December 17, 2024 • 26 mins
Every organization working to combat human trafficking dreams of the day their services won't be needed. At Elijah Rising, we've spent 2024 moving closer to that vision through direct action, community support, and faith-based healing. Join hosts David and Micah as they share inspiring stories of transformation from their anti-trafficking work in Houston, including milestone achievements in survivor recovery, program expansion, and community impact. Learn how this frontline organization is planning an even bigger vision for 2025 to help more survivors find lasting freedom.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Elijah Rising podcast.
Today we're going to berecapping all that the Lord has
done through this ministry in2024.
But stay tuned to the end,where we share our vision and
our heart for what our plans arein 2025.
My co-host today is DavidGamboa.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome Glad to be on the podcast.
I'm excited because thisepisode we get to share good
news.
I feel like a lot of ourepisodes, we focus on problems
and the issue of humantrafficking, and this is really
just us sharing testimonies ofwhat God has done and the growth
that he's brought, the lifechange that we've been able to
(00:41):
see happen, and so that's whatmakes this episode really
exciting for me.
And so let's just startsomewhere.
I asked our team because Icould not remember the beginning
of 2024.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's a little bit of a blur.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah.
So I asked the team what weresome of the highlights of this
year and people just startedresponding in the messages with
just testimony after testimonyafter testimony.
So literally for this episode,what I did is just took all the
feedback from all of our staffand put it into a list, and so
one of the first majorexpansions that happened this
(01:15):
year was the gifting of a newvan for our van tours which
bring awareness to humantrafficking.
I don't know if you guys knowthis, but we've been in this
like 15 passenger white Ford vanfor a really long time.
And it's kind of been a jokearound the office that one day
we would have a Mercedes likesprinter van and because of an
(01:36):
amazing generous donor theyactually went on a van tour and
learned about the issue oftrafficking through the van tour
and we're so impacted by that.
They were like let's donate avan to Elijah Rising.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it was actually an incredible testimony because
we had the week prior just beendreaming like talking out loud
and saying, wouldn't it be soamazing if we could have a
Sprinter van?
You can stand up in it, youhave more space for the seats,
and I mean we take people onthese tours multiple times a
week.
So, yeah, we weren't eventhinking of let's pray about
(02:09):
this or let's like fundraise forit.
So it really was a gift.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I think the one of the more important things is
that through van tours we'vegiven over 16,000 people
education like boots on theground, education of what
trafficking is and what it lookslike in the city of Houston.
And having that second van isgoing to enable us to open up a
spring van tour, which we'vealready done, because we know
(02:32):
trafficking is happening allaround the Houston area, not
just in the Heights.
Our original van tour used tobe in the Galleria, and so
that's really great to see itexpanding and reaching some more
areas.
Yeah, so that was an amazingtestimony.
And then this year you knowright now we have a full house
in our restorative care program.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, and we try to keep those beds full.
So our safe home has six bedsin it, but we don't just serve
six residents a year, so we'vebeen able to serve 18 this year
through a number of our housingprograms.
That includes, like ad hocemergency services when a girl
is literally escaping hertrafficker all the way through
(03:15):
our safe home to eventransitional housing.
So I've been really excited tobe able to house that many
residents this year.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yep and the other big highlight this year is we
hosted the Abolition Summit in.
Atlanta, georgia, with a bunchof other partner organizations,
survivor leaders.
We came together with one focusand that was to just worship
the Lord and pray and refreshone another.
And I feel like that's whathappens and it was kind of just
(03:45):
out of prayer, like we reallybelieve God is mobilizing this
next generation to join the workof abolition, but also calling
organizations to not stray awayfrom their strengths of being
faith-based.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, and I think that just for our listeners.
It's so critical because in thenation there really had not
been a Christian-focusedconference specifically for
anti-trafficking advocates.
And something that I've noticedhas been there's a lot of
emphasis put on care forministry leaders, like pastors
(04:21):
or missionaries, but what wedon't see is care for the
frontline workers, the peoplewho are literally giving their
lives 24-7, 365 for differentpopulations like
anti-trafficking.
So that was our goal and thenso this kicked off an annual.
This will be an annual thingnext year.
It's going to be in Denver,which will be super exciting
(04:42):
because the weather will belovely.
I think it's going to be inDenver, which will be super
exciting because the weatherwill be lovely.
I think it's going to be inAugust this year.
So just put that on your radar.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We'll be sharing more about that as we go along.
So earlier this year we did aseries of podcasts on recovery,
addiction and that intersectionof trafficking and this has been
kind of an avenue that's openedup for us, with Jessica Gobble,
who's our kind of residentexpert on recovery, has really
been pioneering and buildingthose bridges to the recovery
community and people who arecombating trafficking, because
(05:15):
in many ways we serve the samepopulation and our team has been
kind of like pioneering.
It's something that alreadyexists, it's called SLAW and I
don't know much about-.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Sex and love.
Yeah, sex, love addiction.
Anonymous.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So they've implemented this in our program
and it's been really, reallybeneficial.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, it's important because addiction is such a wide
range, I guess what I shouldsay.
Important because addiction issuch a wide range, I guess what
I should say.
