Four Things You Can Do To Help

BY GUEST BLOGGER, DELFINA HOXHA (ALBANIA)

By definition, a sex trafficking victim is a person suffering extreme distress in a relationship that is exploitive. What happens when the victim is part of a vulnerable and susceptible group such as children? Crimes include trafficking for sexual purposes, prostitution, sex tourism, early marriage, pornography, stripping, and many others. (1)

We say children are the future, but they won't be able to create a better, safer future for everyone if their present isn't safe. Human trafficking is reported to be an issue and have victims in as many as 158 countries, (2) 28% of the victims being kids. (3)

These figures are truly heartbreaking, and trafficked youth needs us - to raise our voices, to speak up on their behalf, to educate ourselves and the people around us. 

By doing so, we raise awareness on the matter and make it easier for victims to speak up and ask for help.

A lot of kids in the horrible world of sex trafficking don't even consider themselves victims, which means they don't seek for help immediately. One of the reasons is that they blame themselves for what has happened to them. Another one is not being able to fully trust the police or the people around them because of the way sex traffickers try to brainwash children, women, etc.

Here are four things you can do to help.

1. Be aware

Youth are prone to manipulation, seeing as their personalities are still forming and their experiences limited. Talking about abuse, be it with them or with your friends, family, and coworkers makes it easier for children and all of us to become aware of early signs of child sex trafficking. Similarly, we'll be more inclined to speak up when we notice them, and thus, do something about it. Prevention is the best cure.

2. Create safe spaces

By providing a non-judgmental safe space for children, encouraging them to talk about their issues and thoughts, you might be saving a life (or five). Try to get to know the kids in your area or school. Their trust may be broken by their exploiters, so having a group or even just a single person they know they can rely on makes a world of difference. 

3. Recognize risk factors

Recognizing youth at risk is quite important, and some of the risk factors include: homelessness/runaway kids; prior history of abuse; having mental health issues; and being LGBTQIA. (4) Children in these high-risk groups are more prone to being abused, so being extra attentive to children in these situations and providing more guidance and help with what we can with them would prove to be a smart choice.

4. Support the cause

The more of us fight, the safer children everywhere in the world will be. You can join organizations, donate, or volunteer for a local center caring for sexually abused children. 100% of the funds we earn from affiliate programs goes directly to the rehabilitation of children rescued from sex trafficking. How can you help us with this? It's simple, by shopping through our link at Amazon, Goodshop or Groupon. Get your shopping fix on while supporting a cause you believe on, all with a click.

We at One Bread Foundation and the children thank you for everything you're doing.

NOTES: 

1. Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2013. Pg. 2. Retrieved from https://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/243838.pdf. Accessed December 2017.

2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016. Vienna, Austria: UNODC; 2016. Pg. 12. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2016_Global_Report_on_Trafficking_in_Persons.pdf. Accessed December 2017.

3. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016. Vienna, Austria: UNODC; 2016. Pg. 6. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2016_Global_Report_on_Trafficking_in_Persons.pdf. Accessed December 2017.

4. Polaris Project. Sex Trafficking in the U.S.: A Closer Look at U.S. Citizen Victims. Pg. 4. Retrieved from https://polarisproject.org/sites/default/files/us-citizen-sex-trafficking.pdf. Accessed December 2017.

BIO:

Delfina Hoxha is a psychology graduate writer speaking up about mental health, feminism, self-love, human rights, meditation, and body positivity, among other topics. She believes mental health is the new black and wants to live in a world where everyone is kind and true, to themselves and others.

What A Nightmare…

BY HEATHER COAKLEY

As the newest staff member of One Bread Foundation, I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself.

I am one of those people who loves "lingo" and enjoys finding creative ways to express the basics. My best friend is actually known for making hyperbole into an art form, and I am not far behind her in that regard. Over the past few years, I've realized that there are some exaggerations that are maybe not the best to use, simply because words are powerful in shaping our thoughts. For example, I've been trying to train my children, ages 9 and 7, not to say "I'm starving" but rather to say "I'm very hungry" because they know nothing of actual starvation. They likely learned the phrase from me, and I'm working to change the way I speak about things to match the truth of the situation.

Since joining One Bread, I've started feeling convicted about another phrase that rolls off my tongue easily and often, namely my habit of referring to an unfortunate event as "a nightmare." In reality, my not being able to find a spot in the Trader Joe's parking lot when I only have fifteen minutes to run in before picking my kids up from school is not a nightmare. Looking in the mirror after a long conversation with someone at the hole-in-the-wall taco bar and finding that I had cilantro in my teeth is not a nightmare. Children who are held in captivity - whether the chains that hold them are literal or psychological - and forced to perform acts that no child should ever be exposed to, let alone participating in... THAT is a nightmare.

I am connected to One Bread Foundation for likely the same reasons that you are reading this blog post. We all want to see justice on the earth. We want to see children living in safety and freedom. We can't fix this nightmare overnight, but we can do SOMETHING. Let's do something. Let's do something together.

