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Trafficking Free Zones Explained — How Everyday People Can Help Prevent Human Trafficking
68 Plays19 days ago
In this episode of the Trafficking Free America Podcast, survivor-leader Oree Freeman sits down with Jeremy Hicks to break down one of the most practical and accessible ways communities can prevent human trafficking: Trafficking Free Zones.
This conversation clarifies what Trafficking Free Zones are (and what they are not), why you don’t need to be an expert or rescuer to make a difference, and how education, awareness, and readiness can create safer environments in businesses, churches, schools, and neighborhoods.
Drawing from lived experience and real-world implementation, Oree and Jeremy explore how prevention often begins long before trafficking occurs, why consistency matters more than heroics, and how small, informed actions can change outcomes for vulnerable people.
This episode continues the mission of Trafficking Free America—equipping everyday people with practical tools to respond to trafficking in a thoughtful, survivor-informed, and Christ-centered way.
🔗 Learn more about Trafficking Free Zones: https://USIAHT.org/TraffickingFreeZone
✝️ Become an Abolitionist: https://USIAHT.org/Abolitionist
🎧 Subscribe to Trafficking Free America for survivor-led conversations and practical ways to make a difference.
🕒 Episode Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction: why Trafficking Free Zones matter
1:06 – You don’t have to be an expert to help
2:04 – Moving from rescue myths to readiness
3:46 – Why “see something, say something” isn’t enough
5:16 – What Trafficking Free Zones actually are
7:05 – How businesses, churches, and schools can participate
9:14 – Survivor story: why consistency changes everything
11:23 – Showing up without having all the answers
13:15 – How to respond safely when you notice something
15:52 – Prevention starts before trafficking happens
18:30 – Community awareness as protection
21:12 – Everyone has a role—stop trying to do everything
24:24 – Final encouragement: readiness over heroics
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Purpose of Specialization
00:00:00
Speaker
I think that's where people have gotten off track in this fight to end human trafficking. We all think we're just supposed to be doing the same thing or we all think we're supposed to be doing everything. I go back to a podcast you did with Kevin where you said the weakness of most organizations is them trying to do what they're not good at.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome to the Trafficking Free America podcast where I'm your host, Ori Freeman. And today we have a familiar face, a very special guest, Jeremy Hicks. Hey Jeremy, how you doing?
00:00:37
Speaker
How you doing, aie I'm doing really good. It's really great to have you back. um I know our audience is very familiar with you and all your expertise in all the various different areas.
00:00:51
Speaker
So thank you for joining us today.
What is a Trafficking Free Zone?
00:00:53
Speaker
i wanted the audience to learn a little bit more about our trafficking freeze zones. Can you elaborate a little bit about our programming and what you actually help implement and get off the ground?
00:01:06
Speaker
Sure. um First, I want to comment to say that I am not an expert ah in ah anti-human trafficking. I've just been involved. And that's honestly what the Trafficking Free Zone is about it's about. It's not about being an expert.
00:01:22
Speaker
It's not about being the person that um is going to charge everybody and and like be the hero of and sisters just start rescuing everyone or all around. it's It's not what I've learned really from you a lot too, Ori, is it's not about rescuing.
History & Challenges of Trafficking Free Zones
00:01:44
Speaker
It is about it's about caring first. Being ready to engage. It's this idea of like no one wants to go to war, but we need to be ready for it. It's that sort of um mentality. um And the trafficking free zone was first established by the U.S. Institute.
00:02:03
Speaker
um ah You know, probably, i guess, 2017, I think, is when it actually officially launched. um And just to give a little history about it, it was it was launched as this idea of like, let's educate neighborhoods, cities, counties, so and so forth. It was almost kind of like a political movement in a way. Like, let's go after the the big dogs and work their way down sort of situation.
00:02:28
Speaker
And if you remember 2017, before 2020, and and and ah where everyone was involved as much online as they are right now, um it was it was more person to person, you know? And and so we had a full-time person going after that. um And when we looked at the analysis of like what it would be to have a county, you know, ah be a trafficking freeze, and I'll get into what that really means in a moment,
00:02:54
Speaker
It it. It was so expensive. like It's it's it's so expensive to do trainings like that because you're talking about how do we help everyone in our county know the signs, know what to do if you see something.
