Houston Teen Fights Human Trafficking

Houston Teen Fights Human Trafficking

by | Jul 13, 2022 | News Room, Uncategorized

Have you ever wondered if one person could really make a difference? We’ve seen it firsthand in our amazing volunteer, Corbin, who helped make our Client Alternative Therapy program possible!

As the spring semester was ending, Corbin, a local rising 11th grader, told us she wanted to spend her summer volunteering in the anti-trafficking movement.

She prioritized finding an organization with a strong track record in the community, that worked collaboratively with other agencies and organizations, and that aligned with her personal beliefs about inclusivity and embracing all victims of human trafficking. She found that UAHT checked all her boxes! 

“I decided to volunteer with UAHT because UAHT works with survivors of human trafficking helping them heal and rebuild their lives, and it also focuses on working to prevent the demand for human trafficking on the front end. I like that it works at both ends of the spectrum” – Corbin 

Corbin is passionate about promoting mental health.

Wanting to pair her passion with her interest in the anti-trafficking movement, Corbin was excited when we told her about our alternative therapies, like art and journaling, can help victims heal. It was clear this was the perfect opportunity for her!

Wanting to directly impact the lives of those who have experienced human trafficking, Corbin launched a fundraiser to provide art, journaling, and yoga supplies and helped facilitate alternative therapy classes. 

She set a goal to raise $5,000 and began calling and emailing people in her life. Within just 4 days, Corbin exceeded her goal! 

“In raising the funds to make these workshops possible and participating in them personally, my hope was to have a tangible positive impact on survivors’ lives and learn directly from them about the real-life obstacles they face and needs they have.” – Corbin 

But Corbin went above and beyond – not only rallying her friends and providing materials, but also working alongside clients. 

Over the summer, Corbin helped facilitate 10 classes that empower clients to think through their trauma, regulate their nervous systems, and dream about their futures. Thanks to Corbin and her supporters, dozens of survivors participated in classes this summer! 

“The most meaningful part of the project for me is getting to know the survivors during the workshops. Hearing their personal stories about how hard they are working to rebuild their lives and understanding the magnitude of the challenges they face in doing so has really affected me.” – Corbin 

Corbin will carry this experience with her into the future. 

This hands-on service-learning experience inspired Corbin to continue fighting for freedom as she grows and enters the world as an adult in the coming year. 

“It’s motivated me to want to work hard to find ways to break down the barriers that survivors face and to raise awareness about the truths of this horrible inhumanity that surrounds us here in Houston and all around the world.” – Corbin  

Thank you, Corbin! 

We are deeply grateful for the incredible time and care Corbin gave to UAHT and to our clients. We simply can’t say thank you enough!  

You can make a difference by volunteering with us!

Corbin is one of many volunteers this year who have inspired community members to prevent human trafficking, equipped individuals to respond if they believe someone is being trafficked, and empowered Overcomers to live in freedom! 

You too can make meaningful change by volunteering with us! We have various opportunities like: 

  • Raising awareness online or in person. 
  • Posting the National Human Trafficking Hotline in local businesses.
  • Translating materials into different languages.
  • Organizing our client resource room. 

    If you have any special skills like digital design or can provide legal services or professional development, please us know! 

    Tell Me More About Volunteering!

    Together, we can end human trafficking.

    Does overturning Roe v. Wade affect human trafficking? 

    Does overturning Roe v. Wade affect human trafficking? 

    by | Jun 27, 2022 | Uncategorized

    The impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade isn’t theoretical. It can directly harm people who are rebuilding their lives after human trafficking and those who are still being exploited. As a result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas is enacting a law, with very few exceptions, that bans abortion from the moment of fertilization. Here are 3 ways Texas’ trigger ban on abortion will affect human trafficking: 

    1. Banning abortion increases vulnerabilities traffickers prey on 

    Revoking access to safe, legal abortion services increases vulnerabilities that traffickers use to exploit victims.

    Women living in poverty already experience the highest rates of unintended pregnancies and abortions due to the lack of sex education and access to contraception. Carrying and raising a child is expensive and time-consuming for a person living paycheck to paycheck – especially single parents.

    Seeing the desperate need for housing, medical care, childcare, and other resources required during and after pregnancy, traffickers swoop in to take advantage of this desperation for their own profit. 

    2. Traffickers can use pregnancy and childbirth to keep victims under their control. 

    The trafficked individual might feel obligated to stay in a toxic situation to ensure she has the resources she needs or for the sake of the child ‘having two parents.’

    If the trafficker is the biological father and the victim flees exploitation with the child, the survivor is legally tied to the person exploiting her.

    Control is the weapon traffickers wield – and what better way to control a woman than to force her to carry, birth, and raise a child? 

    3. The overturning of Roe v. Wade will affect us all – but none more so than women of color.

    Restricting or removing access to legal abortion is a theft of personal autonomy that hurts the entire community. This is where racial discrimination, human trafficking, and women’s rights intersect.

    As we know, people of color experience poverty at higher rates and Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women experience pregnancy related mortality at higher rates due to systemic racism. Women experience lower wages due to systemic sexism.

    Therefore, poverty makes women of color more vulnerable to trafficking and unintended pregnancy.

    This is not an exhaustive list of the ways criminalizing abortion will affect individuals and communities but highlights how it may harm trafficking survivors.

    Banning legal abortion does not help women, families, children, or the community. It increases vulnerability and desperation. And it helps perpetuate human trafficking. 

    We will continue to serve our clients as we always have – by connecting them with housing, basic care items, healthcare, mental health services, education, job training and opportunities, and more as they work to build the lives they dream.

    We will continue to fight until all live free.