First Americans Museum hosts Human Trafficking Awareness Vigil

On Monday, February 6, the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City held The Dragonfly Home’s 2023 Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month candlelit vigil.

Several tribal and community members, as well as programs such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, were at the event. Comanche tribal member and The Dragonfly Home Sex Trafficking and Outreach Coordinator Halle Carr. Who has a degree in Crime Victim Survivor Services and interned doing sexual assault exams.

“For the month of January, we at Dragonfly, decided to partner with the Native Alliance Against Violence which is Oklahoma’s coalition for tribal programs for domestic violence and sexual assault,” she said. “So, we’ve partnered with them to highlight the overlap of sex trafficking and also Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. So, this event is our candlelit vigil, where we’re honoring, victims, survivors and also highlighting that overlap and talking about this issue.”

Carr’s main goals are to educate and talk about community involvement.

“Primarily to educate and bring awareness to the community,” she said. “When we’re talking about human trafficking at the Dragonfly Home, I’m the sex trafficking and outreach coordinator, my whole position is education. Educating the community, building awareness, so being able to talk to people in our community about trafficking, getting them involved, possible collaborations, and also making sure that our message is known to any victim survivor who may be at this event, hear about this event, and let them know that there is support available and there is help and we are here.”

Carr said events like the vigil help create a place of support for victims and those impacted by human trafficking.

“Events like this, really help bring people together and it also let survivors know that they are supported,” she said. “We hear often from victim-survivors that in their trafficking experience, they felt overlooked. They weren’t really seen. Our goal is ‘we see you, we’re here to support you and provide whatever resources and support we can.’ So events like these, I do think bring a sense of community and support, and just kind of the feeling of being supported by not only an organization or just a service provider but by the community as a whole.”

She said that at The Dragonfly Home, Carr puts on several community events and fairs, as well as training.

“We go to schools, we teach about human trafficking,” she said. “What it looks like, misconceptions and letting people know the services available here at Dragonfly.”

Some of those services include a non-residential program with a 24-hour trafficking helpline.

 “So, if somebody calls and gets connected through that 24-hour human trafficking helpline, we can also connect them to services in our nonresidential crisis center,” Carr said. “That may be safety planning, emergency shelter, emergency relocation; it might be needing connection for medical assistance or needing a mental health care provider, trauma-informed therapy. We can connect people really to any resource that they need.”

She said she’s passionate about these events, and tribes can reach out to The Dragonfly Home for community events.

“This is really important to me,” Carr said. “Being able to connect with the community and my community is super important. I would say being able…we do different trainings so people reach out for trainings. They may want their group organization or a class at a school or maybe a specific building a business that wants training on what trafficking looks like, the services available here in Oklahoma and things that you can do.”

She said their social Facebook and Instagram are active to help people find information, and guest speakers can be requested to visit on their website.

“I know we are located here in Oklahoma City, but our services are for victim-survivors of human trafficking, regardless of where that is,” Carr said. “Our 24-hour hotline is always going to be available 365 days a year. We have advocates there who are there to support victim-survivors, so if anybody ever needs that hotline call, we just want them to know that is available. And there are always ways to get involved and just kind of keep up with us online to see our upcoming events and we have newsletters people can sign up for on our website as well.”

More information on human trafficking and The Dragonfly Home can be found at https://www.thedragonflyhome.org, and their hotline is 405-212-3377.