Myths about sex trafficking abound in the USA

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A law enforcement action in Michigan earlier this year lead to a series of misleading TV news articles about it, and posts like this on online groups across the USA, including one for a group where I live in Oregon:

Nearly half of Michigan’s missing children were being trafficked, and we don’t know about the other half.

Don’t you dare tell me that I’m overreacting when someone is acting strangely around my kids!

That social media post is by a woman who believes, mistakenly, that young people, mostly white girls, who are trafficked for sex are kidnapped by strangers. She’s part of a much larger group of people in the USA who mistakenly believe that there are bands of men, usually foreigners, roaming around looking for girls – white girls specifically – to abduct and force into sex trafficking. Movies like 2008’s Taken add fuel to this far-fetched legend. So do things like this: a doctored image posted to a very popular Facebook group that targeted an Oregon small town specifically, with a claim by a woman that she had been accosted by strangers who wanted to buy her baby (a white baby). In this case, thankfully, the community quickly rallied to debunk the rumor, but it’s another example of how people promote the myth of strangers abducting children – primarily white children – to force them into sexual slavery.

The reality is that a trafficker of teens for sex can be the older brother or father of one of your children’s friends. It can be a guy who frequents places where young people gather, like a shopping center. It’s someone who entrances the teens there with gifts and romantic talk. Too often, parents’ response to the idea of sex traffickers is “Beware of strangers!” But traffickers aren’t strangers to the teens they target: they are charming, funny, fun and they know how to make teens feel all the things they long to feel – especially about feeling like an adult.

Traffickers befriend vulnerable young people who have low self-esteem or want to feel beautiful/handsome, loved, included or more grown up. And they do this befriending in places parents have approved for the teen to be: school, an after-school job, the mall, a community of faith, a friend’s house – and, yes, sometimes, online. These predators look for someone who is angry with their parents or not doing well in school or who has run away or who is just feeling really, alone and unwanted, and they offer sympathy. They look for young people who feel ugly and rejected – maybe a boyfriend has dumped the young person, or the young person has never had a romantic relationship and feels like they never will. Young people with disabilities are targets because they want to feel like “normal” teens. Traffickers are happy to shower any of these vulnerable young people in gifts and attention and a feeling of being heard and included. Traffickers draw their victims into trusting relationships and, through a mix of flattery and gifts and abuse, are able to reach a point of complete control over the person, and they are eventually able to use their victims in any way they wish – and the young person often feels like he or she is consenting to what eventually happens, in terms of sex and abuse.

A June 2017 article in Psychology Today noted that a Polaris Project report found that

32 percent of sex trafficking victims were recruited through a friend. Hotspots for recruitment are homeless shelters, rehab facilities, jails, malls, and foster homes. In fact, abductions accounted for only a tiny percentage of victims’ stories. Most victims are not kidnapped, drugged, chained or locked up in a home or workplace. Sometimes they don’t even experience physical abuse because the traffickers don’t want to leave physical evidence that may reveal the abuse. Instead, they use psychological abuse, threats, and manipulation. Some victims even have cell phones and can get permission to leave to go outside to places like a health clinic, a grocery store, or even church.

A survivor of the sex trafficking trade in Portland, Oregon shared some of her experiences with Think Out Loud, a radio program produced by OPB. The Lloyd Center is a mall in downtown Portland:

I was actually recruited out of Lloyd Center. There’s a lot of different recruiting areas in Portland, Lloyd Center being a huge one…If a 16-year-old runs away from home and she takes the bus out to 82nd, within 72 hours she will be picked up by a pimp. The scary thing about pimps is they are masterminds.

In an interview by Audrey Meschter with Multnomah County, Oregon Sheriff Deputy Keith Bickford, Bickford said:

Something that really stuck in my head is how effective these guys are when it comes to brainwashing these girls… Turning them on their own families, their friends, away from their normal life and talking them into getting raped every day by guys that want to pay for sex — and it’s hard to even talk about that — the logical part of your mind is going ‘no way, how do you do that?’, but to the traffickers that’s a very effective way to make money and keep the girls around longer.

Interviews with girls in the USA that have been trafficked are heart-breaking: the girls – and in many cases, young men – are convinced their family no longer wants them. Maybe their family has, indeed, thrown them out. They hate their life, but don’t consider going home an option. The feeling of worthlessness makes them feel that this life of trafficking is their only option.

And consider these statistics from 12 Confronting Child Sexual Abuse Statistics All Parents Need to Know, published in the Huffington Post:

I bring all of this up because I want to protect children and teens from predators, and I know the way to do that is to talk about reality, in frank terms. I started learning about child sex trafficking when I began researching online safety for children in association with the Virtual Volunteering Project back in the 1990s, and I was floored: I had always thought most child abductions were by strangers, and to learn that the VAST majority are by non-custodial parents was startling. And finding out that most teens who are trafficked are targeted by people they consider friends, even romantic partners, was equally stunning.

