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I wanted to say whatever he could,

and so I could get away
because there was another girl

that was supposed to,

she was trying to do the
same thing and he found out,

he got wind, and she got really mouthy.

And he said, "We're going to take a trip."

So we all got in the car and we all went

to this other pimp's house and he put her

into a dog cage and started beating her

through the little
rails with a broomstick.

And he said, "That's what
happens when you try to run.

That's what happens when
you get lippy with me."

I don't know how this happened.

They just tell you hundreds of things

that break you down mentally.

You can't just exit that lifestyle.

If you go to the police they will say, "Why
are you doing this job in the first place?

If you don't like it why
don't you leave it?"

What about life after the life?

What about the journey
that we have to take?

Nobody understands that struggle.

They think once we're
rescued, we're healed,

that's it, done.

I didn't have a home to come back to.

- The way my body felt,
this is not what I deserve.

My name is Sadhvi Siddhali Shree.

I'm a Jain monk and an Iraq war veteran.

I've struggled with PTSD,

not only from serving as an army medic,

but from repressed childhood
trauma that came flooding back.

I only knew something happened to me.

I forgot it.

You blacked it out.

I blacked it out

and it wasn't until I went
into a deep meditation

October, 2013.

And I was just like just lying there

and just going deep into my soul.

And all of a sudden I
was reliving everything.

- No!
- Like when it was happening

I know PTSD, I know pain.

After what happened to me,

I always wanted to help
others that had gone

through similar anguish.

I didn't just want to help them,

I needed to see how they survived.

- How do survivors of such
horrific events move forward

with their lives and heal?

I reached out on social media to see

if there were any survivors
willing to share their pain.

Our journey began with
Angie, who instantly replied.

Hi, my name is Angela Williams.

I'm 35 years old from Houston, Texas.

I grew up in a low
income Hispanic community

and was targeted by my first
trafficker, Andre McDaniels,

when I was only 17 years old.

Through a high school friend,

he recruited me into a
trafficking underworld

in the disguise of a modeling opportunity.

He groomed me,

he broke me down,

and he forced me into full-time
stripping and prostitution.

- Physical and sexual
abuse by the suspect,

who she described as a pimp.

Hey.

Hello.

Hi.

I brought water.

Thank you.

Hey.

How are you?

We're set up here.

I didn't know what was going on.

They don't say that
they're sex traffickers,

they don't identify themselves as pimps.

They make you feel like
if they're some sort

of business manager or life coach.

Even putting themselves
at the same level of a god

that you should obey and worship.

- While Angie was open
with us on her first day,

she expressed she wasn't
ready to tell her full story.

Survivors must be given the
grace to tell their story

in their own way and in their own time.

Months later, we traveled to Las Vegas,

the city where Angie spent
most of her trafficked years,

but she almost didn't come at all.

Whether she was triggered,
got scared, or had doubts,

she missed her flight.

Luckily, Southwest Airlines
understood her situation

and booked her a new flight.

When she arrived, it was
as if nothing was wrong.

Like many survivors, she harbored a pain

that was invisible on the outside.

I was 18.

I didn't understand the severity
of minors being trafficked.

To me, it just reminded
me of the drug dealers

and how they get hotel
rooms to work out of

or trap houses to work out of.

So it was just another
underworld of the ghetto,

like a female hustler.

One of the older women
gave me a mini tour.

She was like, "These are the towels,

you lay them on the bed,

so the clients don't sit on the sheets.

They sit on the towels over the sheets,"

and it was all clinical.

"And this is the rags
that we clean them with."

When a guy would come in,

the doorbell would ring and all
the girls would have to come

to the window of the front of the brothel,

like a cattle call in our lingerie.

I would see clients and I
started just doing hand jobs.

And eventually, the other girls got mad

because he was giving
me, he was babying me.

So I ended up getting pressured
into giving full service

with the clients.

And it was tormenting and
horrible and traumatizing.