00:03:10
Speaker
Right. Because what do we see everywhere? If you see something, say something. I was a person who's like, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to see? Like, thank you for the see something, say something bumper sticker, but I'm going to need a little bit more if you actually want me to make an impact.
00:03:29
Speaker
And so the trafficking free zone was this whole education thing of of of how do we help people Normal citizens just be aware of what's happening, the truth of what's happening, not just what we see from movies and so on on and so forth. And how are you actually supposed to respond legally and effectively? Because.
00:03:48
Speaker
i don't know, I've learned this, you know, ah through through my time. educating myself with interviews, content, so on and so forth, which is what I do here at the U S Institute is I create help. I help voices be shared so that we can hear exactly what I've learned. I mean, Ori, if I would just randomly saw you,
00:04:07
Speaker
Um, and when, when you were going through everything, I don't think you wanted me to just barge right in, grab your forearm and be like, I got you a baby. And we run away. Right. I don't, I think you would have been like get away from me. um my, my intentions would have been good, but that's not the right way to do it. Right. And so I think that's what, um, I realized. And so, uh, when, when,
00:04:31
Speaker
We saw how crazy expensive things were um and and and how like moving um the needle forward, it was just it was hard. um And so when I talk with um our previous um CEO, Kevin Malone, at the time around 2022, it was um it was like okay How do we kind of make it more online? How do we make it easier to access? How do we make it to where it's not happening to be in person all the time? Not that that's not a great to do, but I mean, if if we're spending hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands of dollars to educate 20 people at a time, that's not very effective.
00:05:12
Speaker
Right. We would rather see that money be used elsewhere. So I helped create an online system. We have an online education um using old resources and new resources, put that all together.
00:05:25
Speaker
And now it's an online system to where a business, a church, a county, anyone really of leadership can say, hey, we want to be established as a trafficking-free
How Can Businesses Contribute?
00:05:36
Speaker
zone. So I'm just going to use a business as an example because that's the perfect place to really start this. Imagine you're a small business, have what, 10 employees, right?
00:05:47
Speaker
And you're like, I want this to be known as a trafficking-free zone. um And i what I mean by that is I will not tolerate the idea of exploitation. I will not tolerate the idea of control. i will not tolerate the idea of someone coming in here and not and and and feeling like they can.
00:06:10
Speaker
i ah me Let me back up a little bit. I remember the story you shared when you were 11 years old and you went into a McDonald's at 6.30
00:06:20
Speaker
that i want I want my establishment to be a Blake. If you do that in my establishment, you will be caught because we know the signs. We know everything going on. We know exactly what to do. And we have a playbook to do it.
00:06:33
Speaker
And that's what. And so so if I'm a business owner and I see trafficking free zone to do this. I first go in, I become educated as the leader, as the representative, right? I go through the training myself and then i pass on the training to all my employees. and They don't have to go through it. So the way it works is I become a trafficking free zone as a representative of my business. And then I just have everyone become an ah go through the H, the human trafficking one-on-one course and become an abolitionist.
00:07:00
Speaker
through our training, um which is simply like, hey, it's the same it's same yeah exact education I got. The only difference is that at the end, after I say I'm going to educate all my all my people, we say, all right, you are a trafficking-free zone.
00:07:13
Speaker
Here are some resources, like a sticker, something to put on your website to to to say publicly, we are trafficking-free zone. We've been educated. Now, imagine if every single business in your count in your city started do to do that, in your county started to to do that around the United States.
00:07:30
Speaker
the United States then becomes a trafficking free zone. And that's what the program is about. It's free, all online, easily accessible. And so that's what it is. Which, and that's not typical, um, in our current climate with a lot of just different movements within, within human trafficking to really abolish this. And so that's a really good, not necessarily an incentive, but for people to really want to access it because it's free. We're not charging you thousands and thousands of dollars to get information to help change somebody's life. I do want to tell you a story really quickly because I know our history with, as far as like operations and as far as like all of the production that you've done. um and so,
00:08:14
Speaker
It's so funny when he said you know, I wouldn't just rescue somebody or ah that wouldn't be the right thing to do. And so I'll never forget. I was 16 years old. um I take that back. I wasn't 16. I was 14, 15. And I met this woman named Joanna Friedman.