I also bring this up because I live in the PDX metro area, and Portland, Oregon is often cited as the city with the highest rate of juvenile sex trafficking in the USA.

Protecting a teen in the USA from trafficking is about parents and other family members having a trusting relationship with their children, where there is lots of shared time together and lots of actions that say to that teen, “I enjoy being with you and I respect who you are and you are important to me.” If a teen feels like a parent or other trusted adults are interested in them and want them to be in their lives, those young people aren’t going to be open to overtures from a predator. It’s also about getting vulnerable teens – teens with disabilities, teens who exhibit depression, teens with addiction issues, teens who are struggling with mental issues, teens struggling with tragedies, teens who are struggling with their sexuality, etc. – the help they need.

Also see:

Sex Trafficking of Children Myths and Facts from Multnomah County, Oregon.

Human Trafficking: The Myths and the Realities, from The Muse.

September 16, 2020 update: Here we are, two years later, and this problem has gotten even WORSE. The QAnon movement is promoting outrageous myths about a supposed underground pedophilia ring run by celebrities and left-leaning government officialsy, appropriating and sensationalizing the issue of child sex trafficking to recruit more followers into its conspiratorial web, and legitimate anti-trafficking organizations are suffering significant collateral damage. Legitimate anti-trafficking programs now have to spend an inordinate amount of time debunking viral misinformation, mining through unhinged tips and warding off mob harassment, detracting from their ability to actually help kids in need.

June 26, 2021 update: In the Washington Post article “The state of Ohio vs. a sex-trafficked teenager,” you are taken step-by-step into how some girls are enticed into what they think is a relationship but is actually sex trafficking. It’s a long read, but worth it.

April 25, 2023 update: This Washington Post article profiles when 19-year-old Tiffany Simpson wrote an anti-sex-trafficking group in 2012. She’d thought that trafficking was something that only happened to girls from foreign countries. But the newspaper article she’d read described American teenagers. They weren’t kidnapped or tied up. They thought, at first, that they were in love. Even when the threats and the violence started, they stayed. Tiffany thought about the scar on her left thigh — a reminder of what happened when she, too, stayed… Tiffany lived in Georgia, where she’d spent her whole life. Where, at 17, she met a 34-year-old man who promised to take care of her. Where she became pregnant with his baby. Where she was driven to trailer parks to have sex with as many buyers as would pay.

April 29, 2023 update: California woman is found guilty of lying to police that a couple tried to kidnap her children.

Related resources:

Examples of Folklore, Rumors (or Rumours), Urban Myths & Organized Misinformation Campaigns Interfering with Development & Aid/Relief Efforts & Elections (note there are several examples of mobs who have murdered strangers visiting their towns under the mistaken belief that such were there to abduct children for organ harvesting)

You have an obligation to be truthful online

Safety in virtual volunteering

Keeping volunteers safe – & keeping everyone safe with volunteers

Why don’t they tell? Would they at your org?

Safety of volunteers contributes to a shelter closing

volunteer managers: you are NOT psychic!

More Than Me scandal in Liberia: a lesson to all who “just want to help”

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Katie Meyler of the USA wanted to save girls in Liberia from sexual exploitation, to educate them, empower them, keep them safe. She founded a charity called More Than Me and quickly raised more than $8 million for her efforts. The first More Than Me project multiplied quickly to 19 schools teaching 4,000 students. When the Liberian president, who had won a Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for women’s safety, was asked what she wanted from those keen to help her country, she answered, “To expand Katie Meyler’s initiative to as many communities as possible.” Meyler rubbed shoulders with Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, and even get invited to the Obama White House.

Yet many of the girls in the program were regularly raped by a high-level MTM staff member, who was never vetted and rarely supervised in his interactions with girls. Victims told authorities and the media that he threatened to take away their scholarships or even kill them if they reported him.

The first school launched byMore Than Me was staffed in large part by year-long American “teaching fellows,” volunteers who were each asked to fundraise or pay $10,000 to participate. Except for one position, teaching experience wasn’t required, nor was a criminal background check – applicants just had to show they were an “innovative, out-of-the-box thinker and risk-taker” and include a video demonstrating they were “on fire with passion.” And, of course, have the money to pay. One of the first volunteers tried to sound the alarm and mismanagement and lack of appropriate safety systems at the organization, drafting a document highlighting the risks the organization was taking regarding financial management and children’s safety. The organization did create a written policy which said staff members were required to report child abuse to the organization, but in a country where sex for grades and other school-based exploitation were prevalent, the charity had no procedures for how to do so, and did not train staff about what reporting would look like.

Instead of helping girls, this program has irreparably harmed many. It put girls into the path of a serial predator and ignored warning signs about such. And many thousands of dollars are unaccounted for.

