Fight for Mari

During the summer of 2019, then 16-year-old Zephi Treviño, began "dating" then 18-year-old P. Baldenegro. "When a perpetrator suggests to their victim(s) that they are in a romantic relationship, it creates a sense of trust and loyalty that easily provides a false sense of security, particularly in the cases of vulnerable youth," explains Sophia, a child sex trafficking survivor and council member of the World Without Exploitation Youth Coalition. "Because of the trust and familiarity the connection establishes, it is easy for the exploiter to manipulate their victims to engage in [sex] acts." After Baldenegro began his process of grooming Zephi during their "relationship," his exploitation escalated by advertising Zephi for sex. In August, two adult men convened with Zephi and Baldengro at an apartment under the pretense of purchas ing Zephi from Baldenegro for sex. When the two adult men arrived, Baldenegro allegedly began to beat and rob t...

Important date coming up! February 25, 2021, is Shine a Light on Slavery Day (SLSD). SLSD is supported by End It Movement  to raise awareness of human trafficking and to show your support in the fight to end human trafficking. To show your support, please make a red "X" on the back of your hand and post it on your social media. Also, you can send your photos to  IG: @FightForMari  to be featured on my Instagram story. You can also download graphics for social media posts and phone backgrounds here . Thank you all for your support of Fight For Mari and your support in the fight to end human trafficking!

This month is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Today, January 11, was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. It's also sometimes referred to as #WearBlueDay because similar to pink representing support for fighting breast cancer, blue represents support for fighting human trafficking. In fact, #WearBlueDay is recognized and supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ( https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/wearblueday ) as their "Blue Campaign: One voice. One mission. End human trafficking." Today  is also one of the hardest days of the year for me. It's a day that reminds me that there's a lot of work done to raise awareness of human trafficking and to raise awareness of efforts to fight it, and all of that is good! However, for me -- and the purpose of this blog -- it doesn't necessarily raise awareness for what needs to be done after they are rescued. Or actually, maybe a better word is to say after they are liberated , as they are l...

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 ...