00:08:28
Speaker
And she was coming into the group homes to teach. juveniles, former foster youth, how to use a camera, you know, how to document their life. And so it started off like that, like a project. Well, I ended up leaving the facility.
00:08:43
Speaker
Back then we called it AWOL, like because you would leave and you would get a bench warrant out for your arrest because you're you're basically, you left without permission. um And I was also on probation and stuff as a kid.
00:08:55
Speaker
Well, when I left, I ended up actually being um on the run, Literally for probably about like a year and a half up until um my 18th birthday.
00:09:06
Speaker
And I called this woman. And I just wanted her to document my life while I was back on the streets. Here is this woman who has never worked with this, a human, a victim of human trafficking a day in her life.
00:09:22
Speaker
Mm hmm. Never worked with someone who has been in gangs, addiction, none of that. But she's always had a heart for people because that's why she's in the documentary business. And it's so crazy when I look back, she was the only person I had for a very long time while I was out there. This producer, who and I'm talking about not filming, drive me around 3 o'clock in the morning because I have nowhere to go.
00:09:48
Speaker
um No shelters and also because of the legal stuff. Like I didn't want to go back to a police station. I didn't want to go back and be locked up. I wanted help. um And I was still in and out of the streets.
00:10:00
Speaker
And she would feed me. She would clothe me. I mean, I was on the run. And most people, this is so illegal. But people would be like, well, you were on the run. She was supposed to turn in. But it's those those situations where if you come in contact with a youth that is on the street or a young adult.
00:10:13
Speaker
Right? That's at that midline. Let's just say they're not on the run. Let's just say they're a foster youth and there's nowhere for them to go. She didn't know what she was doing. We had a phone call yesterday and she was like, I had no idea what I was doing. The stuff I just was, ah i was just maybe enabling you. Maybe I i wasn't always saying the right things.
00:10:32
Speaker
But one thing I know about that woman is she was coming until this day. I know she will come until this day. you know, in my my late 30s now, like knowing that if God, if literally, if if I'm having a moment where a crisis, I'm overwhelmed, I can call her. And she's not Joanna Friedman, this producer. She's Jojo to me. She's family to me. You know, she was there when I gave birth to my daughter. Here is this this producer, this woman who's just cinematic lady behind a camera who became family, who really helped me in times,
00:11:09
Speaker
of dire need. When I tell you nowhere to go, no food, no clothes, we're in Goodwill or certain stores sometimes trying to find clothes. And this woman would get used, of course, because when you're young, you out on the streets, I might've used her for food or might've used her for money and given it to my pimp. And at the end of the day, that woman still would show up.
00:11:31
Speaker
And I'm not saying it was right what I did, but because of the trauma, because of the lifestyle, but anyone can do this. you can become an abolitionist. You can become someone that gets educated and not have to kind of wing it.
00:11:44
Speaker
You can just get educated and know how to intervene or know how to um respond to something when you do see something. um yeah And also say, I'm not doing it. Another thing I thought about as you were talking with businesses is,
00:11:58
Speaker
It's not just about the signs. It's not just about, you know, making sure that you're taking the legal step, even for people that might be the perpetrator within the organization or within the system or what you might see on your business grounds. We see this a lot in different businesses where I can walk into an establishment, especially a restaurant, and I can see something that is not right. And me as a customer, I'll say something, but majority of the time people are afraid of saying something or don't know what to say. So this,
00:12:27
Speaker
this um I mean, even when you are educated, I think that some people still feel that way. Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's um something that we have to become more educated about and also have awareness um on what we can and cannot do.
Education, Advocacy & Safety Measures
00:12:43
Speaker
You know, I'm a person that even in business,
00:12:47
Speaker
You know, i can be driving down the street and I literally seen a woman the other day and I knew something was wrong and I knew how to, I knew what services to provide. I knew where to point her to, even though she wasn't ready yet.
