On November 10th, my social justice group had a interview over face time with Sheila Berman. She is a sexual and human trafficking advocate and educator. She travels all over the world and talks to prosecutors, lawyers, judges, and police about how to treat victims of trafficking. The interview was very interesting and we learned a lot about the logistics of international sex trafficking, which was very helpful later on in our project. At 11:00am in the World Language room, we talked with her for about half an hour. She discussed with us what sort of work she did, some examples of what might happen, and how she interacts with sexual trafficking victims. Her work is funded by the state department and it takes her all over the world, most commonly to places such as Asia, Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific. Sheila works on international trafficking issues and does a lot of interactive work while educating the people listed above. One of the examples that she gave us was about labor trafficking. It was good to know about different types of trafficking because it helped us compare with sex trafficking. She told us that people in countries like Jamaica and Mexico are told that they will be given a good job if they come to America, but instead are made into prostitutes, workers with no pay, or nannies and maids. Sometimes these people are locked in the house, or they are just told that if they leave they will be shot. Something very interesting that Sheila told us was that victims of sexual trafficking should not be prompted to discuss their experience. She said that this traumatizes them and makes them feel unsafe. This was very good to know because it helped us narrow our goals for our fieldworks. Some organizations in other countries (not necessarily with bad intentions) will use the stories of victims in order to get donations and make money. This information has already helped on our search for future fieldworks. Overall, this interview was very interesting and I was so happy that our group got to experience it.
