Human trafficking and sexual slavery are terms not often used by the average college student, or anyone for that matter. For the individuals on Auburn’s campus trying to fight these things, however, the terms are used and not lightly.
Hannah Flayhart, Andrew Dillard and Brianne Arps are some of the individuals who choose to take a stand against oppression and injustice. Although passionate now, they admitted to not always knowing that human trafficking and slavery exists in the world today.
Flayhart, a senior, said she didn’t know about those issues until her freshman year when she heard about an organization built around the idea of global justice.
“A friend and I were sitting in church and the pastor mentioned an organization called International Justice Mission and what they do to stop slavery,” Flayhart said. “There wasn’t a campus chapter here, so we talked to the pastor and he put us directly in contact with International Justice Mission and they sent us a 30-page campus toolkit.”
Flayhart got together with several close friends to learn more about the organization and how they would build the campus chapter.
“International Justice Mission is a national organization with headquarters in Washington D.C.,” Flayhart said. “They work in 15 different countries and with the governments of those countries to try and rescue women from oppression, violence and sexual abuse.”
Flayhart also said that International Justice Mission has rehabilitation programs to help the rescued victims get back on their feet and find jobs.
“On campus, we seek to raise awareness about the issues of human trafficking because a lot of people don’t know that it actually exists, even in the United States,” Flayhart said. “We also work to raise money for International Justice Mission nationally because they are a non-profit organization and funded solely on donations.”
Dillard, a senior, got involved with International Justice Mission when he heard about Auburn’s chapter during a Bible study. He said hearing about it made him more aware of the world that exists outside Auburn University.
“The main thing is no matter what you believe as far as religion or background and just step back and take a look at the world around you,” Dillard said. “It doesn’t have to just be about slavery, but things like poverty as well. We need to change our focus now so that when we are out of college, we can do things to help the world around us.”
Arps, a junior, was somewhat familiar with the term human trafficking, but became more educated while watching an episode of “Dateline.”
“I had heard the word trafficking before, but it didn’t mean anything to me,” Arps said. “As the show went on I became more enthralled and couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. It weighed so heavily on my heart that things like that were going on and more than that the fact that not many people were doing anything about it.”
Arps said she was broken up and confused about the things she saw on the show and they stayed with her for months.
“A random Google search took me to the IJM website, then I found the Auburn University IJM chapter so I just showed up to the first meeting and knew right away that I wanted to get involved,” Arps said.
Arps, who has now become the campus chapter’s event coordinator, helped put on an event in early November that would help get others on campus involved as well. The event was a Stand For Freedom and many of the chapter’s members participated.
“National IJM launched the 27-hour Stand For Freedom,” Flayhart said. “They chose 10 of the more successful chapters across the country to be charter chapters for this movement and they wanted us to get at least 270 participants to stand for 27 hours and raise at least $2,700.”
Arps said the significance of the number 27 was the estimated 27 million people who are enslaved around the world today.
The chapter had another goal to attain during the Stand For Freedom.
“We wanted to get 1,000 signatures for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act,” Arps said. “It basically is trying to get the government involved in stopping human trafficking both abroad and within our own borders.”
Flayhart said all the goals were met and that they surpassed the $1,000 goal by raising about $4,000.
The participants of the Stand For Freedom also took advantage of their time by talking to students about International Justice Mission and the things its members stand for.
“I talked to people who had heard about human trafficking, but didn’t know how to get involved at Auburn University and people who had never heard of it before at all,” Arps said. “So I think the stand will help grow our chapter.”
Flayhart is pleased with how the chapter did during the Stand For Freedom. She is also pleased with the direction of the chapter is taking as a whole.
“It has grown incredibly since we started it and I want it to continue to do so,” Flayhart said. “It started out with four or five good friends and has now grown to about 400 people.”
Flayhart also said she is excited to see the passion in the chapter’s new leadership. Arps is a part of that new leadership and has ideas for the future.
Arps said they want next semester to be a semester of action so that people can actually feel like they are doing something.
“For example, Atlanta is a hub for trafficking and it’s only an hour and a half away,” Arps said. “They have some great organizations over there that are willing to let people get involved and help out so we want to try and take a trip over there.”
No matter what the chapter does, Arps, Flayhart and Dillard all agree that letting people know that trafficking and slavery are issues is the key to success.
“Our job is to make people aware and help them make the next step to get involved,” Dillard said.
Flayhart said she wants to see slavery ended in her generation’s lifetime, but it won’t happen while people still don’t know it exists.
Arps also said she would like to see slavery eradicated by this generation and is confident that it can happen.
“Forty years from now when we are telling our grandchildren how human trafficking got abolished, we have the opportunity to say that we were the ones who wouldn’t stand for things like that anymore, Arps said. “We have the opportunity to leave our mark on the pages of history and that is something for us to get excited about.”
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