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

Let the numbers speak...

Sex slavery is more common today than ever before, and with the illegal traffic of weapons, the second criminal industry in the world (drug traffic is number one), it profits approximately 7 billion dollars each year. This trend has become an organized crime, it is now a borderless mega-business. People are sold and bought in any country, bringing into the game other crimes like money laundering, falsification of documents, illegal immigration, and drug dealing, among some others.

Latin-American countries have softer laws, less supervision, high levels of poverty and corruption. In many of these countries, about 40 million twelve-year-old children are sexual slaves; several of them live on the streets after being abandoned or sold by their parents, or after escaping the violence or sexual abuse in their own homes. By prostituting themselves, these children find the money they need to satisfy their primary needs and also their addictions.

Approximately, 900,000 people worldwide suffer the cruelty of human trafficking each year. The majority of those are women and children. Approximately 50,000 people come into the United States to work on strenuous physical jobs or become sex slaves, most of them are minors and 10,000 come from Latin America.
If we let the numbers speak we will find the truth that hides just beneath the surface.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Can laughter be considered an alternative medicine?

I have been thinking and I want to write more about the same topic as in my last post: Laughter.

Of course laughter can be considered an alternative medicine!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

And you will agree with me.

We all can recognize that we feel very positive after seeing a movie that made us laugh heartily. Laughter permits us to discharge accumulated tensions and feel physically and emotionally agile, enhancing our capacity to think and feel.

Playing also creates a similar response, and playing is not only for kids. We enjoy a feeling of well being after spending time at play-we forget our daily tensions.

Playing refreshes the spirit and recharges us so that we're able to take on our responsibilities with greater enthusiasm. And it also provides a positive balance to the tediousness and boredom of certain types of work.

In addition to this, games and other types of play and recreation change our attitude; we're able to leave resentments and negative thoughts behind and enjoy a more optimistic vision of live.

Furthermore, playing is an exercise that invites us to be more flexible, because we have to experiment with new personalities, situations and possibilities, away from our known routine. When we play, we learn about our own potential and discover how we might begin to create and dream. Another benefit is that "playful" people awaken a positive attraction in others. It is a fact that we are attracted by the person who shows himself to be friendly, with a wide smile and open personality, rather than the face that reflects resentment, frustration or pain. In addition, "playful" people tend to be good leaders, because their sympathetic attitude is magnetic rather than competitive-which leads them to success as professional leaders or politicians.

- Dr. Ana Nogales