Human Trafficking Awareness month

In the Booth with Ruth – Nikolaos Al-Khadra, Child Trafficking Survivor and Anti-Human Trafficking Activist

When his father discovered he was gay, Nikolaos Al-Khadra was thrown out of the family home. On the streets, he was prey for pimps. He says, “I had become so mentally beat down by these men. I thought sex was my only skill. First, I was brainwashed, then conditioned by this lifestyle and at the end, dehumanized… I live with high amounts of PTSD… This message needs to get out about the amount of trauma associated with commercial sex.” For his advocacy work he says, “I let them know they’re not alone in this war, their soul is worth more than to be sold.”

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Nikolaos Al-Khadra

How did you become involved in the movement against sex trafficking and sexual exploitation?

It happened when I quit nursing school. I was in counselling at the time just starting to deal with my past as an escort. That’s when I found my calling in life to be a social worker. In some of my first classes, I learned that social work was not just case management. And I knew that too from my past experience of having a case worker oversee services I needed when I had full blown AIDS.

While I was doing a research project for one of my classes, I noticed so many loopholes in state policies when it came to prosecuting those involved in youth prostitution. The victims, being the kids, were prosecuted and the adults, johns and pimps, were just fined. Then I saw something in my own past being a possible key as…

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In the Booth with Ruth – Natasha Sandy, Ally to Victims of Sex Trafficking & Sexual Exploitation

“The sex trade is soul destroying for the vast majority of those in it and it has to go,” says Natasha Sandy, an ally to the prostitution/sex slavery trade abolition movement. “Listening to and letting survivor voices shape our actions is critical because these people are the ultimate experts and authorities on the subject.”

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Natasha Sandy

How did you become involved in supporting the abolition of prostitution?

By coming across sex trade survivors’ blogs – reading these blogs was and continues to be a mind-blowing, opening, altering experience and some of the best and most intense education I’ve had in my life. It leaves no doubt in my heart that the sex trade is soul destroying for the vast majority of those in it and it has to go.

What draws you to support people who are prostituted? 

Survivor voices deeply touch my heart and my sense of humanity. There’s no way I can sit idly by knowing the horrors endured inside the sex trade and the deep bio-psycho-social-spiritual wounds it creates. I like, respect, and want to be part of a movement that cares about the well-being of a population that society dismisses and deems disposable, because nobody is disposable. The massive ignorance around, and ignoring of, the prostituted is…

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In the Booth with Ruth – Anna Beard, Child Trafficking Survivor and Anti-Human Trafficking Activist and Advocate

“While I was being trafficked, I had no idea that it was trafficking,” says Anna Beard, Child Trafficking Survivor and Anti-Human Trafficking Activist and Advocate. “The reason I had no idea was because there was no awareness of what trafficking was… the grooming and manipulation tactics used by traffickers. This was how I was able to fall under the control of one… If I knew the signs concerning human trafficking, I would not have fallen victim to it. Now that I have gained restoration, I have a heart to bring awareness to the public – specifically at-risk youth. I want to bring an end to unawareness and promote education as a method of prevention.”

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Anna Beard

How did you become involved in the movement against sex trafficking and sexual exploitation?

Unfortunately, I was trafficked at the age seventeen by a co-worker who was forty years old. I was in that situation while still attending high school, until I was nineteen. During that time, I was forced to do unthinkable things and experienced extreme sexual violation through manipulation and brainwashing while participating in his ‘art project’. I didn’t find out until years later that what I was actually doing was pornography.

What draws you to support people who are trafficked and sexually exploited?

While I was being trafficked, I had no idea that it was trafficking. The reason I had no idea was because there was no awareness of what trafficking was. My situation began in 2003 and although the law regarding human trafficking was established in 2000, there was still no awareness about the grooming and…

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