If you want to go abroad, with no experience, just a good heart, to help others, and you don’t yet know about the horror show that is More Than Me in Liberia, you need to read up. The ProPublica piece that exposed More Than Me is worth your time.

As this article from the Nonprofit Quarterly notes about the More Than Me scandal:

Cases like More Than Me’s underline the importance of context and relevant experience. Anyone with the most basic understanding of the social dynamics in Liberia or any other post-conflict situation would have known that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) was a huge problem and not taken it for granted. The inexperience of Katie Meyler has been remarked upon and shows clearly through her handling of this crisis. White saviorism also thrives on the porn of poverty that freezes affected countries into essentialized images and relations of dependence from which they struggle to recover. But equally dangerous is its instrumentality as a facade for the less than honorable activities of some so-called humanitarians. There can be no sustainable reform of humanitarianism unless the world puts heads together to block the unintended consequences of humanitarianism.

Why am I so hard on people that post to forums or write me directly and say, “I have a good heart and a love of adventure and want to help poor kids in other countries!”? Why am I even harder on organizations that say, “Pay us this amount of money and we’ll let you help in our orphanage abroad – no need for any special skills or a criminal background check!”? This is a perfect example as to why. Yes, I am abrupt and demanding with people that posts such messages to fora or directly to me – and I will continue to do so.

And it’s not just abroad: I frequently come into contact with programs right here in Oregon that do not have any written policies about preventing and reporting inappropriate behavior by staff, volunteers or clients, and have no training for staff, volunteers or clients on what inappropriate behavior is and what reporting looks like. And when I try to bring this up, however gently, prefaced by lots of compliments to the program for producing such great results, I hear “We haven’t had any problems with inappropriate behavior.” And my response is always the same, “How do you know?”

Four things I wish every person knew who wants to go abroad and help, and every organization knew that wants to fund efforts to help people abroad:

  • Having a good heart and passion for a cause will not make your organization immune to corruption, mismanagement, harassment of clients or sexual abuse.
  • Any nonprofit, charity or government effort to help people should always put the clients, their priorities and their safety FIRST, below whatever organizational, program or personal brand you are trying to establish.
  • Local people that you want to help, even children, get a say in how you are going to help them, a say in what the organizational and funding priorities should be, and a priority for when they complain about something that threatens themselves, their family or their community.
  • Your goal, as much as possible, is to build the capacity of those local people to eventually lead and staff these activities themselves WITHOUT YOU.

The backlash against humanitarians working abroad with children, including volunteers (voluntourism), is coming. Are you ready? Also see: Nepal’s children at risk: Sexual abuse in the aid sector.

Also see:

Honoring volunteers engaged in economic & social development

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graphic by Jayne Cravens representing volunteersThere are volunteers all over the world, right now, who are working to help impoverished people start small businesses and generate the income they desperately need to care for themselves and their families. They are training people in sustainable farming methods and ecological land management. They are helping build the computer literacy of a variety of people. They are training women in public speaking and in how to lead. They are training rural people in how to set up and operate groups that will identify their own most pressing community needs and communicate those needs to government and potential donors. They are helping refugees and immigrants learn local languages and participate in local civic life. They are helping to educate communities about HIV/AIDS and to not be afraid of those among them who are HIV positive. They are working to stop female genital mutilation. They are using theater as a tool to educate about something, to build awareness, even to change behavior.

Some of these volunteers live in their own homes and engage in these activities in the same communities they are from, or in nearby communities. Some travel thousands of miles away and live in a compound or a guest house or with a local family. Some face hostilities, dangerous situations, even violence, as they try to this service. Some are killed in the line of duty. Many endure sexual harassment and assault. Many suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but will not seek help because they know that, if they do, they could be jeopardizing their chances of continuing volunteer service, or they do not have access to PTSD treatment.

These volunteers don’t get statues or parades or school assemblies that honor their service. Songs aren’t written and sung in their honor. People don’t post to social media to thank them for their service. And I don’t know of any such volunteers asking for such, though they would most certainly like local and national press to pay more attention to the communities they are trying to help and causes they are trying to address.

These are volunteers who are engaged in economic and social development, and December 5th is the day to honor them: International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development, as declared by the United Nations General Assembly per its resolution 40/212 in 1985.

This is not a day to honor only international volunteers; the international in the title describes the day, not the volunteer. It’s a day to honor, specifically, those volunteers who contribute to economic and social development. Such volunteers deserve their own day. This includes local volunteers, not just international volunteers.

I say this every year in conversations and on social media and repeatedly on my blog: I think it’s a shame to try to turn December 5 into just another day to celebrate any volunteer, another day to give volunteers a meme with a happy kitten that says “thanks!” There are PLENTY of days and weeks to honor all volunteers and encourage more volunteering and to hug a volunteer.

Let’s keep December 5 specifically for volunteers who contribute to economic and social development, per its original intention; let’s give these unique volunteers their due, as per the original purpose of this day’s designation. Let’s honor their sacrifices, the stress they deal with, the service they give and the work they are trying to do.