And every guy felt like I was being raped.

Every guy felt like I just, like,

I would just hold my hands like
this when they were over me,

just so that way their
chest and their sweat

would not come near me.

I had a family and I was so
ashamed and so embarrassed

with myself when I would think about it,

that I just tried to suppress
it and not think about it.

I was getting pedophile
clients that wanted me to act

as if I was 13 or 12 or 16.

And I looked that young
and this client wanted me

to meet him at the high school bleachers

and pick me up and then
take me back to the brothel.

He was like big, fat, oily,

greasy, nasty, disgusting,

rich guy who just wanted me to be

a 16 year old high school girl.

And I felt like the 16
year old high school girl,

that was probably like my first trauma,

like where it, it stuck
with me, even to this day.

Like I remember him, his smell,

like pig sweat.

- The next survivor
to contact us was Kendra,

a woman from Miami.

After a decade, she was finally
ready to share her story.

Why don't you just leave?

In one day, I lost my car, my house,

my furniture, everything.

When I went and he took
me for three months,

I lost everything.

What was I gonna go back to?

The things that he says,
"I'll kill your family,

I'll never let you go,"

it sits into your mind and then later,

when you make these
decisions, you hear it,

you hear his voice.

I got emancipated when I was 15

and being, thinking I was a grown adult,

I kind of went out into
the streets to work

and live wherever I could.

Then developed a, you know,

a drinking habit and
drinking led into drugs.

And then, drugs led into needing
to maintain that lifestyle.

And the easiest way to get
that lifestyle was to go dance.

And I was always the I'm
here for my money, you know,

I'm not here for the nonsense.

And I think that that was
where he noticed how loud I was

and how arrogant I was about
not being able to be pimped.

So he sent two girls about my age in,

and I was living in Orlando
and he, the girls came in,

I didn't know they were with him at all.

And they told me, "Oh, let's
go to Miami for New Year's."

And I said, "Okay, let's go.

You know, I've never been to Miami."

So I had the one Corona
and then I had a drink

that they gave me, and then that's it.

I kind of blacked out after that.

And when I woke up, the ground was moving,

I was getting very nauseous,
and I looked up and I kind of,

you know, assessed my surroundings.

And I was in a van and
I kind of rolled over

and he shifted around, he grabs his gun,

and he pointed it towards me.

And he said, "We're not going
to have any problems, are we?"

I think it was that first night,

one of the girls did
something he didn't like,

and he was super aggressive with her

and just grabs her by her face

and was just pushing
her around and yelling.

And I thought to myself, I said,

"It's not, it's not
gonna be the life for me.

I'd rather die than have you beat on me

and sell me for money."

I told him, I said,

"Look, you're going to have
one dead girl on your hands

if you think that I'm
going to go and sleep

and sleep with these Johns."

And he made a compromise for me, he said,

"Okay, I'll keep you for
me and you go to the clubs,

you make my money, and you bring it home."

How do you define sex trafficking?

- It's different than
smuggling because smuggling

is what people think of.

Oh, they're bringing
humans across the border.

Sex trafficking is when there
is money exchange for sex

using force, fraud, or coercion.

Rachel's father was the leader

of a biker gang and prostituted women,

including Rachel's mother.

Her escape to foster care was short-lived,

as the family she was placed
with only took in children

to rape them.

At 15, she tried to escape
again, living on the streets,

doing whatever she could to survive,

but a phony modeling agency trafficked her

and blackmailed her with photos,

threatening to expose her
secret life to her school.

When she graduated,

she finally got away to a remote college

where she studied nursing.

- And now I share my
story with whoever I can

because I realize so
many people are helped

when we're able to get our
voice back and share our story.

And that's when we get our power back,

because we're able to
speak and not be afraid.

The biggest question asked
is why didn't she just leave?

They can't leave.

There's either drugs,
a $20,000 cocaine habit

that's reeling them in.

Threaten their families.

