“From research we understand many of the factors which push and pull people into the experience of exploitation. Our job is to partner with communities and prevent them.”
The Need
Being trafficked often isn’t the first abuse experienced. 65-95% of survivors of sex trafficking say they were sexually abused in childhood and this was a major factor in their decision to leave home. (Farley, Cotton, Lynne, Zumbeck, Spiwak, 2003)
Slave Count
Sex Slaves
Female
Minors
(Stats: UN Global Trafficking in Persons Report 2022)
The Beginning
Having raised funds for two years to help friends assist exploited people in their exit from slavery, The Marroquíns realized so few found freedom, and those who did suffered with life-long trauma. In 2010 a pilot program launched on the campus of the University of Managua in Nicaragua to PREVENT sex trafficking. Today Protect Me Project teams are at work in twelve countries to get there before the trafficker.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”