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Northern Florida Task Force Educates Community About Human Trafficking

Law enforcement agencies, as well as community groups, joined together to hand out pamphlets, hoping to educate the public about human trafficking during a week of awareness and prevention.

According to officials, human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world. They want people to be able to spot trafficking, or its victims, who are brought into the United States for sexual exploitation or forced labor.

More than 10 years ago, 20-year-old Given Kachepa was a victim of a crime that goes relatively unnoticed in the United States. When he was 9 years old, Kachepa, a member of a chorus, came to the U.S. believing he could use his voice to help build schools in his native country.

It turned out that the organization that brought Kachepa to the country had no intention of paying him or the other chorus members. Instead, the group profited on the chorus' talent, telling Kachepa that no one could help them. "First of all, you are in a different country, you don't know how to speak the language. Then, you want your freedom so bad but you just don't know who to run to," Kachepa said.

Kachepa and his friends were not alone. Channel 4's John Dunlap reported that human trafficking has grown to a $10 billion per year industry worldwide -- $3.5 billion of that is made in the United States through forced labor or sexual exploitation.

The Northeast Florida Human Trafficking Task Force said it has seen a rise in what they call modern-day slavery. "This is a type of slavery that cannot be tolerated in the United States," said FBI Special Agent Michael Folmar. "We deal primarily with the victims when we get involved with these kind of cases."

He said the more information they receive from the community, the more likely the task force would be able to shut down the trafficking industry. "Our main goal is to investigate it, to identify the individuals who are causing this slavery and bring those individuals to justice," Folmar said.

Seven years ago, Kachepa and his friends were rescued from their situation. He said he believes his story might be able to help others realize that the problem is real.  "I think if we can educate as many people as we can, then we have better hopes of stopping the problem," Kachepa said.

Kachepa is currently a student in Texas. He has been in college for two years, and travels around the country to get the word out about human trafficking.

Adapted from: "Task Force Educates Community About Human Trafficking." News4Jax.com. 22 January 2007