There's a wide range ofaddictions, right, and so we
understand the substances, wekind of think of that commonly,
but then there's also thingslike unhealthy boundaries and,
again, sex and love addiction.
So we want to make sure that weare targeting or addressing all
(06:04):
of the issues for that survivorthat might make her vulnerable
to being exploited in the firstplace.
So this is a really new one andI'll say too, safe homes or
anti-trafficking advocatesmaking recovery, addiction
recovery a really critical partof their program is not super
(06:28):
common, it really should beincorporated in every single
program.
So a lot of the addictionrecovery resources, we are
pioneering it and I just wantedto re-emphasize that because I
don't think people realize howmuch cross-pollination there is
in the population but how littlethere is of collaboration
between recovery groups andanti-trafficking and how
(06:50):
desperately needed that is.
And so with these efforts thatour team has been able to
pioneer, we've been able tobring that to a national
platform and introduce that toboth parties.
So it is really kind of on thecusp of recovery.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and these things are real exciting for us
because it's just uncoveringhidden talents in our team,
dreams and visions that theyhave of like hey, it'd be great
if we implemented this, and sothat's been really encouraging
to see.
But it was very interesting.
I had a phone call with avolunteer yesterday and he was
(07:26):
just sharing with me.
He was asking questions aboutour work and he was just like
how do y'all like how I justdon't see how women can come out
of trafficking, like all thebarriers just seem so impossible
.
And I was like you're right.
It's really miraculous, likemany of the testimonies and the
stories that we hear of justwomen overcoming you know, there
(07:49):
is a strength that they have, aresilience that they have, but
it's also the Lord is justworking in ways that we can't
understand or see.
Working in ways that we can'tunderstand or see, and that's
why we rely so much on our faithand that's why prayer is such a
foundational piece.
And so let's share about someof the resident recovery
milestones, because those arebig.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
They are big and they're easy to gloss over, I
think because it's micro, it'son the micro level and
individual level, but this iswhat it looks like for a woman
to come out of trafficking, andso let me just give some context
.
In our program we look at herlife comprehensively, like
holistically, right.
So what financial challenges orlegal challenges or
(08:33):
interpersonal challenges is shefacing?
And on and on.
I could keep going with that.
But we look at her lifecomprehensively and say what
does she need in order to thrive?
So this is one piece of it.
So with addiction recoveryspecifically, we were able to
celebrate multiple womenestablishing a full year of
(08:55):
sobriety and that could looklike a variety of substances,
that can look like, again, sexand love addiction, and so it's
a huge milestone, it's a hugemarker, and what we have found
is that when women enter ourprogram, there's these 30, 60,
90-day milestones that put hermore, she's more vulnerable to
recidivism.
(09:15):
Additionally, when she leavesour program, she's out on her
own, she's living independently.
That's another milestone thatmakes her vulnerable.
And so what our team has beenable to accomplish has been able
to wrap around here, throughoutall of those milestones of
vulnerability, to extendsobriety, hopefully to a
(09:35):
lifelong sobriety.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, and also one of the things we're seeing with
our restorative care is just agrowing what we call alumni
community women who havegraduated our program.
They've been in it for a year,two years and now they're, you
know, living their life, butthey still need some assistance,
they still need community, andthat's one of the things I feel
(09:58):
like is really rewarding orreally exciting to see is just
kind of this organic communitythat has been formed of alumni
and they're actually coming inand speaking into the women that
are currently in the program.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And they're like living testimonies of like look,
if I did it, so can you.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And I just know that number is going to keep growing
as women move through ourprogram, so that gives me
something to really look forwardto in the future is a better
day.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
But they're going through their own process of
healing and yet they're stillwilling to come back and say
like but I was in your shoes,and that to me is it's such an
(10:48):
incredible testimony, but alsoit's so life-giving for them,
right.
Anytime you pour out, it servesyou.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, and you get to see their leadership come
forward like they're planningevents and thinking through
ideas of ways to continuallybuild that community.
So, that's really exciting tosee.
So we just had a lot ofvictories.
We had multiple residentsachieve freedom from legal
challenges.
One graduate had a potential20-year sentence dropped due to
(11:18):
her success in our program.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Isn't that incredible .
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So this is another tangible right, just the legal
ramifications for survivors.
A lot of times PIMPs,traffickers will capitalize on
them being in their coercion,manipulation, their cycle of
victimization by making surethat their ladies get arrested
(11:42):
and get these legal um chargeson them in order to continually
capitalize on theirvulnerability and so um.
You know, this is one kind ofpractical place that we work.
Our case managers work reallyclosely with our residents to
expunge records, to clean uprecords, to get off probation,
all of these things right, sothat they can go on and live
(12:05):
successfully.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, Another great aspect of our program is just
the education and job placementcareer help that our case
management provides.
So we had some victories thisyear.
We had one resident began hercollege courses.
Another resident who just kindof felt like she couldn't really
dream or envision herselfpursuing anything academically,
(12:29):
she ended up discovering she hada passion for learning,
enrolled in GED classes.
Another resident began pursuingher real estate license.
So that just speaks to ourindividualized care.
We're really assessing kind ofwhat do you want to do with your
life, what are your strengths,and then helping connect you in
the right lane.
