Educational event aims to bring awareness to human trafficking

Yvonne Fryar became a survivor of human trafficking at the age of 7, an experience that forced her into years of exploitation. By 11, she was on the streets, surviving by trading sex for food, safety and drugs.

Despite showing signs of distress, such as showing up to school dirty or frequent encounters with law enforcement, nobody could tell she was being trafficked, she said.

Fryar, now a lived experience professional with Vancouver-based nonprofit Shared Hope International, addressed a crowd of law enforcement officers, health care workers and social service providers April 9 at the Hilton Vancouver Washington. In an effort to bring greater awareness to human trafficking, Shared Hope International will host a free, youth-led community awareness night during which neighbors, parents and peers can learn how to identify the signs of trafficking and ways to prevent it.

The educational event will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Battle Ground Farmers Market. Registration for the event can be found online.

During last week’s event, Fryar urged attendees to be aware, reminding them that a child may not have the words to explain what’s happening but still is signaling a need for help.

“There were people who cared, but they didn’t know what to look for or how to communicate,” Fryar said. “The system didn’t miss us; it misidentified us.”

Elizabeth Freisinger, Shared Hope International’s deputy to the president, believes every person in the community has a role to play in the fight against human trafficking, but it starts with knowing the signs.

“The more alert the community is to the warning signs of trafficking, the safer it is,” Freisinger said.

Student volunteers from Vancouver-area schools and churches will lead the Thursday event with a focus on online trafficking and exploitation, which Freisinger said is becoming more common.

An analysis of calls received in 2021 by the National Human Trafficking Hotline found that 65 percent of people subjected to human trafficking were recruited online. Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope International, said people may have a misconception that stories like Fryar’s don’t happen in Southwest Washington — but they do.

She pointed to the August multiagency child-exploitation sting led by the Washington State Patrol in Battle Ground, which led to a dozen arrests.

“We’re hoping that we start building a network in this region that is more connected and knows each other,” Smith said.