by Jonathan Spencer, President & Founder
Hi Friends,
On March 15, 2018, the Times of India reported that 400,000 people had been trafficked from the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh the previous year including a substantial number of children under the age of 16. In addition to the traditional red-light districts, dance bars, spas, and massage parlors commonly found in the larger cities, traffickers commonly lure women and children into the commercial sex trade in small hotels, private residences, huts and even vehicles. In the last several years, women and children are also increasingly being recruited through a variety of social media platforms, including mobile dating applications and websites.
While our primary focus is to provide holistic aftercare services for the girls who have survived sex trafficking and abuse, we are also committed to raising awareness. The cost of reaching one student through education is significantly less than the cost of providing services to a girl who has been trafficked.
We believe that education is the key to prevention: by learning how to better identify and combat child trafficking in their own villages, educators and school personnel can educate local families about the warning signs of exploitation and work to protect students from harm. In India, our staff routinely visits local schools and rural villages to educate girls who may be vulnerable to exploitation. The picture below is from one of our recent campaigns.
Closer to home, New Horizons House participated in the Northern Colorado Human Trafficking Symposium sponsored by Colorado State University earlier this year. The bi-annual 2-day conference works to engage and educate on the issue of human trafficking through research, training, and collaboration.
We’d love your help. You can host a social event in your home / church / civic group with materials provided by New Horizons or arrange for one of our Board members to speak at your next event. Your financial support provides our girls with hope, dignity and restoration: it costs just $4,000 to support a girl for an entire year. And, as always, you can follow our progress and/or reach out to us through our website (www.newhorizonshouse.org).
