Their voices are beginning to be heard

We may prefer to believe that the abduction of teenage girls (and boys) who are forced into prostitution occurs only in fictional movies, like the 2008 film Taken! But human slavery is not a fiction. It is happening in the United States, it is happening in our cities and towns. One of the reasons the general public doesn't hear the stories that I heard in my office is that victims are often too afraid of retaliation by traffickers. But their voices are beginning to be heard.

The voices of the many terrorized clients whom I treated-and the urgency of this issue-compelled me to write a play, called Don't Call Me Baby. It portrays the life of a sexual slavery victim, how she tries to keep her past a secret, and how her secret impacts her marriage and her community. This is a story many would rather not hear about, because it is terribly disturbing to think that such crimes are going on around us, in our so-called civilized society.

Human trafficking is a heinous crime that is being committed daily. It would be a moral crime to keep it a secret.
If you want to learn more about human trafficking, you can visit my new website for information and links: humantraffickingend.com.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Neither the first, nor the last victim

On March 29 it was posted, on the blog survivoronamission.blogspot.com, a post about a survivor and her experience after watching "Don't call me Baby!":

Survivor's Journey in Defining Human Trafficking


"My personal ordeal beginning as a financial con, escalating to captivity, extreme physical & sexual abuse, escaping in May 2005, I knew enough about domestic abuse to recognize my experience included the 4 types: physical, sexual, emotional & financial.

Nearly five years later, attending a play by Dr. Ana Nogales "Don't Call me Baby" on human trafficking at the CASA0101 Theatre, I was stunned to learn the defining elements of human trafficking...one or more of these three elements meets the definition: Use of Force, Use of Coersion, or Fraud as a basis of re-locating for purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation. My own ordeal launched in fraud, followed with coersion and continued with force, extracting me from my young adult daughters, our South Bay home, a job and a life that delighted me...to the gloom and doom of Washington State, one of four states that in effect still considers domestic violence "a private matter". What this means is there are no local domestic violence ordinances, no protocols for protection. My assailant/trafficker has been sentenced on the physical violence, aggrevated by coersion, yet prosecution did not address the financial fraud. I was neither the first, nor the last "victim" of my assailant, in terms of domestic violence, or in terms of human trafficking (as I now understand it)."

It is hard to see and understand when we are trapped in the middle of a terrible situation what can be done to reach out for help and to end the pain. The purpose of my new play is to bring awareness about the fact and to reach out to victims and survivors - and their families, for them to look for help and support. They all need to be able to move on and have a rewarding life. There are many resources available but more work has to be done. There are still too many victims, old and young.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Slavery still exists, and is on the rise

Like most people I assumed slavery existed only in history books, that we had abolished it more than a hundred and fifty years ago. To my horror, I was very wrong. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and one of our most urgent human rights issues. It is occurring in our midst, in our communities, and yet it is largely a secret. A despicable secret.

Human trafficking is our modern-day slave trade.

Am I exaggerating by calling it a "slave trade"? Unfortunately, I am not. Dr. Laura Lederer, former State Department Advisor on Human Trafficking and Vice President of Global Centurion, an organization designed to fight world slavery, has stated that, "Over the last 10 years, the numbers of women and children [who] have been trafficked have multiplied so that they are now on par with estimates of the numbers of Africans who were enslaved in the 16th and 17th centuries."

Over the past decade, the trafficking of human beings has reached epidemic proportions, with 1.2 million children becoming new victims of human trafficking every year. In the U.S., the average victim of abduction is an 11-year-old girl.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Just by hearing about it, I had a terrible nightmare

Recently, due to the presentation of my play "Don't call me Baby!", I was asked in an interview about how a became involved in this cause.

It wasn't until I was asked to speak about human trafficking that I realized I knew nothing about it. I turned down the speaking engagement; but soon thereafter, I had a nightmare in which my daughter and I were sold into slavery, and it hit me that this could happen to me, to my daughters or granddaughters, or to any other woman.

I began to learn more about the subject, and the more I learned the more horrified I became.