Thank you to the many volunteers who help with the range of economic and social development needs in the world! Today is all about YOU and the incredible service you undertake.

Here are all the times I’ve tried to remind people of what IVD used to be about and should be again:

Also see:

The Impact of In-Person Usability Demos on Web Designers

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“During (Knowbility’s John Slatin) AccessU, I had the opportunity to sit in on a series of assistive technology demos and witness firsthand how people with disabilities use the internet. That experience completely changed the way I looked at building a website… There is nothing like seeing the ‘a-ha’ moment from people’s faces the first time they see someone use assistive technology.”

The power of an in-person demo regarding usability of a web site from the point of view of a person with a disability is explained in this Knowbility blog by Christi Barker.

An example of the reaction of one of Barker’s students to a demo she later arranged:

“For example, as a designer, we care a lot about how things like buttons are put on websites. However, for vision-impaired people, the aesthetic or the structure of the layout does not mean the same thing to them. Sometimes, it only decreases the ability for them to stay connected with the world. That was the first time I perceived the many inconveniences in their life. Their stories are inspiring and have made me start thinking about what can I do to make a difference in their lives.”

Knowbility is a nonprofit organization with a mission is to create a more inclusive digital world for all abilities.

And remember: accessibility is a human rights issue. And if your organization claims to work towards inclusion of any kind, that should include accessibility for people with disabilities to your web site.

Accessibility: a human rights & a digital divide issue too many ignore

Pioneering in “hacks for good”: Knowbility

Knowbility’s AccessU 2019: Call for Papers

Holiday gift idea for anyone that works to make a difference

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Looking for a gift for someone in your life that works with volunteers, either as a volunteer themselves or as an official manager of such? Or a gift idea for someone studying for a degree in nonprofit management? Or anyone working at a nonprofit, a non-government organization (NGO), or a government program that engages volunteers?

May I not-so-humbly suggest The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook?

The book is available for purchase in paperback or as an ebook (PDF) from Energize, Inc., the world’s largest publisher of books regarding volunteer engagement. The book is written by me and Susan Ellis, and is the result of more than 20 years of research and experience regarding virtual volunteering – also known as online micro volunteering, crowd sourcing, digital volunteering, online mentoring and on and on – yes, there are a lot of different names for the various manifestations of online service.

Did you know that virtual volunteering was a practice that was more than 20 years old? You would if you read the guidebook!

This book is for

  • both for practitioners and for academics that do research regarding volunteering.
  • both for people brand new to recruiting and supporting volunteers and for those that are veteran managers of volunteers
  • both for people brand new to virtual volunteering and for experienced managers who are looking for confirmation they are on the right track or information to help them make the case to expand their programs.

Susan and I wrote The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook in such a way that it would be timeless – as timeless as a book about using computers, laptops, smart phones and other networked devices could be. We didn’t want it to be out-of-date in just a few months. That’s not easy when it comes to technology, but we gave it a try – and four years later, it still reflects what works, and what doesn’t, in working with volunteers online. In fact, as I’ve said before, I use it as a reference myself – there are times I’m asked a question about working with volunteers online, or facing a dilemma regarding working with volunteers myself, and I go back to the book to see what we said – and, tada, there’s the answer!

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook details the basics for getting started with involving and supporting volunteers online, but it goes much farther, offering detailed information to help organizations that are already engaged in virtual volunteering with improving and expanding their programs. It offers a lot of international perspectives as well.

The book includes:

  • Detailed advice on virtual volunteering assignment, including one-time “Byte-Sized” tasks (micro-volunteering), longer-term, higher-responsibility roles and virtual team assignments.
  • A thorough look at various practices for screening and matching volunteers to assignments, with an eye to getting the most capable volunteers into your volunteering ranks and preventing incomplete assignments or burdensome management tasks
  • How to make online volunteer roles accessible and diverse
  • More details about how to work successfully with online volunteers, so that they are successful, your organization benefits and volunteer managers aren’t overwhelmed
  • Ensuring safety – and balancing safety with program goals
  • Respecting privacy of both the organization and online volunteers themselves
  • Online mentoring
  • Blogging by, for and about volunteers
  • Online activism
  • Spontaneous online volunteers
  • Live online events with volunteers
  • The future of virtual volunteering and how to start planning for oncoming trends

There’s also a chapter just for online volunteers themselves, which organizations can also use in creating their own materials for online volunteers.

In conjunction with the guidebook, we’ve maintained the Virtual Volunteering Wiki, a free online resource and collaborative space for sharing resources regarding virtual volunteering.

Here’s why we called it the LAST guidebook and reviews of The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook.

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook is available for purchase in paperback or as an ebook (PDF) by Energize, Inc.