A lot of times when their pimp tells them,

"We will kill your family,"
they truly believe them

and they're trying to
protect someone else.

Even if they can run,
where are they going to go?

They've already lost their
self-value of thinking

I can do this on my own,
they're ashamed of it.

They don't want to ask for
help because they believe

that they're going to
be the scarlet letter,

the throwaways, and
unfortunately, in today's society,

they are, that's not a
misconception on our part

as survivors.

We are looked at as dirty.

For victims, it's not a choice.

Even when they're told
they're choosing up,

a misnomer that refers to being sold

from one trafficker to another.

Angie left her first trafficker, Andre,

and chose up multiple times,

trafficked nationally by violent pimps

until she met her final
trafficker in Las Vegas.

Tyree was a boyfriend pimp,

someone who masquerades themselves

as romantically interested
in vulnerable girls

or young women.

And he came around,

took me to a martini bar,

coercion on a different level.

And the whole time, his
intentions were only

to do the same thing
that all the rest did.

We had date night every
Wednesday, went to the movies.

We had, you know, martini bar nights,

nice fancy restaurants,

went out, wine and dined me.

And next thing you know,

when I don't want to give him
the money that he's expecting,

I'm getting my door
kicked into my mansion.

The way my body felt, you know,

just knowing that this is the life

that I was going to be in.

For over a decade, I feel
like I lost myself completely.

I made a facade of somebody

who was okay with all this.

You know, this is just
how it's going to be.

From Miami, we went up to South Carolina,

he bought a house out there,

and we went to work the next day.

And when I came home,

he had assigned us all different rooms.

And I go into my room, he had
nailed all the windows shut

and our doors had keys, so
there were no door handles.

So when we went to our rooms,

we were locked in our rooms.

And even when I would go to my room,

after I get off of work,

that's when he felt like
it was his time with me.

There were times when I
would cry during the rape,

and he would put his hands
so hard over my mouth,

but he so big, so much bigger than me,

his hand would cover my nose and my mouth.

And it would get to the point
where I'd almost suffocate

and before, he would let me off,

before he would let me breathe,

as he said it, he would let me breathe.

Two elbows

Move here.

Okay, go.

That was the end of the round, right?

- That's the end of the round.
- Good, I need to breathe.

He said he was going to take a trip.

And at that point, I think I
had gained enough confidence.

I took the keys and I
unlocked the front door.

And I don't think I, I don't
think I took anything with me.

I just ran as fast as I
could and as far as I could,

and then I took a bus and came home.

- I knew I realized that
I needed to get away

from trafficking and I
had a sneak apartment,

and I was making my way
to exit that lifestyle.

But you can't just exit that lifestyle.

It's easier said than done.

So when I decided to leave
him, that's when he came back,

and assaulted me and left me for dead.

- Angie took the crew and I
to her old condo,

where the assault happened,
it was still empty.

And on a whim, she tried the door,

we were shocked to find it unlocked.

So creepy.

This is where I lived and this was going

to be my runaway haven.

I was upstairs, I got a call from Tyree.

So he ran in, he had
something in his hand,

I didn't see at the time,

and...

The first strike with the nightstick

and he said, "Get the fuck upstairs."

He told me to put my hands out.

And when I put my hands out,

he grabbed the nightstick
and hit me again.

He told me to get the fuck downstairs

and he hit me again with the nightstick,

but I went like this.

The nightstick hit this part of my arm.

My bone popped out of here and
blood just splattered here.

And he started trying to
give me blows to my head,

so I tucked under like this,

holding my arm, and
I'm cornered back here.

So I was just like this, like,
look at what you're doing.

I think, I think something's
broken and you're hurting me.

You're going to kill me and I
just started praying to God.

And I have never felt
such a spiritual moment

or so close to God as that moment

because when I screamed and
prayed and begged for him,

he was there for me.

And Tyree was standing right
there and he had the nightstick

and dropped it and told
me to go the fuck upstairs

and don't come back.