I started treating victims of human trafficking in my practice, hearing their anguished stories about the hell they had gone through. Victims of sexual slavery are forced into prostitution, escort services, online pornography, and strip clubs. They live in constant panic, threatened with punishment if they attempt to escape, often tortured if they try.
 
- Dr. Ana Nogales

A comment about "Don't Call me Baby"

I am very happy to share with you a comment that was sent to me and made me feel very proud and honored. I am very motivated and I know that the message is comming through. I am not the only one working to create awarenes about Human Trafficking, we are many. But I want to encourage each and everyone to take this opportunity and reach out and be informed.

Don't Call Me Baby plays through March 28. Hope to see you there. For more information follow this link.

Thank you Nancy!

"... My husband and I saw Don’t Call Me Baby last night and were very moved by its wrenching story!

The way the scenes shift from therapist and client to therapist and husband, to the two husbands conferring in the gym, to therapist and supervisor--brilliant! I loved how the script brought in the men's attitudes re: prostitution and how their perspectives shift over the course of the play. And I felt the deep compassion in the therapist character. I also admired the way the stories the client tells her therapist are acted out behind the see-through curtain - very evocative.

Before seeing the play, I couldn't imagine how a drama could both "educate & entertain" given the seriousness of the topic, but Don’t Call Me Baby did so brilliantly! When we left, my husband said he had no idea how prevalent human trafficking was - and he wondered about where all these people are who visit such brothels. In other words, it really made him think deeply about this subject!

Bravo to the playwright, director, and actors! What a wonderful accomplishment!

- Nancy C., Los Angeles"

Thank you all and keep the comments coming, I read them all.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Thank you everyone

Big big thank you everyone for your support and your interest on my new play "Don't call me Maby". Human Trafficking is actually sexual slavery, it is at its peak of popularity and it has developed into an organized crime and, with victims trafficked around the world. Human Trafficking has become an international business with no limits. It is intimately linked with document fraud, money laundering, and drug and contraband commerce.

I have wrote "Don't call me Maby" with  the purpose to expose the sobering reality of this thriving criminal enterprise- human trafficking.

There will be presentations Friday, Saturday and Sunday in English, Sundays in Spanish at Casa 0101.

Casa 0101 is located in 2009 East 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.

For more information or to make reservations please call (323) 263-7684 or visit http://www.casa0101.org/. There is also information on my website ananogales.com

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Do you know the latest?

Don’t Call Me Baby! premiers at CASA 0101 on March 5 and runs through the 28th, 2010.

I am very proud to be able to invite you and your friends and family to the premier of my new play Don’t Call Me Baby!

" Don't Call Me Baby! is a theater piece whose purpose is to expose the sobering reality of a thriving criminal enterprise- human trafficking. It provides the audience with an unadulterated account of one couple’s struggle to persevere through the mental anguish that accompanies victims of the sex trade, while simultaneously providing therapeutic guidance. "


There will be presentations Friday, Saturday and Sunday in English, Sundays in Spanish at Casa 0101.

Casa 0101 is located in 2009 East 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.
For more information or to make reservations please call (323) 263-7684 or visit http://www.casa0101.org/

I have also posted on my web, ananogales.com information about my new play and a link to the website of  Casa De la Familia where I hosted this play for the Outeach and Engagement Program.

Hope to see you there and to receive all your comments!

- Dr. Ana Nogales

What is going on?

Mexico and Guatemala are two of the main countries were victims are kidnapped and exported to a different country, human trafficking criminals use these countries to distribute and cross over to other places, corruption makes it possible for them to pay a 'fair' price. Brazil is the second country whose women become prostitutes mainly in Europe, followed by the Dominican Republic, where women are sold to Nordic countries, Spain, Italy, and Austria. Colombians are illegally traded in Spain and Hong Kong. Argentina and Mexico offer sexual tourism in their coastal and tourist areas with women and children from the Mexico, Dominican Republic and Paraguay. Costa Rica has the greatest affluence of sexual tourism by prostituting about 5,000 children from many different countries. In the United States things don't look any better: about 100,000 and 400,000 children are sexually exploited each year. One out of three children that run away from home end up as prostitutes in less than 48 hours.

