Disclaimer: Names of human trafficking survivors are withheld to protect their identity.
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Human trafficking survivors are reclaiming their lives after days, weeks, and months of trauma at the hands of people they knew and loved.
The Kennedy Center Louisiana works with partners to help pull people from human trafficking by giving them the opportunity to start a new life and heal while they do it. Executive Director Tonya Williams shares the process of placing individuals who have been referred to The Kennedy Center for its Safe Haven program.
“Usually they’ve been to the hospital, maybe a couple of days, so they’re kind of stabilized. So it’s an easier process to get with them, talk to them, find out what’s going on, to verify that they actually qualify for the program, meaning they have actually been trafficked. And then we start the enrollment process. They meet with a peer support person, and we work to identify the immediate needs,” Williams said.
The Kennedy Center works to meet survivors where they are and help them recover and regain their lives after battling intense trauma. The center began serving individuals between the ages of 16 and 24, but as time went on, they were receiving more referrals from outside that age range.
“We said, well, we can’t just tell people no. So we pretty much have referrals that come in between the ages of, you know, teen to like early 30s.”
The Kenndey Center has three houses in the Shreveport-Bossier area as well as host homes. The host homes are set up with their own certified foster parents to aid in the recovery of trafficking survivors.
Survivors who seek help from The Kennedy Center are not required to participate in any programs, but they are offered the opportunity to work with the case manager. The goal is to provide survivors with safe and secure housing. The men and women who have been victims of human trafficking have the chance to gain work readiness skills.
The Kennedy Center helps them apply for food stamps, get clothing, a driver’s license or ID, and much more. This helps the survivors get what they need to re-enter the workforce while they are in recovery.
“If you have someone that you want to help, the first thing is to have a conversation and let them know. Because no one wants to be blindsided with the police showing up or something like that, I would say have a conversation.”
Two survivors shared a small part of their road to recovery after they were trafficked.
Survivor A moved to the Shreveport-Bossier area a few years ago and found herself homeless. For A it started in a dating situation that she said was not good from the beginning. When that ended she met someone else, and it was a similar relationship.
“The situation was getting more dangerous and more dangerous, like to the point where I had ended up going to the hospital,” A said.
The police came to the hospital because she was severely beaten. She left town for a short period of time and didn’t see her abuser, but came back weeks later.
“Oh, I wanted to come back. Two weeks into it, I was ready to come back and go to what I was used to doing, and I wanted to back with him. I just wanted to be around him. I wanted to be with him. I missed him.”
A’s trauma started when she was adopted, and her adoptive father sexually abused her until she was in her 20s. She looked back and realized she just wanted someone to be there, and she didn’t care who it was.
“The mental abuse played a part in the way I felt about myself and the things he would say. And I thought that’s what I will always be. And I thought the only thing like I could give a man was my body. And that’s what I was taught, and that’s what was in my head.”
As she is on her journey of recovery, she has learned to love herself and love the person she has become.
“I’m happier. I love myself. I can look people in the eyes. I can hold a conversation, and I’m worth what God says I’m worth. And I am somebody.”
Now that A is no longer being trafficked and abused, she had entered the workforce. Some days she says she doesn’t want to go to work but loves it at the end of the day.
“I love getting up in the morning and getting dressed and going to work, and I’m doing it. No one’s forcing me to do it. I want to do it.”
A didn’t know there was help out there and there were people who really care for her and love her for the person she is. She encourages anyone experiencing human trafficking to talk to someone who feels safe.
Survivor B’s story is not so different. B’s trauma began at an early age when she was molested by her father and grandfather. Her father went to prison, and her mother removed them from the situation, and it was smooth sailing for a while. B found herself married to a man who was using her mental illnesses to control her. She says her ex-husband was drugging her the entire time they were married.
“I had no clue. I was on a lot of medications for depression and anxiety, all kinds of stuff. And he had been taking my medication capsules, emptying them out, and refilling them with meth and other drugs,” Survivor B said.
Her trauma did not end there. At that time she was in a custody battle for her children with her ex-husband. During the custody battle, the judge ordered a drug test, and B’s children were taken away from her.
“That’s how I found out the drugs were in my system. And this is when I willingly started doing the drugs because I didn’t think I would ever see them again. And he [ex-husband] had pumped it in my head so much that I would never see my kids again.”
B’s ex-husband isolated her away from her family and forced her to go no-contact with her family and friends.
In their last altercation, B called 911, and her ex-husband fled the scene. When officers arrived, they advised her to leave and offered to take her somewhere safe. B said she begged officers to take her to her parent’s house, but the police officers couldn’t take her because it was out of their jurisdiction.
B had to think quickly and texted her sister to come to pick her up. As she was waiting in the home for her sister, she heard a knock at the door and thought it was her sister. She soon realized it was not.
“It wasn’t her. It was his drug dealer that he had called and told to come over there. I didn’t know this at the time, but he had seen me beat up and asked if he could take me anywhere. And I asked to go to my parents once again. He told me to grab what I could of my belongings and I grabbed all the pictures of my kids, everything that I could, and got in the vehicle with him.”
Only the man did not take her to her parents. She ended up at his house. B says when she walked in the door, she was immediately jumped, stripped of her clothes, and locked in a bedroom. B was locked in the bedroom for 48 days.
“Different men and women would come in and rape me, beat me, and just do whatever they wanted to me in exchange for drugs or money.”
B’s last night in the man’s house was on September 4, 2018. She even commemorated her escape with a tattoo on her arm.
The last night B was in the house, one man came to visit her as he did frequently.
“This time, he did not do anything to me. He looked me dead in my eyes. And I’ll never forget the smell of his breath or the look on his face. And he said, ‘You’re too good for this.’
After the man checked the home to make sure they were alone, he let B out of the house. B ended up at a bingo hall on Highway 165 in Monroe, where she received help from some women.
B says her experience with the officers was not great and that she was accused of prostituting herself for drugs. She was taken by ambulance to the emergency room and then to a safe shelter for women. Her traffickers came to the shelter looking for her and from there she went to Teen Challenge.
Later on, B married her husband, and they dedicated their lives to their faith and educating people on what human trafficking really is.
“To me, prostitution is a choice and trafficking is not when you are being forced to do it. I think people have a misconception of what each are, and that’s what education is for.”
All in all, both survivors are free and restarting their lives. Human trafficking doesn’t always come in the way you expect. It can be as simple as someone you love forcing you into it, but there is always a way out.
There is hope for those finding themselves in a human trafficking situation.
For more information on resources for survivors call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.
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