Safe haven

Alyssa, 16, a teen survivor and advocate for Saving our Nation, smiles next to Trinidad-born Christal Tsoiasue, founder of the a US based NGO focused on eradicating human trafficking and sexual abuse and empowering victims and survivors. Photo courtesy Christal Tsoiasue
Alyssa, 16, a teen survivor and advocate for Saving our Nation, smiles next to Trinidad-born Christal Tsoiasue, founder of the a US based NGO focused on eradicating human trafficking and sexual abuse and empowering victims and survivors. Photo courtesy Christal Tsoiasue

Trinidad-born Christal Tsoiasue wants to make difference in the lives of victims and survivors of human trafficking and sexual abuse.

She hopes by August 2019, she will be able to start by providing a haven for victims and survivors, with the establishment of a safe house for children and young adults, up to age 25.

The Atlanta-based clinical therapist said her drive to be an agent of change stems from having endured the emotional and physical trauma suffered in an abusive relationship in her late teens. She is also fuelled by her job as a clinical therapist and the trauma she has witnessed in the last 15 years of helping others to overcome and advocate against the scourge of human trafficking.

Tsoiasue, a mother of four, recently visited TT with her family and shared her story with WMN. Too many times, she said, victims and survivors want to speak out, want to make that first step to get help, but fear cripples them into suffering in silence. Sometimes they are not even aware that they are victims.

Thirty-five-year-old Tsoiasue said Atlanta, while popular for its celebrity figures, also has one of the highest human trafficking and sexual abuse tolls in the US. Having been in the business of helping and empowering others for over 15 years, she naturally gravitated to founding her own non-profit organisation, Saving Our Nation Foundation, in 2017 while working with girls who had been victims of human trafficking. Prior to that she had hosted the homeless in the US, Mexico and also in TT.

She said she didn't just want to "feed the poor," she wanted to try to give them back a sense of identity, to try to help the homeless see their worth, even when they didn't feel it.

"Through the help of a host of people, collaborating, just sharing a common desire to try to restore dignity in persons who found themselves in bad situations, in shelters, a lot of persons were able to be cleaned up and sit down to a great meal in a nice settings. We saw so many smiles, it makes it worth having to go through the tasks of getting it all together and a success."

In 2018 Tsoiasue, launched the TT-based leg of her foundation.

Through her work with Well Spring Living, a safe house for girls in Georgia, she saw the trauma, emotional and psychological scars suffered by victims and survivors of sexual abuse. She became a crutch to the victims she worked with. She said she connected with them because she knew exactly how they felt. She was only 19 when she endured and survived an abusive relationship, and while she was able to get out, she said she will always remember her feeling of hopelessness. She said the fulfilment she got from her work at Well Springs created a spark in her, to be more than just a clinical therapist. She became encouraged to play her own role in stopping the scourge of human trafficking.

"Although outlawed, sex trafficking continues to plague Caribbean countries while governments and volunteers are looking for ways to protect local and foreign victims. The purpose behind this project is restoration of human dignity, protection of basic human rights and making safety our main concern. By providing such life-changing resources, it is possible to shift TT’s approach to tackling a truly gruesome crime that impact so many youth. A lot of victims are children from poverty, runaways, victims of abuse, and now among the Venezuelans that are seeking refuge here."

Tsoiasue has committed to working with local non-governmental organisations on a campaign to educate and inform communities of the current status of human trafficking in TT, and to warn people that it is not a myth. One organisation has offered her the use of a vacant building to start her project, and "God willing, the opening of a safe haven for such victims and survivors." She is adamant that her endeavours will be "above board" and will all go through the proper legal channels.

And although she has encountered some stumbling blocks in actually getting the approvals for the venue, Tsoiasue is confident that come August, victims, survivors and organisations of like-minded focus will be able be a part of her movement to see tangible, positive change.

The vision, though, is not just about helping them heal, but empowering them enough to them help others who survived similar ordeals. Several of the people who would have benefited from her foundation in the US, have since gone on to becoming advocates themselves, she added. This is her ultimate goal for victims and survivors of TT.

"People need to listen, though, when victims speak out. Instead, often victims are branded trouble makers, or silenced through fear, through sexual grooming and other factors which lead to years of abuse and eventually, sometimes into the victims accepting it as their purpose. Sometimes others just turn a blind eye, because sexual abuse of any kind carries with it an undeserved stigma. It's sad, but it's true. It often even leads to victim blaming, suicide, promiscuity or prostitution and human trafficking. Predators lay in wait for ‘damaged’ or troubled little girls," she cautioned.

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