SAVANNAH, Ga (WSAV) – On Saturday, the 8th annual Traffick Jam was held by the Savannah Interagency Diversity Council to raise awareness about human trafficking in our community. Organizers of the event say Savannah’s unique features can make it a target for traffickers.
“Savannah, being a large tourist city, having a large port—one of the largest ports in the country—being near one of the busiest interstates in the country, a lot of our citizens are not aware of what to look for,” said William Gettis, Chairman of SIDC.
The conference’s keynote speaker, Kwami Adoboe-Herrera, shared his story as a survivor of human trafficking.
“I would go to school as a normal kid and just be like ‘everything’s okay,’ but the more I keep enduring this crime and the more I keep going through this abuse at home, it was becoming apparent that I needed to reach out, I needed to talk to somebody. I needed help,” he said.
He was brought to the United States from Togo, a small country in Africa, and said human trafficking is often a forgotten crime.
“I was brought into this country under a false promise, and then I was trafficked into labor—a ton of labor work for my trafficker until I was rescued from him. So, it’s a crime that needs to be talked about, a crime that we need to shine light on, that needs attention. We need to prosecute those who are doing the heinous crime against the human person,” said Adoboe-Herrera.
When asked how he got the courage to share his story, Adoboe-Herrera said it’s just one step in ending human trafficking for good.
“Small by small, bit by bit, we can work together to eradicate it out of this country and around the world as well. So that’s my goal,” he said.
Organizers say the biggest thing they want people to take away from the event is: if you see something, say something.