If you read the book, I would so appreciate it if you could write and post a review of it on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble web sites (you can write the same review on both sites).

creating an adventure travel culture in Ghana

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What is tourism for economic or community development? What does it look like? Tourism for development is when local people in regions experiencing poverty and/or high-unemployment become employed in the tourism industry, opening and operating hotels, resorts, campgrounds, outfitters, photography safaris, white water rafting and other nature-based recreational activities and accommodation. It’s also when local people are employed to maintain national parks and recreation areas. It’s probably my favorite form of economic development, whether in a “third world” or transitional country or an overlooked region of the USA, because it has so many qualities: it’s sustainable, it promotes the preservation of natural spaces, it encourages multi-cultural learning and understanding, and it promotes getting people outdoors, experiencing natural spaces, something that I enjoy and want all people, especially women, to enjoy.

That’s why stories like this excite me:

“When I was eighteen, a large group of students visited Ghana from the UK for a youth development program. It was an expensive program. It cost thousands of pounds. But I got to join for free because they needed some Ghanaians for a smattering of cultural diversity. The program was a mixture of community service and adventure. We actually came canoeing on this very lake. The whole time I was thinking about how much money was being made from our natural resources. And how much of that money was leaving Ghana. I became determined to make Ghana money out of the Ghana environment. So after graduating college, I set out to build a world-class adventure company. It’s been over five years now. We have twelve full time employees and twenty-five adventure locations. Best of all, I think we’re creating an adventure culture in the country. Our clients were 70 percent foreign when we started. Now they’re 80 percent Ghanaian. Behind me is Survival Island. It’s my latest project and biggest risk yet. I constructed a full ropes course, and one day I hope to build the world’s longest zip line. That would really put Ghana on the adventure map.”

And so Bravehearts Expeditions was born, according to an account by a person profiled Humans of New York, a Facebook page that usually profiles individuals in New York, in their own words, but sometimes goes to other countries and was recently in Ghana. Often, the results of their profiles lead to hundreds, even thousands of people donating to individuals and NGOs. This happened again with this profile of Ghanaian adventure company, which commented on their story, “Thank you immeasurable for telling our story so succinctly. In just seconds we have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and offers of professional assistance by loving readers across the world. ”

Also see:

guide to ethics in app & other tech tool development

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I really love this and I would love to see this guide built into all hackathons / hacks4good, the development of apps4good, etc.:

Ethical OS Toolkit: a guide to anticipating the future of impact of today’s technology
Or: how to not regret the things you will build

I have only one disappointment with the guide, but I’ll save that for the end of the blog.

This is from the guide, and explains why this document is needed:

As technologists, it’s only natural that we spend most of our time focusing on how our tech will change the world for the better. Which is great. Everyone loves a sunny disposition. But perhaps it’s more useful, in some ways, to consider the glass half empty. What if, in addition to fantasizing about how our tech will save the world, we spent some time dreading all the ways it might, possibly, perhaps, just maybe, screw everything up? No one can predict exactly what tomorrow will bring (though somewhere in the tech world, someone is no doubt working on it). So until we get that crystal ball app, the best we can hope to do is anticipate the long-term social impact and unexpected uses of the tech we create today.

The last thing you want is to get blindsided by a future YOU helped create. The Ethical OS is here to help you see more clearly.

The guide includes:

  • A checklist of 8 risk zones to help you identify the emerging areas of risk and social harm most critical for your team to start considering now.
  • 14 scenarios to spark conversation and stretch your imagination about the long-term impacts of tech you’re building today.
  • 7 future-proofing strategies to help you take ethical action today.

The risk zones that the guide identifies are:

  • Truth, Disinformation, and Propaganda
  • Addiction & the Dopamine Economy
  • Economic & Asset Inequalities
  • Machine Ethics & Algorithmic Biases
  • Surveillance State
  • Data Control & Monetization
  • Implicit Trust & User Understanding
  • Hateful & Criminal Actors

The Ethical OS is a joint creation of the Institute for the Future and Omidyar Network’s Tech and Society Solutions Lab.

The guide has lots of discussion questions that developers can explore. It’s not so much that the questions have right or wrong answers – they are meant to spur consideration of how a new technology meant to help people could be misused, something that all too many developers DON’T think about.

The guide also has suggested questions for board members and trustees to ask themselves about tech development, so they can understand the possible risks to their organizations as a result of use of the app.

My only disappointment with the guide – and it’s a BIG disappointment – is that the section on Economic & Asset Inequalities never mentions accessibility for people with disabilities. When tech tools are not accessible for people who have sight impairments, people who have hearing impairments, people with mobility issues, etc., those tools create economic and asset inequalities. It’s really inexcusable that this wasn’t mentioned even once.

