No one likes being caught in traffic. No one likes being stuck in the same spot and moving five feet at a time for hours. Could you imagine if there were no cars and the only movement going on would be you from one place as a slave to another place as a slave? That would basically be no movement at all. Many women are victims of human trafficking. Many of these women are taken off of the street and away from their families from ages as early as thirteen.

As terrible as these heinous crimes are, there is hope. There are many programs and organizations dedicated to the rehabilitation and protection of human trafficking victims.

“Rahab’s Hideaway” is one of those roganizations Denise Robertson, is one of the managers who is deeply involved and attached to the program. Ms. Robertson described the targeted age group” as eighteen to twenty-five, because they are mostly at a fork in the road.”

Denise explained the program’s mission: “It’s for the rehabilitation of young female adults that have been traumatized. Some of them have been abused in many different ways. Amelia (one of the participants in the program, not her real name) was like a baby. I’d be holding her in my arms. It helps them start over again with identification, schooling, employment and housing. Each woman gets 10 people to help them a piece.” Among these 10 people helping the participants are psychiatrists and counselors. Ms. Robertson told me that progress reports would be done once a month or each time there is a change in the program.

Toledo, Ohio is the number one city in the country for human trafficking according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Marlene Carson, the program’s founder, explained why she chose to start the program: “There was no one advocating for the women that I knew who did not want to be in the lifestyle. I can remember a girl from Kentucky who was told she couldn’t go home to her 5 children until a debt was paid. And I thought “oh my God, what is her mother going to do with 5 kids, who doesn’t know where their mother is, and all these questions entered my mind with no answers.” She also outlined that her main inspiration came from personal experience in human trafficking. She didn’t and doesn’t want any girl to go through what she went through.

Ms. Carson noted that there were people of compassion funding the program, churches and business’ who donate their time, money and resources. She said that it was fortunate for them that they didn’t have to convince them for the donations; it was just in their hearts to do it.

Ms. Carson stated that Rahab’s Hideaway was a non-profit organization and that everyone involved in it was currently a volunteer.

The women involved in the program connected with Ms. Carson very well. She explained, “I myself was in prostitution for many years and this is why we connect. I know the pain of it, the shame of it and how it strips you from everything you are. And they know that I understand because I am them.”

Ms. Carson described what was the end result she hoped to have for participants in this program: “they will begin to see themselves for who they really are and be able to let go of who/what they have been told they are. We insure this can happen by reinforcing to them who they are, and we have such a strong belief in them that we tell them we will believe in them until they can believe in themselves.”

Ms. Carson outlined plans of expansion in the future of Rahab. She said with joy and a smile “Yes, we plan on expanding the program by working with different cities where again people of compassion and different ministries will support the services for these women. It is important that we receive funding this way so that we can remain a faith based organization and have the freedom to really help change the lives of these girls.”

There are many stories of human trafficking that go unheard or unnoticed. The general population is unaware of the dangers of human trafficking and the mental and emotional effects that it has on people. Nor do they know that there wasn’t even a law against human trafficking until October 2000, when the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was passed.

Senator Teresa Feder stated that “it’s a myth that middle-cla

ss cities like Toledo, Columbus and even suburban areas do not have slavery in their midst.” Since the TVPA was passed in the year of 2000, many enslaved women and children have been given back their lives. The movement to halt it is slow, but traffic will begin to die down.

Terence Robertson is a member of the Free Press' Young Reporters Project.