Co u r ag e o u s Co n v e r s at i o n
Sex-Trafficking of Children…
in Small Town USA?
By Lori Rubenstein
I
f you are like me, you wish
and pray for world peace. Yet,
there are times you are thrown
totally off your game. In other
words, the outside world gets the
better of you and your inner peace
goes out the window. That is what
happened to me when I found out
that children were getting “trafficked” and used for sex in my small
community in Arizona.
I’m not a big city person. I live
in a rural community, but I recently
read an article that exposed eight
local men who were arrested for
knowingly purchasing sex with
minors. How can that be? I’m smart
enough to know intellectually that
it doesn’t just happen in Thailand or
India. My mind can understand some
of it goes on in places like LA, Phoenix, New York, Chicago, Miami…but
in the sparsely populated Yavapai
County of Northern Arizona?
A little over a year ago I heard
about Shared Hope International.
The organization focuses on raising
awareness and prevention of the
sex trafficking of children, restoring
the emotional and physical health
of child victims, and eradicating
demands for sex from children. It
also works on legislation and helps
bring crimes to justice. I discovered
that while children, particularly
pre-teens and teenagers, were being
arrested for the “crime of prostitution” even a few years ago, we now
understand that these children are
the victims, and that the real criminals are the users and traffickers
of children.
While the government estimates that between 15,000 to
17,000 foreign victims are trafficked
into the United States every year to
be used in forced labor or sex, the
FBI and National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children estimates
that there are 100,000 to 300,000
American children sexually trafficked within the U.S. every year.
Additionally, the average age of
entry is 12-14 years of age!
We all know stories and issues
that pull at our heartstrings because
of the violence that is so pervasive
in our world. Truly, it’s difficult for
me at times to stay focused on my
personal objectives of inner peace
and world peace. However, I find
it is easier when I do take a stand
on things like sex trafficking of
children and do something about
it. This is what led me to become
an Ambassador for Shared Hope
International and to work with the
Sedona International City of Pea