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Women Around the World: Blessing Okoedion · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steph.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told your protection of iHeart radio any I.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I still I know. We've been working from home for
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: like two years almost, I think, but I still can't
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: get it together. As you just witnessed, You're about it
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in the intro, and I'm trying to like get to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the desk because I realized how far away I am, um,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and because I'm wearing a comfy everything is extra bulky.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I have not got three things already in the past
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: hour and a half. And for one of those hours,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I was just sitting at this table, so at my desk.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Yes again, but I love it. I live in mine.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I literally it's like my little housing outside. If I
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: was a turtle, this would be my shale. Uh And
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I like I am a turtle. But all that to say,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I thought that was funny. There you go, y'all, behind
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the scenes of how clumsy I am and trying to
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: prep for recording even but that's not what we're talking about. No.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Women Around the World, where
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: we talk about the amazing women around the world who
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: advocate and fight for the rights and protection of others
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and we want to give them praise and flowers today
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: while they're still with us. Uh. And this is kind
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: of what we wanted to do with this specific segment,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: just as a reminder. And today we are celebrating blessing
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: okay dan uh And I'm so sorry if I said
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: that name wrong. Uh. We tried really hard to find
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the pronunciation and I could not find it. So we
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: went with what one of the pronunciation site said and
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: had a good up vote. So if you all know
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: we did this wrong, yeah, give us a note. But
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: she is a survivor who continues to promote awareness and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: advocacy for human trafficking victims around the world. January, by
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the way, is actually National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in
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  Speaker 1: the US, and we did want to talk a bit
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: about those who have been affected and are working to
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  Speaker 1: end it. And before we talk about her experience and
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  Speaker 1: her incredible work, we do want to take a second
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to remind everyone about the facts of human trafficking and
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: make sure we're talking about this issue in a constructive
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and factual manner. Yes, and this is something we have
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: talked about a lot on the show. We talked about
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: it with bridget Um, but for the our purposes. Now,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: we wanted to just go over some quick miss. Human
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  Speaker 1: trafficking is an ongoing issue and it is something that
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: should be talked about, but when misinformation and conspiracy theories
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  Speaker 1: are used in this conversation, it harms the victims and
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  Speaker 1: those trying to work to end these atrocities. So some
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  Speaker 1: myths to dispel miss. Number one, victims are kidnapped by
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  Speaker 1: unknown assailants. Um No. Typically victims know their perpetrators, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's through friendships, romantic relationships, and even family members. With
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  Speaker 1: number two, all commercial sex is human trafficking, as Polaris
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  Speaker 1: Projects states, commercial sex involving an adult is human trafficking
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  Speaker 1: if the person providing commercial sex is doing so against
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: their will as a result of force, fraud, our coercion right.
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  Speaker 1: And also to put to note, any person having sex
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  Speaker 1: under the age of eighteen, they are miners and that
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  Speaker 1: is not ever consensual period, So that is always forced.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: If that's a question for anyone. Myth number three, uh,
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  Speaker 1: and yeah, we just took a few, but anyway, trafficking
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  Speaker 1: is usually a violent crime. Again from the Polaris Project,
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  Speaker 1: they state the most pervasive myth about human trafficking is
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  Speaker 1: that it often involves kidnapping or physically forcing someone into
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  Speaker 1: a situation. In reality, most traffickers use psychological meat such
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: as tricking, defrauding, manipulating, or threatening victims into commercial sex
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  Speaker 1: or exploitative labor. So yeah, yes, so those are Those
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  Speaker 1: are three myths. There are many many more and there
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  Speaker 1: is much more information out there for those who may
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  Speaker 1: be interested at yes player's project dot org. But also
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  Speaker 1: as a reminder, many of the victims and survivors are
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  Speaker 1: more vulnerable and are placed at higher risk um, such
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  Speaker 1: as those involved in child welfare systems, runaway are homeless
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  Speaker 1: folks um maybe in a migrant or relocation situation, and
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  Speaker 1: other at risk populations. All right with that the way? Um? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Back to blessing Okaydon a Nigerian graduate with a degree
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  Speaker 1: in computer science who was ready to start her career
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  Speaker 1: and was looking for her dream job at the time
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  Speaker 1: when she met someone who promised her an opportunity in
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  Speaker 1: Italy within the tech world. Um. And then when she
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  Speaker 1: arrived in Spain on her way to Italy, she found
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  Speaker 1: out that she had been manipulated by someone who lied
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  Speaker 1: to force her to work off a debt she hadn't
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  Speaker 1: agreed to write. She was soon forced into prostitution and
