Salvation Army helps Janice find freedom and a brighter future
Jenny Stanger, supervisor of The Salvation Army’s trafficking safe house. (Photo: Shairon Paterson)
I worked seven days a week from seven in the morning until 10 at night, I had no breaks… They used to threaten me and swear at me ...
– Janice, Salvation Army trafficking safe house client.
Janice came to Australia to work as a housekeeper for a wealthy family she had previously been employed by in her home country.
The family organised Janice’s visa and plane ticket and promised to help her get permanent residency. They also told her she would be paid for her work and that she could eventually bring her children to Australia.
“I trusted them,” says Janice.
“They told me to do all the housework and I started doing this work the day after I arrived. After two weeks they took my passport. They said they needed it to apply for my residency, so I gave it to them.”
Janice was required to do all the housework and gardening, and also took care of the family’s dogs and the swimming pool. During this time, her “employers” became increasingly abusive and neglectful.
“I had severe headaches and bloody noses but was not taken to a doctor,” she says.
“I had a broken tooth that was never seen by a dentist. Sometimes I think I might have died in that house.”
For three years, Janice worked without pay. She felt frightened, isolated and feared for her family.
“They [the family she worked for] held not only my passport, but the power and control of my life,” she says.
According to the United Nations, $US31.6 billion of profit is extracted from 12.3 million people in forced labour every year. Approximately two million of these people are trafficked through force or deception.
To help support those in Australia who have experienced slavery-like practices, The Salvation Army opened its trafficking safe house in 2008 as a 10-bed refuge. In 2011, the service was presented with one of 11 inaugural Anti-Slavery Australia Freedom Awards at Parliament House in Canberra.
To meet community needs, the service has expanded over the years to include a growing number of non-residential clients – men, women and young people who are supported as they rebuild their lives.
Service supervisor Jenny Stanger explains that in Australia, people are “trafficked for the purpose of forced labour, slavery and servitude into a variety of industries” and says legal loopholes are tightening to better address these crimes.
Jenny explains that laws currently before Federal Parliament will criminalise forced marriage and trafficking a person for the purpose of organ removal.
“Debt bondage – which involves people being forced to pay off debts their employers say they owe – is already an offence,” she says.
In Janice’s case, she finally managed to escape her desperate situation, fleeing the family that had treated her so badly.
“That was the day I met The Salvation Army,” she says. “My whole life has changed in ways I never imagined.”
Janice stayed at The Salvation Army’s safe house where she received comprehensive assistance and support. She is now a “Freedom Advocate”, volunteering to support others who have been caught up in the trafficking industry.
The project has been developed in partnership with the Project Futures organisation. Freedom Advocates work to raise public awareness, lobby governments, educate and offer a voice for those who are abused.
"We felt we had to offer an opportunity to clients who wanted to make a difference to others," Jenny says.
Janice explains why she believes it is important to support others.
“I think there are people in Australia who are in dangerous situations like I was,” she says. “I hope that by being a Freedom Advocate, I can help other people find the freedom that I have today.”
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