- [News Reporter] Beaten
and left for dead,

a woman says she was trafficked
for sex by her ex-boyfriend

for years who also
savagely brutalized her.

I'm in so much pain and it hurts so much.

- [News Reporter] She
tells us her ex-boyfriend

beat her so viciously, he left
her with a fractured skull,

her right forearm broken, now in a cast,

her left hand shattered.

- I can't even bathe
myself or feed myself.

I need somebody with me all the time.

I just sat in the hospital
and realized like,

this is not the way to live.

This is not what I deserve.

This is not the end of my story.

Anything that I did to get
me to this point has to die.

And I have to change now.

Pain is universal.

It allows us to feel
empathy up to a point,

but we are limited by the
depth of our own experiences.

Can we truly relate to
what trafficking survivors

go through?

With my own trauma, I was
only just discovering it.

When it all came flooding
back that first time,

I immediately wrote down what happened

so I wouldn't forget again.

I told my spiritual teacher,
Acharya Shree Yogeesh,

and he reminded me of
one of his teachings.

He said, "Express and never suppress."

Remember, mind doesn't hold the pain,

mind only remembers
only the physical body.

It is like a wound. That's not your wound,

somebody gave you the wound.

You're suffering, but it is healable.

Two times this side,

You're swallowing the air.

And breathe out twenty five times up.

Thank you, Acharya Shree.

My blessings.

Through my meditations,

I'm able to admit to myself
what happened when I was six,

but to truly heal,

I feel the need to connect
with others who can relate

to my story.

Like Rachel, who has
worked with many survivors,

I find purpose in traveling,

teaching, and doing anything
I can to inspire hope

and healing.

I was honored when Rachel
agreed to join us on a trip

with a group of activists,

organized by Children at Risk,

to visit international shelters.

Our first stop: the Center
of Hope in the Philippines.

I became a nurse that, when
girls come to the hospital

after they're sexually
assaulted or trafficked,

I take care of them, take the pictures,

testify for them in court,
and do that as a nurse now.

Once I realized, when I was a nurse,

this is what happened to me growing up,

and it wasn't my fault.

That wasn't me, it was
something that was done to me.

And I realized I need to heal.

Because I just pretended
like it never happened,

and I was ashamed and I
never told anyone my story,

I wanted to hide it.

But once I started sharing my story,

I realized there was other
girls who had similar stories

and that everybody's
story may be different

but the pain inside is still the same.

It means that survivors like you

can be the support system of each other.

You will be a family. Aren't we a family?

Are we a family?

Yes!

We are a family here.

That's what we should remember, right?

If your own family is not good for you,

you can still build your own family.

That's good, right?

Is the message good?

Yes...

It gives a very beautiful message

that you give to them.

To get to that root

and to truly make them
feel valuable again,

in and of themselves, and to
pour into them and love them,

that's what I love doing
is to be able to give back

from what was taken for me,
to give them a voice back.

Any victim that's rescued
and becomes that survivor

and gets back into normal life,

they're going to need
to know what it means

to be a normal person and
assimilate back into society.

And it takes a village, it
takes all of those skills,

it takes everyone.

- Dumbest question of
the day, "Are you okay?"

"Do you feel okay?"

Does it look like I feel okay?

I'm gettin' surgery on my hand on Friday.

When you were in the hospital,

what inspired you to maybe
seek healing or a program?

What was that like?

- Something came over me
where I just felt like

I was going to be okay.

And from that moment, I felt like I was

in the palm of God's hands
and I was going to be okay.

I knew then that I was beginning to change

and I knew I had to change my environment

and I had to go somewhere
where I could get help.

It took a lot of humbling to, you know,

understand and be
receptive of the fact that

these are the steps that
I need to go through.

You know, there were a lot
of things that I needed,

I needed adjusting to in society.

I was afraid of men.

Like I was afraid of, you know,

men that fit the profile
of a sex trafficker

that might not have been, but
I was just so traumatized.

