{"id":510,"date":"2018-11-02T18:28:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T18:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/"},"modified":"2021-05-07T18:10:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T18:10:10","slug":"1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/","title":{"rendered":"1,000 Survivors of Human Trafficking Are Free"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hs-responsive-embed-wrapper hs-responsive-embed\" style=\"background-color: transparent; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 100%; height: auto; position: relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0; min-width: 256px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\n<div class=\"hs-responsive-embed-inner-wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 56.07%; margin: 0;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"hs-responsive-embed-iframe hs-fullwidth-embed\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: none;\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/grLfL2lwX_Y\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-service=\"youtube\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Exodus Road celebrated a significant organizational milestone this month: 1,000 rescues. 1,000 men, women, boys, and girls who were trapped in human trafficking have been freed in operations with local police in six different countries over the last seven years. It\u2019s <a href=\"\/freedom-rocks-how-we-celebrate-survivor-stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">progress worth celebrating<\/a>, and it\u2019s a milestone we never would have dreamed of reaching in the early days.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Our First Rescue Operation<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I can still remember the very first rescue operation we helped with in SE Asia. My husband, Matt, flew down to Southern Thailand to work with a national investigator. They were following a lead regarding a teen girl being sold for sex. Matt had been working with the local police for about a year at that point, but this was his first time working in a city called Hat Yai\u2014an infamous border city known for its criminal activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I clearly remember the feelings of anxiety, fear, and crushing doubt both Matt and I had at that point.\u00a0<i>Who were we to help fix this complicated, dark, dangerous problem?<\/i> Matt didn\u2019t have any military or police experience. Neither one of us had social justice degrees, and we were by no means experts in the field of human trafficking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">We were working solely off of Matt&#8217;s meager salary, and we had three kids to take care of at home. Matt hadn\u2019t taken a single self defense class or any investigative training in his life. He literally hot-glued his first covert camera (which he bought on Amazon just weeks before) onto a computer bag to take with him into brothels to record investigations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In many ways, we had no business stepping into this fight. And we knew it. I think that\u2019s why the doubt was such a constant megaphone ringing in our ears\u2014especially during the early months and <em>most<\/em> especially during that first rescue operation in Hat Yai.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Fighting for Sarah<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When Matt called and told me about Sarah after the initial evidence collection, I remember him crying. Sarah was a 15-year-old Burmese girl who had been sold by her mother to pay off a debt. Her virginity was sold by an overweight pimp with gold rings three days before Matt had found her. I saw the trafficker&#8217;s hands in the covert footage that I watched after that first investigation. Those hands held beer, cash, and Sarah\u2019s future. It was hard for me not to hate him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Two entire months passed before Sarah was successfully rescued. Throughout that time, we experienced multiple tip-offs and other obstacles working with the local police. I remember feeling this heaviness in my gut during those 60 days. I knew Sarah was suffering, and I wanted so badly for her to be free.\u00a0She was a normal farmer\u2019s daughter who had been traded as a commodity in a red-light district and forced to do unthinkable things.\u00a0My imagination would run scenarios of what she was experiencing, and it haunted me. I remember one time in my kitchen, the Jason Mraz song, \u201cI Won\u2019t Give Up,\u201d was playing, and I immediately started sobbing and praying for this teenager I&#8217;d never met.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>I see that you\u2019ve come so far<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>To be right where you are<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>How old is your soul?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>I won\u2019t give up on us<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Even when the skies are rough<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>I\u2019m giving you all my love<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><i> &#8230;God knows [you\u2019re] worth it.<\/i><\/span><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When we got the call that the mission was finally successful and that Sarah (along with eight other minors) was freed, it felt like a spiritual exhale\u2014a victory. The voices of doubt definitely took a hit that night because what the team had done worked. Our vision\u2014that even <em>we<\/em> could practically help local police find and free human trafficking victims using finances, investigative support, and technology\u2014became tangible.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-color: transparent; width: 967px; margin: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.hubspot.net\/hubfs\/3827123\/1000-freedom-rocks.jpg\" alt=\"1000-freedom-rocks\" width=\"967\" \/>How we got to 1,000<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Sarah\u2019s case was only the beginning of what was to come in the seven years that followed. <a href=\"https:\/\/theexodusroad.com\/how-we-started\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In the beginning<\/a>, it took faith to truly believe we could make an impact in the dark world we stumbled into. We didn&#8217;t foresee the rescue of even one person, and we <em>never<\/em> thought we would one day reach 1,000.