March 20, 2010
Uncovering victims of modern-day ‘slavery’ is shelter’s mission
Nilda Valmores, a member of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Carmichael and executive director of My Sister’s House in the Sacramento area, talks with a client at the safe haven. Photo courtesy of My Sister’s House
By Denise MacLachlan
Herald staff
Nilda Valmores is on a personal mission to find victims of human trafficking in the Sacramento area.
“They are right here among us, in Sacramento, in plain sight,” says the executive director of My Sister’s House, a shelter for Asian and Pacific Islander women escaping domestic violence.
My Sister’s House is one of three Sacramento area organizations working with the Sacramento Employment Training Agency (SETA) to reach out to regional victims of human trafficking.
Though it’s likely not well known, Sacramento is one of the top 10 cities in the country for human trafficking, Valmores said. She notes that 70 percent of all humans trafficked are women. And among those trafficked women, the largest ethnic group is Asian and Pacific Islander.
“Human trafficking is what slavery looks like now,” Valmores said, “and the Internet is like a modern-day mail order bride service.” Women in Asia and the Pacific Islands meet their “Prince Charming” over the Internet and “get hoodwinked by lies,” she said.
The women think they’re moving to the United States to marry, have a loving husband, a nice family and a good life, Valmores said. The abusers present themselves as respected professionals, and although some are lying, many are telling the truth.
“Abusers can be lawyers, or people associated with law enforcement, or people in health care,” Valmores said. “A woman verifies what she can online, and when it turns out the man is telling her the truth, she thinks, ‘He’s respectable. He can be trusted.’ So she comes to the U.S.”
Once here, human trafficking victims find themselves isolated by their abusers in an unfamiliar foreign country, Valmores said. They are abused physically and sexually, as well as financially and emotionally. They might have no keys to their houses, no access to money and no access to transportation. They may be forced into prostitution or into legitimate low-level jobs, and they must turn over all earnings to the abuser.
Once they become pregnant, it’s even harder for them to escape.
SETA’s regional human trafficking intervention program, called “Rescue and Restore,” is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In the Sacramento area, WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) provides the program’s shelter component while Open Doors, Inc. handles case management for the women and children rescued from human trafficking, Valmores noted.
My Sister’s House provides public outreach, education and advocacy.
Valmores, a member of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Carmichael and a former teacher at Holy Cross School in West Sacramento, wants to reach out to the Catholic community in the Sacramento Diocese to raise awareness about the realities of human trafficking.
“We want to bring awareness of the problem to community leaders, so that we can maintain a support network that helps these women get away from their abusers,” she said. She describes speaking about human trafficking at a church recently. Afterward, a parishioner told her about a neighbor who never left her house.
The parishioner had seen the woman, who was Asian, through a window, but in the several years she’d lived there, the parishioner had never seen her outside. The Asian woman’s husband was a charming man known for his extensive gun collection, the parishioner added.
Valmores followed up on that lead.
Carla Carr, chair of the advisory board for My Sister’s House and a member of Holy Trinity Parish in El Dorado Hills, told The Herald that Pope Benedict XVI calls human trafficking “a scourge.”
“The number one unreported cause of death in the Asian community is domestic violence,” Carr said. “It’s unreported because of the culture. The women don’t want to shame their family.”
The cultural and language barriers that prevent women from getting help make it easy for the abusers to keep control, too, Carr noted. Isolation always empowers the abusers, she said.
Carr’s cultural observations are echoed by Darrell Woo, president of the board of directors at My Sister’s House. Woo has supported the shelter since its inception in 2001 “because I have a young daughter and wife,” he said.
For Asian and Pacific Islander women who are relatively new to the country, “saving face is huge,” Woo observed. “In my culture, one doesn’t discredit and dishonor one’s family by going outside the family with problems in the family.”
So My Sister’s House has created a safe haven that creates another, healthier family for the women, he explained. “It’s not an institution. It’s a home,” he said.
The shelter has a multiple-language 24 hour hotline, Woo noted, and staff members not only speak the women’s languages, they understand the women’s cultures. Staff at the agencies participating in “Rescue and Restore” help the women access the services they need to put their lives back together. Sacramento attorneys provide pro-bono legal assistance.
Now My Sister’s House is trying to get that information out to the community at large.
The shelter is hosting a conference, titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Trafficking in the Central Valley,” on March 26 at California State University, Sacramento. My Sister’s House will also send speakers into the community to present workshops on human trafficking.
“We speak to civic groups, women’s groups, churches — everyone we can reach,” Valmores said. “The more of us who understand what is happening, the faster we can stop the abuse.”
Editor’s note: The Web site for My Sister's House is www.my-sisters-house.org.
What is human trafficking?
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, in which victims are subjected to force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. It is the fastest growing criminal industry worldwide.
Types of human trafficking:
• Forced labor or involuntary servitude;
• Bonded labor or debt bondage;
• Involuntary domestic servitude;
• Forced child labor including involuntary servitude, debt, bondage, or slavery;
• Sex trafficking occurs alongside debt bondage;
• Child sexual exploitation, including commercial sexual exploitation.
Indicators of a potential trafficking victim:
• Evidence of being controlled or the inability to move or leave a job;
• Bruises or other signs of physical abuse;
• Fear or depression;
• Not speaking on own behalf and/or non-English speaking;
• No passport or other forms of identification or documentation.
For those who may suspect, know of, or are themselves a victim of human trafficking, call WEAVE at (916) 920-2952 or My Sister’s House at (916) 428-3271.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline is 1-888-373-7888.
—Taken from the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency Web site: www.seta.net/community/rescue-and-restore-human-trafficking-program/
