FALL 2024 ISSUE - Flipbook - Page 96
A
Survivor’s
Story: K.B.
K.B. never imagined the
nightmare that would unfold
when she accepted a job ofer
to leave her home and children
in Africa to come to the United
States, hoping to provide a better
onancial future for her family.
She expected fair compensation
for her work with a high-ranking
diplomat, but instead, she was
onancially and sexually exploited
by her employer and their family.
Fortunately, a courageous
individual
anonymously
informed the U.S. Department
of State about the conditions in
the diplomat9s home, prompting
law enforcement to intervene
and rescue K.B. With nowhere
to live and unable to return to
her country due to threats of
96
retribution from her traïckers,
federal investigators reached out
to FAIR Girls to provide K.B.
with a safe place to escape and
recover.
Despite grappling with the
grief of her trauma, separation
from her family, and the harsh
reality of never returning to
her home country, K.B. worked
diligently with law enforcement
and FAIR Girls staf to support
the prosecution of her traïckers
and begin rebuilding her life.
While the road ahead will
be long for K.B., she remains
optimistic about the future.
With
the
trauma-informed
support from FAIR Girls and the
advocacy from our legal partners
at the Amara Legal Center
in Washington, D.C., K.B. is
determined to overcome her past
and build a brighter future.
So what happens
when a courageous
survivor leaves the
Vida Home?
First and foremost, FAIR Girls
ensures that their 8graduates9 are
equipped with basic life skills
such as personal hygiene, how to
do laundry, and cooking a basic
meal. With survivors that have
been in a traïcking or other
exploitative lifestyle from a young
age, they have missed learning
those essential skills. Also
provided are connections with
mental health care, substance
abuse assistance, general primary
care services, and more so clients
can remain physically healthy.
The FAIR Girls family also wants
these amazing women to have
some level of onancial literacy
like getting a bank account
and managing some money so
their onances are not exploited.
Clayton notes that clients need
to know how they are going to
support themselves, i.e. are they
on a career track in school or
going in another sustainable
employment direction?