Raising awareness about Human Trafficking in Elbasan, Albania- Sr. Elda Nikilli.

 
On the 20 of March 2017, I shared some time with the students of Our Lady of Good Council in Elbasan. The objective of this meeting was to inform the students about the reality of Human Trafficking, a sad reality which does not seem to be so real, but the figures show quite the contrary.
The first part of the meeting was simple brainstorming, with questions to find out what they know already about this subject and the extent of their knowledge about a particular kind of human trafficking. They seemed to be aware of trafficking into the sex industry and trafficked children for organs. The sad part is that a few of them think only about the causes, the supply and demand. There is a mentality that girls and the poor are intended for human trafficking: to be sold and bought unless she is not my sister.
The second part of the meeting focused more on sharing figures and statistics and giving as much information as possible about Human Trafficking in all its forms: for sex, forced labour, organ trafficking, child trafficking for labour, sex and as child soldiers. 
During the third part, we shared two stories of two girls forced into sex trafficking. Two of the students read these stories. This led to the development of a close atmosphere as the stories were told. We entered into their sufferings, we were getting to know something more about them, they were no longer a statistic, but a reality.
We hope that by sharing information we can contribute to changing the mentality, developing a greater sensitivity and empathy for the victims of Human Trafficking. One day we hope we will wake up to thinking about them, and possibly act, to protect the victims and the most vulnerable people, who are potential victims.