The Events page of our website lists upcoming community awareness events sponsored by One Bread Foundation. Each one is an opportunity to educate ourselves and raise money while connecting with like-minded people who want to see a different future for children who desperately need our help. Will you please put these dates on your calendar and plan to join us there?

Free the Chained

BY MELANIE BALDAIA

What joys in your life are you grateful for? Have they been given to you or did you have to earn them? Do you recognize the freedom you have to pursue joy in the first place? Imagine something for a minute if you can. Imagine a life where you are forced to work for almost no pay (or no pay at all) in a place where you cannot wear a clean comfortable uniform, you are drugged constantly in order to perform your duties, and if you try to quit your job your family is at risk of being killed. Most of us can’t really wrap our minds around this kind of existence. I hear a lot of people complain about their jobs, but if any of the conditions applied to a typical establishment, this would probably be a national outrage. It exists today however. These are just some of the horrors that real people face in underworld of human trafficking. Human trafficking is proliferating around the globe. Most people probably think they are unaffected by this new kind of slavery, but we cannot completely disconnect ourselves from it. It even occurs in our local communities.Weneed to be the pliers to break the chains of slavery today.

Maybe you have heard about human trafficking in the past. Maybe you think this is just another irrelevant message about an issue you don’t feel you can combat. Many people, whether out of ignorance or apathy, falsely believe that the dark world of human trafficking is somehow beyond their capability to fight.  Here is the truth, you can and should join in the fight against modern slavery. Is it not our responsibility as human beings to look out for one another?

What steps can you take to help those in need? ADVOCATE. Speaking on behalf of the victims worldwide ( a heavy portion of whom are children) is one of the biggest tools that can be used by every day people like you and I. EDUCATE others. More people need to be informed on the horrors of this terrible industry.  COLLABORATE. Use your skills to raise awareness of this problem. All of these things are crucial to ending the torment of the victims in this evil system of slavery. You CAN help! OneBread foundation is showing you the way. You can donate by shopping on Amazon or Groupon from the onebread website. http://one-bread.org

Victims, NOT Prostitutes!

BY DAVID P. BERNAL

It is not unusual for a teen selling sex to deny that she’s working for someone else, even if against her will.  However, that is exactly what’s going on.

Due to the increase in internet sites offering young girls for escort services, among other things, this problem continues to grow.

Here is the bottom line that the community needs to understand:

“People who are having sex with children are not “Johns” and “Tricks”.  They are child rapists and pedophiles, so we should call then what they are.” - Jada Pinkett Smith

Besides the abduction of children (some as young as 8 or 10 years old), there is the luring of teens via the internet by so-called friends or boyfriends expressing interest in the child.  The abductors and pimps are not always the same person, but the result is the same.  A child or teen is forced to have sex against his/her will with strangers for payment.

The pimps in our area are making $35,000 per week! By selling CHILDREN.

So, we are on a mission to educate the public about human trafficking in the United States.  This growing multi-billion-dollar industry is a cancer growing in our society which must be eradicated.  

The assumption has been that the person selling themselves for sex, was doing so of their own accord and free will.  Yet sex with children and teens does not fall into this category.  

What discernment or discretion does a 14 or 16-year-old have, especially with threatened harm to themselves or their loved ones?

Slavery was wrong before the emancipation proclamation, and it is still wrong today.

We are asking our friends, family members and anyone who will listen to help us make an impact on our culture.

As we move forward with this critical mission of Advocating, Educating and Collaborating with others - all we ask is that you lend your support by shopping online from our website and encouraging others to do the same.

Will you help us to rehabilitate these victims today?! Or will you continue to sit on the sidelines while they continue in slavery?

Value of One Person

By David P. BernaL

“I’m wanting to love them for who they are, where they are, in that moment, whatever that looks like. That is the person I’ve been entrusted with … and I’m called to do something for that person …” —Michele Van Fossen

Michele Van Fossen is not a counselor, a therapist, a pastor, or a priest. Not in the traditional sense of those words. Michele is a hairstylist, and she sees her everyday job as a vehicle for healing the people who sit in her chair.

Pastors do not have a monopoly on ministry. Whatever you do, wherever your work takes you, God has uniquely equipped you to serve and to meet people at their point of need. God has the power to redeem broken hearts and hopeless situations, through your work. You’re probably a lot like Michele. You can probably tell your own story of the sacredness of your work, and the miraculous ways God transforms the ordinary interactions of your day.

These moments of healing and hope that evolve through the course of any regular day? They are no coincidence. We partner with God as we put our hand to the plow—cultivating the ground beneath our feet, literally and figuratively. We carry the image of the Almighty God with us. When we surrender the work of our hands to his miraculous care, God breaks through, changing us, and those we serve, forever, and for good.

Please come join us and help change the world.  Our calling is to Advocate (for those without a voice), Educate (our communities) of the horrors involved with Human Trafficking and Collaborate (with others involved in both the rescue and rehabilitation efforts).   

What is the value of one person’s redeemed life?

Reclaiming the Lives of Children

BY DAVID P. BERNAL, CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Sex trafficking of minors remains a dirty secret in the San Francisco Bay Area; however, One Bread Foundation, Inc. and our supporters want to bring it into the light.