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  Speaker 1: though she was afraid and certain of the new country
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  Speaker 1: and there are so many things that she was not
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  Speaker 1: sure what was happening. A few days later she went
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  Speaker 1: to the police for help, so she had the courage
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  Speaker 1: to actually leave UM and report it UM and after
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a waiting while to find someone to translate for her
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  Speaker 1: because obviously there was a lack of communication skills, neither
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  Speaker 1: one of those books the language in order to communicate,
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  Speaker 1: she was able to be relocated to a shelter in
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  Speaker 1: Caserta called Casa Ruth. This is the shelter she was
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  Speaker 1: placed at, which specifically helps trafficking victims UM and survivors,
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  Speaker 1: and it was founded by Sister Rita Guietta uh And
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  Speaker 1: the shelter has been a resource and home for survivors
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  Speaker 1: for over twenty years and Blessing has been an advocate
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  Speaker 1: with a shelter since then. To bring awareness for so
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  Speaker 1: many unsuspecting people, She's been traveling around the world speaking
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  Speaker 1: of her experience and advocating for other survivors UM. She
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  Speaker 1: has also continued working with her home country to educate
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  Speaker 1: other women and at risk people with the tactics that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: people may be using to manipulate and trick into similar
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: situations like what she went through. Yeah. Um, And she
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  Speaker 1: helps survivors seeking to go back home. She has accompanied
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  Speaker 1: survivors on their trip to return home through the Italian
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  Speaker 1: organization of Slaves No More, which helps survivors reintegrate into society.
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  Speaker 1: She spoke about her experience working with former victims with
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  Speaker 1: these organizations, quote, we start building confidence, then many of
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  Speaker 1: them start to open up, tell us everything, their fears, everything.
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  Speaker 1: Then we start counseling. There are some who when we
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: approached them immediately tell us I want to quit this job.
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  Speaker 1: I was not told about this. I just need somebody
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  Speaker 1: to help me. Then we rescue them immediately, right. And
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  Speaker 1: just a reminder of many of the things. One of
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  Speaker 1: the conversations that we've had previously about trafficking and what
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  Speaker 1: it looks like that oftentimes victims don't want to get
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  Speaker 1: out of it, don't know how to get out of it,
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  Speaker 1: and truly believe that this is their choice. And this
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  Speaker 1: is what she specifically talked about, when they say, no,
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  Speaker 1: this is this was not my choice, this was a
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: trick I didn't know. So just to put that out
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  Speaker 1: there and in eighteen Blessing was awarded the State Department's
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  Speaker 1: Hero of the Year Award for her quote commitment to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the fight against human trafficking, and she continues to work
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  Speaker 1: to end human trafficking, challenging even the Pope um different
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  Speaker 1: government officials in what they are doing to help combat trafficking.
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  Speaker 1: She recently appeared with the U. S. Embassy in to
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  Speaker 1: address how to fight human slavery as one of the
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  Speaker 1: heroes of the program, and she continues her ever to
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  Speaker 1: protect potential victims, survivors and current victims. And just in
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: case you wanted to know more about her story and
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: or just what she has done, she's also released a
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  Speaker 1: book I think it came out in about her experience,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: titled The Courage of Freedom A Woman Escaped the Hell
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: of Trafficking. So I think that's the translated version of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the title. But if you want to hear more of
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: her stories and what she has experienced as a it's
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: available for reading. I think I founded on Amazon as well.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, her story is incredible and her fight obviously
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: is incredible, and we do want to talk about the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: fact that the situation does happen, and happens a lot,
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  Speaker 1: and it's still prevalent to the days. Is happening in
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  Speaker 1: the US. It happens everywhere, and it's something that we
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  Speaker 1: should recognize and work to come back. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad that there are folks like this doing this
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  Speaker 1: work and bringing attention to trying to correct these myths
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  Speaker 1: that have been so pervasive. And yeah, I think we should.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: We really need to find somewhere we can post a
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: list of our books. Yeah, we should, from book clubs
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and also the books from people we talk about in
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Women around the world. There's so much. There is so
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: much or documentary or that. Yeah, we have to have
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: a festival of it something. Oh my gosh, I'd be
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: so cool. It's Minty Fest. Okay, that's for another day
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: to figure out ideas thinking about it. Yes, if you
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: got any ideas about that, who we should feature, what
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: we should be teacher. As always, we would love to
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: hear from you. You can emails at Stuff Media, mom
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Stuff at iHeart media dot com. You can find us
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or on Instagram at
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Stuff One Never Told You. Thanks as always to our
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: super producer Christina, Thank you, and thanks to you for listening.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Steffone Ever Told You as production of iHeart Radio. For
• 9:16
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• 9:18
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