Deprivation of freedom is at the heart of human trafficking.
This crime happens all around us—and thrives in plain sight. But, unlike drugs or weapons, human trafficking is about the sale of people. Our daughters and sons. Our neighbors and coworkers.
When vulnerability is exploited, it deprives us of our freedom, robs us of our faith, and denies us our humanity. We feel broken, berated by a disturbing injustice, victimized in a cycle of abuse, and abandoned in a living nightmare.
Those who do survive are led to believe they are condemned to live a life of loneliness, betrayed by the systems built to protect them, and smudged by shame. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Here’s what Freekind is doing about it.
We’re helping to restore freedom.
After suffering untold horrors, many trafficking victims are sent to prison, condemned as if they were complicit in their own abuse. We preserve the best of what makes us human when we show compassion to the most vulnerable and seek to restore rather than blame those who have been victimized. We are a voice of grace, reassuring survivors that their abuse is not their fault and providing an alternative path forward.
We’re renewing hope for the future.
Those who experience human trafficking have been forced out of society and left to believe they are condemned to a life of loneliness. Because traffickers systematically deny the humanity of their victims, we help them see that they are uniquely created, that they have a purpose, that their hopes and dreams of a better life are not in vain, and that we can help them get there.
We’re creating a sense of belonging.
The human need for belonging is universal. It is the common thread that unites people who fall victim to human trafficking—their unmet need and deep desire for belonging. Using the power of healthy relationships, we demonstrate acceptance, help build confidence and trust, and seek to empower survivors to be in community.
See the impact you’ve made possible.
While we have a goal to measurably reduce the rates of revictimization and reincarceration for survivors, the real impact is when those we help refer us, because they trust us, when survivors complete treatment programs and start new jobs, and when we get letters from survivors we’ve served like this one:
“Everything in my journey thus far since the day we met has been because of you. If you hadn’t convinced the judge to let me go to a program I would’ve been in a much different place right now, I guarantee it. Thanks to you I have a daughter that wakes up with her mom every morning. Thank you, thank you for sticking by me. For not giving up on me. I am so grateful for all of you.”
