Heather thanks for the post. -I have just discovered a bug in the comment software, so this formatting is going to be a bit screwy.. sorry, I'll look into what's up.

I asked Heater if she would be willing to take some time to write down her thinking and the steps she was taking towards developing an organization in Memphis that would be in a position to assist a victim of human trafficking.

I thought it would be worthwhile to capture the process one person goes through to undertake such an endeavor. Heather very kindly agreed to take the time to write.

As I discussed with Heather, for the time being, I will probably be the only person corresponding with her, as the site does not yet get a lot of traffic. My hope is that as the site builds content and grows in audience, Heather’s writings about the process she is going through will be useful to others.

As Heather described, she believes through her work at the YWCA she has interacted with several victims of trafficking. As she describes, at the time, she did not have the tools or the access to resources to deal with the situation. Furthermore, the women she was interacting with were scared, did not want any intervention, and are now no longer around.

I gave Heather the Department of Justice's 800 number 1-888-428-7581 -I have never called it so I don't know what happens when you do, but as I understand it this is the number for people to call should they feel they have come across a victim of trafficking in the US.

The second recommendation I had was that Heather contact a Memphis District Attorney, as they would have a better understanding of the law enforcement options available in the area.

As Heather described, it does not look like there is much of an infrastructure in Memphis to deal with trafficking issues.

I did find some trafficking related efforts being done by other YWCA groups in the US. I gave Heather a link to the Health and Human services web site that had a link of their partners who were conducting community based counter trafficking efforts of some kind –most I will assume were shelters and maybe awareness campaigns.

As Heather described, we discussed the difference between smuggling and trafficking. I pointed her to the interview on CAFTA, as Mary Delorey gives a good overview of this matter.

I felt this was an important matter to understand, as some people who might have good intentions may inadvertently tell someone using a smuggling network that they are being trafficked only to find that instead of assisting a victim of trafficking they have helped to incarcerate an immigrant residing in the US illegally –I know some US citizens have dedicated much of their free time to this as if it were a sport, but this was not an objective of Heather’s.

Heather described how she wanted to work closely with the community. We discussed sex work and forced labor. As heather mentioned I described, several organizations that I knew of, or spent time with, that I thought would be worthwhile to look into.

I have not interacted with anyone from the Urban Justice Center's Sex Worker Project. However, I have read their material, and felt their work was very close to what Heather was describing she would like to look into.

The two groups I spent time with were Les Amis du Bus des Femmes in Paris, and De Ketelpatrouille in Antwerp. The first link is in French, the second is to a Chicago Public Radio piece on the work of De Ketelpatrouille.

Both groups conduct counseling and harm reduction efforts. Les Amis has a more organized effort that coordinated with state services for human trafficking. Most of De Ketelpatrouille’s clientele are people who would not step into the state’s victims of trafficking protection system.

Both worked nightly on the street, passing out condoms, offering access to medical services, discussing problems, and keeping an eye out for any outstanding issues.

As I described to heather, Les Amis has a mini-van that drives around Paris different nights of the week. The people working in prostitution get on board and have a coffee. A doctor asks them how they are, and they chat... it is usually small talk. If the doctor does not recognize the men or women –the night I rode on the bus it was all women, he takes out a model that has several different shaped actual size plastic penises standing vertically upright. He asks the person if they know how to use a condom and then asks them to put a condom on several of the different penises. This allows him to see if they indeed know proper condom usage.

There is also a guide written in several different languages about oral sex, anal sex, dealing with feces and blood, how to deal with violent clients, where to keep your money, checking that the door opens before you get all the way into a car, etc... and of course the contact information of the organization.

De Ketelpatrouille works almost completely by word of mouth. Though, several members cell phone numbers are widely distributed. Volunteers, including the director, are almost every night visiting the various bars in Antwerp, where many of the women meet clients. De ketelpatrouille also had a shelter and a kitchen that was open to the community, this was closed over a year ago by the city of Antwerp.

Most of our latter discussions centered around harm prevention. I sent Heather a link to a site describing harm reduction efforts in other countries.

I described to Heather how the current US human trafficking political arena is not supportive of all harm reduction efforts. Many harm reduction efforts are perceive by some as promoting prostitution as a legitimate form of work. This perception has cut off funding for many organizations trying to slow the spread of HIV/ AIDS or who are working in areas where victims of trafficking might more readily be found.

As we discussed, for many politicians, organizations, and journalists, sex trafficking get more attention than labor trafficking in the human trafficking arena. With this in mind, we discussed ways to be present within the community to learn about trafficked labor.

I thought that contacting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers might be worthwhile. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is very involved in farm worker rights, and has helped break several forced labor camps in Florida. I thought that introducing yourself and your organization to the various ethnic community organizations, may also prove worthwhile. I have also been following the Herndon Day Labor site. I think efforts like this create community checks to help keep an eye open for trafficked labor.

If the political climate in the US continues to grow more antagonistic towards people residing illegally in the US and the resolve to enact migration policies that more accurately reflect US economic practices remains limited, human traffickers will find an environment very condusive to the exploitation of the vulnerable. Couple this with the current trade practices being pushed by the US that could lead to an increase in irregular migration, and the problem is only going to get exacerbated -see interview on CAFTA. Organized day labor sites might prove to be one way to help communities keep an ear open for such exploitations -they are a front line organization.

As we discussed, we both felt that a non-judgmental, “non-proselytizing� environment was going to be the best way to develop trust with those Heather wanted to interact with.

We also discussed the difference between doing social work and law enforcement. This is a topic that I believe should get some attention and one that I could make an effort in following up on through some interviews. I think the work of the aforementioned groups is very important in this regard. In short the key to being accepted by a community that exists within the shadows of our society is trust. Developing a relationship with law enforcement must be done with caution as many of the clientele Heather would be dealing with are breaking US law. This is a tricky issue, and one that I will try and follow up on. Having said that I believe that developing a relationship with law enforcement is very important as they too are on the front lines.

One point that I think is important to highlight. While much of our discussion centered around human trafficking, the efforts that we discussed were not human trafficking centric, but instead human trafficking aware. I think this is a very important distinction. Many people ask what can they do to help counter human trafficking efforts. Along with awareness and education, I think that in a destination country like the US, the most results may come from groups and individuals that are involved in assiting the most vulnerable in our communities. The work is not directly related to human trafficking, but it is the awareness and preparedness that will allow the group or individual to act, should the need present itself.

This means working with labor groups, sex worker projects, immigrant assistance projects, housing efforts, etc... or starting your own endeavour where you see the need.

Heather’s work already puts her on the “front line�. It was through this work that she wanted to become more human trafficking aware, and create an organization that could assist a victim of trafficking should the opportunity arise.

As we discussed, I felt that as she developed more contacts and more relationships in her work Memphis would be able to have a network of various organizations that were trafficking aware, and could offer assistance should the opportunity presented itself. Another benefit of such a networked effort was that it provided the channel through which education and awareness programs could occur.

Well... I think I went on for a bit, so I'll call it quits here. Thanks again for your willingness to share your thoughts and your process Heather. I look forward to continued correspondence.

-Aden

This link has a lot of information and resources on the DOJ web site
http://www.usdoj.gov/whatwedo/whatwedo_ctip.html