Making Things Happen

Lose Control

So last week I realised, despite denying it for a long term, I am a control freak. Getting to Mexico means that I have to rely on lots of people; for funding, networking, event planning and all that stuff that goes with it. And apparently when I can't manage it all myself, I can't manage. So, things I've learnt and things I need to work on...

My Instagram of Husk festivities 

I met with José Luis Ayoub (a prominent anti-trafficking figure in Mexico) who taught me: DON'T expect Mexicans to be on time. Whilst he was prompt for our meeting I have been warned to always arrive late or take something to do while waiting, as punctuality is not the best trait of the average Mexican. And DO use social media. Promote yourself. Promote your organisation. Get your message across. Get fans. With a face and a clear message apparently it's easy... can't say I completely agree with this. I'm a talker but does anyone really want to read my day to day tweets? Well, we shall see as I try to put this idea into practice. The most I've managed so far is Instagram (a picture is worth a thousand words, right?) and posting things for the Sophie Hayes Foundation where I can hide under the mask of Sophie.

GoOverseas Volunteer/Intern Abroad Scholarship

What I need to work on. Turns out I can't control everything and I need to follow that awful mantra of 'keep calm' while I rely on other people to help me achieve things like getting a visa and funding. In order to not freak out (ok maybe that happened a couple of times) I realised I need to focus on the things I can control e.g. eating lots of chilli to build up my tolerance - which didn't go so well as I accidentally touched my eye with my chilli-covered finger - and doing a photoshoot next to a Mexican silhouette in order to apply for a grant >








Will I learn to live without being in complete control or will I somehow regain control and be overly blunt and bossy once more? To be continued...

flickelsewhere

Donate here with the message EL POZO to support my work in Mexico 

The Art of Learning Spanish

Trying to Get My Head Around a New Language  

Alright so I don't quite have that part of the Mexico dream down yet. My practice mostly consists of meeting Duolingo goals so the Owl doesn't get angry (weekdays only) and now having verbs stuck all over my wall staring at me when I wake up, we'll see how that goes...






Staying in Mexico for a month last year, I felt totally inadequate at my poor level of Spanish, "un hotel no caro" and "un quesadilla champiñones" didn't quite cut it for some reason. Sure, all the hipsters/fresas can speak English and getting around Roma and Condesa is no problem, but trying to order street food and take taxis was a bit of a nightmare. So when I got back to England I decided to dedicate some much needed procrastination time, while finishing my dissertation, to Duolingo and it's stuck. 


I'm trying to watch films, although English Netflix is limited for Spanish films. Even attempted the Telenovela (Marimar was my choice) knowing that regardless of the language I would understand: "Marmimar, tu belleza es un peligro" (Marimar, your beauty is a danger), followed by a sigh and many daydreams/flashbacks to that moment where the Mexican hunk calls her beautiful. I should probably try to get beyond episode 2, it's been a while.

These are pretty much my only tactics. I've tried the odd word a day and I know I know I have to speak to Spanish people, which at this stage is terrifying seeing as they can more than likely speak significantly better English than I do Spanish. 

So I'll keep going along using Duolingo and learning my verbs, maybe throw a bit of Mexican tv drama into the mix and see how that goes. Any suggestions on the real 'Art of Learning Spanish' are more then welcome..??

flickelsewhere

Donate here with the message EL POZO to support my work in Mexico  

The Next Step

   Moving to Mexico City in 2015 to combat Human Trafficking with El Pozo de Vida (The Well of Life)   

After living in London and learning about trafficking here, I have realised the global and local impact of this crime. There is no doubt that so much more work needs to be done in England and Europe to tackle trafficking. However, having started my journey in Mexico and never really having the chance to make a impact there, I am determined to go back and work directly combatting human trafficking rather than solely researching it. 

The people that I met during my short time in Mexico worked devotedly and tirelessly to raise awareness, to protect vulnerable members of society, to educate through schools and the media, to find and protect victims of trafficking, to prosecute the criminals who carried out these crimes. They offer so much to Mexican anti-trafficking efforts and yet it became apparent that significantly more was, IS needed to really impact upon the eradication of this crime.

