Hope Lives

“Hope Lives.”

These are the words on Jocelyn’s* hat today. She stands firm in a room with Kenya’s most powerful leaders at Hope International’s Prevention of Trafficking in Persons conference. As she takes the floor, 150 high-ranking government officials fall silent.

Jocelyn recounts the story of her early twenties working tirelessly to support her family. Following her dream of financial freedom, Jocelyn made the difficult decision to leave her son in the care of a cousin and travel miles from home to Hong Kong for a restaurant job promising a large monthly salary.

When she arrived, Jocelyn was thrown into a room with five other girls only 15 to 17 years old. To her horror, she realized this hopeful job was a lie. The following night, Jocelyn was trafficked for sex for the first time. This was only the beginning of five years of trafficking and grueling abuse.

At last, in her break for freedom, Hope’s partner in China supported Jocelyn to safely escape her traffickers and return home. In Hope International’s residential aftercare program, Jocelyn received counseling, medical care, and the love and support inspiring her to rebuild her life. 

Standing in front of her audience as a survivor, Jocelyn vows to forever be a voice for those silenced in sex trafficking around the world.

Ever inspired by those survivors it strives to support, Hope International continues its commitment to empower resilient survivors like Jocelyn in their healing journey and fight for justice.

Through survivors like Jocelyn, hope lives. 

Original

Sunglasses and a large hat with the words “Hope Lives” covered Jocelyn’s* head and face as she stood before a room filled with Kenya’s most powerful leaders. As she took the floor, 150 high-ranking government officials fell silent.  

Hope international partnered with Penn State Law School and the Human Trafficking Institute to host the first ever Prevention of Trafficking in Persons conference in Kenya. Hope was honored to provide Jocelyn, a human trafficking survivor in Hope’s program, the opportunity to speak. 

“I never knew my mother," Jocelyn began. "I don’t know what she looks like.” 

Through tears Jocelyn recalled that in her early twenties she had been a hard worker – that all she ever wanted was to get enough money to purchase the shop where she was employed. With this goal in mind, Jocelyn left her son with a cousin and went to Hong Kong to work in a restaurant advertising a $500 monthly salary.

When Jocelyn arrived in Hong Kong, she was thrown into a room with five other girls, ages 15-17. Her new boss took all of their passports and drove the girls to a salon. He altered their appearances so drastically that none of them recognized themselves in the mirror. Jocelyn asked her boss, “Why do I need to look like this to work in a restaurant?” Her question went unanswered.

Jocelyn was trafficked for sex for the first time late the following night. As the oldest of the six captive girls, she felt helpless and unable to protect any of them. The girls were beaten so severely that evening, they didn’t know if they would survive. The exploitation and abuse continued for months.

When Jocelyn and her peers were finally rescued, they were jailed in Hong Kong before boarding a plane to Kenya. She couldn’t wait to hold her son in her arms, but she soon realized her horror story was far from over. Jocelyn’s trafficker was at the airport waiting for her with armed men. The trafficker had kidnapped her son and threatened to kill him unless Jocelyn went to India to make more money. 

“So many girls died,” Jocelyn said of the next several years of being trafficked between China and India. “I watched so many of them die in front of me.”

Jocelyn endured a total of five years of sex trafficking by the time Hope’s partner in China helped her safely escape her traffickers and return home to Kenya. In Hope International’s residential aftercare program, Jocelyn received counseling, medical care, and the love and support she needed to rebuild her life. 

Standing in front of the conference group as a survivor, Jocelyn vowed to forever be a voice for those who didn’t make it out alive. Jocelyn urged her government to take action. The government of Kenya has since made significant strides toward effectively combating human trafficking and Hope International is committed to supporting survivors, like Jocelyn, find justice.

In 2018, 150 judges and court officials were trained on the anti-trafficking laws and victim-centered approach. 112 key government officials were trained on the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act. 629 community leaders, including secondary school students, were trained through community awareness sessions on safe migration and prevention of trafficking.