Looking Abroad to See Des Moines

On October 9, the Iowa Council for International Understanding (ICIU) hosted a forum on human trafficking. Earlier in the day, the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women (ICSW) held a public hearing in preparation for selecting 2008 legislative priorities. There were striking similarities in the testimony offered at each event.

At the ICSW meeting, Natalie Sugira testified on behalf of ONE Vote 08 but spoke of herself. Sugira told how in Rwanda her two oldest sisters had to leave school after the third and the first grades to help their mother. Sugira, however, was able to stay in school. She said, “If I didn’t read or write, I wouldn’t have made it out of Rwanda to be here today.” In contrast, Delemani Coulibaly from the Ivory Coast was the daughter who had to leave school to help the family. Although she had reached the college level, she took a job as a housekeeper and came to the United States to work in the home of a person she knew. She told people at the trafficking forum that once in the U.S. her employer controlled her life. Not speaking English, Coulibaly was limited in her options.

Coulibaly shared how she eventually took a bus to attend classes. When she tried to pay the bus fare, there was a strong reaction. She was about to slide a $10 bill into the collection box. Coulibaly did not say in which state she was living, but the freedom offered by buses is something I mentioned in my testimony to ICSW. I wrote, “Women need [public transit] so they are not dependent upon other people to drive them and thus control them.” Robin Sloane of the Young Women’s Resource Center (YWRC) testified about the high demand for youth activities but added that many youth are stuck in their homes because they do not have transportation.

At the trafficking forum, Maria Jose Fletcher, supervising attorney of Lucha: A women’s legal project at the Florida Immigration Advocacy Center, listed some of the ways in which a trafficked person resembles a woman suffering domestic violence. For Coulibaly that abuse included limited communication with her family in Africa and dependence upon her employer to do her shopping. At the ICSW hearing, representatives from the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence testified about recent budget and legal protection issues that limited resources available to victims.

The message that was repeated over and over at the forum on human trafficking is that it is everywhere, including Des Moines and other places in Iowa. The other primary message was that it is a hidden crime but that ordinary people can help fight it just by being vigilant. Amy O’Neill Richard of the State Department said there is labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Former Iowa Senator Maggie Tinsman talked about the Iowa law against trafficking.

More information on the ICSW meeting and hearing can be found in Issues 26 and 27 of Leading Voices: Iowa.

Guest Writer: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.