[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Top Image” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/LighthouseP1w_MB.jpg”]<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Top Image caption” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Lisa Kejr, Program Manager of Lighthouse for Life in the organization’s office located at Radius Church in Lexington.<\/p>\n
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Informational flyers distributed by Lighthouse for Life in their workshop packets.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Education, restoration, and empowerment. These words have become the\u00a0foundation of a South Carolina organization\u00a0with the first safe-house for human sex trafficking victims within the state.<\/p>\n
Lighthouse for Life, founded by Andrea Wind in 2014, will open its doors in Lexington this April to young girls ages 12-17 who have suffered through the horrifying experience of sex trafficking, including being prostituted by strangers and oftentimes by their own families. South Carolina is among the worst in the United States for exploiting children for sex.<\/p>\n
Wind created the organization after hearing a sermon at church called \u201cstop the hurt.\u201d She envisioned a lighthouse with many houses built around it, said Lisa Kejr, program manager for Lighthouse for Life \u2014 hence the name Lighthouse for Life. \u00a0The organization\u2019s mission is to assist victims as well as educate and train the public to be actively looking for signs of human trafficking.<\/p>\n
In the United States annually, more than 100,000 youth, ages 12-17, fall prey to human trafficking. A report from the National Human Trafficking Hotline shows that in 2017 alone, South Carolina had over 65 reported cases of human trafficking. This does not include the cases which were not reported.<\/p>\n
Brooke Burris, east coast policy director for the Lynch Foundation for Children, works with many cases on human trafficking throughout the Carolinas.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Carolina hasn\u2019t mandated human trafficking education or training,\u201d said Burris. She explained that not\u00a0having programs set in place brings a great deal of frustration and discomfort to lawyers and anti-trafficking organizations throughout the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, we do not have any beds in the state of South Carolina for victims,\u201d she said, which means there are no safe places for trafficking victims in the state, making it incredibly difficult for many of them to escape the nightmare of a reality they live through.<\/p>\n
Lighthouse for Life will be the first organization in South Carolina with beds for victims. With the construction of their first home, they will house three people at a time \u2014 girls, ages 12-17. The home will be \u201cfamily style,\u201d which means there will be a male and female couple who will look after the girls and care for them.\u00a0 Though the number seems small, it is the ray of hope for trafficking victims in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
Kejr stressed that the public must \u201cbe informed and know this is happening in our community.\u201d The organization holds workshops for businesses, college groups, K-12 groups, churches and virtually any group or individual interested in being educated and trained to combat human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Some possible signs that a young person might be trafficked are<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstanding that nobody can fight something they don\u2019t know exists is what we’re trying to fix,” Kejr said, which is why hosting workshops is a key component of Lighthouse for Life’s mission.<\/p>\n Workshops are tailored to each audience.\u00a0Sessions with a room full of law enforcement officers will include folders with information on how to identify a trafficker, whereas a session presented to a group of students would include information on how to avoid traffickers and spot dangerous or wary situations.<\/p>\n While all participants in the program have different needs, all of them contribute to the same purpose \u2014 to educate, restore and empower.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Top Image” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/LighthouseP1w_MB.jpg”] [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Top Image caption” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” background_layout=”light”] Lisa Kejr, Program Manager of Lighthouse for Life in the organization’s office located at Radius Church in Lexington. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2904"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8712,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions\/8712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n