp can learn child’s past history, their hopes and dreams so that it can be used against them. Also, when the child starts acting up, the trafficker uses his knowledge of the child to build custom threats. (What sounds more scary? “If you don’t have sex with me I’m going to kick your ass!” or “If you don’t have sex with me I’m going to go over to your Aunties house on 5th and Broadway and find your favorite little cousin and beat the shit out of her!” That’s powerful.) When the girl does finally have sex with the pimp, he makes it believe that it’s the best he’s ever had, he tells her that her body is the best thing she has going for her and she has to be crazy to not be using her body to make money because she’s so damn good at it.
So at this point, the pimp has the girl under his control and he will rent her out to several men a night.

Usually, these cases are uncovered because the girl is arrested for prostitution. HOWEVER according to the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) a child which is any person under 18 years of age cannot legally consent to part take in any sexual act. Therefore, the sex was performed by force and by definition is trafficking. So even though there are laws protecting these children, these children are arrested for prostitution. Nola has asked many people such as lawyers, judges and district attorneys how this happens, but they are all just as confused by it as she is.

It sounds unbelievable doesn’t it? It’s more common than you think. MISSEY has been operating for about 2 years and they have served over 200 children that have had these similar experiences. This is happening in our country! So what can we do about this? Be aware, and be an active citizen. Don’t turn away from a child who may look like they are in trouble or think that someone else will take care of it. If you think that this is wrong, then take responsibility.
The morning was spent listening to Nola explain her story and the stories of the children that she has helped. After lunch, it was time for us to help her. The purpose of slaverymap.org is to let others know what is happening and collecting data on the extent of slavery in the U.S. So we began to map the cases that she provided for us. Because they are not public cases, they do not have a lot of detail and they do not include names of the victims or the pimp in order to protect their identities. If you want to see some of the cases of the children MISSSEY has helped, look for cases on www.slaverymap.org in the Bay area (directly East of San Francisco for you Wisconsinites) and read about them.

* This entry referred to the victim as a female and the pimp or trafficker as a male, only because that is what is most common. Gender can be reversed in either role.

Day 7
Today was the only day that I didn’t take notes, and I regret it. But I will do my best to remember everything I learned. We spent the entire day in beautiful, unique Pescadero. Pescadero is a small farming community that is mainly people that have emigrated from Mexico. Some of them are illegal, but others are legal. This small town really helped me realize what Debt Bondage entails. Debt bondage is a type of trafficking (it can overlap with other types at the same time) where the person that is trafficked is deceived that they are going to be brought to a place where they will have a good job and they will be able to send money home to their family. For someone in Mexico, who does not have a lot of job opportunities, this sounds pretty good, good enough to sneak over the border. Once they arrive in Pescadero or whatever other small farming town, they are treated well initially in order to gain their trust. Then, they are provided with housing and they learn that the housing will cost them about 1/3 of what they are making. In addition they are over charged for other expenses. There are 3 months in the year when the people cannot farm and they are required to stay in the housing provided the landlord (cough- slave owner) so they need to save the little money they get to pay for that time. Also, there are many pay periods where the landlord (slaver owner) decides that they don’t want to pay and the families don’t have any other option but to keep working because they are most likely uneducated and don’t have any other work.

This is debt bondage, these people are stuck with nowhere else to go. Luckily for the people in Pescadero, they have La Puenta. La Puenta is a non-profit organization that assists the families of Pescadero by providing child care, language classes for adults and works towards protecting the families though legislation. Before La Puenta, there was debt bondage in Pescadero, in our country. Now that they are around, conditions have improved. However, there are other small towns where debt bondage is occurring.

This small town is slowly dying. It’s ironic but the agriculture sector finds itself competing with imports that are coming into the country from Mexico and other places that are cheaper, and it’s cheaper because labor in Mexico, along with the standard of living is much lower. If the Mexican that come here are paid the same that they would make in Mexico, there is no way they would be able to survive with our price of living. This isn’t just happening to the immigrants. I feel like anytime a person is working full time and working hard and they aren’t making enough money in order to survive in their own community, debt bondage is occurring. It happens everywhere, even in Eau Claire with some of the families that I work with through Jumpstart. When two parents are working full time at minimum wage and they can’t support their family, something is definitely wrong.

