Homes for Child Survivors of Sex Trafficking

Earlier this year, I journeyed to Jayapura, Papua with Winda Winowatan, our National Director in Indonesia, and Sgt. Mike Geiger, our Director of Law Enforcement Training. It was our first visit to this place where so many of our girls have been rescued. Papua is on the destination side of a pipeline where minor girls are trafficked from North Sulawesi.

So much of our work is head-down and one-at-a-time. We know we are making a difference but the challenge is so big that, in quiet moments, we can wonder if we are changing anything overall.

We were meeting with Mrs. Imbo Anita Fabanyo, the head of the Jayapura PPA (The police investigative unit charged with protecting women and children). Over dinner, she informed us that since the inception of our law enforcement and prosecutorial training in North Sulawesi, they have seen a 50% reduction in the cases of minor girls trafficked from North Sulawesi. FIFTY PERCENT!!!

This was amazing for us to hear. The three of us had personally worked very hard for those numbers and the results were beyond our expectations.

We’re excited to do another round of police training in the next year. This time, we will be doing work on both sides of two pipelines (North Sulawesi and Papua; East Java and Bali). It is a critical part of our work and a portion of our effort that is making a systematic difference.

We are so grateful for your help and partnership and we love the privilege of doing this work.