外展工作如何進行？
2023 年 7 月 17 日
今年夏天，我去美國拜訪朋友和家人，他們中的許多人都是海星計畫的狂熱支持者。 （謝謝！）在談論我們令人興奮的（真正改變生活的）工作時，我被問到最多的問題是：“外展實際上是如何運作的？”接下來是“安全嗎？” “你只是走進妓院嗎？…你如何開始談話？”因此，我想我應該在部落格上直接回答這些常見問題。
Q: “How does outreach actually work?”
Every week our Outreach Teams visit women and girls being exploited in the brothels. Our Outreach Teams are made up of Starfish Project staff who have chosen to join and volunteers. Depending on the neighborhood, size of the brothel, or time of year (holidays), we have different approaches. We often bring gifts to share with girls– This is a wonderful icebreaker. These might be flowers, jewelry, chocolates, a Give Hope Necklace- anything that could serve as a conversation starter and a reminder after we’ve left.
And yes, sometimes, these first conversations are awkward, and we have a good laugh about these attempts to walk in and befriend a stranger as our relationship grows.
與我們遇到的女性建立聯繫和信任非常重要。我們遇到的許多婦女和女孩在進入妓院之前很久就經歷過虐待和忽視。透過我們的團隊一周又一周地出現，克服尷尬（官方外展團隊術語！哈哈），並提供傾聽的耳朵，我們能夠建立信任，最終使我們能夠發出體驗自由的邀請。
我們的外展團隊從關於家庭、食物和家鄉的隨意對話開始。如果可能的話，在下次造訪時，我們會帶上一位女士提到的最喜歡的水果，或者分享附近一家餐廳的資訊以及她最喜歡嘗試的麵條。當我們離開妓院時，我們做了很多筆記，以記住所分享內容的細節，因為我們的心是向女性表明，她們被記住了，她們所分享的內容是有價值的。
Typically the women we meet are coming from rural parts of the country. Many left home at 12, 13, 14, and 15 to go earn money so their brothers could go to school. Later as our relationship deepens, she will share more of her story– how she originally ended up in the city and in the brothel. Most commonly, as teenagers, the women we meet were told they would be introduced and trained to work at a legitimate massage parlor or hair salon.
Once they’ve arrived at the brothel, they really have no way of leaving. They’re terrified, they’ve never left their small villages, it’s their first time in the big city, they may not be able to read, and they have very little cash or are in debt for the train or bus ticket that got them to the city. They don’t have to be held under threat of violence; they feel they have no other option and are ashamed to call their families. As the shame and trauma build, her hope diminishes.
As our Outreach Teams visit week after week, we have the opportunity to speak hope and value into these hidden places of shame. For some, the seed of hope takes root quickly, yet for most, it takes years of consistent visits for a woman to see the real possibility for change. When she does dare to hope again, your purchases allow us to offer her a way out– the chance to experience freedom, establish independence and develop a life-transforming career that she may have never thought possible. We invite her to visit our office so she can see with her own eyes that what we have shared with her is true. And it is true, and possible because of your purchases! Thank you for partnering with our Outreach Teams to restore hope!
