THE DRESSEMBER BLOG

At Dressember, we understand everyone’s journey is different, and no survivor is the same. That’s why we partner with survivor-informed organizations to provide holistic aftercare, job skills training, therapy, basic needs support, and more. From Freedom Centers in Bulgaria to residential programs in The Philippines and Uganda, Dressember resources safe housing and trauma-informed aftercare to empower survivors’ sustained liberation. Another way that we support survivors on their healing journey is by helping them get criminal record relief from the illegal activity they were forced to commit while they were being trafficked. Read on to learn about the diverse and innovative aftercare programs you can help resource when you support Dressember.

Human traffickers prey upon people’s vulnerabilities. When tragedy hit Oscar's family, he struggled to cope. Alcohol gave him some solace but led to the loss of his job in construction and, eventually, his family's home. Oscar felt ashamed and did not want to ask for help. So when someone reached out to offer him a lucrative job in construction, Oscar jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, the opportunity was a trap laid by a human trafficker.

The conflict in Ukraine has resulted in the forced displacement of millions of people. It is estimated that more than 90% of these refugees are women and children, who are particularly vulnerable to traffickers. Refugees have a heightened risk of human trafficking due to compounding vulnerabilities such as economic desperation, decreased access to social services and safe shelter, language barriers, and so much more.

Out of sight, out of mind. It can be easy not to think about the people who work so hard to produce things we buy every day when we don't see them. The reality is that in the United States, farm workers do the work that all of us depend on daily because we all need to eat, but they are too often employed for a painfully low wage.

The impact made possible through the Dressember community is dynamic and powerful, particularly in the lives of vulnerable youth. Preventing human trafficking involves addressing root causes and changing systems. We look upstream to acknowledge factors that make certain groups more susceptible to trafficking.

We understand the value of knowing exactly where your money goes when you make a donation. In the anti-trafficking movement, every dollar counts—that's why we are bringing back our Where Does My Money Go blog series. We hope this series will help you better understand how the Dressember Network supports and develops programs in advocacy, prevention, intervention, and survivor empowerment so you can rest assured that your money funds programs that dismantle human trafficking from every angle.

We empower survivors’ sustained liberation through capacity-building initiatives to build long-term stability. Holistic aftercare is a critical part of a survivor’s healing journey, and over the last year, you enabled the Dressember Network to empower survivors in a big way.

The impact made possible on the lives of survivors like Gamya and their families through the Dressember community is far-reaching. Gamya’s story offers just one example of the work we have done together in the last year for victims and survivors around the world. The Dressember Network partners with organizations worldwide that support prosecution and intervention in trafficking situations. Alongside local partners, government, and law enforcement, your support over the last tear enabled the aid of 4,269 victims and the restraint of 3,189 perpetrators of human trafficking across Kolkata and Mumbai in India, Cebu and Manila in the Philippines, and Guatemala.

Shop SOKO's ethical jewelry and use our exclusive discount code "DRESSEMBER20" for 20% off your purchase!

Did you know that when shopping at Madewell, Anthropologie, Reformation, or Marine Layer, you could be supporting independent artisans and a certified B Corp?

Since 2015, SOKO, a women-led, people-first ethical jewelry brand that connects marginalized artisans in Kenya to the global marketplace using mobile technology partners with retailers like the ones above to sell their products. SOKO connects more than 2300 independent and distributed artisans, creating an efficient and demand-responsive "virtual factory." Unlike centralized factory production, SOKO uses technology to enable the human workforce to make a meaningful impact and lasting change.

A critical way to prevent human trafficking and intervene in trafficking situations is to equip those who may encounter potential victims in their everyday jobs to spot the signs of trafficking. Those in the hospitality, transit, and travel industries have an immense opportunity to help saves lives on a regular basis. Over the last year, the Dressember Network has provided crucial training to empower these frontline workers to recognize and report potential instances of human trafficking.

