By Clara Niel

“NAMELESS” brought the persistent issue of child sex trafficking in the DMV area to light  for students in a screening of the documentary at Edward St. John’s Learning and Teaching Center on Oct. 24. 

The documentary featured child sex trafficking activists appeared on the screen including Executive Director of Men Can Stop Rape Neil Irvin and Courtney’s House founder Tina Frundt. Men Can Stop Rape worked hand-in-hand with the university’s SAFE Center for Human Trafficking Victims to bring the 40-minute video to campus. 

“We basically talk about some of the social [and] historical roots of the issue, talk about grooming, trauma bonding, so how people get drawn into exploitation, and just thinking about what are some prevention and response strategies,” said Hannah Goldstien, the program coordinator for Men Can Stop Rape. 

Lily Moses, a sophomore in Letters and Sciences, said the video resonated with her. Moses said she’d seen signs of sex trafficking situations and wanted to help educate her younger brother about it. 

“This opened my eyes to a lot of other things like how to address people, how to approach younger people, how to let them know what things are okay, what’s healthy and what’s not, and I think it’s a film everyone should watch and watch with their kids,” Moses said. 

A discussion followed the video, featuring two panelists: Rosa Bangura, a case manager at SAFE, and the president and founder of HER Resiliency Center, Natasha Guynes, who was also featured in the documentary. 

The panelists answered questions from the audience that ranged from personal experiences to policy on child sex trafficking. The overarching question was how could the average person could help. 

Bangura offered insight on how to spot the signs of a child in a sex trafficking situation and what to do to prevent it. 

“I think it’s really important to make sure you’re opening up that conversation about healthy relationships and healthy sexual relationships because children get that information from you,” Bangura said. 

Senior criminology and criminal justice major Varda Nath wanted to know if there were organizations where she could donate to help. She said as just one college student she found  making a dent in such a big issue daunting. 

Guynes used her personal experiences with child sex trafficking to inform and inspire students with doubts like Nath. She was able to offer firsthand knowledge and stress the influence that an average college student can make on a global issue. 

“I hope that they recognize that they can make an impact,” Guynes said. “We forget how important our voices are as individuals and it’s really any one of us that can lead a movement.”