Other victims of human trafficking leave their homes looking to meet their fiancé, some mysterious person they have met on the Internet, thru newspapers or magazines that present beautiful pictures of their promising boyfriends and their fancy homes. But when they arrive to their new ‘home’, they find out that those promises were not real, and that their fiancé is not real either. They are sold and abused sexually and physically. They are often forced to take drugs to be easier to control and to be transferred from one place to another from one city to another. Many times victims of human trafficking are not aware of what country they are in or for how long they have been there. Victims are put to work 15 to 20 hours a day serving and pleasing 10 to 35 men a day, men of all races, ages, and conditions. If they become pregnant, women are forced to unsafe clandestine abortions; if they become sick they are abandoned or sold to a lower trader.

Many people ask how it is possible for those women to be cheated on so easily. Traficants seduce them by telling them nice words and making them believe that they can have an easier life, that they deserve better, and that they can provide and care for them and their families. They leave their homes with the firm intention to work hard and escape misery. It never comes to their mind that they may end up as sexual slaves. Others apply and take promising jobs on newspapers to work in the US or Europe. Teen-age girls feel forced to take on the opportunity to get a work-permit and make some easy money as dancers, masseurs, house keepers, elder sitters, manufacturing, or hostess at luxurious restaurants. They all feel it is their responsibility to help and support their families by working in a country that might offer better opportunities.

In recent years, the US implemented important laws that differentiate prostitution and human traffic, allowing victims to remain free even after their kidnappers are pronounced guilty. But this is not enough. We all have a piece of responsibility and education is key in forming stronger men and women that acknowledge respect and freedom.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

This testimony is not from a movie ...

"I missed my sister. She came to the United States with the idea of working and helping the family. I´ve always admired her for her decision and I opted for doing the same thing. When I saw the man that offered her a job, I also I asked him for one. Back then, I was 13 years old and I was very frightened, but I wanted to follow my sister’s steps. It was not easy for me to move abroad, because I didn’t want to distance myself from my mother, but I had already made the decision. They facilitated everything for me. When I arrived at this side of the border, the man that I believed to be my savior raped me and told me that, from now on, this was how my life was going to be. I worked as a masseuse, but behind the room where the massages took place was a private room where I would have to comply with clients’ desires. The prettiest girls could choose their clients, but the uglier ones, like me, had to accept every client. I had to stay working in order to pay my transportation debts from Mexico. But the debt rose each day".

This testimony is not from a movie, it is a real case. If you believed that slavery ended at the end of the 19th century, you were wrong. Today, there are more slaves than ever before. Approximately 27 million people were victims of slavery in 2007. Nearly 900,000 people, per year, are involved in human trafficking worldwide. The majority are women and children, a third of which are under age. Approximately 50,000 people, per year, enter the United States to carry out forced jobs or to become sexual slaves. Of that amount, 10,000 come from Latin America.

Sexual slavery is at its peak of popularity and, along with the illegal commerce of weapons, is the second largest criminal industry in the world (drug trafficking is the first), producing approximately 7 billion dollars annually. It has developed into an organized crime and, with victims trafficked around the world, has become an international business with no limits. It is intimately linked with document fraud, money laundering, and drug and contraband commerce.

If you suspect or know someone who is being subjected to this living hell, inform them that authorities can protect them. Victims can receive a year’s worth of benefits, such as shelter, food and clothing, economic aid, training in job-seeking, health, psychological, and legal care, and the possibility that they may qualify for the T visa of immigration. In addition, within a couple of years they would be able to bring their children and families over with the T3 visa. Listed below is the number to call. It is not a police line, but rather a number that will directly connect the caller to agents specialized in human trafficking.

You should act immediately. Remember that you can also get in touch with professional organizations in seek of support and treatment, like Casa de la Familia. Follow this link to learn more about this non-profit Organization.

- Dr. Ana Nogales