After I got my, my therapist,

we were looking at different
options for housing

so I could be safe.

So I ended up in a house
in the suburbs of New York

and the house was ran by three nuns.

They were just so selfless and willing

to help the girls in the house.

We had a curfew, so if we left out,

we had to be in by 10 or they're
locking the doors.

And if it was 9:30,

they would call me and
ask me if I was okay

and going to make it home.

How long did you stay there for?

Almost a year.

I felt like going to that home,

even though my family
told me that I was crazy,

it was the best thing
that I could have done

during my transition and the
best thing I could've done

for myself.

And had I not gone to that
house and experienced the life

with the other survivors,
then I don't think that,

I don't think that I would be here today.

I do think that I would have
been more vulnerable to fall

back into my old lifestyle
and more exposed to fall back

into my old lifestyle.

When I got home is when I started

to feel a little bit better,

but I didn't have a home to come back to.

When I got off the bus,

I went straight to the police station.

The line of questions was
totally inappropriate.

"Well, you were out here for
New Year's drinking, huh?"

"Yes, sir, I was."

"Well, how much had you had to drink?"

Just, it was very
condescending, very demeaning,

very, "Well, you said you
met him in a strip club?

What was his name?"

And I was like, "Is there
anybody else I can see?"

And he's just like very
short and, "Well, are you sure?

You know, you didn't want to go?"

And it got to the point where
I was like, you know what?

That's okay.

You know, I don't have to worry about it.

And I walked all the
way to my friend's house

and it was a really long walk.

I felt like it was a walk
of shame because now the cop

made me feel even worse about my situation

and that I didn't deserve help.

Everybody knew that I had went missing,

but when I came back,

it was not something that
everybody talked about.

Nobody knew exactly what happened.

They just, you went away,
something bad happened,

and you came back and
you were Kendra again.

You were, you know, you were great,

you're tough, you got this.

You know, and it was
a very toxic household

that my friend lived in.

Everybody was still a dancer,

everybody was still drinking, doing drugs.

I went back to the club for the
first week, but it was like,

I felt every single
dirty look from these men

and I felt every single dirty hand on me

and it was just something overwhelming,

like it was so overwhelming
I couldn't stay,

I couldn't.

It was to the point where I
was having so many PTSD attacks

that I thought he followed
me back into town.

Any tall dark person was
him and any dark corner

had him standing in it.

And every club, he was in his car waiting.

So it was very, a very paranoid time.

- It was very awkward
coming back into society.

It was like I got out of a time capsule.

I didn't know what was going
to happen or how long I was

going to be safe, how long
I was going to, you know,

be free.

It wasn't until after I got home,

I had one drink and it like
violently made me sick.

I kept getting sick after that

and I didn't understand what was going on.

And, and my friend said,
"Let's just stop at the store.

And get a pregnancy test."

No, no, this can't be it.

And it wasn't, it was never a,

I don't want to have this baby.

It was a... I feel like he
was going to share in my shame,

like, how could I let him down

and I haven't even had him yet?

You know, I was already in love.

Like I never, in my mind,
questioned giving up my son.

It was from God to keep
my feet on the ground.

He was my purpose,

but I put off taking the test
because I knew there was going

to come that day where I
would have to explain to him

the way that people would look
at him when they found out

or when he found out.

And I thought, you know, oh, my God,

what do I say? Do I lie?

His dad died in the war.

You know, do I just not tell him?

Well, what if somebody else tells him?

Everybody would tell
me, just lie, just lie.

And I'm like, I can't do that.

I can't, I'm not ashamed that I have him.

He is my everything.

He is what saved me from
going back home and overdosing

on drugs and alcohol,

and going right back to that lifestyle.

And I have never been the same
person I was before my son,

as I was after I found out I have him.

And that purpose is to
make him grow into the man

that he was meant to be.

It was not his fault and he
does not have a capable bone

in his body to do anything
like what this man did.

