Senior Olivia Waddell shares her plans to fight sex trafficking

While there is no manner of accurately measuring how many people are victims of sex trafficking each year due to unidentified or misidentified cases, humantraffickingcenter.org estimates that 4.5 million people worldwide are forced into sexual exploitation or sex trafficking. According to equalitynow.org, of the 4.5 million, women and girls make up 98 percent of victims and about 2 million children are exploited every year in the global commercial sex trade.

In the course of researching current issues for a project in her sophomore year, senior Olivia Waddell stumbled upon an article talking about trafficking in Southeast Asia, specifically the story of a girl who had been trafficked at the age of 7. As she began to devote more time to researching how she could help, the realization that her career could be based on helping those affected by sex trafficking led Olivia to decide to pursue this career. Olivia’s sister, senior Grace Waddell said she is excited for Olivia and her future plans.

“She has always been a very free-spirited, very passionate person and when she finds something that she feels passionate about, she really latches on and is very good about educating herself way more than the average person,” Grace said. “I am passionate about certain things, but I know probably a fourth about what she knows about human trafficking. She is one of the most inspiring people I know. She is just wanting to help people; it’s incredible.”

Searching for ways to be proactive in the fight against sex-trafficking, Olivia became an advocate of education and support over social media.  “With social media, it is easy to use that as a platform for awareness,” Olivia said.  “Just tweeting a fact or retweeting resources for people to learn more can really help because even though at the end of the daya tweet isn’t going to fight trafficking, it might motivate somebody to fight it or it might spark something inside of somebody who will.”

Not only has Olivia used her social media for education and awareness of sex trafficking and human trafficking, but she has begun using her clothing choices as a way to spark conversations and raise awareness as well. This month, Olivia will be participating in Dressember, where she will wear a dress every day of December. and ask people to make a donation to raise awareness and promote awareness about trafficking.

“The goal of Dressember is to take something like a dress that has previously been associated with exploitation and turn in it into a weapon of social change,” Olivia said. “I am asking people for every day that I wear a dress to donate $1 or $5 to then go to the aftercare of victims to get them things like education or places to stay so that they can rehabilitate and get that help that they need.”

Olivia’s mom, Stephanie Waddell said she is proud of Olivia for being fully committed to this cause. Last year, for Christmas, Olivia wanted most of her gifts to be only from fair trade companies or organizations that fight human trafficking, Stephanie said.

“By wearing T-shirts that promote fighting human trafficking, she is making more people aware of the problem and letting them know how they can help,” Stephanie said.

Olivia said she hopes to make a difference with her wallet by buying and wearing clothes from stores and websites that ethically make their clothes. She now works with brand managers of Sudara, a company that teaches women coming out of the sex trade sewing skills and helps by preventing the women from going back, getting the word out about the brand, as well as encouraging others to buy clothing that is  ethically made.

“When you have the opportunity to use your wallet to help fight, you can hopefully start to dismantle some of these companies that use forced labor and trafficking to make their clothing,” Olivia said. “Honestly, for the average person, awareness is the biggest thing you can contribute to, just making sure people know the facts and they know that trafficking is real and it is not OK and it’s not this glamorous thing; it is this really horrific reality.”

In her own efforts of awareness, Olivia has collected shirts with messages ranging from “Made for Freedom” to “Love Changes the World,” something she said is close to her heart because it makes her feel like she contributing. Of the many shirts, Olivia said her favorite is one that displays “People are not property.”

“I have had multiple conversations with people when I have worn that shirt because they said, ‘Hey what’s that from?’ or ‘What does that mean?’ and it is a great way to start conversations about trafficking because I found when I talk to people about trafficking, people know what it is and know that it is a crime and it is a bad thing, but a lot of people just lack knowledge,” Olivia said. “Kansas City is actually a huge hub of sex trafficking and a lot of people just don’t know that, so when you are able to spark conversations through simply wearing a shirt, it is really cool because you feel you are actually maybe able to help people that way.”

The intersection of several major highways Kansas City houses has led it to be considered a major capital for sex trafficking. Recognizing this issue in Kansas, the Attorney General’s office, according to ag.ks.gov, has developed a plan of Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Partnership. The first step is the development of a public awareness campaign focusing on the hidden issue of human trafficking.

“I think a lot of times in our society people choose to ignore what they don’t want to see as real because I think we have a tendency to choose to see the best in a lot of things,” Olivia said. “I am not saying always see the bad in everything, but it takes a lot of maturity to see just how bad the situation is.”

In seeing “just how bad the situation is” Olivia said awareness is necessary to inform people that it is not always a choice.

“We have to reveal the realities of trafficking because we have to make people understand that it is not always a choice and it is not something that is pretty or glamorous,” Olivia said. “I think that is something that the media does a bad job of is that they portray it as something that is OK or normal.”

While Olivia said she believes social media can be a good resource for spreading awareness, the portrayal that sex-trafficking is acceptable is something she said breaks her heart. In these moments, Olivia said she has turned to the wife of her former youth pastor, Kelsey Anderson, for support.

“Whenever I read something and it really breaks my heart, she is there to say, ‘OK, you are going to get to go fight this. It is OK — hold onto that — don’t let this completely destroy you because you are going to see things that are really hard,” Olivia said. “‘You have to keep going and you have to keep fighting,’”  

Olivia said Anderson has taken it upon herself to guide and motivate her and, like Olivia’s friends and family, Anderson said she is proud of Olivia.

