CHARLOTTE — “I’m sure a lot of you are either startled or just disturbed at the fact that we still have slaves in existence today in our country. We have to start to think that (human trafficking) is affecting us, even though we don’t think it is. And just because we don’t see it, doesn’t mean it is not happening,” warned Kailey Ellis, director of operations for Lily Pad Haven, at a human trafficking seminar Oct. 13.
The human trafficking seminar, offered at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, was sponsored by the parish’s Respect Life Ministry.
Carla Tweddale, Lily Pad Haven’s founder and director, as well as Ellis, spoke to about 100 people about the victims of human trafficking and the resources available to them in the Charlotte metro area.
“North Carolina is a top 10-ranked state within our country, and that should be something that is alarming to all of us,” Tweddale told attendees.
Charlotte-based Lily Pad Haven is a non-profit organization that provides transitional housing to human trafficking victims who have been rescued in the Charlotte area. According to its mission statement, Lily Pad Haven aims to provide human trafficking survivors a place “for healing, a loving home to restore body, mind and spirit.”
The seminar began with a task force presentation by an undercover FBI agent who asked not to be identified. He defined human trafficking as the “use of illegal means to compel person to perform labor, services or a commercial sex act.”
Although it is difficult to assign any accurate statistics to this often hidden crime, he said, it has been estimated as of last year human trafficking was a $31.6 billion per year industry – second only to drug trafficking in profits.
“The human trafficking industry in 2014 made more money than Walmart or a big corporation like GE,” the FBI agent said.
Human trafficking falls in two categories: labor trafficking or sex trafficking.
“Labor trafficking is holding a person in a condition of slavery and through prohibited means such as force, or threats of force,” he said.
Sex traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to lure and then keep their victims in the sex trade.
Human trafficking is a worldwide crime, but sex trafficking is particularly common in the United States, he said. Sex trafficking has been found in every state, and it is also pervasive and widely promoted on the internet, he said.
Speaking about Lily Pad Haven’s guests, Ellis said a typical human trafficking survivor needs “everything. These individuals are starting from the ground up.”
She added, “Traffickers will strip anything they can as a means of control, and to keep them emotionally enslaved, to keep them to do what they need to do and make money.”
Ellis explained that once their clients’ basic needs are met, including finding a safe place to live, helping them overcome the traumatic experience of trafficking becomes more manageable. Lily Pad Haven partners with various community resources to meet the needs of their guests.
“We provide them with a ‘care team,’ a counselor and a case manager that come and meet with them weekly at home to help them deal with a lot of the emotional struggles they are dealing with,” she said. “It’s a person-centered plan. I have to meet them where they’re at, and each person is going to have a different set of goals and a different plan.”
“This is an issue we should all be concerned about because it affects us all. It doesn’t know race or age or socioeconomic background. It’s a problem for all of us to be aware of,” St. Gabriel’s Respect Life coordinator Tammy Harris noted.
— Rico De Silva, Hispanic Communications Reporter
Learn more
For more information about Lily Pad Haven and how to donate or volunteer, go to www.Lilypadhaven.org or call 704-312-2011.