Every year 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders half of those people are children and 80% are women.

On Tuesday, October 24, Girl Rising had a representative from A Face To Reframe come in and speak. A Face To Reframe is an organization that works to prevent human trafficking. The people at A Face To Reframe fight to spread the message that human trafficking isn’t just a problem that occurs in third world countries. Contrary to what many people think, it is a problem in the United States, but people don’t even know what the signs are.

The speaker tried to exaggerate the signs and what to look for. She made sure to say multiple times to “trust your gut” and if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

“Human trafficking happens in our own backyard. In 2016, 123 kids were rescued from human trafficking in Larimer County,” she said. Human trafficking in the United States looks slightly different as people use ploys like asking kids to move away from home and work for them and sell magazines or another product. They offer to pay for a place to stay and airfare to the destination. They make it seem like a great deal and then when kids are away from home and in a new place the traffickers  tell them they owe money for everything paid on their behalf. Kids are alone, far from home, and  in debt, forced to work for the people who lied to them.

Human Traffickers also do it through social media and target people’s vulnerabilities. If they see profiles who grew up without a dad then they will try to be a father figure.

A Face To Reframe is also working on changing laws and policies in the United States so that when a situation of human trafficking is uncovered, the person who was trafficked does not get in trouble. Overall, the speaker from A Face To Reframe was very engaging and taught a lot about what human trafficking really looks like and what it means for those involved.

The RMHS Girl Rising Club sponsored the speaker and works to empower women and educate people about what life is like around the world for young girls and women. Last year Girl Rising provided schooling for three girls in Africa. This year they are working on a project to continue supporting these girls and potentially add another one.

Students interested in attending the club can meet in room 408, every Tuesday at lunch.