In South Africa, hundreds upon thousands of women fall victim to sex trafficking. In most cases, women involved with sex work are usually victims of sex trafficking. Why are these women involved with sex work? It’s the only way they have learnt how to support themselves.
Durban citizen Vashti Toms and her team over at NPO, eXpose HOPE, is caring for the women of Durban who are trapped within the sex industry and victims of trafficking by showing them ways to love themselves and by forming a sisterhood that empowers these women to take charge of their lives.
Expose Hope
We sat down with Vashti to chat about her work within the Durban community and beyond.
“In 2007, I started visiting homeless shelters in the Point area of Durban CBD. I soon realised that the majority of homeless women and girls who were living in the shelters and on the street were trapped in the sex industry and were profoundly broken.
Many were victims of sex trafficking and severe childhood sexual abuse; none had ever had the opportunity for counselling or any support to help them to heal from their trauma. They were living in survival mode every moment of the day. My heart broke for them and from that point of brokenness, eXpose HOPE was birthed.
Expose HOPE
Our team is made up of women only. We are mothers, wives, business owners, students, academics and pastors. We are diverse racially and in beliefs, yet we all share one purpose, and that is to look out for the women of our community who are trapped within the sex industry.
There are over 1 000 women and girls in the sex industry who are in desperate need of rescuing, and our one common goal is to reach them all.
Every Wednesday and Thursday night, we run an outreach programme, where we visit our sisters and girls in the brothels, shelters, drug houses and streets for six to seven hours at a stretch. Our days and weeks vary constantly, but we always show up for outreach. Our friends wait for us and we look forward to seeing them again.
Expose HOPE
Visiting really gives us an opportunity to build meaningful relationships. Without a true connection, these women would never trust us, therefore would not receive any help to escape from the sex industry.
These ladies do not have the finances to purchase their monthly hygiene needs, so we help those who are particularly desperate by donating handbags filled with a month’s supply of toiletries and sanitary products. One of our greatest aims is the restoration of dignity for each of the women that we have a relationship with. Whatever they may need, we will try and provide.
Giving our girls the essential dignity items like tampons and pads is crucial towards helping them heal and gain a better sense of empowerment. Currently, we’re working towards establishing a drop-in centre for our ladies where we can spend more time with our survivors and with those who need extra support from us. Sometimes that may involve medical support, counselling, quality time, relationship building and creating a safe space for family members who are willing to rebuild relationships with the survivor.
Expose HOPE
So far, we also have successfully helped 13 ladies escape from the sex industry. We use our donation funds to help support them and their babies until they are on their feet. On outreach nights, we reach up to 300 women and teen girls. With more support, we could easily reach over 500.
The more funds we raise, the more ladies we can help rescue. Our survivors have a long journey towards healing in front of them and due to the fact that no safe houses or rehab/detox facilities are available to them, we have to facilitate the process ourselves. This can be incredibly difficult as our funds are low, but we persevere for these women.
They’re just like us. Most of them are single mothers trying to support their children. They are smart, funny, sassy, cheeky, intelligent and beautiful. Each of them has a story; none of them chose this life and they are all just trying to survive. Some of these ladies have become good friends of ours, we go out for coffee, chat, laugh and often cry together. We talk about motherhood, relationships and our dreams for our lives.
Expose HOPE
Our team and our ladies have a very fierce love for each other and we all agree that we will fight for their freedom. I believe this is my calling. I was placed on this planet and created for this work. It’s not a job. It’s not a career. It’s a calling. I don’t believe that giving up is an option for me and many of my team members feel the same way. If we don’t show up and care for these beautiful women, no one will. With that in mind, we keep going.”
Visit the eXpose HOPE website to support the cause.
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Feature Image: Facebook / Expose HOPE