Published report I co-wrote for SHF

Through the Sophie Hayes Foundation (SHF), London, I have become involved with El Pozo de Vida (The Well of Life) in Mexico, an organisation which prevents trafficking through raising awareness, protects and supports the recovery of survivors of trafficking and supports the prosecution process of traffickers. By going to Mexico in January 2015 I will support the work of El Pozo by raising awareness through social media and providing information to schools, support survivors in their recovery by working in their safehouses in Mexico City (DF), assist them in applying for grants to ensure the project remains sustainable and generally support the team in their efforts to combat trafficking in Mexico. In this role I will lend my skills and knowledge, from my work with Sophie Hayes in London, and learn from the work they carry out in Mexico. I hope, more than simply to lend my time to El Pozo, to create a partnership between the Sophie Hayes Foundation and El Pozo where an internationally joined-up approach to combatting trafficking is initiated and we can learn from and support one another. 

Being in the middle of the Americas, Mexico is a source, destination and transit country for human trafficking. This means that not only is trafficking a significant challenge within Mexico but that this crime permeates its borders and impacts the whole of the North, Central and South America Mexico is often referred to as the ‘Thailand of America’ due to the high proportion of trafficking that occurs here. And whilst the Mexican government has attempted to comply with the American Department of State Guidelines, from their yearly report on trafficking, it has remained a Tier Two country for trafficking meaning: “countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking in Persons Report minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards”.

Whilst the initial 2007 Law on Trafficking has since been amended and significantly expanded in the 2012 government’s Law, pushed through largely by the efforts of Rosi Orozco, there is still a substantial amount of work that needs to be done in order for this law to succeed. With the mechanisms for the implementation of the law remaining flawed due to a lack of awareness and training for police and judicial authorities, corruption and a lack of political will to regularly review and improve the law, the need remains great to contribute towards the work of NGOs, charities and other anti-trafficking organisations who gradually create a positive impact. It is through volunteers, academics and committed civil servants that real change might be brought about, that awareness about the crime will improve; that police and border control training will improve; that pressure will be put on the government to implement the law; that corruption will be diminished through mechanisms of transparency and accountability; that victims will be noticed protected and rehabilitated; that this crime will be prevented and that criminals will be prosecuted and brought to justice.

A 'restaurant' that was shut down in DF because of a clandestine human trafficking operation

To make this Happen 

El Pozo is a Mexican charity run primarily by volunteers due to their limited resources and their primary focus on supporting survivors of trafficking with the majority of their funds. In order for me to work with them I have to raise enough money for my living expenses in Mexico so that I can devote my time to supporting the work that El Pozo does. Which explains this blog. If you haven't been able to tell I'm not really one with the words, I promise these will get briefer and include more anecdotes and pictures from here on but I wanted to set out the goal in its entirety. 

So the aim. To work in Mexico for a year I aim to fundraise £10,000 to support my living expenses and flights. This money will ensure that I can devote my time in 2015 (initially for one year) to working with El Pozo, supporting their anti-trafficking projects entirely and establishing/encouraging the relationship between El Pozo and the Sophie Hayes Foundation. 

To fundraise this amount I have created this blog where I will provide regular updates about my time in Mexico, I will apply for any available grants for volunteering abroad, I will approach individuals and groups to present my project and I will hold events to explain the work that I will carry out. I am genuinely passionate about combatting this appalling crime and believe that fundraising so that I can dedicate my time entirely to working with El Pozo will really impact on anti-trafficking efforts, not only in Mexico but through the mutual learning process happening with the international partnership of El Pozo and the Sophie Hayes Foundation. When I go to Mexico I have two choices, either I fundraise enough and can devote my time completely to supporting El Pozo or I fundraise a partial amount of my expenses and have to divide my time between teaching English and volunteering with El Pozo. Obviously my aim is to meet the first goal, however regardless of how I achieve this I will go to Mexico in 2015 and support anti-trafficking efforts of El Pozo. 

