Megan Smith Pennington JO250 In Your Backyard Human Trafficking in Boston BOSTON Monday December 2, Amirahs fifth resident

moved into their safe home located on the North Shore that opened this September. Amirah, often referred to as Amirah Boston, is a non-profit organization that began in 2009 dedicated to providing transformative individual aftercare addressing physical, mental, emotional, and practical needs for each survivor of commercial exploitation in their care. Our hope for the Amirah resident program is to continue to raise awareness, and to serve more women, human trafficking survivor and advocate Jasmine Fiandaca said. Human trafficking is a global problem, yet interviews around Boston revealed peoples lack of knowledge about it and its prevalence in Boston. They do it a lot over in the other countries. I would be a little surprised if it was around here, said street interviewee Carly Campbell, who resides in Mashpee, MA. If someone were to tell me that it is a big problem in the area I would be surprised. I would only expect things like that to happen in the movies, Michael Muoz, a Boston University student from California, said.

Most other Boston University students either did not know or did not think about human trafficking. Human trafficking? To be honest I have no idea. I really dont know what that is, Betty Huang, a junior at BU from China, said. I imagine human trafficking has to exist here in Boston because it is a major metropolitan area and a point of entry into the U.S., but to be honest its not something Ive really thought about, Samuel Ghilardi, a sophomore at BU from Chicago, said. The truth is that human trafficking and prostitution is happening in the United States as well. Its happening all over this city, all over Boston, Fiandaca said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services human trafficking, defined as a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex, debt bondage, or forced labor, is the fastest growing black market activity in the world.

The U.S. Department of Justice states human trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry, just behind drug trafficking.

The CIA estimates 1 million people are enslaved in the U.S. alone.

To people who claim women in the life of prostitution who do not have a pimp are there by choice, Fiandaca shared I know from my own personal experience: you dont want to be there. It is dark, and it is hopeless. Fiandaca continued, I really dont believe that little girls grow up dreaming of becoming a prostitute. She also explained that the difference between human trafficking and prostitution is negligible, Its the same thing, just a different name, Fiandaca said. When asked why more people dont speak out from a survivors standpoint, Fiandaca expressed that there is an intense amount of shame. I know how heavy the shame is, because I myself dealt with that, Fiandaca said. You just cant talk about [human trafficking] to everybody, because of the stigma, because the word prostitution seems like such a dirty word. Its hard to escape the life and its hard to talk to people about it.

Fiandaca began volunteering at Amirah in 2010 and was brought on board as staff in August before the home opened in September. As a human trafficking survivor, Fiandaca has a unique role in the lives of the women to whom the organization ministers. I meet with the women oneon-one, and I walk through the journey with them and just support them no matter where they are at. Some are coming in with a little bit more time of recovery; some are coming out of the life just recently. I just come along as that voice, as that support. I share my story with them, share

my hope with them, let them know that it is a long journey and it can be painful at times, but it is just so worth it for the freedom in the end is incredibly sweet, Fiandaca said.

Amirah is the only safe home located in the entire North East working to help women who are human trafficking survivors break free from the shame, the guilt, and all the things theyve been through, Fiandaca said. Amirah hopes to open more homes in the North and South Shore areas, although, unfortunately its a really expensive project. Were not federally or state funded, Fiandaca said. It is hard for us [Amirah] to get the word out because people dont know this is a problem.

The Amirah board needs to raise approximately $30K by the end of December to cover 2013 costs. This is a very full time at Amirah, said Carmen Maianu, the organizations interim executive director.

Amirah is dedicated to bringing freedom and restoration to women held in physical, psychological and spiritual bondage. We live in a culture where its ok, people think its ok, to buy and sell human beings, Fiandaca said. It does happen here. People think that because we are in America we are safe and human trafficking is a third world problem but its everywhere. Any city has some form of trafficking going on. It is happening here in our own backyards, said Joshua Fry, 19, a BU student from New York.

Fiandaca grew up in Boston and was trafficked here at the age of 19. She was a friend, a classmate, a daughter. Now, she is a survivor.

Amirah hopes to not only rescue victims, but also spread awareness. Fiandaca hopes to make this message clear: Women are not for sale. It is not okay to buy and sell human beings.