In Kern County CSUB held an event on February.14 talking about the rise of human trafficking and what ways communities can bring awareness and a stop to this ongoing issue.

Speakers Ofelia Flores, Angelica Zuniga and Odessa (Dess) Perkins shared their stories of human trafficking as well as how it affects communities. The speakers were advocates for bringing awareness to trafficking, as well as how it can be put to an end.

The state of California has ranked statistically number one in cases of human trafficking.

The average age for a person to be trafficked can be as young as 12 to 14 and with advancements in social media, this only makes the younger generation more susceptible to predators. One of the many forms of trafficking happens just as easily as through a screen, and one way of preventing this issue is setting limitations on what someone releases on social media.

Trafficking can occur in many places and to any person. It is something that does not care about age, gender wealth or environment, and can happen to anyone.

Common misconceptions of trafficking generally are that it is something that only happens in the outside world. Although what many fail to realize is that this can take place even inside one’s home. Flores works with the BPD, CIT and the Sheriff’s department in training officers to communicate with those that may be stuck in these types of crises. As someone who was a victim of human trafficking, she guides authorities on how to conduct interviews with potential victims.

 Esther Peinado, an education manager at United Way of Central Eastern California talks about how surreal it is to hear these issues going on within the Central Valley. She said, “I think it was amazing, it’s one of those, you know topics that’s really hard to enjoy because of the sensitivity, but you take so much away from it, from their stories of how similar situations but how it was so different to their personal, but just reminding yourself it is true, it can happen to anybody.”