Our Winter Fundraising Event was held on January 23 in Manhattan. Sister Joan Dawber, Executive Director of the Lifeway Network spoke on behalf of victims of human trafficking to an audience of 30 at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel convent. The video, Not My Life from the US State Department was shown to the group. Sister Joan then related the tragic statistics of trafficked persons and spoke about the exploitation of the victims for the economic gain of others. “Traffickers uses force, fraud, coercion, abduction, threat, deception or the use of power to gain control over the victim.”
Sister Joan shared with the audience the dual mission of Lifeway Network- to educate the general public about this form of modern day slavery and to provide safe welcoming housing for survivors of human trafficking.
The evening ended on a hopeful note as Sister Joan spoke of a recent encounter with a survivor who stated how having safe housing enabled her to feel safe and begin to heal.