This week, I attended the Bells of Hope Conference: Reality of Human Trafficking, sponsored by Communities for Children and NASHI. I was sent there by my work, so my main objective was to gather information on local resources for teenage girls at risk. However, I also learned a great deal about international human trafficking, especially in the Ukraine.

"Clearly, no single country or institution can effectively combat this scourge alone. What is needed is a firm resolve and an unequivocal commitment from around the globe to tackle this problem."
-Victor Malarek, The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade

This is a video made by the United Nations, shown as part of the presentation by Constable Elsen J. Sutherlang of the North West Region Immigration and Passport Section of the R.C.M.P.:


This video's portrayl of the grim reality of human trafficking literally gave me chills. Worst of all, the statements are ones which appear in job ads which anyone would be compelled to answer.

Often, the people who recruit these girls are trusted members of the community. The girl and her parents are led to believe she will work as a housekeeper, nanny or maid, then return having gained education and job skills. In reality, their passports are taken, and they are sold by organized crime syndicates, sometimes many times over. They are forced to work in brothels, forced labour camps or used for black market organ transplants.

I was even more suprised to learn that human trafficking is happening within Canada, where girls are being abducted from Quebec or from their reservations and sent to large cities to become sex workers.

I was not aware of NASHI before this weekend, but it is a group based out of Saskatoon of people who are attempting to divert children of Ukraine from the sex trade and to raise awareness of Christian Child Care International. CCCI is a Canadian sponsorship program based in Springhill, N.S., which cares for needy children and families in over 20 countries.

Last year, a dozen NASHI volunteers travelled to Lviv, Ukraine to make presentations and to work in the Trade School they have created. This school now teaches sewing and offers access to computers. They are currently attempting to purchase a bus to bring children to the Trade School from the surrounding areas and to establish a Safe House for children and adults threatened by the sex trade. The group also visited their sponsored children, and repaired and renovated the home of a family who had black mold and no kitchen. They also purchased a new sofa bed for this family for their four daughters to sleep in.

Coincidentally, my grandparents came from Lviv, which makes the stories of what is happening there even more meaningful. If not for circumstances and privilege, I could have been one of these unfortunate young women.

To learn more about or donate to NASHI, go to http://www.nashi.ca.