That is not his father.

That is not his dad.

I'm those things to him.

Escaping is never the end of the story.

If they manage to get out
and what a big if that is,

the life doesn't just disappear.

Whether it's their
environment, their friends,

or their family, they're
still vulnerable as targets.

Kendra tells us she was saved by her son,

but that saving grace is
missing for so many who fall

right back into the life
they fought so hard to leave.

Survivors need a safe place to go.

So, shelters are key.

The next leg of our journey,

visiting shelters overseas,
took us to Ethiopia,

where we visited Ellilta Women at Risk,

a nonprofit shelter that
helps prostituted women

by providing therapy and jobs.

Among the survivors was Haymanot,

who after nine years,

had finally managed to escape the life.

When I was 12,
my father's brother raped me.

Then, my mother got
married and took me with her.

I did not tell this secret to my mother,
that my uncle raped me.

Afterwards, a person who had a
disagreement with her raped me.

I was raped again.

I was sick from this.

I was seriously sick.

I was raped 3 times when I was just 12.

The third time was my cousin's husband.

Afterwards a person
told me about Addis Ababa.

I was in Jimma when I heard about Addis
Ababa. I considered it to be like America.

But moving to the big city

wasn't the transition she hoped for.

Haymanot spent her first
year in Addis Ababa,

living with a mechanic
who abused her daily.

She got away from him, but only
by falling in with an agent,

the Ethiopian term for a pimp.

While working the streets as a prostitute,

a man attacked her with no provocation,

destroying many of her
teeth on her upper jaw.

I kept thinking, how can you heal?

How can you be happy if you cannot smile?

So what would it mean
for her to have teeth?

As I haven’t laughed for a long time,
I’ll be happy.

This is my answer,
and lots of women know about this.

And when they ask me why I don’t laugh,
I ask them what’s there to laugh about.

Oh I would laugh very much
because I would be very happy.

After our visit with Haymanot,

we were deeply touched by
her story and felt compelled

to fundraise for the 15
teeth and five root canals

she needed.

We launched a Facebook fundraiser

and thanks to 49 caring individuals,

we were able to cover
her dental treatment.

Now, with the education I have received.

Now I am going to training.

It’s called practical training…

Housekeeping.
I am going to train in cleaning.

When we returned to Ethiopia,

five months later, to
attend her graduation,

she was blossoming.

- Besides Ellilta, you went through training
and have now graduated, how does it feel?

I am so overjoyed.

I have never once been happy
in my entire life.

But now I am so happy and filled with joy.

I will work and provide for myself.
I won't be idle from now onwards.

From Ethiopia,

we went to India where we
connected with an organization

called Kranti, which means revolutionary,

that provides shelter, therapy,

and a new beginning to survivors.

It was there that we met Zarina.

How did you end up here?
At what age were you sold?

- I've to tell that?
- Yeah.

I was eight years old when I was sold off.

Then, at the age of eleven,

at that very place,
I was forced into prostitution.

I started working.

After a few days,
a customer of mine took me with him

and married me.

After my marriage, I became a mother.

My husband was a bad father
to my children.

I was forced to come back to prostitution.

I came back to it and raised my children.

We were guided through Mumbai's

notorious Red Light District.

It was chilling.

I used my phone sparingly
to take some video,

but was asked not to use it too much

as it would upset the ladies living there.

People are here,

is it okay to film?

Okay, do I go all the
way up or right here?

We went into the living quarters

of prostituted women.

This is a family room?

Yes.

- Sometimes, there is a pimp
or madam involved

and sometimes, prostitution is their,

or their family's, only means of survival.

It's what Angie calls,
"survival trafficking."

- The women do this
just for the sake of their children.

They don't do it as a hobby,
or because they like it.

They are in this profession
to raise their kids.

I retired from prostitution
five years ago.

Now I'm working at Kranti.

Zarina's mission now is to help those

who are still in prostitution
get out of the life.

