Many valuable educative posts are shared on the MissingCara Facebook page and I hope visitors will have the opportunity to scan and learn.

The issues are multiple and I try not to overwhelm readers while providing glimpses of values I share.

Trafficking of young women happens all over the world even in areas seemingly protected by “legality.”  Please check out the story of a survivor from Nevada posted Oct 22, 2018.

We all want to protect our children forever.  We hope and pray for their safety as they grow their own wings and seek their own adventures.  Children raised with security and stability are at lesser risk than those who have experienced early trauma, yet exploitation can happen to anyone.

Through it all, we realize who our friends are and seek those who comfort and feed our soul.  We need mutual support as nurturing parents and acceptance if our fate is to grieve.  See Oct 23.

Sexual exploitation targets the economically disadvantaged around the world.  What needs to change is the entitlement of consumers.  Please watch a short video (posted Oct 23) of the “Walk for Freedom” held annually in many cities across Europe.  230,000 Ukrainians have been victims of human trafficking since 1991.

October 27 remembers a beautiful young woman from Nova Scotia, Maddison Fraser, who was killed in a car crash July 2015 in Edmonton at the age of 21.  She was lured to Alberta in her late teens by a boyfriend.  I salute Maddison’s mother, Jennifer Hollerman, who like myself, hopes her daughter’s story can help other people.  “It can happen to anybody,” she is quoted as saying in The Canadian Press.

Maddison was honored by the London Abused Women’s Centre through its Shine the Light campaign, a month-long movement to raise awareness of violence against women.  Jennifer also launched the Maddison Fraser Society with the eventual goal of a recovery centre for survivors of human trafficking.

Oct 29 reminds us that breaking the cycle of trauma is a challenge but possible.  Stress experienced by a caregiver can, in spite of our best intentions, impact the development of our children.  This is the epigenetic effect.

Oct 29 also recognizes Nadia Murad, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who was kidnapped and sex trafficked at age 19 and later escaped to become a powerful advocate for victims.

A post from Joy Smith reminds us that 93% of human trafficking victims in Canada are Canadian citizens.  The Joy Smith Foundation stresses the importance of training for all citizens to recognize and report trafficking.  Those most vulnerable (as posted Oct 31) include individuals with an unstable home life, a history of abuse, struggles with alcohol or substance use, poverty, homelessness, and racism.  The Nov 5 post reminds us that Indigenous women are over-represented in all forms of violence across Canada.

A Nov 1 post from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation again shares the message that without buyers, there would be no sex trade.   Nov 6 shares the Exodus Cry challenging legalization and decriminalization arguments.  The reality is that any accommodation increases consumer demand and ultimately leads to more exploitation.

So that was a typical two week period in my life.  We need continual reminders that human trafficking is a universal problem, fueled by consumer demand.  As a society, we can not afford to ignore the issue by blaming victimized women as frequently happened in the past, nor can we distance ourselves with fanciful “regulations” that claim to contain the industry.  Stay tuned for more similar perspectives.