(12:49):
An alumni shifted hereducational focus to victim
studies to help other people whohave been trafficked, and then
three residents securedemployment and one even entered
into management training, and sothat's a big part of our
program is that we're able tohelp find them stable and
healthy jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, and I think, just to bring it down to an
individual level, many of thesewomen I know there's one in this
list in particular who I knowher family would literally say
to her over and over you'restupid, you're worth nothing,
these types of things that arebeing spoken over them as
(13:30):
children for years.
And so there's a place ofovercoming just the lies that,
like I am stupid, I don't havewhat it takes, I can't learn,
I'll never go to college, I'llnever be worth anything, there's
all these lies that have to beovercome in order to even have
the courage to apply for school,and so I'm so incredibly proud
(13:55):
of our little cohort right now.
I'm so proud of them for all ofthe milestones that they've
been able to reach and justmuscle through.
I'm going to sit down and I'mgoing to do this worksheet.
I'm going to sit down and I'mgoing to study for my GED.
All of those micro leveldecisions actually take a ton of
grit and perseverance, and sothose are again the daily places
(14:18):
of traction where our teamcomes in and helps, coach them
and say like no, we believe inyou, right, like you do have the
capacity.
And I remember this one momentthis year where this woman was
like I can't learn, I've givenup.
It was math specifically, andit was like fractions.
Can't learn, I've given up.
It was math specifically, andit was like fractions.
And I remember a team membercoming in and explaining
(14:40):
fractions and they used this pieand something clicked and then
she was like, oh, I actually getthis and I can do this.
And then went on and on, and onand on.
So all that to say, those arethe micro level decisions and
the practices and the habits ona daily basis that it takes to
(15:01):
overcome all of these obstacleswith education.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, and one of the things that I've really enjoyed
seeing is just our connectionwith local tattoo artists.
I know it's crazy, but many ofthe women who come into our home
literally have branding marksor the name of their trafficker
tattooed on them, and so what wefound is hey, we need to
(15:25):
partner with tattoo artists tohelp cover up or remove those,
and so we've had a lot of greattraction with people that do
tattoo removal but also tattoocoverups.
And this year we've made areally, really great connection
with someone local in Houstonand so she comes in feels like
she's been coming in every week,but every couple of weeks she
(15:48):
comes in and does tattoocoverups for the resident and
that's just been so amazing.
A lot of times it'll be atrafficker's name and she'll
turn it into this like crazy,like flowers, you know, or
butterflies, or it just showskind of the change that they're
going through as well of thatpast is being erased.
So that was that was really,really amazing.
(16:09):
We partner with three dentalproviders to ensure
comprehensive oral healthcare.
To ensure comprehensive oralhealth care, we helped one
resident reduce medical debtfrom $16,903 to just a little
over 200 bucks, and this showsyou why case management is
essential to meet every need.
There's no way that we couldjust out of pocket fund all
(16:30):
these things, and so partneringwith just amazing dentist office
that want to give back likethis has been so beneficial to
the ladies we serve?
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Oh yeah, Because whenever they're being
trafficked, there's no medicalcare, there's no dental care,
right, she might not have goneto the dentist for 5, 10, 15
years.
So we're kind of going back tothe beginning, if you will, you
know.
And the other thing I'll sayabout the tattoo coverups it's
really important because evenwhen a woman is like I'm making
(17:02):
a change, I'm coming away frommy trafficker, or like I'm
trying to make these lifedecisions to transform my life,
Sometimes there is a littleshred of like I'm going to, but
I'm going to hang on to thispiece of my old life, including
her trafficker, because so manytimes he has this emotional
connection to her, making herbelieve that he loves her, all
(17:23):
that stuff, Right.
So for her to decide, you knowwhat?
Now I'm going to take the stepto cover his name and erase his
name from my body.
I don't know if our listenersunderstand.
It is such a big milestone forthem and it really shows their
willingness to cut off their oldlife and move into the new.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, and so just kind of talking about the new,
what are we looking forward toin 2025?
You know, and I hear all thesetestimonies and it's very easy,
I feel like to begin to move on,but I feel like it's so
important for us to just givethanks to God, like because he
(18:06):
really brought us through thisyear and you know, we shared all
the high points but along withthat, there's a lot of
challenges.
Um, there was a lot ofsituations where we found
ourselves okay, well, we gotta,we gotta pray, you know, we
gotta ask God to come throughand he has and it's only when,
if you're able to look back, canyou see God moving and working
in all those mysterious ways.
(18:29):
And so we give credit to theLord for all these testimonies
and just where he's brought usfrom being just this little
prayer meeting over 10 years agoto being able to provide these
really, really beneficial andlife-saving services to people,
and I feel like this next year,god has really began to expand
(18:52):
our vision of what even we thinkis possible, especially when
we're talking about helpingwomen stay out of trafficking
situations stay out of the life,because once they graduate our
program, you know they're in thereal world and real life
happens your car breaks down,you can't make the rent payment.
(19:12):
You know, situations happen andit's very easy to want to go
back to that old life, but wereally are committed to walking
with survivors through that.
Whether they're in our program,after our program, we want to
be there for them.
In many ways we are theircommunity, we're like family,
they know us, they're ourfriends, and so that's one of
(19:34):
the biggest challenges we'veseen is housing.