We did what we could to help her mission.

With my spiritual teacher
spending time with the girls,

teaching them healing
techniques through breathing,

yoga, and meditation.

The same teachings and
techniques that he taught me

to fight my own pain and PTSD.

I fell in love with the
way Kranti inspires girls

to be revolutionary.

The way they teach them
that they can bring

about world change,

that their past or the
situations they come from

does not stop them from
achieving their dreams.

The women there, like all
survivors, inspire me.

After spending five days
with the Kranti girls,

we took them out to a nice
restaurant for our last meal.

It was the best way to
end our trip to India.

- Until I learned about
it in nursing school

and found out the term "human trafficking,"

I had never even thought

that I was a human trafficking victim

or that I was commercially
sexually exploited.

Those are big words that
we don't understand.

You were surviving, you were hustling,

you were doing what you had to do.

And even as a child, I
thought it was my fault.

I thought I chose it.

Despite the amazing work shelters

do to help survivors heal,

there are many survivors who are not ready

for any help at all.

When I was 11,

I learned a close friend was
being abused by their father.

My parents talked about it with
me, sharing the gross acts,

to illustrate that those things were wrong

and shouldn't happen to a child.

My body froze.

I felt a ball in my throat.

I wanted to tell them so badly

that something had happened to me.

I remained silent.

How can you heal from a pain
you refuse to acknowledge?

A hurt you don't fully understand?

- Looking back as an adult,
I know that I was a child,

I was a teenager, I didn't
choose those things,

but I felt guilty,

and I felt ashamed because
I thought that the things

that were happening to me were my fault.

And I didn't want anybody
to know. I was embarrassed.

Growing up a military brat and you know,

your dad's a Marine,

you kind of already have that mentality.

Like your problems aren't as
big as you think they are.

You know, you need to be a
big girl about everything,

you know, not everybody
asked me about it either.

So it was easier to try to,

to go back to what I thought
normal life could be like.

Did you ever feel normal after that?

I don't think I've felt normal.

I think the moments that I feel normal,

I feel are distractions, are just events

and occurrences that get me
from one moment to the next.

Then, when everything's silent again,

then you kind of sit with the reality

of what happened to you.

But then also, I'm the
type of person where if I,

when I sit with those feelings
and emotions and I'm like,

no, no, I'm okay, you know,
I'm not what happened to me.

I'm bigger than that.

But it was that mentality
that just helped me

bury it further.

Instead of saying "No,
that did happen to me

and it needs to be felt,

and it needs to be accepted,
and it needs to be respected,

and it needs to be acknowledged."

And because back then, there
was no sex trafficking.

I was kidnapped and I was raped.

So when time moves forward
and then the Me Too Movement

rolls out and then
everybody starts talking

about sex trafficking, I
had to sit with myself like,

"Is that what happened to me?

I got sex trafficked?"

And then you start
realizing there's a name

and there's a following of people

that have had this happen to them,

and then you don't feel so alone.

And then you don't feel so shameful.

And then you start to
understand what happened to you

and then you start to put
down some of that guilt

that you've carried for so long

that so many other people
put on you, the cop,

the club owners,

everybody that made me feel
like what happened to me

was my fault.

Seeing so many other
empowered women come forward

and put their traffickers in
prison, made me feel empowered.

Like, you know, this wasn't my fault.

I didn't do this to myself, you know?

So that kind of helps you not feel normal,

but a part of a society that
understands how badly you hurt.

- With my PTSD, I have
like blackout memories.

It's like, is there something
wrong with my brain?

Like, and is it from the trauma

or is it from the blows to the head?

I can't remember a lot of things.

And I can't remember like,

just like memories of me and my family.

Some things I want to remember,
but maybe like she's saying,

like, maybe I am, you know,
protecting things that I,

I don't want to relive,

but I have to face my pain
to get through my pain.

Like I just want to be free and healthy.

And to think something's wrong
with your brain is scary.

