When you have traveled as many miles as the average taxi driver has you begin to get a 5th sense when something is not right.
Then something else happens and you are even more aware that all is not well.
She lives down beside the bridge at Blackhall Place she is from South America, Bolivia I think.
Many hundreds of people come here from S.America, most do very well but it is so hard to succeed.
It only takes you to meet one toxic person to ruin your entire life.
This young lady is being trafficked into prostitution I believe.
Little things she said! Like one minute phone calls etc.
What can you do?
A few years ago a beautiful young 18 year old Brazilian girl was going to St.Johns Rd. Sandymount, she was innocent and giddy, but as I pulled up at the house and took her bag from the boot she threw her arms around my neck and gave me a big hug.
"Thank you so much, I came here for a casting to become a model, I am so happy"
Nothing could convince her that this not how models are created, "you have to get a portfolio and an agent and even then it is not easy". I told her that I knew a photographer and gave her my number.
I heard nothing back, but I thought about her.
"What if she was your daughter John?" Said the voice in my head
So I took the morning off, I rang the Garda HQ no answer.
Then I rang Store St.Garda station and I asked was there any department which deals with vice or prostitution. I was told NO and then that the young lady in question should be deported.
There was no understanding of the situation at all, I rang 2 other Garda stations, Irishtown and Donnybrook. No luck there either.
I took a break and had a brainwave.
I rang the woman's rape crisis center, a lady there knew exactly where I was coming from.
Ring this number Its a group called Ruhama, their aim is to rescue girls from vice with no blame.
After telling my story again to her I got a big thank you.
"If only other people paid attention"She said.
Please ring this number its "Operation Quest" they are based in Store St.Garda station.
The first place I spoke to.
Two days later someone from the nerve center of this elite squad rang me up to tell me that there was no St. Johns Rd. in Sandymount.Then they rang me 2 days later on to tell me that there was no house with that number on the street.
Then I blew a fuse !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So before you blow a fuse.
Ruhama 01 8360292
Mobile 086 8553853
086 8288539
Now that you know something about it take a look at (click here).
A year ago I saw a young woman on the street in D2/D4. She was obviously prostituting and a novice at it.
ReplyDeleteI gave her enough money to reach her target and a lift home. She told me part of her story but something she said stayed with me.
When she told me the age of her son, I looked at her and she said "Yeah, pregnant at 17". She said that with a kind of fatalism as if her life ended at 17, no college, no job, no clubbing, no fun, no future, no life.
I asked her to call Ruhama. All she really needed was a little help, someone in her corner.
Last week, I saw another woman on the street in D7. Again, I gave her enough to reach her target and a lift into town. She was incredulous, a bit suspicious of why I'd even do that. I told her I'd paid girls like her years ago, but I couldn't just drive past, ignore her and go home. Now I'd rather just try to be kind.
I told her about the other woman, and how she said her life had ended at 17. This woman said "My life ended at 12".
She told me only part of her story and when I dropped her off, she said that was the kindest thing anyone had ever done for her. All I'd done was give her 50 euro and not required sex.
10 or 20 years ago, I would have had no problem paying those women for prostitution, they would not have told me their backstory, and I would not have wanted to hear it anyway.
Prostitution and trafficking are complicated and inextricably intertwined (from experience), but I learned two things from that woman last week.
1. Helping people is sometimes called "Rescue and restoration". But how is it possible to restore someone to a normal life when they say they never had a life, when my little gesture is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her?
2. It would be so easy to feign concern or love, win her confidence, and then pimp her out. Lover-boy pimping no longer looks so hard to me, all it takes is a complete lack of compassion.
I've met trafficked women. The last was in a crowded bar, she openly described her predicament, how another woman (she pointed her out) cheated her and controlled her. It was her key selling point, it makes men feel sorry for her, and pay her. It must work or she wouldn't use it as her sales pitch. Nobody is going to help her unless she specifically asks. Even then, they may be reluctant to get involved.
So, the girl you think was trafficked, I definitely think you did the right thing making that phone call and following it up. The only way to fight this is by being proactive. Once a girl falls into that trap, it's almost impossible to escape, and almost all of society is invested in keeping her down.
You are a good man David, all it takes is a few people to become aware of what is going on. I could waken up the anti trafficking corps.
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