Until All Are Free

Content Warning: Contains descriptions of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Listener discretion advised. Not suitable for young listeners.A humid night in Southeast Asia. A tuk tuk driver, a laminated menu, and a corner of the world where exploitation hides in plain sight under neon light.In this episode, host Preston Goff takes listeners inside the red light districts of Thailand. Through the streets, the history that built them, the economics that sustain them, and the recruitment pipelines that pull vulnerable women and girls from rural Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos into a system designed to hold them there. Not everyone working in these spaces is a trafficking victim. But trafficking lives within the veneer of this industry, protected less by secrecy than by indifference. This episode is an invitation to bear witness and to believe that what can be understood can be dismantled.

On this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston sits down with Drew and James, two volunteer investigators with The Exodus Road. The two recount their recent travels to Pakistan, where they assisted a separate nonprofit organization in securing the release of a family from debt bondage in Pakistan's brick-making industry. Debt bondage is inherently complex, like many of the topics discussed in Until All Are Free. Many individuals ensnared in Pakistan's debt-bondage schemes are suffering from generational enslavement where the possibility of freedom from debt is unrealistic. In the landscape of human rights organizations addressing debt bondage worldwide, conversations often arise about the best tactics for intervention efforts to dismantle systems of exploitation that prop up this mechanism of trafficking. This episode is intended as an educational source about the nature of human trafficking in this region of the world. As an organization, The Exodus Road does not participate in transactional exchanges with traffickers to secure the freedom of a survivor of human trafficking.

Oftentimes, the stories that we share focus on one single individual. One story. One Case. Episode 27 is a little different in that regard. We're bringing you a glimpse into the exploitation of the Rohingya Muslim people group of present-day Myanmar. In 2015, The Exodus Road had a unique opportunity to assist in a case that garnered international attention, thrusting the Rohingya's plight into the spotlight again.  Responding to the request of law enforcement and another nonprofit organization in Thailand, The Exodus Road was able to provide cyber-forensic technology developed by Cellebrite that would eventually work to crack open a case resulting in the arrest of more than 100 and the successful rescue of hundreds more from a large trafficking ring in SE Asia. Joining us to recount the story on this episode is The Exodus Road Co-founder, Matt Parker. Episode Sources Digital data helped take down a Thai General in the country’s largest human trafficking case The Survivors of the Rohingya Genocide Thailand: Mass Graves of Rohingya Found in Trafficking Camp Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya in Burma Documentation of Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State Muslims of the Land of Arakan - A Rohingya Song

In this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston is joined by Amber Van Schooneveld to discuss what ethical storytelling looks like for nonprofits. Amber Van Schooneveld is the Senior Marketing Director at The Exodus Road. She has an extensive background in nonprofit marketing and storytelling, having worked as Managing Editor (among other roles) with Compassion International for nearly 13 years. Amber leads the Marketing Department in the process of identifying stories from our countries of operation in order to share updates and celebrations with our community. Preston and Amber chat about what it means to commit to ethical storytelling at The Exodus Road and why we have chosen to not use real imagery of survivors from raids in our communications. They also discuss a few specific cases and the opportunities that they presented to our team at our U.S. office. All of this and more!

"Making trafficking dangerous." It's a phrase that we often use to describe our work at The Exodus Road, and it refers to the way that the process of investigation, intervention, arrest, and prosecution discourages traffickers by making the crime riskier. The guests on this episode of Until All Are Free are doing just that. Preston had the honor of hearing from Gabriela Aquino, Chief of Investigation of Organized Crime with the Brazilian Federal Police, as well as Cintia Meirelles de Azevedo, the Brazilian Liaison for The Exodus Road. Gabriela is a lead presenter in TraffickWatch Academy, a training platform developed by The Exodus Road and deployed amongst law enforcement in Brazil. The curriculum of TraffickWatch Academy is actively helping to train law enforcement to see and respond to the crime of human trafficking throughout the country and is already having tangible effects as several successful rescue operations have occurred as a result of the training. Learn more about TraffickWatch Academy by visiting: theexodusroad.com/traffickwatch