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">As I look back over the journey of The Exodus Road, I know that progress has only been possible because of the people who\u2019ve joined this work and walked alongside us\u2014individuals who have faced the odds, doubts, and battles time and time again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>1,000<\/strong> was made possible because of a small team of Indian nationals willing to travel 28 hours one way on a train to follow a lead on a 12-year-old girl being sold for sex.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong style=\"background-color: transparent;\">1,000<\/strong><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\"> was made possible because of an 8-year-old girl who sold homemade bracelets at farmer\u2019s markets and high school kids who dedicated their prom to raise money to fuel rescue work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>1,000<\/strong> survivors have been rescued because of a former Latin American army soldier who recently told us, \u201cI served my country for 25 years. Now I get to serve humanity.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>1,000<\/strong>\u00a0were freed because of the work of national staff members in India, Thailand, and Latin America\u2014who quietly and courageously brave change in their own communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>1,000<\/strong> was made possible by the staff, volunteers, advocates, and supporters throughout the U.S. and around the world\u2014people who believe that<em> justice really is in the hands of the ordinary.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\">A Toast to Freedom<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This past week, we paused the daily fight for freedom, which takes place in brothels and offices every day, and celebrated this milestone of 1,000 rescues as an organization. We raised glasses to freedom, ate good food, and connected with each other and our supporters. My husband got on a stage and shared <a href=\"https:\/\/theexodusroad.com\/stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the story of Sarah<\/a> and cried once again. Our VP of Global Operations took the stage next and told the story of the 1,000th rescue mission in Latin America that resulted in 54 women going free. He got teary, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As I stood there that night\u2014glass raised\u2014in a room full of people who have pushed through the doubt and fear with us and who have played a significant part in these 1,000 rescues, I was overwhelmed with gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Yes, doubt still may speak in this work. But, hope? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Hope these days speaks so much louder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><strong><span class=\"s1\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\">\u2013 Laura Parker<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><i>Co-Founder, VP of\u00a0Communications\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Exodus Road celebrated a significant organizational milestone this month: 1,000 rescues. 1,000 men, women, boys, and girls who were trapped in human trafficking have been freed in operations with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-survivor-stories","category-ter-updates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>1,000 Survivors of Human Trafficking Are Free - Fighting Human Trafficking | The Exodus Road<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1,000 men, women, boys, and girls who were trapped in human trafficking have been freed in operations with local police in six different countries over the last seven years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1,000 Survivors of Human Trafficking Are Free - Fighting Human Trafficking | The Exodus Road\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1,000 men, women, boys, and girls who were trapped in human trafficking have been freed in operations with local police in six different countries over the last seven years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fighting Human Trafficking | The Exodus Road\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-02T18:28:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-07T18:10:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1000-freedom-rocks-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/\",\"name\":\"Fighting Human Trafficking | The Exodus Road\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1000-freedom-rocks-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1000-freedom-rocks-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/\",\"name\":\"1,000 Survivors of Human Trafficking Are Free - Fighting Human Trafficking | The Exodus Road\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-02T18:28:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-07T18:10:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/#\/schema\/person\/649dbbd56a9e2ce61f386deb0dc8a1d0\"},\"description\":\"1,000 men, women, boys, and girls who were trapped in human trafficking have been freed in operations with local police in six different countries over the last seven years.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/1000-survivors-of-human-trafficking-are-free\/#webpage\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/#\/schema\/person\/649dbbd56a9e2ce61f386deb0dc8a1d0\",\"name\":\"Laura Parker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/12-12-19-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/12-12-19-2-scaled.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Laura Parker\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1779,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/1779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.couleedevserver.com\/exodus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}