Some other blog posts regarding tech4good and work ethics:

Growing misconceptions about the role of nonprofits in the USA

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In addition to sitting in on various local government meetings in the small town where I live in Oregon, I’ve been volunteering with a local unit of my state’s League of Women Voters, registering voters and sitting in on numerous candidate debates. My goal in these activities, which I’ve said before, is to compare what I’ve seen and experienced abroad working in international aid and development with what happens locally in my own community in the USA.

In doing these activities, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend that greatly affects nonprofits in terms of how the public, the private sector and government think about them, and how the public, the private sector and government feel about their funding and support for such. There is a growing chorus of elected officials and their supporters who say variations of the following:

There are enough resources in our region, via nonprofits and communities of faith – charity – for anyone who is homeless, who has an addiction or has mental issues to get the help they need. All someone needs to do to get help is to contact those organizations. 

There was a time in the USA when poverty was successfully and completely addressed by charity, usually through churches, not by government. Charity used to help all the people that were poor, and we should go back to that way of addressing poverty. 

People who have addiction issues, mental issues, homelessness issues or any issues associated with poverty just aren’t working hard enough. They lack morals or willpower and they could stop their drug use or their slide into mental illness simply by choosing to, by really trying.

These statements are not true.

The truth:

Programs that serve the homeless, whether they provide temporary housing or more permanent housing, or even just serve food, are utterly overwhelmed all across the USA and do not have enough resources to help everyone that needs it. Their waiting lists for housing assistance are months, even a few years. And providing food and temporary shelter does not prevent homelessness nor reduce the number of people who are homeless.

Before the creation of Social Security, most people in the USA supported themselves into old age by working. The 1930 census found 58 percent of men over 65 still in the workforce; in contrast, by 2002, the figure was 18 percent. Children and other relatives bore the major cost of supporting the aged. The Great Depression swept this world away: many of the elderly could no longer find work and their family could not afford to support them anymore. To get by in that time, the elderly took to panhandling, moving into dingy, unsafe almshouses or poorhouses, many run by charities or churches, or simply dying impoverished, which was the fate that befell 1 in every 2 older Americans in the years after the 1929 stock market crash.

Homelessness and poverty can be triggered by a range of issues in the USA, including divorce, medical bills/bankruptcy, income vs. housing affordability, decline in public/government assistance and mental health issues. Simply getting a different, better-paying job usually isn’t an option for someone facing homelessness and poverty.

Addiction is a chronic disease that creates a compulsion or even a physical need to use drugs. Drugs, including alcohol, affect the brain’s “reward circuit,” causing euphoria as well as flooding the brain with the chemical messenger dopamine. A properly functioning reward system doesn’t result in addiction. Whether a person is born with a disfunctional reward system or if the disfunction results entirely from drug use continues to be debated and researched; most agree that a combination of genetic, environmental and developmental factors influences risk for addiction, and the more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. The initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people and often relates to a medical issue rather than recreation, but repeated use of drugs, including alcohol, can lead to brain changes that interfere with an addicted person’s ability to resist intense urges to continue to use. As with most other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, treatment for drug addiction generally isn’t a cure. Addiction is treatable,  however, like other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, treatment for drug addiction requires professional intervention and guidance – a person can’t address the issues entirely on their own.

So, that’s the truth. But how did the misinformation happen, and how does this misinformation affect nonprofits now?

The misinformation happened not only because of the political agendas of the people saying such; it also has happened because nonprofits have done a poor job of explicitly, frequently talking about the issues they are addressing and educating the public about those issues.

If anyone believes any of these myths, then any sense of urgency regarding homelessness, addiction or poverty vanishes for potential donors, whether individuals or corporate giving programs or foundations. In addition to these myths creating the idea that nonprofits, communities of faith and “charity” can address all the needs of anyone at risk for harm in a community, these myths also create the idea that poverty happens primarily because of bad personal choices: if you’re homeless, then you just have been lazy and not bothered to contact a nonprofit that could help you. If you are addicted to opioids, it’s because you lack willpower.

I’ve been looking at the web sites of various nonprofit organizations serving my communities and various others, and, for the most part, all I see are pleas for support, for donations. What I don’t see:

  • a list, with citations, as to what causes a man, a woman or an entire family to be homeless, with profiles of clients (actual names can be changed and photos can be taken in such as way as to hide the identity of clients)
  • what activities precede a person becoming addicted to a substance, particularly opioids, with profiles of clients (again, actual names can be changed and photos can be taken in such as way as to hide the identity of clients)
  • a list of exactly what donations to a nonprofit pay for (emphasizing why paid staff is needed, rather than relying solely on volunteers helping whenever they might have some time)
  • information on the number of people the organization turns away, or puts on waiting lists, because it does not have the resources to help them, information on what activities or services the community needs but that the organization cannot provide because of a lack of resources, etc.

Nonprofits have got to be much more deliberate and direct in all of their communications about the issues they are addressing, why those issues exist, and what resources they lack. If tax cuts and tax breaks for corporations have resulted in less money for these critical services, nonprofits must say so. 

