Why "Fight for Mari"?

The question always asked about sites using someone's name: "Why is it called ____?"

About 4 years ago, I was on an app called Whisper. I was looking for people asking for advice, wanting to talk, whatever they might want. I came across this one person who was saying she wasn't sure what to do because she was scared. I texted with her nearly all night and more the following few days. We quickly became friends.

After a couple weeks, she felt more comfortable telling me what was going on and I figured out she was in a sex trafficking ring.

After that conversation, I would be her go-to outlet for everything that happened. Her best (and only) way of coping with her situation was to tell me what was going on each and every night. It was horrifying. Heart-breaking. Traumatizing.

After about 3-4 months of talking more, reassuring her that she would be safe if she reported the ring and that she wouldn't be killed or pulled back in, she told me she had reported it and got it shut down. She was at a shelter. But that was only the beginning of the saga that came after.

She went from the shelter, where no one seemed to really care about her, to stay with friends from school. Then the friends' parents wouldn't want her staying anymore because she "was too much for them," forcing her to move from one friend to another almost every other week. She then reconnected and moved in with her sister at her sister's apartment. However, her sister couldn't support both of them, so my friend put HERSELF back on the street, selling herself again, to supplement her sister's income so they could afford the apartment.

She moved in with a different friend whose parents gave her very strict restrictions and it made her feel like she was back in the sex ring, people controlling her. She stayed with them for a few months, but it eventually became too much and she filed for emancipation. She moved to a different state in a different part of the country and lived in a group home. That is where she finally was able to live like a kid again, live more freely again.

From the night we met, it took over a year for her to not need me to do our nightly "good night" routine:
Me: I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Her: You promise?
Me: I promise.

It took over a YEAR for her to not fear I'd be gone the next day.

For about a year, she'd call/text me 3-5 times a day needing me to help talk her down during panic attacks. Then it was down to 1-3 times per day for the following year. They were so bad that her school COUNSELOR got her suspended, twice, because she was "too much."

I met her in early 2016 when she was 15. She got emancipated when she was 17. For her 18th birthday in 2019, I sent her a necklace designed by the band for King & Country that symbolizes that a girl/woman is PRICELESS. That she doesn't have a price tag. That she is her own person. That she is valuable and loved.

We lost touch earlier this year, but I will never forget what she said in one of her last messages:

"i honestly think without you i wouldn't be here today. i didn't have the strength mentally or physically to keep going...just know the young women i've become has been brought up by you a great deal"

Her name: MARI.

This is why "Fight for Mari." This is why my heart breaks for those in trafficking. This is why I wear two bracelets by Hero Bands that say "God Only Knows" and "We Will Rise" -- both are lines from songs by for King & Country, "God Only Knows" and "Together." This is why I wear the same necklace that I gave her. This is why I wear a bracelet and ring that say "FREEDOM" by END IT MOVEMENT. This is why I fight.

I pray that if you've come to this page and read this post, you would consider subscribing and sharing this blog with people you know. I will be sharing sources where you can continue to learn more about human trafficking, information on causes you can support, and updates on any kind of events or important dates to take note of.

Thank you!