*Kayla, an 11-year-old daughter of a single, working mother, experienced severe childhood trauma which led her to seek attention from men she met on social media. After Kayla drove her mother’s car to meet one such man with her little sister, the girls were placed with a relative caregiver. To ease the transition, Kayla was connected to Operation Independence, a program within the Dressember Network that provides outreach and support to vulnerable youth. With this support, Kayla has become involved with soccer, been able to set goals to improve her self-esteem and self-confidence, and now looks forward to a week-long summer camp and playing basketball.

In September, the Dressember Network’s partner ECPAT-USA filed information with the U.S. Supreme Court on the rights of child trafficking victims and in support of the petition of Courtney Wild, a young woman victimized by Jeffrey Epstein. ECPAT-USA teamed up with a phenomenal team at the law firm WilmerHale that provides free legal services. The Dressember Network recognizes that policy change is most effective and sustainable when it is survivor-informed. ECPAT-USA Survivors’ Council members provided powerful statements to the U.S. Supreme Court on how the law can best support young victims. Survivors play an integral role in our partner’s policy efforts on federal and state levels, to build a system that treats all children with dignity.

Archie, who is 11 years old, works 10 to 12 hour days digging for gold in a pit often flooded with water. During this time, he breathes through a hose connected to a diesel-powered air compressor. At the end of the day, he eats dinner and then goes to sleep to prepare for the next day.

Rafael, who is 12 years old, shares a watering hole with the bulls on a farm where he has worked for five years, paying down his father’s debts.

Taisha, who is 16 years old, spends her days taking care of her grandmothers around the house. Though she is the first member of her family to attend formal schooling, she receives very little support and the extent of her chores has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Kelly, a survivor of human trafficking, told the Polaris Project, “Every time I sent [my application for a potential job] in, I got it returned. It was frustrating. I was finally just going to forget it and say to myself ‘I just won’t ever get a job doing [what I want] because everyone is going to judge me and I have to keep reliving my past.’” Kelly, like many other survivors, has a criminal record as a result of being forced to engage in illegal activity. Her situation is not unique, and, unfortunately, criminal records hold survivors back, impacting their ability to obtain employment, housing, education, benefits and financial assistance, immigration relief or adjustment of status and family stability. Solving the issue of criminal charges for forced crimes requires a holistic approach to providing survivors with access to the resources that they need for successful reentry into society.

If we’re at a dinner party and someone asks what we do, we are unlikely to highlight the awesome cross stitch we completed while watching our new favorite Netflix series, the weekend trip we took to Acadia National Park, the hug we gave our significant other, the long run we went on the other day, or even the book that we read that completely changed our life. We know that what we “do” is inherently our job.

As Malala Yousafzai wrote, “When someone takes away your pens you realize quite how important education is.” For so many women who are able to access exit pathways from trafficking situations, particularly in East Asia, this is precisely the situation. Women who escape brothels in East Asia are often unable to finish basic schooling before they are trafficked. As a result, they often lack the personal and professional skills to be economically independent and are therefore vulnerable to revictimization.

Talia is an 8-year-old survivor of human trafficking. She was deceived by her older brother and trafficked for the purposes of human child sacrifice. During a police raid, her brother was murdered by the witch doctor, but Talia was rescued. Her condition at the time of rescue was severely physically, mentally, and emotionally abused. When she arrived at the Dressember Network partner’s comprehensive residential Aftercare Program, she was extremely traumatized. She relayed to Joy, her case manager, that she wanted to be a policewoman when she grew up so she could find the man who killed her brother and take revenge.

An estimated 60,000 children are involved in the Thai sex trade every year. A significant number are girls who come from the Northern region of Thailand, where poverty forces many to drop out of school while young. Uneducated, yet expected to help provide for their families, these children are easily lured into the sex trade.

Two minors on a bus in South Africa seemed to be avoiding eye contact and social interaction, and sticking close together rather than with the adults accompanying them. A young man noticed that they were speaking a foreign language and the adults with them, posing as their parents, spoke a different foreign language. The young man did not immediately think much of it, as situations like this are not uncommon in South Africa. However, when he heard one of the minors say that their mother was lost, indicating that the woman posing as their mother was in fact not who she purported to be, he was alarmed: if these two adults were not the children’s parents, who were they?