VICTIMS STORIES
(names have been changed)

Anna first came into my life eight years ago. She had been rescued from what they call a gang (which is really organized crime). The gangs in Honduras can actually be referred to as organized crime. They are organized because they have a structure that I can kind of explain to you. The bottom of organized crime are the guys that make things happen. They can be as young as eleven to early 20’s. They are the ones that are the gang “members” or gang “associates.” The next level are people that would be more like the working man or woman. They organize the house to keep  kids, they know where to pick them up and deliver them etc. The next level are the people that know two things: where the kids are and how to get hold of the adults who want the kids. They are the “hook-up” people.  Then, they are the ones that turn it into organized crime, the big hitters. These are the people with the money to keep an organization going. They are the ones who collect the profits (usually 100% profit).  These people are usually way up in society like a high socialite, a senator, or high ranking official etc. I have just given you an incomplete picture of organized crime.

About eight years ago I saw her first in a police vehicle. She was being transported from a holding house (a holding house is where the traffickers imprison the children) to a safe place.  In the process of being transported, I was able to spend some time talking with her through a translator.  I had about 45 minutes to an hour the first time I talked with her. She was taken to a safe house where she could shower, eat and begin the process of medical checks and detoxing from whatever drugs they put her on. My next time with her was strange for both of us because she was talking to an American male (a white guy) and she was just rescued from the man who had purchased her for sex, he was also a white guy. That’s part of the strangeness and difficulty that she was experiencing. For me it was being willing to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually enter into her world.  Prior to actually entering into her world I had no idea what I was getting into. I knew at some point she would begin to trust me and put me in another difficult spot. There was going to be a lot of things that I would hear and see that my mind would not know how to process.  That’s where I trust in the 30 years I’ve had of crisis counseling and the schooling I’ve received. It’s also where I take that step of faith and know in my heart that Jesus was with her during her entire time and He knows, therefore I can know. He has answers and if I can stay in the circle of God, I can have answers. But even with all that I know the chances of her life ever being successful are very slim. There is only one program in Honduras that I’m aware of, called Covenant House – that offers her a chance. Covenant house is run by an older guy I have come to love and know in a deep way because we can relate at such a deep level on issues that are unspeakable.  This young girl Anna never made it to the one place she could have gotten help. She ended up in a place kind of like a psych ward. It’s really where they put children when they don’t know where to put them. They are basically locked up. I’ve been in all of these places and at this time, I’m not going to take the opportunity to talk about them, but they are there! 

I saw Anna two times after the initial meeting at the police car. Eventually she returned to the streets. Since returning to the streets, I have lost contact with her. If she’s alive, she’s living at the bottom of the barrel. When I’m in a third world, the bottom of the barrel isn’t the american bottom of the barrel. Their barrel goes much deeper and is much darker, and there are more people in it. Which gives the barrel either a power that is real or it just feels more powerful than the bottom of the barrel in the U.S.A.  There are so many more people in that barrel and so few things to get them out. So my hope is that one day I will run into Anna. Since then I have met literally hundreds and hundreds of Anna’s. In the future, you’ll be hearing more and more about the “Anna’s” that I have come to know. 		 

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