00:12:59
Speaker
So it's good, I think, to also have those tools by, you know, participating in our program, being able to have those tools in their toolbox to say, hey, here are some things that, um, that I've learned things that I can help any, and even just pointing somebody in the right direction. Right. Like if you don't know that there's a shelter or there is a a rehab in 2.9 mile radius of your home or in the area, if someone's struggling with that, right. Like if you don't know that there is a emergency shelter or a safe house or, um,
00:13:32
Speaker
um or even a station that is equipped to take in survivors of human trafficking, we have our like drop-in centers and things like that, then it's much harder to point someone in the right direction for that. Let me ask you a question real quick, Ori.
00:13:47
Speaker
While i believe that the Trafficking Free Zone and and curriculum and even this podcast gives people some some ideal tools of how to...
00:13:59
Speaker
ah you know of how to carry out the mission of helping a victim or see something say something and know the right way to do it and so and so forth or just simply caring for some caring for someone as they go through restoration I think what we teach here is much more of a mindset um and but and because the reality is that the tools there's too many variables when it comes to the tools. Right. But what ah would you say is the practical thing that everyone should kind of know? Cause I'm not going to say like, okay, if you live in, um, I don't know I'll just think of random place. Uh, you know, uh, if you live in Delan, Florida, uh, this is the exact space, a place you can go to, but I can't do that throughout the United States. Right. And, and, and, um and even if I had a data center where I had updated everything,
00:14:50
Speaker
But in a year from now, it's all going to be different. Right. So we can't do that here at our facility, but we can say, here's the steps you should take in whatever area you are. So if you were to tell someone like a game plan of what they should have ready at their disposal,
00:15:07
Speaker
of when if they were to see something that's a little bit suspicious, um you know what ah or or or even like they approach someone and and they're like, yeah, I'm looking for help. What would be like the three-step program to do, or not another the program, but plan to maybe do and in your area? And by the way, I know this is a this is a one specific plan. There's many different plans you can kind of do and have you know from simply just, okay, here's how you here's how you contact the police.
00:15:36
Speaker
To here's how you get them in the shelter. So you mentioned shelter. What would, if you're going that direction of like, here's how I'm going to help you. Cause I know that you probably do this on a daily basis cause you're a freaking all-star in it. um You know, you know, the, and you know, the plan. so what it would be a good plan for someone like that?
00:15:52
Speaker
Well, it's um really, we are moving forward. I want to say this. In America, we are moving forward when it comes to a lot of our states are being equipped with the programs that they need. The legislation may not be fully there when it comes to supporting survivors currently, like all over across the across America. But what I will say is that many people are getting more, I mean, even all the way up Utah, places that you couldn't even think, like yeah namaha like places literally where people are,
00:16:23
Speaker
creating centers or somewhere for people to go. Um, but initially always, I would assess the situation and make sure that it's safe. We never want an individual to put their self in harm and not just to be trafficked, but to be hurt.
00:16:37
Speaker
We don't want you to get hurt. Um, we don't want to put yourself in danger, like just putting somebody in your car because you also could, there's, there's physical violence sometimes and things like that. Um, and I know this only from even just raising,
00:16:49
Speaker
two foster kids right now being mindful of some of their external behaviors because of the trauma that they've been through. But the first thing is to, I would assess the situation, assess that it's safe.
00:16:59
Speaker
See if you see anyone around. The biggest thing I'll say next is yes, you can call the police. Absolutely. Call law enforcement. But you are that's a part of being an advocate is to say, hey, I have a i have identified this woman or this end this young man as a trafficking victim.
00:17:21
Speaker
h Do you have someone coming out with you, an advocate? Do you have a center you're going to take her to? That's a part of being the advocate and learning about this because typically our natural response is to call law enforcement and law enforcement and let them take care of it. I have done this more recently where I'm like, hey, I know that there are advocates available to come in response with you because I have identified them as a trafficking victim. Can you do that?
00:17:48
Speaker
Or do I need to call, you know, the hotline in order to make sure that there is the right people that are going to come out and assist? That way, one, she doesn't feel like she's the criminal. He or she feels like the criminal. Or two, that...
