A new exhibit aims to inform and educate Buffalonians about the factors that can lead to human trafficking.
Entitled “Khalia’s Story” the exhibit follows a fictional character based on the experiences of real-life women and girls served by Project Mona’s House – a local restoration home for women who have survived human trafficking.
"I know the art of storytelling, so we created several different scenes of Khalia's life," said Kelly Diane Galloway, Founding Director at Project Mona's House.
"In those scenes, we'll be able to see how pathways and unmet needs and really poverty - which we believe is the biggest pimp - led to her landing in the arms and in the grip of a trafficker."
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, human trafficking is the crime of compelling a person to provide labor or to engage in commercial sex acts through the use of fraud, force or coercion. Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.
Galloway said populations most vulnerable to being trafficked include children, runaways, foster children, undocumented individuals, refugees, people who have formerly been incarcerated, those addicted to substances and anyone in an unstable housing situation.
"We want to be able to communicate that to the public so they can understand what the signs [of human trafficking] are," Galloway said.
"So if you cannot feed your children, if you don't have access to fair, equal housing that you can afford, if you don't have access to supportive services that will allow you to heal from substance abuse or any form of addiction, that you can come to this exhibit and learn how that's a pathway that leads to trafficking."
The exhibit aligns with Human Trafficking Prevention Month and opened just a few days after Human Trafficking Awareness Day on Jan. 11.
“Human trafficking is slavery by another name”, said New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes in a press release announcing the exhibit. “As we reflect during Human Trafficking Awareness Month, we’re reminded of the good being done to interrupt and end this brutal system. Kahlia’s Story provides a glimpse into the lives of survivors of trafficking."
To learn more about Project Mona's House or to seek their services, visit their website.
"Khalia's Story" is open to the public at Renovation Church of Buffalo located at 567 Hertel Ave., Buffalo, NY. It can be viewed Jan. 14 from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.; Jan. 15-16 from 12 p.m.- 6 p.m., Jan. 17-18 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., and Jan.19 from 12 p.m.- 6 p.m.