California has the weather which is the envy of most of the nation. Hundreds of thousands of new faces visit Northern California each year. We are an exciting vacation and convention destination. Sadly, people coming in to the Bay Area often leave their morals at home, and that makes them buyers of sex.

In the Bay Area dozens of minors are moved each month along networks of human trafficking.  While this information will never appear in our Chamber of Commerce or travel brochures, we are uniquely positioned to become a larger stop on the sex trafficking circuit.

Human Traffickers, who make their money by selling the innocence of children and shattering families, view the greater San Francisco Bay Area as an opportunity to sell bodies in San Francisco, Oakland and the surrounding areas.

Compounding the problem is the fact that human trafficking is a difficult and unpleasant issue to tackle. Many people simply cannot believe that it exists, or that it exists even within our own backyards. It does. Here are a few of the issues surrounding sex trafficking that you may be unaware of:

• Discrepancies exist in the reporting of incidents, especially when it involves a minor.
• Young victims of sex trafficking are often entrenched in complicated dependent relationships with their captors, unaware that they’re being forced into prostitution.
• Legislation involving sex trafficking is ineffective, and intervention work by law enforcement and social services is challenging. Lawmen, government agents, lawmakers and victims’ advocates are working to build their own anti-trafficking network. 
• Human slavery - once thought to be a thing of the past, now involves adults and children alike.
• Minor sex trafficking occurs in both suburban and urban communities, wealthy and poor families, and racially diverse communities; but, minors who come from impoverished households may be especially vulnerable to victimization. In short, it can happen to anyone and anywhere.
• Events that drive tourists to the Bay Area increase reports of trafficking.
• Some victims are immigrants pressed into service as sex slaves, or youths sometimes lured away from malls and other public areas in the anonymity of a crowd.

The path to wholeness is long and complex. The needs of these victims include, but are not limited to: therapy, addiction treatment, housing and basic life skills.  Not the least of which are education and job skills.

Our goal is to eradicate child sex trafficking through public awareness, partnering with other organizations and law enforcement agencies.

Some escort services now cater to offering children between the ages of 8 and 16.  The very thought should sicken all of us!  

Both the buyers and sellers of child sex must be prosecuted.  Specifically, the solicitation of the rape of a minor, soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means, and trafficking for a commercial sex act – are crimes to be punished. I firmly believe that mandatory sentences should be imposed.

Perhaps, what bothers me most is this is a case of Supply and Demand.  Sex trafficking is growing with the use of new technologies, and the perversion of sex with children can be found online.

We are seeing in some poorer cities or counties a higher rate of sex trafficking.  But, poverty is not the single reason for the rise in sex trafficking – but, it certainly is a driver.

Whenever we talk about human trafficking right here in our own backyards, people typically say, "I had no idea." By increasing awareness, we reduce, bit-by-bit, the freedom traffickers have to operate here.

So, what can you do?  

Host a benefit event, art show, bike ride, walkathon or other awareness/fundraiser to help keep other young people free, or for global anti-slavery work. Be creative!

Some practical suggestions include: contacting your local assembly person, state senator or representative in congress.  You can support our funding of rehabilitation of children rescued from their life of slavery.  And, you can always help spread the word! Helping can be as simple as shopping online starting from our website (http://one-bread.org).

Human Trafficking Is On the Rise

BY DAVID P. BERNAL, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Human trafficking is now estimated to generate $150 billion in illegal profits annually. That is an increase of 368% since the last reporting in 2009. Human trafficking is constantly evolving, and so is our approach. The problem is bigger than ever before. Understanding the problem is the first step toward becoming the solution.

During the financial crisis between 2007 and 2010, the average U.S. household lost 40% of its wealth. As the economy sputtered and unemployment soared, one global industry was doing better than ever: human trafficking. Having grown from an estimated $32 billion in 2009, it is now a business, generating $150 billion in illegal profits every year. It exists in virtually every country in the world, and unfortunately it is growing here in our back yard.

Hopefully, you care enough about our country and these victims which include an increasing number of children to help us.  Thank you for your consideration.

Ignorance & Want

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ADVOCATE | EDUCATE | COLLABORATE

May 1, 2014

Ignorance & Want

BY DAVID P. BERNAL, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Ignorance and Want.  These are the enemies that Charles Dickens referenced in his famous Christmas Carole story.

Yet, there is an abundance of both right here within the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Our desire is to combat both, and recruit like-minded individuals.

St. Martin de Porres School is one organization that is combating ignorance and investing in our future leaders.  However, the goal of raising $600,000 for Tuition Assistance by June 30, 2014 is a necessity because their students living in North and West Oakland come from some of the poorest neighborhoods in the Bay Area.  The parents of these students, desire the best education for their children - just like you and I do for ours.

By the grace of God, this is our third year sponsoring the STMDP Soccer Program.  So, I am asking you to search your heart to determine what you can do.  If you cannot donate to either or our project, then at least shop with us to enable us to dedicate our profits to this worthy cause. Thank you.