On this episode of Until All Are Free we are thrilled to welcome Devisara Hannah Badi and Sarah Davison-Tracy, the authors of No Longer Untouchable: A Story of Human Trafficking, Heroism, and Hope. No Longer Untouchable brings you into the appalling reality of modern-day slavery in Nepal as Devisara Hannah Badi and her sisters tell their stories. They have each overcome unimaginable odds to survive, and today they are bravely fighting to bring freedom, hope, and love into the darkest corners of the world. ______ PURCHASE THE BOOK : No Longer Untouchable: A Story of Human Trafficking, Heroism, and Hope is available for purchase on Amazon.com. ______ Sarah Davison-Tracy is an impassioned human rights advocate, author, speaker, and founder of Seeds of Exchange (SeedsofExchange.org) and Rooted and Beloved (RootedandBeloved.org). Connect with Sarah on her website, SarahDavisonTracy.com. Devisara Hannah Badi is CEO of Himalayan Entrepreneur Resources (HER), an empowerment initiative in Nepal that provides health, safety, and autonomy to marginalized women so they can live free from sexual exploitation and abuse.

Emily Kennedy is a Co-Founder and Advisor to Marinus Analytics, an artificial intelligence company focused on protecting the vulnerable and ending systemic exploitation by serving those who work on the frontlines of public safety by developing technology that disrupts human trafficking, child abuse, and cyber fraud. Emily previously served as President of Marinus and has been recognized and celebrated as a Forbes 30 Under 30, a Toyota Mother of Invention, and one of Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Women. Joining us on this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston had the honor of talking with Emily about the development of Marinus’ flagship ai-powered platform, TrafficJam, which saved law enforcement an estimated 70,000 investigative hours in 2020 alone. We also talked about her journey with the issue of human trafficking, the podcast that she hosts (The Empower Podcast), and what healthy nonprofit leadership can look like amidst the demands of our modern world.

This episode Preston is joined by DELTA* operative and TER board member, Nate Griffin. Nate is an Executive Producer working within the film industry. His company, Grateful Inconvenience Inc., most recently produced the television series, Connected: A Search for Unity. The series features Monty Moran, former CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, as he travels across the U.S. and Canada talking with people about their unique perspectives on life, culture, the environment, politics, immigration and social media. You can follow Nate's work on Instagram at @kanakanate. *The Exodus Road primarily supports police in evidence gathering for cases of human trafficking. Working with teams of nationals, we deploy trained and highly vetted Western operatives to help with identifying current victims, gathering intelligence, building evidence packages for police, and supporting operations. We call this team DELTA Team. While the process and work is challenging and daunting, it is also highly effective. Evidence is gathered, cases are delivered, rescues and arrests are empowered on the front lines.

How would you respond if met with a potential trafficking scenario face-to-face? In this latest episode of Until All Are Free, you’ll hear the story of Maria, a Kenyan woman, told by Sarah Ray, human rights educator and activist. The two women met in an airport in Dubai early in 2020, as Maria was en route to Saudi Arabia for a domestic job. Maria was traveling with a group of Kenyan women who were prepared to hand over their passports in exchange for work in the middle eastern country. What unfolds is a story of friendship, perseverance, and an intimate glimpse into a labor trafficking situation.

In this episode of Until All Are Free we are joined by Cheryl Kosmerl, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 16 years of experience working alongside minors with hands-on sex offenses or boundary offenses. Her experiences in the clinical field led her to the creation of Sexting Solutions and co-creation of Hashtag Parenting. Sexting Solutions is a class-based (cohort modeled) option that serves as an alternative for minors who would otherwise be caught in the legal system. Hashtag Parenting is an online resource that equips parents with the tools they need to help their kid(s) with healthy digital practices from the earliest stages of their childhood.

A survivor's journey through rescue, aftercare, and integration requires the coordinated effort of many people who are committed to restoration. In this episode of Until All Are Free, Laura Parker, the President and Co-Founder of The Exodus Road, shares an interview with Courtney Skiera-Vaughn, the Executive Director of Free the Girls. Free The Girls trains and equips female survivors of human trafficking in El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Mozambique to become entrepreneurs in the business of selling bras in their local markets.

Laura Parker (TER President) talks with female Delta Operative, Sarah, about her experience on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. Sarah shares details from the vulnerable moments with trafficking victims and explains the extraordinary sequence of events that led an ordinary woman to become a covert operative with The Exodus Road. The Exodus Road is a global organization fighting human trafficking by gathering evidence, facilitating rescue missions, and empowering aftercare for survivors. Learn more about our organization by visiting theexodusroad.com. Want to be the first to know when a rescue takes place? Sign up for our Rescue Texts by texting "ER" to 51555. Host: Preston Goff Producer: Isaac Leigh Internal Themes: Lucas Leigh Intro & Outro Recordings: City of Sound