Voices of Survivors Cast Video Skalickyphoto.com

It takes so much courage for survivors

to speak out and tell their stories.

For one, they are afraid of the traffickers
finding them,

but two, it brings up
a lot of really really hard memories.

And so I feel privileged to be able to hear
a survivor story

and know that just by telling their story,
they trust me enough to hold it for them.

(Music)

My name is Lorena.
I'm from Philippines.

My name is Othaya Kante Saldado.

I'm from Sri Lanka.

My name is Thige.

I'm from Eritrea, Asmara.

My name is Flora
and I'm from Pablo, Mexico.

My name is Jason Gusman
and I am from the Philipinnes.

So my name is Pichai.

My name is Suchai.

(Music)

I was promised a good job for the house

and didn't have to worry about anything.

She said, "you can come with me
and work with me in restaurant.

I have restaurant.
I pay you a lot of money."

I thought it was a great opportunity
to come over here and work in the US.

Because everyone in the Philippines,
like when they heard America,

they wanna go- they wanna come here.

(Music)

I wasn't able to talk to anybody.

I was forbidden
to put one step out of the shop.

We sleep on the floor. Yes.

I feel numb because I don't know what do,

I don't know how to do it.

I had to work 17 hours a day,

seve- seven days a week.

I wasn't able to talk to my co-workers.

Sometime I feel like I wanna kill myself

because it was to painful like it's really

it's really like hurt- it's- it's really

like, you know, hurtful how you see-

how you see, um, treat me.

(Music)

I don't know.

(Music)

Where am I gonna go. I don't have anyone.

I don't have any money even though
she promise me to pay me

like 150 dollars a month
but I did not get that money.

My trafficker often said

that dogs have more rights,
in the United States, than I did.

She said: "if I kill a dog,
I would get in trouble

but if I kill you,
nobody is going to know

and nobody is going to care."

She took my passport. I can't go.

I feel afraid.

Because I don't know where to go.

No passport how can I go back to Thailand.

Yeah. I- I don't know-

I don't know how to go.

I don't know friend. No friend.

Just friendly with in- in her house.

The trafficker said, if I tell anybody

what was going on,
nobody will believe me.

And if I go to the police,

they will not believe me.

They will put me in jail
and she knew where my children were

and I didn't want to risk my children.

What she always said
that you can't go nowhere.

You belong to me.

[MUSIC]

The day that I was escape, umm,

the woman who helped me,
like took me to CAST

the same day and uh,
since then CAST help me a lot

with, you know, shelter, with food,
with money,

whit anything that I need
to get on my feet.

They brought you like who was gonna help
you to talk or interpreter.

Like if you need something.

For the blanket, for the clothes,

they give me a lot.

(Laughter)

Encouraging me to do something like

encouraging me like to go to school.

And the CAST help you to know your right.

And they- they make me very strong
and independent person.

CAST open door for me.
CAST take me at Alexandra House.

CAST take me school,
now I speak English a little bit.

CAST has helped me through everything.

(Music)

When I spoke like with the congressman

or with senator
like when we went to Washington DC.

I feel like am very important person.

We went to Sacramento
and we got the regulations pass.

So now, thanks to the green card campaign,
we are, uh, green card holders.

I want to be the voice of, um, the fixer

because I know
how it feels to be in that situation.

In this country, you know,
people has a voice,

no matter who you are,
even though you are a slave.

We all know we've been enslaved
and now we survived.

Even though we passed like,

but we always talk about
that and we're still sharing.

(Music)

Free it's, uh, it means a lot to me.

Like when you're free,
when you became a free,

it feels like you're a new born child.

Freedom for me is really special thing
for me

because I never have freedom in my life.

When I was free, I was scared
but I was so happy.

I'm happy now because I have everything.

I go to school. I have job.

I have green card. I have everything.

I'm happy.

Yes, I love freedom. Anybody love freedom.

I am proud of myself.
I was a slave and now I'm survivor,

I'm activist and I'm a mother.

Freedom is everything to me.

This is, you know, everyone deserve
to have a freedom. It's free.

I wanna be part of it.

I wanna be part of the mission
to end slavery.

I wanna be part of the making
of the history of end slavery for good.

And the CAST help me
become an independent,

become like a real man.

At CAST we have the previlege of working
directly with victims,

who then transform and become survivors
after going through our critical programs.

And that's important because we are able
to use those experiences

and help survivors become leaders
and powerful agents of change

to impact systemic social change.

Who better to inform us
how to end modern day slavery

than survivors themselves.

When survivors tell us they're now happy,

we know we've done our job at CAST.