So many women are beingtrafficked right now because of
a lack of housing.
I think the stat is like 75% ofwomen in trafficking experience
homelessness.
So in many ways we're not justfighting trafficking but we're
also fighting addiction,recovery or fighting
(19:54):
homelessness.
And so this next year we'rereally excited to begin to roll
out a transitional aspect of ourprogram.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Yep, we're looking forward to that.
Probably I'm going to sayquarter one 2025.
We're looking to purchaseanother facility, which is
really exciting, to even say outloud.
We're hoping that it'll be kindof an eight to 10 bed facility
and the difference between thisand our safe home is that in our
(20:22):
safe home it's 24 seven staffedcare.
So that looks like, you know,whenever they have flashbacks,
whenever they have self-harmideation, like somebody is there
to coach them, walk with them,mentor, all that stuff.
So once they've gone throughthe safe home process albeit a
year or two years, whatever thatis to stabilize, then they're
(20:44):
ready to have some autonomy.
You know they're ready.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, because the goal isn't for them to stay in
our program or in our safe home.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, so by this point, when she's graduating the
safe home, she's usuallyworking and or in higher
education.
I mean, she has a car, you knowall these things right.
She's integrating back.
And so with our next phase,which would be transition
housing, there will be no staffpresent.
They live independently.
They live independently.
(21:12):
They do pay rent.
At times it can be a subsidizedrent depending on their
situation.
But, yeah, working a job,living independently, caring for
themselves and for theirpremises and just learning all
the skills.
And then we have some touchpoints that are still sobriety,
addiction recovery support.
And then we do have a pointsthat are still sobriety,
addiction recovery support.
And then we do have a mild,very minimal kind of case
(21:36):
management to keep them focusedon their goals.
We want to make sure again,that they're not becoming
dependent on the organization atthat point either.
But this is such a criticalpiece.
So when women leave our safehome, we have found that there
are a couple of hurdles thatthey sometimes face.
So pimps and traffickers willput them into situations where
(21:58):
they can get incarcerated, get afelony record even on their
record, so they're unable tosecure housing or ruin their
credit intentionally, again notable to secure housing.
So with this transitionalprogram they can stay for as
long as it's needed to repairtheir credit and to rebuild a
(22:19):
positive rental history enablingthem for future success.
And so this is our bigmilestone in the first part of
next year that we're very, veryexcited for.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, and if you guys want to follow along with that,
I'm sure we'll be postingupdates about it via Instagram.
So follow us on Instagram orFacebook.
If you're not on our email list, go to our website,
elijahrisingorg, and so that youcan be up to date on all the
things that we're doing.
But yeah, we're really excitedfor 2025.
And just to kind of wrap thisepisode up, is there anything
(22:55):
you felt like we missed coveringfor 2024?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yes, I think one thing we didn't touch on was the
expansion of our casemanagement offices.
So what that means is that,essentially, we have remodeled
one of our office spaces to bemore of a private.
We have a private entrance forresidents and survivors so that
they can go in and get theservices that they need without
having to, you know, just kindof be out in the open with all
(23:21):
of our office space and all ofour wonderful staff.
But sometimes that that'sthat's a need.
So we have additional officespace that's set aside for
survivors, specifically fortheir care and for their needs.
And then, you know, goingforward into 2025, I would say
keep your calendars marked forthe Abolitionist Summit that's
(23:42):
going to be such a big milestone.
It's going to be a much largergroup this year Again, held in
August in Denver.
It will be something that youdon't want to miss Again held in
August in Denver.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
It will be something that you don't want to miss,
yeah, and I'll just say like, ifyou're just kind of like a
volunteer or you just listen tothe podcast and maybe you feel
like, oh, I don't belong in thatcrowd, I'll just say it's open
to anyone.
Like we're making the ticketsvery affordable for people to
come.
And we were actually the lastone.
We really didn't talk a lotabout trafficking, it was really
(24:13):
just connecting with the Lordand worshiping and praying and
just being spirit led and it wasa I feel like it was a healing
time.
It was a real kind of time forvision, of just seeing what God
is doing around the nation andbuilding connections, cause
that's important, like there'sno way Elijah, rising in and of
itself is going to endtrafficking or be the end all
(24:34):
solution for women.
You know, it's just we can't doeverything.
We need different people who goin different lanes, and so it's
been amazing to just seeorganizations, ministries,
churches, coming together andbeing united, churches coming
together and being united.
(24:54):
But it's also, you know, I'm,hopeful for new ministries to
form, like in Houston.
We need you know, local hotline.
we need emergency shelters, andso I think you know many of
those people are going to besitting in the audience at these
types of events or just inchurches when we go and speak,
and it's time to be activated.
It's time for the body ofChrist to rise up and begin to
meet some needs, because you cantotally do it.
(25:16):
If we can do it, anyonelistening.
If God's called you to do this,you can do this work.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
That's so true.
You know, if God has called you, he will equip you.
We aren't anything special orunique we literally learned as
we went along are unique.
We literally learned as we wentalong, and so you know we would
love to be a resource to youguys.
If you're listening to thispodcast, if you feel encouraged
and inspired to take action,please check us out at
ElijahRisingorg.