“I am proud that she has had the courage to take baby steps toward this career/calling,” Anderson said. “It’s difficult to have the patience to take small steps to achieve a larger goal. We have vision to make change in this world but are not willing to make daily changes, sacrifices. Sometimes it’s the small choices that make all the difference. I love that she has not waited to pursue this passion but is actively making it a part of her life.”

This larger goal is not one Olivia said she could describe as a single thing. Rather, Olivia said she has many goals involving fighting human trafficking in general. Identifying one specifically, Olivia said she would like to help with the aftercare of sex trafficking.

“The biggest [goal] is just to help people who have been through that and helping women especially — because women are usually the ones who are sex trafficked — understand their worth and that what happened to them isn’t OK and that doesn’t define them in any way,” Olivia said. “People are trafficked and that is all they have ever known, so then they get rescued and sometimes they will willingly go back to that because they don’t have any skills to make it in the real world. I really want to help people get those skills so that they get out of that cycle of abuse and they can make something of their life.”

According to sharedhope.org, “sex trafficking occurs when someone uses force, fraud or coercion to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or causes a minor to commit a commercial sex act.” Olivia said it happens on mile-long strips of bars in red light districts, an area or district in a city in which many houses of and sometimes they will willingly go back to that because they don’t have any skills to make it in the real world. I really want to help people get those skills so that they get out of that cycle of abuse and they can make something of their life.”

According to sharedhope.org, “sex trafficking occurs when someone uses force, fraud or coercion to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or causes a minor to commit a commercial sex act.” Olivia said it happens on mile-long strips of bars in red light districts, an area or district in a city in which many houses of prostitution are located. according to dictionary.com, like Asia, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, where women, children and men stand outside wearing numbers and “customers” choose a number and pay the bar owner for a certain amount of time.

To fulfill her desires within her career, Olivia said she would like to go into bar ministry, which would consist of going into bars and talking to the victims wearing numbers, building a relationship with them, then letting them know that there is a safe house for them and they do not have to continue. Bar ministry is something her mom said she is still coming to terms with.

“It definitely scares me that Olivia wants to go to foreign countries to fight human trafficking, including bar ministry,” Stephanie said. “She will be putting herself in some dangerous situations. I am working on accepting the dangers because I know it’s her passion.”

An estimated 100 billion dollar industry, the danger, Olivia said, comes from people wanting to stop individuals helping their “property” and taking away their income. According to the U.S. State department, child/human trafficking, of which sex trafficking is included in, is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world. Olivia said she has recognized the need for help, despite the dangers.

“I know my parents are worried about it, but my mom has always been very supportive about it and she has always told me, ‘If you want to change the world, you have to fight and you can’t just back down and be afraid of what is going to happen,’” Olivia said.

Taking her mom’s advice, Olivia said she overcomes the fear through anger and the desire to make a change.  

“This might sound kind of naive, but I am not really scared to do what I want to do, maybe because I have never watched the actual process of trafficking, so I think I still haven’t completely grasped how horrible it really is, but I think once you become so passionate about something that all you feel is just anger and indignation that that happens,” Olivia said. “I think that once you realize that what you are doing can actually change somebody’s life, it is easy to kind of just push that fear away and be brave for 30 seconds. There is a really cheesy quote that I keep in the background of my head but it is ‘30 seconds of bravery can change the world’ and so I kind of just remind myself of that and remind myself that even at the end of the day, it is going to be hard, it is going to be scary, but I can still do something that will be worth it.”

While Olivia said her fear is not present, like Stephanie, Grace said she is worried for her sister.

“Oh my gosh, it terrifies me, all of it. I have definitely lost sleep over her going overseas and getting into sex rings and being that person who is a liaison between people who are victims and the non-profit organizations who are trying to get them out,” Grace said. “It scares me tremendously.”

Despite Grace’s fears for Olivia’s safety, Grace said she is proud of her sister.

“I’m proud that she stuck to it. A lot of people tell her that it is not a good decision and it is going to be so incredibly difficult, and I am sure she knows that,” Grace said. “I think she is probably more aware of the injustice of the world than 99 percent of people and she feels called to do it. It is something that, as a Christian, she feels God is calling her to do and she has been steadfast in it. I am also just really proud of who she is: somebody who can care about the world that much that they want to dedicate their life to not only changing it, but to going that deep and helping individual people; it’s incredible. It’s absolutely incredible.”

Like Olivia, Grace said she and her sister Hannah Waddell are both looking into jobs geared toward helping others. Grace said she would like to work as either a social worker or a teacher, while Hannah would like to be a nurse.

“I can’t take credit for this at all,” Grace said. “[Olivia] is the one who has introduced me to all of this, but when you learn so much about it and you have someone in your life who is that advocate and is educating you so much, it really pushes you to care more about it, so, because of that, it has become a goal of mine to work for a non-profit organization as a teacher.”

With a growing knowledge of the injustice of sex-trafficking, Olivia said even helping one person will make all of her efforts worth it.

“For me, it is not an option to not do anything anymore and I have gotten to the point where some of that fear has just left me because this is what I feel called to do and this is where my heart is,” Olivia said. “It is just a matter of reminding myself that 30 seconds of bravery could potentially, completely change somebody’s life. That, to me, is more than every bit of fear and every bit of shaking and being really scared and crying because at the end of the day you could do something that is really amazing, and I try to remind myself of that.”