Jobs Must Be Part of the Solution
When Rebecca was 18, she was a teen mother. She met a handsome and charismatic man who she thought would complete her family of two. After six months, he invited her to move to a new state with him. She saw it as the start of a new future, thinking they would get married and buy a house.
But that dream ended before it even began. The day after she moved in with him, her boyfriend told Rebecca he wanted to take her out on the town. “Get dressed up,” she remembers him saying, and he organized childcare for her baby. But instead of taking her to a nice restaurant, he took her to a townhouse where a man waited inside to have sex with her. Her “boyfriend” turned to her and explained that he needed money for their apartment and to feed her child—and Rebecca had to pay him. Now.
Rebecca was suddenly terrified. Her “boyfriend” became physically abusive in the car, and he threatened not to tell her where her child was unless she did what he asked. He forced her to go inside the townhouse that day, and for the next several years, that “boyfriend” was her trafficker. He physically abused Rebecca and sold her for sex with other men, keeping all the money. She tried to run away with her daughter several times, but he would find her and punish her, and he threatened to harm her child if she did not do what he wanted. It was not until her trafficker was finally arrested that Rebecca and her daughter were able to escape that situation.
Today, Rebecca is one of the most well-known survivor leaders in the anti-trafficking movement. She leads the Rebecca Bender Initiative and regularly speaks about the importance of human trafficking survivors being able to have access to jobs so they can break free of their traffickers. A lack of employment opportunities is one of the biggest barriers human trafficking survivors face when attempting to leave their abusers to rebuild their lives. In Rebecca’s words:
"I can tell you that running was not the hard part. The hard part was choosing poverty. The hard part was starting over at age 26, with an eight-year-old girl, and being homeless. The hard part was having a criminal record, a huge gap in job history, and more trauma than any person should live with. The hard part was, 'What now?'"
The answer to, “What now?” is that jobs must be part of the solution to stopping human trafficking.
For over 12 years, Engedi Refuge has been a safe place for women to go when they flee their exploiters. We have helped over 100 women leave their trafficking situations and rebuild their lives. Over the years, we have learned that a lack of employment opportunities is one of the most serious barriers faced by human trafficking survivors when they attempt to start a new life that is free from abuse and exploitation. Without financial independence, survivors face the risk of re-exploitation if they cannot provide for their basic needs or the basic needs of their children.
Obtaining a job can be especially difficult for survivors of human trafficking. Since many of the women in our program were first trafficked as children, their education has often been interrupted due to their exploitation. Many survivors also lack employment experience and work references. This often makes getting an interview for a job difficult without help.
That’s why Engedi Refuge has intentionally made vocational training and employment coaching a key component of our restoration program. One of the most concrete ways for the women in our program to be able to reclaim their dignity and foster independence is through a job. It’s what makes survivors’ rehabilitation sustainable in the long term.
Engedi Refuge works with Whatcom County businesses to hire survivors, and this is one of the most critical ways that businesses in our community can make a big difference in stopping human trafficking. By providing survivors an opportunity to work, Whatcom County businesses can help survivors break free from their past and move towards a brighter future.
If your business would like to offer employment opportunities for Engedi Refuge’s program graduates, please contact us today.