Presentation to Ladies of Charity teaches ways to help human trafficking victims in Utah and elsewhere
Friday, Oct. 31, 2014
Intermountain Catholic
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Sister Alicia Martin leads the St. Olaf Ladies of Charity in a commissioning ceremony to further commit them to offering their help to victims of human trafficking.
IC photo/Christine Young
LAYTON — The Saint Olaf Ladies of Charity were commissioned by Daughter of Charity Sister Alicia Martin to offer their services for the victims of human trafficking through a prayer ceremony Oct. 25.
The women met at the Daughters of Charity convent in Layton to learn about ways they could help the victims following a report given by Daughter of Charity Superior Sister Germaine Sarrazin, who first heard the topic at a National Ladies of Charity Assembly in 2012.
Sr. Alicia, a religious for 56 years, spoke about her ministry in Chicago involving systemic change and her ministry in mission integration at St. Francis Medical Center in Linwood, Calif. The definition of human trafficking is the recruiting of the most vulnerable, and harboring by force with food, new clothing, modeling careers, and empty promises to mostly women and children in dysfunctional families. The problem is growing all over the United States, she said.
“In Utah it is a problem in the agricultural industry among migrant workers,” Sr. Alicia said. “Salt Lake City is a crossroads to other areas where human trafficking is a bigger problem such as Las Vegas, and victims often fall into traps on the Internet, especially sites with chat rooms; in shopping malls, living on the streets, in massage parlors, salon shops, and corner stores. The average age of runaway children living on the street is 8 years old.”
Valerie Meyers, a Lady of Charity, realized from the discussion how she has to carefully monitor where her children have been on the Internet and their cell phones, she said.
“I really thought my children were safe because I am over protective, but there are loopholes with their friends and the websites they visit,” she said. “My concern is the two hours that my children are home from school alone before I come home from work. We have to be a parent first to our children and not a friend.”
In her talk Sr. Alicia put a personal perspective on human trafficking and the suffering individuals endure by telling some personal experiences she has had with victims. In one incident she said a woman was tricked into being a sex slave after answering an ad she thought would lead her to a modeling career. She was an educated woman and thought she was doing all the right things. She ended up giving away all her identity cards to the perpetrators, including her passport. To escape, she jumped out of a second-floor window and was rescued by a man who called the FBI. The perpetrators were arrested and are serving time in prison, Sr. Alicia said.
To help these victims, “we must first see the face of Christ in those we serve, the charism passed on to us by our founders, Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac,” said Sr. Alicia.
Other ways people can help is to learn the signs of human trafficking, report potential human trafficking activities to the authorities, be conscious consumers and purchase Fair Trade items or items that are not produced by child labor or forced labor. Groups can also have bake sales or raise funds for anti-trafficking organizations in their neighborhoods or local areas, or host an awareness event to view human trafficking documentaries, as well as donate clothing or essential items to survivors.
The patron saint of human trafficking is Saint Josephine Bakhita, an African woman, born in 1869, who was kidnapped and put into slavery in Italy, Sr. Alicia said. “We can pray to her.”
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