You can listen to any of thepodcast episodes All are full of
(25:44):
great educational content oreven reach out to us directly.
We're always available.
So thank you so much forlistening to this episode and we
hope to be able to shareamazing stories with you here in
just a few months.
Welcome to the Elijah Rising podcast.
Today we're going to berecapping all that the Lord has
done through this ministry in2024.
But stay tuned to the end,where we share our vision and
our heart for what our plans arein 2025.
My co-host today is DavidGamboa.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome Glad to be on the podcast.
I'm excited because thisepisode we get to share good
news.
I feel like a lot of ourepisodes, we focus on problems
and the issue of humantrafficking, and this is really
just us sharing testimonies ofwhat God has done and the growth
that he's brought, the lifechange that we've been able to
(00:41):
see happen, and so that's whatmakes this episode really
exciting for me.
And so let's just startsomewhere.
I asked our team because Icould not remember the beginning
of 2024.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's a little bit of a blur.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah.
So I asked the team what weresome of the highlights of this
year and people just startedresponding in the messages with
just testimony after testimonyafter testimony.
So literally for this episode,what I did is just took all the
feedback from all of our staffand put it into a list, and so
one of the first majorexpansions that happened this
(01:15):
year was the gifting of a newvan for our van tours which
bring awareness to humantrafficking.
I don't know if you guys knowthis, but we've been in this
like 15 passenger white Ford vanfor a really long time.
And it's kind of been a jokearound the office that one day
we would have a Mercedes likesprinter van and because of an
(01:36):
amazing generous donor theyactually went on a van tour and
learned about the issue oftrafficking through the van tour
and we're so impacted by that.
They were like let's donate avan to Elijah Rising.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it was actually an incredible testimony because
we had the week prior just beendreaming like talking out loud
and saying, wouldn't it be soamazing if we could have a
Sprinter van?
You can stand up in it, youhave more space for the seats,
and I mean we take people onthese tours multiple times a
week.
So, yeah, we weren't eventhinking of let's pray about
(02:09):
this or let's like fundraise forit.
So it really was a gift.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I think the one of the more important things is
that through van tours we'vegiven over 16,000 people
education like boots on theground, education of what
trafficking is and what it lookslike in the city of Houston.
And having that second van isgoing to enable us to open up a
spring van tour, which we'vealready done, because we know
(02:32):
trafficking is happening allaround the Houston area, not
just in the Heights.
Our original van tour used tobe in the Galleria, and so
that's really great to see itexpanding and reaching some more
areas.
Yeah, so that was an amazingtestimony.
And then this year you knowright now we have a full house
in our restorative care program.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, and we try to keep those beds full.
So our safe home has six bedsin it, but we don't just serve
six residents a year, so we'vebeen able to serve 18 this year
through a number of our housingprograms.
That includes, like ad hocemergency services when a girl
is literally escaping hertrafficker all the way through
(03:15):
our safe home to eventransitional housing.
So I've been really excited tobe able to house that many
residents this year.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yep and the other big highlight this year is we
hosted the Abolition Summit in.
Atlanta, georgia, with a bunchof other partner organizations,
survivor leaders.
We came together with one focusand that was to just worship
the Lord and pray and refreshone another.
And I feel like that's whathappens and it was kind of just
(03:45):
out of prayer, like we reallybelieve God is mobilizing this
next generation to join the workof abolition, but also calling
organizations to not stray awayfrom their strengths of being
faith-based.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, and I think that just for our listeners.
It's so critical because in thenation there really had not
been a Christian-focusedconference specifically for
anti-trafficking advocates.
And something that I've noticedhas been there's a lot of
emphasis put on care forministry leaders, like pastors
(04:21):
or missionaries, but what wedon't see is care for the
frontline workers, the peoplewho are literally giving their
lives 24-7, 365 for differentpopulations like
anti-trafficking.
So that was our goal and thenso this kicked off an annual.
This will be an annual thingnext year.
It's going to be in Denver,which will be super exciting
(04:42):
because the weather will belovely.
I think it's going to be inDenver, which will be super
exciting because the weatherwill be lovely.
I think it's going to be inAugust this year.
So just put that on your radar.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We'll be sharing more about that as we go along.
So earlier this year we did aseries of podcasts on recovery,
addiction and that intersectionof trafficking and this has been
kind of an avenue that's openedup for us, with Jessica Gobble,
who's our kind of residentexpert on recovery, has really
been pioneering and buildingthose bridges to the recovery
community and people who arecombating trafficking, because
(05:15):
in many ways we serve the samepopulation and our team has been
kind of like pioneering.
It's something that alreadyexists, it's called SLAW and I
don't know much about-.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Sex and love.
Yeah, sex, love addiction.
Anonymous.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So they've implemented this in our program
and it's been really, reallybeneficial.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, it's important because addiction is such a wide
range, I guess what I shouldsay.
Important because addiction issuch a wide range, I guess what
I should say.
There's a wide range ofaddictions, right, and so we
understand the substances, wekind of think of that commonly,
but then there's also thingslike unhealthy boundaries and,
again, sex and love addiction.
So we want to make sure that weare targeting or addressing all
(06:04):
of the issues for that survivorthat might make her vulnerable
to being exploited in the firstplace.