On the road in Mexico

A Last Note 

Through this blog I will present the work of El Pozo de Vida in Mexico and the work that I do to combat human trafficking through this organisation. Here I attach links to El Pozo and the Sophie Hayes Foundation to better explain their work and the impact of these organisations in England and Mexico. I also appeal to you to support my fundraising efforts by donating money through Sophie Hayes' VirginMoneyGiving and making sure you put the message 'EL POZO' so that this donation will be used solely for supporting my work in Mexico. 

Thank you so much for your time and support and I hope to update you soon.

Felicity (flickelsewhere)

Donate here with the message EL POZO to support my work in Mexico  

The Inspiration

Trafficking Survivors, the Inspiration 

Here I offer you the story of just one of the survivors of trafficking who influenced my work in Mexico...

I met Claudia* through Mexican Congresswoman Rosi Orozco and Fundación Reintegra while carrying out research for my Master's dissertation. Claudia bravely and eloquently gave an account of her experience of trafficking.

She had been living in America (USA) with her mother for eight years, but when she finished studying and decided to work she realised that she had been living there illegally and would not be able to find a job there. Having no other choice, she decided to travel back to Mexico alone in order to find work. When she was in her late teens she moved back to Mexico City (DF) to live with her grandmother and sister.

Not sure of where to begin searching for work, she saw a well-dressed man walking in central DF who actually approached her, offering her a job in a restaurant. He took her to the restaurant to show her where should would be working and bought her whiskey. She was impressed by the tour, seeing the rooms and all the tables, as well as of the treatment she was receiving. She was given more alcohol – tequila, and quickly began to feel strange, dizzy. She remembers El Capitan (the big boss) taking her to the VIP area and helping her to walk, as she was unable to do so alone. She didn’t know what ‘VIP’ was or understand any of the Mexican slang, having lived in America for most of her adolescence, but it seemed glamorous.

She was unable to concentrate properly and she soon realised that El Capitan was touching her and attempting to kiss her, so she feebly tried to push him away. Following this she remembered falling asleep and waking up to another man trying to kiss her. She pushed him away to see his face. She couldn’t remember much immediately after but she woke up in a hotel room without her clothes, with the man who had abused her.

She was scared but tried to act normally. She asked him to let her go or to call her a taxi. He drove her himself and asked for her address, she realised her phone and purse were missing so there was no point lying as he would already know. She asked him how much he had paid for her and he said “nothing” because he was “testing the merchandise”. He took her home.

For some reason (I’m not sure exactly why as there was understandably more emotion in her voice by this point and I daren’t ask her to repeat as she was clearly distressed) she ended up back at the restaurant.

From this point in the conversation she stopped going into so much detail but remembers being abused by many men. She was not sure of how many but knew it must have been a lot as she was unable to sit for the next fourteen days.

I couldn’t believe how quickly the teenager’s story turned from a normal conversation with her talking as if nothing bad had happened to a confession of hopelessness and despair. She changed from being an innocent, funny girl to someone I could no longer recognise, upset and powerless. Following her story she looked at me in tears and said, seemingly out of nowhere, “Sometimes I just ask God 'why?' Why would he do this to me?”. I am not religious but this struck me like nothing ever had. For a girl to feel so helpless, to doubt the thing she believed in most… how could something so awful happen to her? Why would anyone deserve that, let alone a young girl, courageously leaving her family to find work. I just couldn’t fathom it. For the first time I also felt helpless, staring at her (whilst wanting to look away) I knew I had to say something. All I could muster myself to say was “You’ll get them, she’s going to help them (gesturing towards the girl by her side) and they’ll be prosecuted”, knowing full well that it was a guarantee I could not truly make but with no idea what else to say. I realised all I could do was to do everything in my power to take this experience, learn from it and follow my passion to support organisations that combat trafficking through prevention, protection and prosecution.

Thankfully, with the help of Fundación Reintegra, she was able to move into a safehouse and is currently studying and building a case to prosecute her traffickers with their support. Without this support she might have become revictimised, with no one to support her recovery from this awful experience.

I heard many stories from Survivors and their supporters while I was in Mexico but this one struck me the most and I hope by sharing this you'll understand my inspiration for working for El Pozo de Vida in Mexico City.

flickelsewhere

(Claudia* - false name used for the protection of the survivor)

Donate here with the message EL POZO to support my work in Mexico