00:18:02
Speaker
Proper measures are handled that they need currently because there are folks being trained on the professional side to do that. So I know with even within the state, we have an emergency response in the state of Texas, just like in the state of California, an emergency response team that will come out with law enforcement in order to then walk the the victim through the next steps in the process and sit with them at the station all night or sit with them until they, wherever they may go next or provide them with the resources. We do it for domestic violence. We can do it for human trafficking. So that's a part of, I would say after um assessing the situation along with calling law enforcement is being the advocate in that moment for that person.
00:18:43
Speaker
I know sometimes we're quick to leave, like maybe stay there until, Hey officer, I just want to make sure everything's okay. um You know, if it's possible, where, where you all going to take her to? Where are you going to take him to? Things like that. You know, or are there any programs? Is there anything more I can do? Because sometimes, um yes, there is a lot of training for a lot of our first responders, but sometimes we don't have enough resources to respond in a night. So if we can be the advocate in the moment, that's the biggest thing that I've seen is that I've also watched victims feel safe, feel more comfortable, because you have to think about it when they're
00:19:20
Speaker
when you first come in contact with somebody, immediately you're going to have a defense. They're going have a defensive, you know, posture or, you know, trying to be protective over themselves because of the people that have mishandled them, that have um broken their trust and the individuals in their life currently that are exploiting and selling them. And so I think that's the second thing.
00:19:42
Speaker
The third thing I would say is maybe if you want to go to to that next level of, Maybe having an extra pair of clothes in your car, those things that you can give away. I know it sounds crazy, but those things that you might, you know, give away to Goodwill or you give it away to places or you take it to your thrift shop, whatever your like every every every 35 year old man.
00:20:06
Speaker
has a donation bin that he's in his garage that he's trying to make sure his wife puts it in that bin and doesn't stay in her trunk. Exactly. Yeah. we I got two bags in my trunk right now.
00:20:19
Speaker
and I guarantee you do. Those clothes, those sweats, those t-shirts, a blanket, because I'm telling you, those things yeah matter. Those are the things that matter. Even if you're saying, Hey, here's some extra clothes in case you know you guys don't have it at the station. Here's some extra clothes for you.
00:20:35
Speaker
Do you know how much that makes a difference? Do you know how it felt when I stopped a young woman probably a couple weeks ago and my entire family was in the car too. We were on a date night actually, our two couples. And we seen this woman and all of our hearts were like, and we're all in the service field though, but we all turned around. It was like one in the morning, we were leaving a jazz concert and we literally got all out the car. Of course, the men, the women approached her first. you know Then my fiance got on and was like, ma'am, can I pray for you? like I just want to pray for you. Listen, there's more. My fiance can provide you with some services. It just was such a beautiful thing to be able to give her something tangible. I gave her my phone number on my card. I always carry like a business card. So my U.S. Institute cards, I carry those with me. I have my numbers on them so I can give them something tangible. And I'm not afraid of safety. I mean, I'm...
00:21:25
Speaker
What is somebody going to Play on my phone? I've had it worse in my life. So I give that out, but I was able to give her, you know, we gave her a blanket, we gave her a jacket and I let her know, Hey, right up the street is, it's literally a shelter up the street that can get you some assistance and get you into a program that would better assist you. And having that in your back pocket, that information in your back pocket is super valuable.
00:21:46
Speaker
Absolutely. So you're track like all of your trafficking-free, if we give you a bumper sticker, if we give you those things, those things are very valuable to have that on hand or to have it accessible for somebody to be able to to get that number, to be able to know what to
Addressing Generational Trauma
00:22:04
Speaker
point back to. Sometimes add I have just gave girls um and young guys my Instagram because I want them to know who I am.
