Raising awareness of human trafficking ‘soul work, head work, heart work’

An online workshop Wednesday aimed to raise awareness of human trafficking, including who are common victims, in what industries trafficking is most common and ways that people can find themselves trapped.

Patricia McDonald, Siena Heights professor and Adrian Dominican Sister, led the workshop “Raising Our Consciousness About Human Trafficking” Wednesday.

The Lenawee Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition hosted the workshop. Most of the participants were female, and MacDonald said that was not uncommon. She said it is due to the nature of the human trafficking relationships in a male-dominated society and that it is important to raise awareness of human trafficking in the general population, so that when someone sees something, they say something.

Human trafficking comes in the form of sex and labor slavery, MacDonald said. A red flag may be timidity in the persons being trafficked. They are unable to speak up. They do not feel like they control their circumstances. They are afraid to be assertive.

Some hot spots for trafficking include:

• Health care.
• Carnivals.
• Factories and manufacturers.
• Hotels and hospitality.
• Construction.

Society profits from human trafficking with lower prices and convenience, but the victims have trouble coexisting because their very purpose is to be used.

Another red flag may be that the subjects do not have possession of their own travel documents. Someone else may be holding onto them for them.

The people who are trafficked are often held captive by the very people they went to for help. They may be immigrants, for example, who have come to the U.S. for a better life. They may have been promised a job, but when it comes time for payday, they find out that their pay mostly goes toward room and board or something similar.

“They don't own their own person,” MacDonald said. “They don't own their own decision-making.”

The work ahead in raising awareness about human trafficking is “soul work, head work, heart work,” MacDonald said.

“I think we can make a difference in raising consciousness,” MacDonald said. “And we will be creating the leaders that will take our place.”