Gypsy Jan
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‘Casa Del Jardin’ Offers Girls A Life After Prostitution
From KPBS
By Brooke Binkowski
TIJUANA, Mexico — "The 19-year-old woman has a baby face covered in heavy makeup. Her voice is hesitant and toneless as she discusses her experiences
in the past year.
An old friend of hers showed up in her life again, she says. He asked her for help, again and again, until she agreed. That's when he kidnapped her
and took her to Mexico City, where he forced her to work as a prostitute.
"During those seven months," she said in Spanish, "I lived under threats, beatings, and offenses."
She means rape.
"I had sex with twenty to twenty-five men a day," she said.
Zuria, not her real name, finally managed to escape with the help of a friend. She now lives in Tijuana, at La Casa del Jardin.
La Casa is a Tijuana shelter. Zuria lives there and works there, and it's run by Eastlake resident Alma Tucker, who crosses the border nearly every
day to so do. She sees her work as a way to heal this generation, and save the next.
The San Ysidro crossing is one of the most-traveled international borders in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people crossing on foot or in
their cars every day, contributing to vibrant commerce and culture. But despite exponential increases in security over the years, the border remains
is a place where humans, especially girls, are bought, sold, and forced into labor or sex in both Mexico and the United States. Human trafficking in
both countries continues to be a very real problem.
Mexico is called a Tier 2 country by the State Department, and that means that the country is stepping up its efforts to stop human trafficking but
lacks sufficient federal and state co-ordination. There's also the issue of what to do with the victims. Many were kidnapped and sold by close friends
or family members, or left home because of family problems, and the Mexican government as yet has few resources in place for those who have been
rescued and have nowhere to go. There are only two homes for the underage girls who have been victimized in all of Mexico -- one in Mexico City, and
the other is La Casa del Jardin.
"If those girls are not treated right, as adults, sometimes they can turn to be victimizers, then it's one circle," Tucker said. "Then we, as a
community, as authorities, we need to stop that circle. We need to give the opportunity to heal."
Tijuana is Tucker's hometown, although she has lived in San Diego now for more than twenty years. She first became aware of the issue of trafficking
when she was working for the Department of Protection in San Diego's Mexican Consulate. After she left, she vowed to do more to help its victims, and
started the International Network of Hearts in 2010 and opened La Casa del Jardin (The Garden House) in Tijuana in June of last year. Now, she takes
in girls who are sent to the house after they're rescued by authorities in Mexico and the United States. She takes a multidisciplinary approach to the
group home. In addition to regular classes, the girls get music, art, and yoga -- and medical treatment and therapy.
A few miles north, in Chula Vista, city councilmember Rudy Ramirez is one of Alma Tucker's biggest champions. He helps her put together events to
raise awareness and funds for new beds and additions that La Casa del Jardin desperately needs. It's a large building, but there's always demand for
more room. Ramirez says that awareness-raising is particularly important because the issue of human trafficking is difficult to grasp.
"It's not the sort of thing that you expect happens any more, right? You think this happens somewhere else some other continent somewhere, so it is
surprising to hear that it happens here."
Ramirez also says that "human trafficking" can mean so many things and its scope is so vast that it becomes difficult to understand.
"I mean it happens in lots of ways, where, in some cases because of issues in the home these young ladies will leave their home, and as a result be
taken in by somebody who just wants to exploit them, basically, and enslave them," he said. "And they do, in the sex trade or in other work, domestic
work -- there are all kinds of different cases that you hear about."
People might keep slaves in their homes as maids, keeping them from escaping by threatening to tell the authorities that they have no papers. Or, like
Zuria, they might be forced into prostitution.
The issue of trafficking is many-pronged, and as such, requires an approach from a number of different fronts, says Alma Tucker. With a stronger
economy, cultural changes, more of a voice for young people, more government involvement, and better security, human trafficking and slavery might
become things of the past. But for the present, she has a lot of work to do.
"They don't choose what they go through," she says. "They are victims and they need to be rescued. All those girls that are there, and all those girls
that are already victimized, they deserve a better life."
Zuria, the teenager who once was forced into prostitution, says she gets through her life day by day. But she thinks her experiences have made her
stronger. It also helps her to be able to share it with others, she says, who have had similar things happen to them.
She hopes one day to be either a bilingual secretary or to get a job in law enforcement, working on the issue of human trafficking."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Mulegena
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Air came wheezing out of my throat at the conclusion of this compelling article; only then was I aware that I'd been holding my breath while reading
it, so engrossed was I.
Alma Tucker, I hold you in high gratitude in your efforts to help heal the lives of these poor young women.
Only two homes in all of the great republic of Mexico... how can we help La Casa de Jardin, Gypsy Jan?
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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Here is the Link to the KPBS Website
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jan/14/casa-del-jardin-offers-...
I scanned the article, but didn't find a link to the organization and my info search didn't help either.
I am sure that contact info is in the article and that my feeble eyes probably missed it.
Otherwise, email KPBS at the link on the website and I am sure they will respond with contact info.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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