July 30 is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. This year’s theme highlights the importance of listening to and learning from survivors of human trafficking. PPSEAWA hosted an anti-trafficking event on March 12, 2019, during CSW63 with Shandra Woworuntu, a survivor, who is featured by the United Nations this year.
Shandra Woworuntu was a financial analyst at a bank in Indonesia. After losing her job, she applied for a seasonal job at a hotel in the United States. At the airport, she was picked up by a trafficker, who took her passport and sold her into sex trafficking. After she escaped, she had difficulties reintegrating. As a result of her experiences, she established Mentari Human Trafficking Survivor Empowerment Program in New York in 2014. Mentari has services ranging from prevention programs, art for healing programs, self-defense, vocational training in culinary arts/home health aide/nursing assistance, housing assistance,and peer to peer support. She also is a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
Survivors play a crucial role in establishing effective measures to prevent this crime, identifying and rescuing victims and supporting them on their road to rehabilitation. Listen to her story and this of other survivors at