Our futures depend on it.

Sources:

Homelessness in Portland, Sept. 26, 2018, Travel Oregon

Roads before homes: Our Homeless Crisis, March 18, 2015, The Oregonian

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, November 2016

National Alliance to End Homelessness. Homelessness: A State of Emergency.Feb. 6, 2016

“A Great Calamity Has Come Upon Us”, Jan. 23, 2005, The New York Times

16 Ways People Survived Before Social Security — Could You Do It?, April 12, 2018, GoBankingRates

What causes homelessness, downloaded Nov. 2, 2018

Why Are People Homeless?, July 2009, National Coalition for the Homeless

Understanding Drug Use and Addiction, June 2018, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (and see more sources at the end of this NIH article)

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Sexual harassment of humanitarian workers

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I’m on a Facebook group for humanitarian workers that work in countries other than their own. It’s an invitation-only group, so I’m not going to say the name.

Over the last few weeks, women have posted about experiencing sexual harassment from co-workers and, in one case, a representative of a donor agency, and some have asked how to deal with it.

After sharing some information about her latest experience, one woman asked for specific advice:

What implication will it have to report, how will my colleagues see me after I report, my reputation is in-line, what implication will it bring to my career in this field.

The reality is that NO ONE can answer her questions, because there is no way to know unless someone else has reported before at that specific organization, with exactly the same staff, and can share what happened in their case. Every organization is different. No matter what their policies regarding sexual harassment, it is possible her colleagues will support her and it is possible they won’t. It is possible it will affect her career negatively if she reports and it is possible it won’t.

Of course, there are responses like this to accounts of sexual harassment:

I’m a man and I’m telling you to stand up for such a$$holes.

I’m not sure why men don’t understand that there are consequences for “standing up”: she could be fired for something seemingly unrelated to the harassment, her job could suddenly be eliminated, she could stop being invited to meetings and stop receiving important internal memos, isolating her to the point of being forced to quit, supervisors could share that she’s a “problem” and she could find herself without references and without a job.

Here are responses from women on the Facebook group about how they handled sexual harassment by co-workers or representatives from partner organizations or donor organizations, or what their own fears have been about reporting such:

My experience is that if you stand for yourself, you are labeled as a prude and not funny and/or the person that is so deeply offended that no future communication seems possible.

The only thing that ever worked for me was to find a male “ally” that would intervene in such a situation. Sad but true.

I had a similar situation (inappropriate comments) inside my own organisation: he was the boss of my boss. I never confronted him directly but I told my boss and my colleagues, and they never left me alone with him again.

Sometimes, responding angrily, in the moment, pisses off predators even more and they retaliate by being even more disgusting or threatening.

The problem here is the impact our decision has on our organizations or our future careers. And while most often men accused/investigated for such things are just free to go, with no consequences, women’s career or their organizations’ future is at stake. And that’s unfair. I should not be forced to chose between my dignity, my beneficiaries/colleagues and justice. I should not have to risk more than him. But it is true. And tbh, if you ask me if I chose to speak up and risk that my organization will not be able to support people in need and my colleagues will lose their jobs or my dignity, I will just shut up and smile, both while feeling extremely helpless and frustrated. Fair? Not. Probable? Very.

This is the reality of so many professional women, not just those working in humanitarian assignments abroad: it’s the reality for journalists, for professors, for doctors, for nurses, for women working in manufacturing or food service or retail.

When I was in this position myself – being harassed by a male co-worker – I reported it to the UN HR field office where I worked – and was told by the UN HR representative, “Working in the field is really difficult, and if you aren’t up for these challenges, perhaps you should leave when your contract ends, if not before.” I was stunned. I wasn’t ready to give up the job – and I felt like I would also be giving up my entire career. So, instead, I went to the local staff HR counterpart, someone who was from the country where I was working. I told him what was happening, and told him to never, ever put me in the same car with the perpetrator on field visits – to put no women in his car at all. We had a long, honest talk about it and he had my back – he made sure this guy never got opportunities to be alone with any female staff in cars. I talked to all other women in the office and we agreed to watch out for each other, to never leave anyone alone with this person. I will always be angry that that UN HR person wouldn’t support me – but I also know my career would have been completely derailed if I had officially reported the incident, and I wasn’t ready to lose my career.

This is my advice for a woman experiencing sexual harassment on the job in humanitarian work, and I hope it’s helpful to other women in other professions as well. It’s what I wish I had done:

Remember that your safety and health are most important and you need to do what is best for you.