00:22:17
Speaker
Stay in contact with me there. I know they'll see videos. I know they'll see the podcast. I know that. So I'll give them information to hold that to. Or I'll say, you know, if I'm interacting with a um ah victim at the station, it's like, look me up. When you get time, just Google. Just Google me. Because sometimes you don't have a long window to share your story or your testimony. For me as a survivor.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah. yeah survivor lo yeah But I give them something, even if it's not this whole lecture or what you could do with your life, because they use the Internet. They use the phone. So i give them those tangible things. um So the three simple things, right, is making sure you have a basic need. whether that is some sort of clothing or a blanket, something like that, but I would prefer clothing. um We do that all the time with our clients when we have to, especially with young kids that are exploited, we have backpacks ready for them because they, during the time they're not fully clothed. They're in explicit clothing or some of them haven't had clothing in a while. So they're recycling the same things. So a tangible need, something tangible, you know, my former father,
00:23:25
Speaker
mentor. ah I miss him dearly. Jim shared a meal, but he was older. He didn't have children yet. I mean, he had already raised his children. That Denny's was his best friend.
00:23:37
Speaker
And when he would meet young men and young women that were being exploited or in going through these crazy traumatic events, he meet him at Denny's. And he would meet him at that Denny's on that track.
00:23:50
Speaker
yeah And I'm not telling you to do that. But when you talk about a level of service, he's but but but he's a professional and knowing a professional, having a resource ready, I would introduce someone to him. Right. If I had the opportunity in that way.
00:24:07
Speaker
And then meanwhile, I was like, Hey, while you're doing that work, cause you are, you're great at it. How can I help you around you? You know? And I think that's where,
00:24:17
Speaker
I think that's where people have gotten ah gotten off track in this fight to end human trafficking is that we all think we're just supposed to be doing the same thing or we all think suppose we all think we're supposed to be doing everything. I go back to a podcast you did with Kevin um back probably four years ago at this point.
00:24:37
Speaker
um where you said the weakness of most organizations is them trying to do what they're not good at. and Oh, absolutely. and Look, the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking does not have a safe home.
00:24:55
Speaker
So i I need to have an organization that has a safe home ready to work with. you know The whole thing is like, the whole team effort is not what team can we build at U S Institute, but what, what team can the U S Institute be a part of?
00:25:16
Speaker
We're all, we're, we're all here trying to end human trafficking. We're all here trying to end exploitation. We're all here trying to share that every, every person is a valuable child of God and should never be controlled by someone else's power.
00:25:36
Speaker
There's a greater power of over them that or be love or rape. Right. right Nobody deserves that. And I think, no, you shared a good point. I mean, I think also to what we, I think we've, we're hearing it so much.
00:25:51
Speaker
Remember when child abuse, it way back, not way back, literally, but I think it was a time when the first, when the the child abuse campaign started coming and they start coming and now it's a norm.
00:26:04
Speaker
Now, gratefully, we do have CPS, you know, Child Protective Services across the nation in place. We still have gaps in that, that we're learning, that we have to continue to evolve.
00:26:16
Speaker
But I also feel like it's um it almost sometimes break my heart to feel like human trafficking is getting watered down. Like now it's this yeah commonly talked about thing. There was this wave.
00:26:28
Speaker
It was heightened because nobody was talking about It was like, this couldn't happen in in my community. It's not happening in my neighborhood. I can't believe this is happening to these kids. I can't believe it's happening. It's been happening so long that I think,
00:26:42
Speaker
I wouldn't say, and I'm just saying this from the my professional side of being in all different areas. I do trainings across the nation. I'm involved in all different types of businesses and organizations, connections with people, stories of other survivors.
00:27:01
Speaker
And there's this, there's a change coming again, where we get so fixated on the type of trafficking. And yes, we want to have the awareness and yes, we want to um do something about it.
00:27:15
Speaker
But at the end of the day, The core root is freedom, helping people get free fully, not just out of bondage physically, but out of bondage here, bondage in here, bondage in their relationships, how they show up in their life.
00:27:34
Speaker
And that's one of the things, even through um You know, individuals choosing to get more educated on this subject through the Institute through us.
00:27:45
Speaker
um I think it's going to be very important that we remember the basis on why we're doing it. And it doesn't matter what human trafficking category it falls under.
00:27:57
Speaker
We want to see another life free. That's all that matters. We want to see someone be fully free. And I'll tell you, as as the executive director, as the director of operations, it is a long, long journey. And we'll talk more about that on ah on a future podcast. but Yeah. I'm still currently trying to get more free.
