Today hearing from a survivor of trafficking, Brenda Meyers-Powell, was empowering and sobering at the same time. It’s just so shocking that she is doing so much after going through so much, and I feel like I’m doing so little. Often at sessions like the ones we experienced today I have felt like I’m doing nothing. But at the Collective Shout I felt empowered. Like I wasn’t doing tons but at least I was doing something. At least I gave my time and money to come to this conference and learn. It was so amazing to see how many professionals were present, people who were so invested in giving their time to this issue. I thought today about what I’ve been learning about trafficking over the past three years since I first learned about it as a freshman. I have joined the IJM-Baylor Chapter, served as an officer in that group, been to an IJM chapter training session on raising awareness, been on an anti-human trafficking service/learning trip, and now this conference. It seems like a lot to have done, especially as a busy student but I feel like I have done so little. It’s like the more I learn about this issue, the less I really know. I had a compelling desire to run out of the conference and get on a plane to save some trafficking victim somewhere….and then do what? I have no special skills, no real training, and no degree. I could nothing other than hinder what the professionals are doing. So I have to stay in my conference seat, and continue learning and researching and dialoging so that someday I can be that professional. So that I can do something truly impactful.
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