What does a broken soul look like? In too many instances around the world, it manifests in the form of a young girl or boy, their pain plastered across their faces or buried deep somewhere inside their small bodies, detectable only from the vacant look in their eyes; a look that sets in after being stripped of a childhood.
Love146 seeks to put a stop to that hurt. The international human rights group targets human trafficking, focusing specifically on child sex slavery, and on Saturday, Sept. 25, in Saratoga Spa State Park, a local group will play their part in ending the global nightmare with Ride Run Walk 4 Love, a 15-, 30- and 55-mile bike ride with a 5K walk/run added this year.
A group of people in the Capital Region heard of child sex trafficking through a speaker from Love146 and decided they needed to do something about it, so they started a benefit ride in 2008, said Matthew Miller, national networks coordinator for Love146 and a local pastor.
That first year drew just 60 people and raised around $20,000. Last year’s event doubled to 120 people and raised $35,000. This year, there’s already more than 200 people registered, said Miller, and because of corporate sponsors, 100 percent of money raised through registration and individual sponsorship will go right to Love146.
Love146 addresses human trafficking in three areas: prevention, rescue and after care.
Prevention happens on a local level, said Miller, through partnerships with various people who creatively arrive at solutions.
`For example, in a part of the world where it would be a normal thing for a child to be sent a long distance to get water, on that trip to and from the well they’re at risk of being trafficked. So, we would work with organizations that could drill a well locally so they can gather water and still be supervised,` said Miller. `We have a prevention program on the border of Thailand and Cambodia where there are paid border officers who work with national border officers from those countries to identify potential trafficking scenarios and work for intervention.`
The rescue portion is typically handled by partnering with law enforcement or organizations connected to the law, who know how to carry out raids and have the proper training and resources. Love146 then picks up the pieces by providing after-care services and facilities. One of their largest efforts was partially funded through money from the very first `Ride Run Walk 4 Love.`
`We run our own facility in the Philippines, which we built and opened in spring 2009. It’s called ‘Round Home’ and it’s an amazing place specifically for girls that have been trafficked. It’s therapy and restoration of basically everything for a child. We have to protect them physically because traffickers try to get them again, they have to be cared for medically because some have suffered pretty horrible trauma and often come to us pregnant. It’s a place where they can receive emotional and spiritual therapy with a goal of resuming normalized life. In the best cases, that may mean being restored to their families. There’s no time limit and it’s not a cookie cutter program, so they come when they need to and stay as long as they need to stay,` said Miller, who added the home is architecturally fun with colorful paint and lighthearted decorations to evoke the child-like spirit its inhabitants had lost.
While human trafficking might be easier to spot in European or Asian countries, Miller said it is surprisingly widespread in the U.S., it just looks a little different. There are 100,000 reported cases of U.S. children trafficked a year and in Buffalo alone, 75 reported cases last year, said Miller.
Domestically, the issue usually looks more like underage prostitution, so Love146 handles the three pieces accordingly. Prevention starts with programs that educate students and teachers in schools. They raise awareness to identify what trafficking looks like on our own soil. Rescue is left to law enforcement but is detected in different ways depending on the situation.
`The response has to change based on how a child is being trafficked. One of the primary ways in the U.S. is through truck stops where they’ll be exploited or pimped out to truckers, so we work with organizations that are helping to make truckers aware. We’ve had truckers call in and arrange for law enforcement to intervene, so it’s working,` said Miller.
Underage prostitution where an adult controls a minor is most common in large urban areas, especially border cities, said Miller, with an explosion recently emerging in the Pacific Northwest.
The after-care piece in America is a little trickier. While there are some facilities dedicated solely to this issue, they’re few and far between, and sometimes after-care is impossible to offer because of how the legal system works.
`The one interesting thing about the U.S. is if trafficking looks more like underage prostitution, it’s not unusual for a minor to be arrested, processed by the legal system and then released right back into the hands of their traffickers,` said Miller. `We just passed Safe Harbor legislation in Connecticut, which makes it the second state to pass it. New York was the first and Love146 helped write it. The bill means that a minor picked up for prostitution would be considered a victim and not a criminal, so their trafficker and john would be the ones charged.`
Miller said his trip to the Philippines for the opening of Round Home was life-changing and is what turned him from a Love146 volunteer to an employee. He said he hopes others will attend Ride Run Walk 4 Love to see what Love146 is all about and be moved to help too.
`My experience with Love146 has shown me the absolute darkest depths of what people are capable of, and I’ve also seen the restoration of children who experienced some of the most horrible things that humanity has to offer. I want to be part of stomping out the darkness and what I love about this event is that people from every walk of life have the opportunity to be part of that,` said Miller. `It’s this moment where people really are willing to take off their blinders and un-numb themselves and do something. It’s absolutely life-giving for me.`
The third `Ride Run Walk 4 Love` steps off at 9 a.m. at Orenda Pavilion in Saratoga Spa State Park on Saturday, Sept. 25, and the day doesn’t end until 3 p.m. For more information about Love146 visit www.love146.org and for information about the event, visit www.rrw4l.com.
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