A Tale of Two Girls
By Derri Smith, Founder
Your support means Olivia is receiving the help she needs. But we were not there for Anna, who also desperately needed us. I’ll explain why later.
Because of generous donors, we’ve never turned a human trafficking survivor away, even through an explosion in victim identification and new referrals—30 new survivors referred just last month. The End Slavery Tennessee staff works so hard to offer survivors safety, time to stabilize, therapy, medical attention, survivor support groups, legal aid and individualized plans to reignite dreams and realize goals.
We change state laws and systems so that human trafficking victims are identified and receive services. We change lives, ending the cycle that otherwise might be passed on from generation to generation. But it is a continual miracle how donors meet the financial needs that make all this possible.
You are the one who makes these life transformations possible. And with your generosity we will continue to move the needle forward towards a slave tree Tennessee.
Now let me tell you about Olivia, who received our help, and Anna, who did not. Hear the big difference it made in their lives. They were on a path toward destruction and early death. Like most human trafficking victims, their journeys began with childhood trauma and/or abuse. That emotional storm made the girls especially vulnerable to the lies of a trafficker—the promise of love, provision and protection. Traffickers are masters of manipulation.
Olivia got help
Olivia was brought to End Slavery Tennessee and was eventually willing to tell us about her new friend back in high school who took her to a party. "When I woke up, I was drugged and being raped." That was the end of Olivia’s freedom and the beginning of her life as a human trafficking victim: a modern-day slave.
Eventually getting free from her trafficker was not the end of Olivia’s nightmare. She was once full of promise and had dreams of a beautiful life. Now, every bit of dignity and confidence was stripped from her. She was afraid to trust and infused with shame. She was a girl in her early teens who was so completely controlled for so long that she didn’t know how to make decisions anymore. The trafficker told her when and if she could eat and use the bathroom. The trafficker said if she ever told someone or tried to get away, he would hurt her family. "I remember being hungry. (Always) being tired, scared."
It took our work to bring about system change and training that led to Olivia being identified in the first place. It would take End Slavery Tennessee's comprehensive, specialized help over the course of a year for Olivia to make significant progress. And it would take steadfast love when she doubted herself and her recovery. She lashed out at staff to provoke the rejection she felt was inevitable when they truly knew her. But the rejection never came. “The thing that made all the difference”, she told us much later, “was that you never gave up on me. You held on. “
Today, Olivia is in college with a social work major and working at a nonprofit. She’s fueled by the desire to help others, just as she was helped. She continues to have a support net, staying engaged in survivor support groups and routinely meeting with her care coordinator for check-ins.
Anna did not get our help
And how about Anna? As a young woman finally free from human trafficking that began in childhood, she, too, desperately needed help. But in her 1990s reality, End Slavery Tennessee did not yet exist. Anna’s emotional wounds festered and, feeling she had no options, she turned to prostitution and drug addiction to survive. Many years later, Anna finally entered a program across town suited to her age and stage. She left behind a decades-long trail of tears and failure as a mother, and of frequent dependence on charity, government assistance and the mercy of the courts.
Anna was finally able to rise above a lifetime of scars to hold a job and stay clean. But she asked me, with a voice full of intense emotion, "Where was End Slavery Tennessee 20 years ago when I needed help? I could have avoided so much pain, jail-time, struggle, and the loss of my children. Trauma ate up so much of my life. And so many others I knew died in that violent, desperate life. They could have been saved if you had showed up years ago.“
When I founded this work in 2008, I was shocked that for so long so many victims faced life after trafficking with little or no help for true recovery. That so few even understood how to identify a victim. How many died because we were not there yet? How many left scars on their community and on the next generation because wounds never healed?
Caring creators of change
Caring creators of change were there for Olivia, giving so she could focus on her recovery. Who will be there for the next victim? And the next? As one girl wise beyond her wounds said of herself and fellow survivors, “We are thirsty for direction, love, caring and a safe home.”
And, when they finally find true freedom through their own hard work and the professional loving care you support at End Slavery Tennessee, here is what we hear:
“For the first time in four years, I got to spend time with my children.”
“I'm studying in school for community advocacy and social policy.”
“End Slavery Tennessee means freedom, rest, restoration, life, happiness, joy.”
“I want girls to know that you can get out of it, and it's going to be okay. Because, if you stay in it, you're gonna die."
“End Slavery showed me who I am and showed me what I could be and what I'm going to become.”
“I don't know how to tell you how grateful I am.”
We have come a long way, but still have much to do toward our vision of a state free from the travesty of human trafficking. Currently, we need a staffed respite house where brand new referrals go for initial care. There, we will build trust and assess any substance abuse or mental health needs and address them before the next steps. And we need capacity to reach every corner of Middle Tennessee, no matter how remote, because we know trafficking flourishes in small towns and rural areas, as well as urban centers.
Thank you for being there for precious girls like Olivia. Thank you for turning death into abundant life. You can make sure there are no more Anna stories!