So this is a really new one andI'll say too, safe homes or
anti-trafficking advocatesmaking recovery, addiction
recovery a really critical partof their program is not super
(06:28):
common, it really should beincorporated in every single
program.
So a lot of the addictionrecovery resources, we are
pioneering it and I just wantedto re-emphasize that because I
don't think people realize howmuch cross-pollination there is
in the population but how littlethere is of collaboration
between recovery groups andanti-trafficking and how
(06:50):
desperately needed that is.
And so with these efforts thatour team has been able to
pioneer, we've been able tobring that to a national
platform and introduce that toboth parties.
So it is really kind of on thecusp of recovery.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and these things are real exciting for us
because it's just uncoveringhidden talents in our team,
dreams and visions that theyhave of like hey, it'd be great
if we implemented this, and sothat's been really encouraging
to see.
But it was very interesting.
I had a phone call with avolunteer yesterday and he was
(07:26):
just sharing with me.
He was asking questions aboutour work and he was just like
how do y'all like how I justdon't see how women can come out
of trafficking, like all thebarriers just seem so impossible
.
And I was like you're right.
It's really miraculous, likemany of the testimonies and the
stories that we hear of justwomen overcoming you know, there
(07:49):
is a strength that they have, aresilience that they have, but
it's also the Lord is justworking in ways that we can't
understand or see.
Working in ways that we can'tunderstand or see, and that's
why we rely so much on our faithand that's why prayer is such a
foundational piece.
And so let's share about someof the resident recovery
milestones, because those arebig.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
They are big and they're easy to gloss over, I
think because it's micro, it'son the micro level and
individual level, but this iswhat it looks like for a woman
to come out of trafficking, andso let me just give some context
.
In our program we look at herlife comprehensively, like
holistically, right.
So what financial challenges orlegal challenges or
(08:33):
interpersonal challenges is shefacing?
And on and on.
I could keep going with that.
But we look at her lifecomprehensively and say what
does she need in order to thrive?
So this is one piece of it.
So with addiction recoveryspecifically, we were able to
celebrate multiple womenestablishing a full year of
(08:55):
sobriety and that could looklike a variety of substances,
that can look like, again, sexand love addiction, and so it's
a huge milestone, it's a hugemarker, and what we have found
is that when women enter ourprogram, there's these 30, 60,
90-day milestones that put hermore, she's more vulnerable to
recidivism.
(09:15):
Additionally, when she leavesour program, she's out on her
own, she's living independently.
That's another milestone thatmakes her vulnerable.
And so what our team has beenable to accomplish has been able
to wrap around here, throughoutall of those milestones of
vulnerability, to extendsobriety, hopefully to a
(09:35):
lifelong sobriety.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, and also one of the things we're seeing with
our restorative care is just agrowing what we call alumni
community women who havegraduated our program.
They've been in it for a year,two years and now they're, you
know, living their life, butthey still need some assistance,
they still need community, andthat's one of the things I feel
(09:58):
like is really rewarding orreally exciting to see is just
kind of this organic communitythat has been formed of alumni
and they're actually coming inand speaking into the women that
are currently in the program.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And they're like living testimonies of like look,
if I did it, so can you.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And I just know that number is going to keep growing
as women move through ourprogram, so that gives me
something to really look forwardto in the future is a better
day.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
But they're going through their own process of
healing and yet they're stillwilling to come back and say
like but I was in your shoes,and that to me is it's such an
(10:48):
incredible testimony, but alsoit's so life-giving for them,
right.
Anytime you pour out, it servesyou.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, and you get to see their leadership come
forward like they're planningevents and thinking through
ideas of ways to continuallybuild that community.
So, that's really exciting tosee.
So we just had a lot ofvictories.
We had multiple residentsachieve freedom from legal
challenges.
One graduate had a potential20-year sentence dropped due to
(11:18):
her success in our program.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Isn't that incredible .
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So this is another tangible right, just the legal
ramifications for survivors.
A lot of times PIMPs,traffickers will capitalize on
them being in their coercion,manipulation, their cycle of
victimization by making surethat their ladies get arrested
(11:42):
and get these legal um chargeson them in order to continually
capitalize on theirvulnerability and so um.
You know, this is one kind ofpractical place that we work.
Our case managers work reallyclosely with our residents to
expunge records, to clean uprecords, to get off probation,
all of these things right, sothat they can go on and live
(12:05):
successfully.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, Another great aspect of our program is just
the education and job placementcareer help that our case
management provides.
So we had some victories thisyear.
We had one resident began hercollege courses.
Another resident who just kindof felt like she couldn't really
dream or envision herselfpursuing anything academically,
(12:29):
she ended up discovering she hada passion for learning,
enrolled in GED classes.
Another resident began pursuingher real estate license.
So that just speaks to ourindividualized care.
We're really assessing kind ofwhat do you want to do with your
life, what are your strengths,and then helping connect you in
the right lane.
(12:49):
An alumni shifted hereducational focus to victim
studies to help other people whohave been trafficked, and then
three residents securedemployment and one even entered
into management training, and sothat's a big part of our
program is that we're able tohelp find them stable and
healthy jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, and I think, just to bring it down to an
individual level, many of thesewomen I know there's one in this
list in particular who I knowher family would literally say
to her over and over you'restupid, you're worth nothing,
these types of things that arebeing spoken over them as
(13:30):
children for years.
