Pamela will be presenting The Scarlet Cord: Healing for Sex Trafficked Children at the Kent County Courthouse to help educate about commercial sex trafficking—called modern day slavery.
Violated
“Are you the artist?” the young woman asked from the distance of fifteen feet. But before I had a chance to move within normal conversation range, her rigid arm and raised hand extended towards me like a traffic cop—communicating a clear message: “Stop. Don’t come any closer.”
Although this young woman was trying to hide her past, she unveiled her deep secrets to a group of us at The Scarlet Cord installation outside the Ford Presidential Museum during ArtPrize 2014.
A volunteer asked her, “Would you like one of the artist’s cards?”
“No,” she responded. “I know more than I ever wanted to know.”
Then she walked towards me, but she kept the brochure table between us. “You have used all the right words,” she added.
One word from The Scarlet Cord installation came to mind: violated.
The young woman tried to maintain the impression of being in control, but she was fractured. Broken. She had learned survival skills. Self-protection strategies. I wondered, though, if these carefully laid plans were blocking the road to healing. Or was she doing the best that she could?
Learning to trust again would be a long process for her. It could take a lifetime to overcome such deep wounds. This young woman needed loving friends who would help break down her fifteen-foot barrier, caring people to journey with her towards wholeness and freedom.
The Scarlet Cord Film Helps Educate
Judge Patricia Gartner utilizes The Scarlet Cord Film as an educational tool for juveniles in the court system to learn about sex trafficking and its impact.
