Volunteer Work
One of my tasks as a volunteer for Seattle Against Slavery was to help spread awareness to victims by going to businesses around Seattle and putting up posters designed to help victims be aware that they have legal rights, even if their exploiter scares them with stories tat the government will treat them worse than they will. At first I was skeptical of the efficacy of these posters, but my professor told me of a similar campaign she helped coordinate of putting poster's up in truck and rest stop bathrooms (in a protective casing), and how the casings were almost immediately broken into and the posters destroyed. This showed that the posters were scaring traffickers and were likely actually effective in helping empower victims.
I also volunteered at a charity 5k run designed to raise awareness of human trafficking and funds for further efforts.
UW Awareness Event
At the end of the quarter, all of the students in Professor Foot's class who were volunteering with SAS all collaborated to put on an event on campus. We set up a table in Red Square, made posters, and contacted Theo Chocolate, who donated a large quantity of chocolate samples entice people to come look at our table. Theo is a pioneer of ethical sourcing and one of the best actors in the global chocolate industry in terms of transparent sourcing and avoiding using slave labor. It was an honor to have them support us. We informed people about many of the nuances of human trafficking and attempted to dispel many of the myths surrounding modern slavery. We also raised awareness of local and national groups combating the scourge of exploitation, such as the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Netowrk, our own Seattle Against Slavery, and the Homeland Security human trafficking hotline.