Email the details of exactly what happened – exactly what was said, where and when – regarding the instances of sexual harassment to a trusted colleague. That doesn’t have to be a colleague at the same organization, but it does need to be someone you trust NOT to forward the email unless and if you ask them to, and will keep the email indefinitely. This will give you a written record of what happened and proof that you told someone close the actual date of what happened. In your account, focus on what was said and done. Don’t just say, “He said sexual things that made me uncomfortable” but, rather, EXACTLY what the person said. Don’t say “He touched me sexually” but, rather, “He put his hand on…” Keep a copy of this email or emails on a computer of your own as well. If you choose not to report now, but to do so later, this email/these emails will be crucial.

Think about ways to keep yourself safe while you are waiting to decide whether or not to report. For instance, do not meet alone with the perpetrator: always take someone with you. Refuse to be in a car alone with the person. If the person comes to your office, insist that the door stay open. If you think it would be helpful, tell trusted co-workers to help you in never meeting along with the person, never being next to the person in a car, etc. Don’t be surprised if, in talking with other women, you find that they have similar stories of being harassed.

I suggest you go to the person that you are supposed to report to at your organization regarding sexual harassment. This is probably someone in human resources. You may want to ask a trusted co-worker to go with you and sit quietly while you speak, to be a witness to what happens. At this meeting, tell exactly what happened, without saying the name of the perpetrator’s name but with as many details as possible. Say that you are not going to say the name of the person at this point, and say why:

I am worried about giving you further information because I worry about my career and how I will be treated if I fully disclose. I would like to know what exactly will happen when I give you the name of this person. How will you investigate? How will this be documented? What other staff members and office will know about the investigation? I am not asking if the person will be fired or reprimanded – I am asking only for how these kinds of cases proceed by office policy, so I can know whether or not I should give further details. 

If you feel comfortable proceeding based on the answers you get, proceed with full reporting and give the perpetrator’s name. If you don’t feel comfortable, say, “I don’t feel comfortable saying more because I’m not getting clear answers” or “I am going to take 24 hours to consider your answers.” No matter what happens at the meeting, you need to write an email of followup with the person you met with, copying the person who was there as a witness, saying, “Thank you for meeting with me on such-and-such date. In our meeting, we agreed that…” and then recount exactly what was said in that meeting, exactly what the answers were to the questions you asked, so that the person cannot later try to say that he or she did or didn’t say something.

Also, rehearse comments to make if the harassment happens again. You want to be able to say these clearly, with a somewhat raised voice so that anyone nearby can hear you, and rehearsing these statements can help you later, in the moment:

“What did you just say to me? Please repeat what you just said to me.”

“I don’t think this is an appropriate comment/conversation and I don’t want to hear it again.”

“That comment makes me uncomfortable and you are not to talk to me that way again.”

Then leave the space immediately, if possible. If you are next to the person in a room, move. If the person walks into a room with you and closes the door, walk over and open it, with no explanation, until someone else enters the room. If you are in a car and the security situation allows it, ask the driver to stop the car, insist if necessary, then exchange seats with a man in the vehicle: “I am going to have to exchange seats with you immediately. Thank you.”

And continue to document any inappropriate behavior or references to such.

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what aid workers can learn in their home countries to use abroad (& vice versa)

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In Afghanistan, I sat in on community meetings and presentations in small towns, where local people, men and women, talked about the community’s most pressing needs and debated how to address them. There were arguments, rivalries, compromise, passion and lots and lots of discussion. Not everyone liked each other, sometimes for personal reasons, sometimes because they had different political agendas. It took forever to make decisions or get things done.

In the small town where I live in Oregon, I sit in on city council meetings, work sessions and forums, where local people, men and women talk about the community’s most pressing needs and debate how to address them. There are arguments, rivalries, compromise, passion and lots and lots of discussion. Not everyone likes each other, sometimes for personal reasons, sometimes because they have different political agendas. It takes forever to make decisions or get things done.

If you have worked overseas with the United Nations, USAID, DFID or any international aid and humanitarian agency, and you are now in your home country, I challenge you to get involved, or at least observe, locally an activity with which you were involved in a developing country. You will find that so many of the complexities, challenges and ignorance you think are typical of a developing country are, in fact, the same as your own home. And, quite frankly, many aid workers are in need of that humbling experience.

And if you want to work internationally in aid and development, I challenge you to get involved locally in efforts that are similar to what you want to do abroad. That could be an agency helping people with HIV/AIDS (and educating the community about such), a nonprofit that helps small family-run farms, a Planned Parenthood clinic, a job-training program, educating people about voting through a chapter of the League of Women Voters and on and on. I’ve written about this before: I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again.

Since moving back to the USA in 2009, I still sometimes deploy abroad for brief stints, but in between, one of the ways I keep my skills sharp is by taking my own aforementioned advice, volunteering with a local nonprofits doing similar work to what I’ve done in other countries, serving on a local government’s citizens commission (the one I serve on addresses public safety concerns), and attending city council meetings and work sessions whenever my schedule allows. And if I squint, I often feel like I’m back in Afghanistan. Or Ukraine. Or Egypt. Or Hungary. Or UNV headquarters in Germany.

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