Part of my job here at The Mustard Seed in Edmonton is in education. No, I am not a teacher... At least not officially. Though, I do teach people about our community, about practising social justice and solidarity, about the realities of poverty that exist in our city.Yesterday the teaching topic of the day was sexual exploitation. To help me in this conversation I welcomed CEASE (Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation) to share with us the history of sex trafficking in our community, as well as their personal experiences with street prostitution. There were two women, one of whom was vital to the development of CEASE as an organization, the other a victim and survivor of sexual exploitation.
They shared with us stories of sex trade workers being herded into specific communities by law enforcement officials in the mid-80s to hide this issue from the up and coming college campuses in downtown Edmonton. They talked about the street count done by police officers in 1992 where they counted 250 children and 750 women on street corners working at all hours of the day. They also taught us about the 'John School' program offered through CEASE to men charged for purchasing sex (a program which boasts a success rate upwards of 80%).
But the part of the story that will stick with me is when Juanita shared about her experience being pimped out from the age of 10. An Edmonton-native, Juanita was born into a family of addiction, abuse, and intergenerational patterns of destruction. She was moved in and out of many foster and group homes from the minute she was born. She shared memories of repetitive sexual assault in her early childhood, and of eating out of garbage cans for days on end when her mother would leave her without explanation.
I don't think I will ever forget the horrific details of Juanita's 22 years of street work, and to be honest, I don't think I want to. Though it was difficult to hear in some instances, Juanita's story is a story of hope, of grace, and of the redemptive nature of our Creator. It also reminds me that there are none who choose a life of prostitution, addiction, poverty, homelessness. For most, there are no choices at all, only the decision to keep walking and journeying the road they've been set on.
For more information on the fight against sexual exploitation and sex trafficking visit ceasenow.org or defenddignity.ca.
-Kat
Follow me on Twitter @katherineboldt
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