The subject of human trafficking is very much close to my heart. As an anthropologist, an international development specialist, and someone who is a member of Women in Mining, the topic of human trafficking is one that I encounter more often that I wish. Although I grew up in a country where the natural resources industry played a large part in our economy, there was little publicity around the underbelly of it, the silenced tongues of the dead, raped and impoverished. It was only until my mother became a volunteer counselor at the Help & Shelter for Abused Women when I was in primary school, did I really get a sense of gender-based violence in the country, and then coming across SOMALY MAM1(get to know who she is people) did I really get to delve into human trafficking and the sex slavery that comes with it. Now, if you open up a Guyanese newspaper you can expect to read an article relating to a gender-based violence offense on a regular--for the most part domestic violence cases--with human trafficking cases intertwined.
If you know anything about Guyana, then you will know that most of the country is inaccessible, with the coast being the most densely populated region, and the interior (towards Venezuela and Brasil) being mostly jungle and mountains with the Indigenous [Amerindian] Peoples being the main inhabitants. It is in the latter, deeply cloaked by a canopy of trees that mining occurs, and also where human trafficking of young women [Indigenous and Non-Indigenous] occurs--hidden from the prying eyes of the watchdogs (however, human trafficking in Guyana seems to be mostly played out in the mining towns attached to the excavation sites instead of on site).
Whilst I was living in the Amazon, I would sell groceries to the artisanal miners who would travel to my village. Of course, I would eavesdrop (afterall, isn't that what anthropologists do?) on their conversations and on numerous occasions heard of the indigenous women who were brought to the sites to cook and wash the men's clothes. On one occasion I asked if there were sex workers on the site and was answered with a grin and the phrase "Miss Stacy what type of question is that?" I, unfortunately, never met any of these workers, but I have always wanted to work with them in some way as part of a rehabilitation programme that incorporated economic empowerment and counseling. However, I never conceived a plan on what I could to do address the issue in my country and the region in a sustainable and viable way, until I came across The Brave Collection.