Shandra Woworuntu, New York
Survivor of Sex Trafficking and Domestic Violence, Shandra holds Bachelor of finance and Banking management from her native Indonesia who was illegally sold and forced into under-ground sex business in the United States. She escaped from her traffickers and collaborated with Law Enforcement to prosecute her traffickers. In 2013 Shandra presented the United States at The Global Exchange Program to fight against child sex trafficking hosted by Vital Voices and Hilton Worldwide. In 2014 Shandra participated at the First Federal Human Trafficking Survivor Forum and Listening Session at the white house and appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to become a human trafficking commissioner in State of New Jersey. Recently, Shandra founded a non-profit organization Mentari, Human Trafficking Survivor Empowerment Program in New York and gives her voice to change the laws and work diligently to lobby human trafficking and foreign relation policy locally, federally and internationally, now she is actively work with National Survivor Network as a Policy Champion of Department of State consular video-Knowing your Rights. Shandra also become a consultant of government agents and consultant speaker of Office for Victim of Crime-TTAC and Human Right First. She also collaborates and partners with organizations to give better services to survivor of human trafficking. Currently, Shandra founded Mentari Indonesia in West Java Indonesia to prevent human trafficking through “The Nature School”, and collaborated with Cause Vision to publish “Dewi’s Dream” Indonesian human trafficking educational book for children. She lives in New York with 2 children. shandrawoworuntu@yahoo.com
Harold D’Souza, Cicinati Ohio
Harold D’Souza is a survivor of labor trafficking and debt bondage in the United. After 133 months of a tough and rough journey, D’Souza and his family found “Glorious Freedom.” He was one of the survivors invited to attend a Human Trafficking Survivor Forum and Listening Session in Washington D.C. D’Souza launched his public advocacy at the forum organized by the Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVCTTAC).
D’Souza has spoken to many community members about his experience in order to increase awareness and make it easier for victims of human trafficking to get help. D’Souza and his wife, who is also a survivor, were speakers at the Greater Cincinnati Human Trafficking Conference 2015 advocating for creating awareness about human trafficking in the community.
D’Souza is collaborating with End Slavery Cincinnati to include Awareness of Signs of Human Trafficking into mainstream curriculum at the University level and to educate Law Enforcement agents to identify human trafficking as part of their training.
A member of the National Survivors Network (NSN), D’Souza was also a speaker on Survivor Panel Plenary at the 13th Annual Freedom Network Anti-Human Trafficking Conference entitled, TVPA: Past, Present & Future, held on April 21-22, 2015 in Washington D.C.
D’Souza holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management with a minor in Banking. He also studied Labor Law and Human Resources.
Evelyn Chumbow, Laurel, Maryland
Evelyn is a survivor of child Labor Trafficking. As a student at University of Maryland University College, she’s focusing on Humanitarian work and Homeland Security. Where she comes from, lack of knowledge about Human Trafficking rights is an everyday reality. She is the first woman from her country of Cameroon in West Africa to have been fortunate in pursuing the knowledge of Human Trafficking. She is a full time undergraduate student at University of Maryland University College; she understands that she is in a unique position to do something about the Human Trafficking in West Africa, in her hometown and the rest of the world.
When she reached the US, she was forced to cook, clean, and take care of the children of her trafficker, Theresa Mubang. She was never paid for her work, and any hope that she might escape her miserable life was undermined by the constant beatings she received from her trafficker. For seven years of her young teenage life, she lived in constant fear and worked day and night. She never road the school bus, went to a prom, hang out with friends after school, and joined a dance team. Instead, she was a modern day slave, not in some far-flung country, but right here in the US. She has not seen her parents for eighteen years due to this situation.
After all those years of captivity, she finally escaped. She enrolled in GED courses and then community college and then University of Maryland University College. Her trafficker was sentenced to 17 years in prison for what she did to her.
Stay tuned as we list other speakers joining Oriola at Bringing The Story back Home.
