Dear Ananya and Derek,
I think raising public awareness has many purposes, including one that is targeted towards potential victims and their community; the other is targeted towards potential Good Semaritans who might help to identify victims and help with their rescue.
Ananya's theater play is to educate potential victims and their family members to prevent them from being trafficked. But in destination countries, such as the United States, raising public awareness would help good semaritans be more alerted to abnormal situations. Therefore, public awareness campaigns need to be designed for at least the two different audiences.
It is definitely important to raise public awareness. Derek is also right that he wants to see more proactive action, not just passively receiving information about trafficking. I think we need to start from learning about trafficking, then turn our knowledge into action. But if we all know about trafficking but do not do anything about it, we should feel shame.
Wenchi Yu Perkins, anti-trafficking program manager, Vital Voices Global
Partnership
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