ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING

I love the sun. I mean, I LOVE it. Basking in warm rays of light in my backyard, at the pool, on the beach – it just does wonders for my soul. Sunlight lifts my spirits, eases my depression, warms my bones! Call me crazy, but where the thought of nearly suffocating in this sweltering Louisiana heat makes most people cringe, when it’s sunny outside you will usually find me heading for the door!

Something so simple yet we never, ever, give this freedom a second thought, do we? The freedom of just opening a door and enjoying the sunshine. Or the rain. Or birds singing. Imagine being so controlled that you are literally forbidden to open a door. To leave. You are told when to eat, when to sleep, when to work. Your body is not your own, but belongs to other nasty, filthy, disease ridden individuals over and over and over in a given night. You are shamed. You are beaten. You feel disgusting. You are a slave.

It’s hard to wrap your mind around this reality, isn’t it?

As I’ve met thousands of victims of sex abuse and heard each of their stories over the past 20 years, I can tell you that I still can’t relate to their situations any deeper today than I did on day one, because I don’t live their lives. But one thing I have learned for sure – these boys and girls and men and women are no different than me and you. Whether they were sexually abused once, or are being trafficked and have been abused hundreds of times, they, too, just desire the simple freedoms and pleasures in life that we do. Safety. Security. Playing outside, watching movies, eating McDonald’s, spending time with grandma, seeing their own birth children. They are worth no less than the next person, and they’ve done nothing to deserve what they got. They each have a unique personality and a particular sense of humor. They think and they feel. They experience pain and they experience joy. They just had really bad things happen to them.

As I reflect on these survivors – where life has taken them and the horrors they’ve had to endure – I remind myself how blessed I am, and that I can and should be a blessing to others. I challenge you, too, to thank God for your blessings and freedoms. Simple freedoms. And ask Him to show you how you can pour love into someone, particularly a child who’s been the victim of a crime, or is in harm’s way. You never know how your love and prayers might change the direction of their lives forever.

-Dawn Buquet

Forensic Interviewer/Investigator
Terrebonne Children’s Advocacy Center