00:28:19
Speaker
And it's not it's not the mechanical stuff. It's not the physical stuff. It's not it's the everyday adulting. When you've been through much in your life and you think now this is a different type of hard. And so that is our goal is we don't want people just free from the hands of these traffickers, these exploiters, these evil people We want them fully free to be to be able to walk and into in wholeness.
00:28:47
Speaker
What I've realized in this fight is that most what we mostly focus on is just the tip of the iceberg. And it it it's like, um you know, it was really interesting. um was watching a show last night um and it was a father and son had just visited, um I guess, kid's grand. I say kid, the guy's like in his mid-20s, their grandfather.
00:29:15
Speaker
And um you could tell the grandfather was kind of like a bad dad to his dad, right? And so this his father and son are driving home and the father says to him, uh... and you know it's a good thing some that i only had you on the weekends uh... because when i what i was growing up with was a coked out mom and a dad would and my and my dad would come home get drunk to deal with her and then take out of take all out all this aggression on me and he said uh... he said just understand son if you ever uh... raise a child
00:29:52
Speaker
um you're going to father him the same way you were fathered. And it's ah it's ah it's like a chain that cannot be broken. And it was a sweet moment. His his son said, hey, dad, i like you know I think you're a good dad. He's like, oh I avoided it And he's like, no, I think you did the best you could.
00:30:08
Speaker
And that touched his heart, right? But what i what I got from that was like, there is so much generational trauma that just simply cannot be broken. i mean, where do we learn to... if ah If a father is bad to us, where did we learn that from? And you can say all day long, I'm going to do this. i'm And...
00:30:28
Speaker
who is the one that truly breaks the chain? it's It's Jesus, right? And it is something that we do not shy away from in this. But what does Jesus tell us to do?
00:30:40
Speaker
Jesus didn't say like, yeah, so sit back on your couch and just hope. yeah It's like you have to have the hope. But I believe that Jesus is saying, um when i said care for your neighbor, this is the kind of thing I meant. It's like so ah kind of full circle back to track the trafficking-free zone, starting with what can what should I just be aware of to help my neighbor if it ever happens.
00:31:10
Speaker
You know, Ori, for as long as I've been doing this, I have yet to like see, uh, see or meet someone in distress.
00:31:20
Speaker
And then I've, I've seen moments of like, Oh, are they? And then I'm like, okay, they're no, they're not i like, I realize it. Right. Or something like that. But I have yet to, uh, to, to be able to see and, and, and respond.
00:31:34
Speaker
It doesn't mean I'm not ready. And technically I kind of hope I never do. Right. I mean, so i'm not I'm not like going like, I hope I see victim. yeah yeah I hope I see no victims, but it's it's ready for if it ever happens. And I know exactly how to respond and in the way that you have taught us. And I believe that Jesus has used voices like you to say, I have taken my daughter out from this And now I want her to be a voice to have more be taken out and just simply through the love, the care, the going on the offensive to say,
00:32:14
Speaker
I'm a trafficking free zone here and I want everyone to be a trafficking free zone over there and I'm going to spread this. And i believe, what do you think, Ori?
Building Community & Prevention
00:32:24
Speaker
Is it like ah almost like a silly belief that, ah that if every business, let's just say every business in Florida is where I'm at was a trafficking free zone.
00:32:36
Speaker
Do you think that, do you think traffickers would be a little more afraid to do trafficking here?
00:32:43
Speaker
I think people will always try because, I mean, even in the word of God, there will always be evil because of what's in us. Naturally. It's a choice. But I think what it does is it builds confidence and it builds community. It builds relationships of what God always intended.
00:32:58
Speaker
The ultimate relationship with him. And so I think that as we do these trafficking free zones, what happens is, is it builds a community. It builds support. It builds protection. And so it's one less person that doesn't have to go through hell in order to experience the love of God nor the freedom.
00:33:20
Speaker
You know, and I think that the biggest thing that I was also going to share with you is it's not just about identifying a victim or if you're at that grocery store. Sometimes things are preventative, everyone.
00:33:33
Speaker
I want everybody to know watching. Sometimes it's preventative. Right. Right. You know, we just we just fostered two girls who were were practically raised in a shelter. their entire life. um A lot of their emotional outbursts externally, like me getting hit and all kinds of stuff cussed out.