And so there's a place ofovercoming just the lies that,
like I am stupid, I don't havewhat it takes, I can't learn,
I'll never go to college, I'llnever be worth anything, there's
all these lies that have to beovercome in order to even have
the courage to apply for school,and so I'm so incredibly proud
(13:55):
of our little cohort right now.
I'm so proud of them for all ofthe milestones that they've
been able to reach and justmuscle through.
I'm going to sit down and I'mgoing to do this worksheet.
I'm going to sit down and I'mgoing to study for my GED.
All of those micro leveldecisions actually take a ton of
grit and perseverance, and sothose are again the daily places
(14:18):
of traction where our teamcomes in and helps, coach them
and say like no, we believe inyou, right, like you do have the
capacity.
And I remember this one momentthis year where this woman was
like I can't learn, I've givenup.
It was math specifically, andit was like fractions.
Can't learn, I've given up.
It was math specifically, andit was like fractions.
And I remember a team membercoming in and explaining
(14:40):
fractions and they used this pieand something clicked and then
she was like, oh, I actually getthis and I can do this.
And then went on and on, and onand on.
So all that to say, those arethe micro level decisions and
the practices and the habits ona daily basis that it takes to
(15:01):
overcome all of these obstacleswith education.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, and one of the things that I've really enjoyed
seeing is just our connectionwith local tattoo artists.
I know it's crazy, but many ofthe women who come into our home
literally have branding marksor the name of their trafficker
tattooed on them, and so what wefound is hey, we need to
(15:25):
partner with tattoo artists tohelp cover up or remove those,
and so we've had a lot of greattraction with people that do
tattoo removal but also tattoocoverups.
And this year we've made areally, really great connection
with someone local in Houstonand so she comes in feels like
she's been coming in every week,but every couple of weeks she
(15:48):
comes in and does tattoocoverups for the resident and
that's just been so amazing.
A lot of times it'll be atrafficker's name and she'll
turn it into this like crazy,like flowers, you know, or
butterflies, or it just showskind of the change that they're
going through as well of thatpast is being erased.
So that was that was really,really amazing.
(16:09):
We partner with three dentalproviders to ensure
comprehensive oral healthcare.
To ensure comprehensive oralhealth care, we helped one
resident reduce medical debtfrom $16,903 to just a little
over 200 bucks, and this showsyou why case management is
essential to meet every need.
There's no way that we couldjust out of pocket fund all
(16:30):
these things, and so partneringwith just amazing dentist office
that want to give back likethis has been so beneficial to
the ladies we serve?
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Oh yeah, Because whenever they're being
trafficked, there's no medicalcare, there's no dental care,
right, she might not have goneto the dentist for 5, 10, 15
years.
So we're kind of going back tothe beginning, if you will, you
know.
And the other thing I'll sayabout the tattoo coverups it's
really important because evenwhen a woman is like I'm making
(17:02):
a change, I'm coming away frommy trafficker, or like I'm
trying to make these lifedecisions to transform my life,
Sometimes there is a littleshred of like I'm going to, but
I'm going to hang on to thispiece of my old life, including
her trafficker, because so manytimes he has this emotional
connection to her, making herbelieve that he loves her, all
(17:23):
that stuff, Right.
So for her to decide, you knowwhat?
Now I'm going to take the stepto cover his name and erase his
name from my body.
I don't know if our listenersunderstand.
It is such a big milestone forthem and it really shows their
willingness to cut off their oldlife and move into the new.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, and so just kind of talking about the new,
what are we looking forward toin 2025?
You know, and I hear all thesetestimonies and it's very easy,
I feel like to begin to move on,but I feel like it's so
important for us to just givethanks to God, like because he
(18:06):
really brought us through thisyear and you know, we shared all
the high points but along withthat, there's a lot of
challenges.
Um, there was a lot ofsituations where we found
ourselves okay, well, we gotta,we gotta pray, you know, we
gotta ask God to come throughand he has and it's only when,
if you're able to look back, canyou see God moving and working
in all those mysterious ways.
(18:29):
And so we give credit to theLord for all these testimonies
and just where he's brought usfrom being just this little
prayer meeting over 10 years agoto being able to provide these
really, really beneficial andlife-saving services to people,
and I feel like this next year,god has really began to expand
(18:52):
our vision of what even we thinkis possible, especially when
we're talking about helpingwomen stay out of trafficking
situations stay out of the life,because once they graduate our
program, you know they're in thereal world and real life
happens your car breaks down,you can't make the rent payment.
(19:12):
You know, situations happen andit's very easy to want to go
back to that old life, but wereally are committed to walking
with survivors through that.
Whether they're in our program,after our program, we want to
be there for them.
In many ways we are theircommunity, we're like family,
they know us, they're ourfriends, and so that's one of
(19:34):
the biggest challenges we'veseen is housing.
So many women are beingtrafficked right now because of
a lack of housing.
I think the stat is like 75% ofwomen in trafficking experience
homelessness.