After the Pescadero trip, we went to meet David Batstone! The man who started the entire Not For Sale movement. He was very good at explaining to each and every one of us that we all can have our place in ending the global slave trade, no matter what talent we have it can be put to use. He is very optimistic about the potential of ending slavery in our lifetime. One of his biggest current projects is www.free2work.org, which were learned much more about the next day.

Day 8
Today was a huge eye opener. Dan from “As You Sow” a non-profit that works towards making supply chains more transparent came in to talk with us about his four year project on the state of the cotton industry in Uzbekistan. If you look on the tag of any shirt you wear, it will say the country that the item was produced. However, it fails to mention where the cotton to make that shirt was grown. Even if you call the manufacturer and ask them where they got their raw materials from they will have no idea. There are about 15 to 25 tiers of the supply chain, depending on the product. This is done on purpose so that it is difficult to find the instances of forced labor. Uzbekistan is the second largest exporter of cotton in the world, and practically every person that picks the cotton is a slave, adults and children. There are an estimated 2 million children in Uzbekistan that work the fields instead of going to school, and 70% of the country is unemployed. The country can afford to pay the adults to work; the upper class is making plenty of money to do so. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the country has been taken over by KGB agents and they have abused their power by requiring forced mass mobilization of the population to pick cotton.

My words can’t do this injustice enough justice. Today, in the 21st century there is a billion dollar enterprise that is enslaving millions of people for their own benefit. And the worst part of it is, we are all supporting it. Not on purpose, I know you are all good hearted people, but we are. Because we are so obsessed with cheap clothes and more of them, the cotton industry is insanely profitable.

Dan also talked about the mining industry in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). There is mass forced labor there to mine Colton, which ends up in all of our computers, cell phones, and other electronics.

I am not telling you all of these things to make you feel bad that is not my intention. I want you to feel empowered, I want you to be armed with the information about the world so that if you choose to you can live your life differently, you don’t need to be a professional humanitarian to change the world, you just need to do your part to not make it any worse, because if we all did that, it would be a beautiful thing.

Day 9
Today we met a fantastic, wonderful, words cannot describe man named Kelly who works with SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation). As a child, Kelly was sexually exploited for 18 years and did hard drugs for 16 years. When he was 7 years old, he was gang raped. I can’t imagine having the life that he has had, and yet he is strong enough to help rehabilitate other boys who went through the same thing that he did. Kelly explained that the after care services at SAGE are a peer-based model of services. People choose and are a part of their rehabilitation because they KNOW where they have been and only they can know what they need.

The problem with sex trafficking is on the demand side, reduce the demand and it will reduce the supply. SAGE also created a John School to reduce the demand for sexually exploited women, men, and children in the San Francisco area. If someone is arrested for buying sex, instead of going to jail and having it on their record, they can go to the John School and learn about the crime of prostitution, them and their role in the global system of exploitation. Over 9,500 people have been through the John School, at least 67% do not reoffend. These schools exist all over the country, and they have been successful in reducing the demand.

Later in the day, Killian, one of the workers at Not For Sale, explained to us www.free2work.org. This project praises companies that have allowed themselves to be transparent, they have allowed Not For Sale traced their supply chain and it was found that they do not have any slave labor in their production. (One of the big companies is Manpower, based in Milwaukee!) It’s a great website, and if you want to learn more about good companies to buy from, check it out.

Day 10
Ahhh what a bitter sweet day. It was sad to leave all the people that I have grown very close with over the past two weeks, but it is also very excited because I get to go to PERU!! Anyways, the morning of the last day we had Mike Duffy, a professor at USF come and talk to us to help send us on our way. One line that he said to us that really sticks out in my mind is “It’s unfair to comment on something if you haven’t experienced it.” I know that I needed to go to Peru or to go somewhere to see the tragedies that I have been commenting on for the last year. I need to know or I will never change it.

Mike also talked about how no social issue stands alone, that they are somehow all connected. If you are working toward bringing water to poor communities, you are helping prevent trafficking because people will stay in their cities and work instead of going to cities and being exploited. There are millions of examples from poverty, education, and environmental protect. They are all connected. Find you fight, and fight it with all you have.

The rest of the day was spent brainstorming with Kique and George about Peru. Where we will be going and when, exactly what we are looking for and different organizations to talk to.