00:33:51
Speaker
A lot of that is, um although it's from abandonment, it's from rejection. It's also rooted in a very, in very low self-esteem. And so what happens when that young girl becomes 15 years old? What happens when that young girl, my 10 year old goes off to middle school next year? And she's reading at a first grade level. What happens when all of these things start to play? Is she is she a human trafficking victim now?
00:34:17
Speaker
No. But guess what? She's at risk. Oh, she's at risk already at 10 years old. My eight-year-old girl is at risk. Because the need for validation, the need for being to ah to have approval and praise, and especially from a man.
00:34:36
Speaker
She's eight. And when we get educated, let's say we're a parent and we take the trafficking free zone and we start talking about it in schools.
00:34:47
Speaker
On the backside, we also teach people how to protect other people. And we're not just making them aware of what human trafficking, but how do you serve? How are you showing up at your kid's school? How are you showing up in your business by saying, hey, this is an issue How can we come alongside of some organizations or some people to support them on doing this work if I can't do it directly?
00:35:11
Speaker
So it's not just also looking for a victim or like, oh, let me be aware. Like you said, it's it's the preventative stuff. Hey, that girl that you might be coming home, that might be coming home with your kid from school, you notice some cuts on her arms.
00:35:23
Speaker
So that means that she's self, she's suicide. She's not suicidal, but she's self harming. So what can you say about that? What can you say to her? Because that's a preventative thing. yeah It teaches you how to be aware of the broken people, the unfree people, the bounded, the orphan, the widow all around you.
00:35:44
Speaker
And it's not just sometimes a widow from from marriage. Sometimes it's a widow from the man of the household in your life completely. Has never had any covering over from a man at all in a healthy way. So how can you prevent those things with the the lives around you?
00:35:59
Speaker
You know, the biggest thing I'll tell parents too right now is... We're afraid of really diving deep into this and teaching our children how to fight against it. But I'll never forget when I met a young girl who went through um a similar program, like our Trafficking Free Zone.
00:36:15
Speaker
We met her in the sixth grade and she wanted to put signs up before this was a law about human trafficking around her school and wanted to educate her students because she had heard my story at like an event.
00:36:27
Speaker
And sixth grade, she took it all the way to Berkeley. Everywhere she went, she literally created um a school, like something, ah organization on school in order to combat human trafficking, whether that was doing fundraisers and so walking alongside organizations, bringing them in to talk to the students, let them know how could we educate other students, not just to look out for ourselves, but to look out for other people.
00:36:51
Speaker
That's what it's about. Yeah. That's amazing. That's what it's about.
Call to Action: Becoming an Abolitionist
00:36:57
Speaker
um So if you are interested in the trafficking free zone, by all means, go to our website.
00:37:02
Speaker
you Easily become an abolitionist. Just so everyone's aware, the trafficking free zone abolitionist program. It's the exact same education. The only difference of like when you're taking the course is the trafficking free zone will guide you to a.
00:37:16
Speaker
An area where it's like you are now a trafficking free zone and here's like here's a proclamation that you can sign and and say that you are and have a sticker and so on and so forth. Abolitionists um is just that part without without the sticker.
00:37:30
Speaker
Right. And so um and it's built that way to make it easy. It's about that way to ah naturally spread it across for educational purposes and to just get started there.
00:37:43
Speaker
This podcast, there's a reason why we call it Traffic Free America. It's because this is what we believe in. This is what we're talking about. We just kind of go deeper. So if you're wanting to be wanting to check that out, please go to our website, usiaht.org um slash traffickingfreezone. Or you go the homepage, go to the programs, you see it all.
00:38:05
Speaker
But ultimately, please start there. see how your church business group, man, as long as it's at least two, two, two, two or more, right. Is it's a group make it happen.
00:38:21
Speaker
Um, if you're, if you're a business who has 10,000 employees do it. Um, so anyway, um that's what I wanted to share about today was that program.
00:38:32
Speaker
Uh, thank you for having me on here to discuss that with you. I appreciate it. And everyone, we will see you at our next episode. Tune in.