So Friday was our last full day in DC. It was definitely bittersweet to say the least but was definitely a day full of fun filled festivities. We were all really tired when we got back to the hostel after some Thursday evening festivities and decided to sleep in. Around 2 pm on Friday, we took the metro to the Smithsonian station and walked over to the Holocaust museum. Some of you may wonder why we decided to go to the Holocaust museum and how it relates to human trafficking? Let me explain…
Human trafficking comes in many different forms and is not exclusive to sex and labor exploitation. There are many different concepts and ideas that are related to the suffering and hardships of victims and survivors. The lack of free will and being held captive are certainly ideas that paralleled with the museum. The museum was excellently planned and information was interestingly organized. The permanent exhibit read like a book. Videos and facts were arranged and organized in a manner that created a mood that described the holocaust as a living breathing entity. One of the most interesting concepts that we as a group discussed was the concept of coercion. According to Merriam Webster, coercion is the act of process of restraining or dominating by force. Through out the week we learned that coercion was a key component of trafficking. Victims are often progressively manipulated, never realizing that this manipulation was even happening. The museum described the Holocaust in similar terms. The reign of Nazi Germany was accomplished through a mass coercion of German citizens and the global society. Prejudice, racism and violent persecution took about a decade to finally reach its peak. Victims of the holocaust were either killed or made to work until death. This was the ultimate form of slavery and as one of our group members mentioned, “Hitler was the ultimate pimp.”
The Holocaust museum was definitely eye opening and started our day with a very pessimistic and sad view on life. It’s disgusting to think that any human could treat another living being with such hatred, cruelty, and lack of remorse. We left the museum and hurried back to our hostel around 5pm. We quickly grabbed some food and met up in the dining area ready to meet up with Fabiana, a representative from Stop Modern Slavery DC.
DC-SMS, as Fabiana described, started as a small grass roots organization that has recently been given non-profit status and is heavily involved with raising awareness. Fabiana said that members of DC-SMS come from all different backgrounds and usually have day jobs in many different fields. She described how her interests of club music and DJ-ing often conflict with her passion to end slavery and she finds it difficult to balance her efforts in the club setting where the music and night-life culture is often insensitive to such matters. She did, however, say that little things like wearing a t-shirt that states “Slavery Still Exists” often sparks conversation. While we were in the midst of discussion with Fabiana, our next speaker Giovanna, the director of the Baltimore division of the The Project To End Human Trafficking, arrived to our hostel to provide us with a similar presentation. Giovanna discussed her organization’s efforts and then briefly informed us about her life-story and the trials and tribulations she faced as a young woman in America. Giovanna is inspiring. Despite all the troubles she has been through, she keeps a smile on her face. Her heart is huge and her personality is so friendly. As a group, we admire her dedication and her strength while dealing with everything. Closer to the end of her presentation, we decided to invite her to dinner.
We had planned on going to Bus Boys and Poets, a restaurant located on Kst and 5th. The restaurant has a fair trade shop inside and is really “hip”. The food was delicious and it was really nice to get to know everyone on an individual level. We had all been through a very tough week, dealing with emotional stress so it was nice to just relax and talk about mundane college things.
Special thanks to Fabiana and Giovanna for traveling to our hostel to talk about their organizations and their efforts in the anti-human trafficking movement.
After dinner, we returned to the hostel for our final discussion and reflection. Before starting the reflection, the girls decided to have a dance/rave party. So they did.
They blasted music, and a strobe light supplied by Zan’s iphone contributed to the antics. After about 30 minutes of attempting to the dance, the girls decided to stop and we began our discussion and reflection.
At some point around 12:30 AM, everyone began to get really tired… the day was really long and the food was really good, and we just wanted to sleep. Our last reflection was sad, we had gotten to know everyone, and felt at home. The end of the week had come too early. Tired and on the verge of falling asleep, we all gathered around on the floor, some in their sleeping bags, some rolled up in blankets, and we all lied down and started talking about whatever popped up in our minds. For about an hour, we were entertained by Martin and his Irish accent and by Jennie and her shadow puppet performance. One by one, we all started to fall asleep and our week came to an end.
Thanks everyone for a great week. I had a great time and learned a lot from you guys.
Holla
-Z
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