Namratha Somayajula

Last spring, CGO students organized a speaker panel dealing with the issue of human trafficking in our community. The event took place in the L illis Business Complex at the UO during the evening of Tuesday, May 12, 2015.  The panel included Ms. Nancy O’Malley, Alameda County District Attorney, Ms. Diana Janz, director of Hope Ranch Ministries in Springfield, and Ms. Rebecca Purkey, a local advocate in Lane County who in the past had experienced human trafficking firsthand.

By bringing in speakers with various backgrounds and experiences in the effort to eradicate human trafficking, the CGO students hoped that students around the University of Oregon would be able to use what they learn to seek creative options to engage in the effort. Lauren Frei, a CGO ‘15, noted that although “many times, human trafficking is approached as an issue that occurs abroad…it has substantial roots within our local community. Our goals in organizing a speaker panel are to raise awareness of the local nature of human trafficking and to focus on prevention. We hope these speakers will inspire our local community to become active in prevention efforts to deter human trafficking along the West Coast and to expand these efforts to reduce [its] impacts on the global community.”

Most certainly, the speakers were inspiring to those who attended the event. The panel was open to students and faculty from the university, and was well attended. We were very glad to see that so many students from around the U of O took the time to come and listen to this panel on such a pertinent and urgent issue. Each of our panelists spoke about her experiences advocating against human trafficking. Specifically, Ms. O’Malley spoke about her experiences in law making and in creating the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (H.E.A.T.) Watch program in Alameda County, an organization that works to combat human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. The program has developed a toolkit for communities working to eradicate human trafficking, and continues to develop comprehensive responses to the phenomenon. Ms. Janz spoke about the program she leads at Hope Ranch Ministries: the program’s mission is to lend a voice and support to those who have been silenced through the horrors of human sexual trafficking, and to help those individuals empower each other. Ms. Purkey, who concluded the panel, shared her personal story and spoke about the work she does–some of which is at Hope Ranch–in offering support to others who have experienced sexual trafficking and in trying to end its occurrence in our local community. In response to an audience member’s question about the criminal justice system as it relates to human trafficking, Ms. Purkey shared her thoughts on how we can compassionately and mindfully address the root causes of human trafficking. In doing so, she encouraged us to both protect those who have been/may be exploited and also to eradicate some of the conditions that may cause someone to choose to exploit others in the first place.

The next evening, all three of our panelists attended the CGO’s weekly class in the Ramey Room. After briefly re-capping what they had spoken about the night before, they led us through a workshop that allowed us to think about ways in which community members like us can address the factors that contribute to human trafficking. Both the workshop and the panel the night before were very valuable, and we are very thankful that our speakers were willing to take the time and effort to travel to the University of Oregon and share their experiences with us.

————

Note: Before returning to California, Ms. O’Malley also left with the CGO a packet of information and resources developed by the H.E.A.T. Watch program. Thanks to Ms. O’Malley’s vision and efforts, and the commitment of the District Attorney’s Office, H.E.A.T. Watch has become an award-winning program that serves as a model in the local, regional, and national spheres. For more information about H.E.A.T. Watch and to find out how to join the effort against human trafficking, please visit the website: http://www.heatwatch.org/