So in many ways we're not justfighting trafficking but we're
also fighting addiction,recovery or fighting
(19:54):
homelessness.
And so this next year we'rereally excited to begin to roll
out a transitional aspect of ourprogram.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Yep, we're looking forward to that.
Probably I'm going to sayquarter one 2025.
We're looking to purchaseanother facility, which is
really exciting, to even say outloud.
We're hoping that it'll be kindof an eight to 10 bed facility
and the difference between thisand our safe home is that in our
(20:22):
safe home it's 24 seven staffedcare.
So that looks like, you know,whenever they have flashbacks,
whenever they have self-harmideation, like somebody is there
to coach them, walk with them,mentor, all that stuff.
So once they've gone throughthe safe home process albeit a
year or two years, whatever thatis to stabilize, then they're
(20:44):
ready to have some autonomy.
You know they're ready.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, because the goal isn't for them to stay in
our program or in our safe home.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, so by this point, when she's graduating the
safe home, she's usuallyworking and or in higher
education.
I mean, she has a car, you knowall these things right.
She's integrating back.
And so with our next phase,which would be transition
housing, there will be no staffpresent.
They live independently.
They live independently.
(21:12):
They do pay rent.
At times it can be a subsidizedrent depending on their
situation.
But, yeah, working a job,living independently, caring for
themselves and for theirpremises and just learning all
the skills.
And then we have some touchpoints that are still sobriety,
addiction recovery support.
And then we do have a pointsthat are still sobriety,
addiction recovery support.
And then we do have a mild,very minimal kind of case
(21:36):
management to keep them focusedon their goals.
We want to make sure again,that they're not becoming
dependent on the organization atthat point either.
But this is such a criticalpiece.
So when women leave our safehome, we have found that there
are a couple of hurdles thatthey sometimes face.
So pimps and traffickers willput them into situations where
(21:58):
they can get incarcerated, get afelony record even on their
record, so they're unable tosecure housing or ruin their
credit intentionally, again notable to secure housing.
So with this transitionalprogram they can stay for as
long as it's needed to repairtheir credit and to rebuild a
(22:19):
positive rental history enablingthem for future success.
And so this is our bigmilestone in the first part of
next year that we're very, veryexcited for.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, and if you guys want to follow along with that,
I'm sure we'll be postingupdates about it via Instagram.
So follow us on Instagram orFacebook.
If you're not on our email list, go to our website,
elijahrisingorg, and so that youcan be up to date on all the
things that we're doing.
But yeah, we're really excitedfor 2025.
And just to kind of wrap thisepisode up, is there anything
(22:55):
you felt like we missed coveringfor 2024?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yes, I think one thing we didn't touch on was the
expansion of our casemanagement offices.
So what that means is that,essentially, we have remodeled
one of our office spaces to bemore of a private.
We have a private entrance forresidents and survivors so that
they can go in and get theservices that they need without
having to, you know, just kindof be out in the open with all
(23:21):
of our office space and all ofour wonderful staff.
But sometimes that that'sthat's a need.
So we have additional officespace that's set aside for
survivors, specifically fortheir care and for their needs.
And then, you know, goingforward into 2025, I would say
keep your calendars marked forthe Abolitionist Summit that's
(23:42):
going to be such a big milestone.
It's going to be a much largergroup this year Again, held in
August in Denver.
It will be something that youdon't want to miss Again held in
August in Denver.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
It will be something that you don't want to miss,
yeah, and I'll just say like, ifyou're just kind of like a
volunteer or you just listen tothe podcast and maybe you feel
like, oh, I don't belong in thatcrowd, I'll just say it's open
to anyone.
Like we're making the ticketsvery affordable for people to
come.
And we were actually the lastone.
We really didn't talk a lotabout trafficking, it was really
(24:13):
just connecting with the Lordand worshiping and praying and
just being spirit led and it wasa I feel like it was a healing
time.
It was a real kind of time forvision, of just seeing what God
is doing around the nation andbuilding connections, cause
that's important, like there'sno way Elijah, rising in and of
itself is going to endtrafficking or be the end all
(24:34):
solution for women.
You know, it's just we can't doeverything.
We need different people who goin different lanes, and so it's
been amazing to just seeorganizations, ministries,
churches, coming together andbeing united, churches coming
together and being united.
(24:54):
But it's also, you know, I'm,hopeful for new ministries to
form, like in Houston.
We need you know, local hotline.
we need emergency shelters, andso I think you know many of
those people are going to besitting in the audience at these
types of events or just inchurches when we go and speak,
and it's time to be activated.
It's time for the body ofChrist to rise up and begin to
meet some needs, because you cantotally do it.
(25:16):
If we can do it, anyonelistening.
If God's called you to do this,you can do this work.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
That's so true.
You know, if God has called you, he will equip you.
We aren't anything special orunique we literally learned as
we went along are unique.
We literally learned as we wentalong, and so you know we would
love to be a resource to youguys.
If you're listening to thispodcast, if you feel encouraged
and inspired to take action,please check us out at
ElijahRisingorg.
You can listen to any of thepodcast episodes All are full of
(25:44):
great educational content oreven reach out to us directly.
We're always available.
So thank you so much forlistening to this episode and we
hope to be able to shareamazing stories with you here in
just a few months.
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