Like, will it get worse when I get older?

I'd be curious to,

there's some doctors, like Doctor Amen

and they actually do...

Studies.

Brain scans.

I'm going to try and reach out to him

to see if there's something he can do.

I don't know if we can.
He's in California.

But... 'cause I think it brings,
in some ways,

some comfort to know, clarity,
and you know, it's not,

it's just to get some answers.

You out?

We've gotta get you some water.

Come on in here.

- Do you want to position
my hands in any way?

- Those would just go down by
your side or on your belly,

wherever it feels more comfortable.

Just making sure your head,

you want to kind of straight
up from the shoulders,

facing forward, yep.

Angela, you're all done.

You did a really good job of
holding still, we got good images

Ok.

We look at your brain...

I've been hit back there.

At rest.

There's a lot.

- But you see, one side
more than the other.

What does that mean?

That means you got hit right here.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to say,

"Oh, she's got emotional trauma," right?

'Cause you do.

Yeah.

But you can actually see the signature

- of it
- A lifetime of it.

in your brain.

We need to take care of this PTSD stuff

that I think is real, that you have.

And that's where something like EMDR

can be really helpful.

And then, I also talk
about killing the ants,

automatic negative thoughts.

That's why, when you feel
sad when you feel mad...

- I have something in my own
mind that I created to do that.

So anytime I think something
toxic or negative,

I just pray.

So I don't know that's my home remedy.

I would just pray like
that instantly, quick,

pray like, and please reverse
whatever I was thinking and.

If that works, I love that.

Given what you've been
through, the strangulation,

the multiple head injuries,
the substance abuse,

the chronic stress that you've been under,

we both should be on
our knees thanking God

your brain's this good, so.

Thank you.

- I would bet if you do
what I asked you to do,

six months later, your brain
is going to be healthy.

Healthier.

- Well actually, it'll be healthier
tomorrow if you sleep tonight.

Yes.

- I'm disappointed to say I
didn't have a great therapist.

Instead of helping me figure
out all these emotions,

she just taught me to bury them.

She was like, "Well, maybe
you should get a hobby."

I was like, "That's not,

that's not what we're here to deal with."

She said, "But a hobby will distract you."

I said, "But distracting myself
Is what I did for so long.

I need to be so knee deep in the hurt

that I feel like I'm not going to breathe

so that I can breathe."

And she told me, she said,

"Well, you're such an empowered
woman, you're so strong,

you work out, what are you afraid of?"

When she said that, it
literally kept me up all night.

I was like, "What am I afraid of?

He's so much older.

I'm so much physically more strong.

I'm so well equipped, my
house, my alarm, my security.

I'm surrounded by cops in my neighborhood

to the left of me, the right of me,

across the street from me.

What am I afraid of?"

And it's, I'm afraid of my past.

I'm afraid of the person I was.

I'm afraid of dealing with those emotions.

I'm not afraid of him.

I'm not afraid of him finding
me or him encountering me.

I'm more afraid of dealing
what I didn't deal with.

That's what hurts the most.

And are you working through that

with, do you have a trauma
informed therapist

at this point?

- No, I have a situational
training instructor

I brought her sight unseen.

Mutual friends told me that
she was a quality person

that I should help.

And so, I wanted her to
show her a little bit

about what I do and I
read people for a living.

So I was able to find out really quickly

as I'm just doing the intro,

that there was a little
more of like an onion

to peel back the layers.

And so, I just kind of
let it happen organically

where I was just like,

"Okay, this is flashlight,"

and her reactions to the
simple training that I had,

I could tell there was something deeper.

So I just let it kinda,

I let her share with me
when she felt comfortable.

- Hey, hey, can you wait
a minute so I can go by...

And go get into my car?

Hey, excuse me.

Whoa, whoa.

- Give me a minute, let
me get to my car, okay?

You can go ahead and go
wherever you're going.

I'm just here looking for some cans.

No, no, no, you're good.

Bye, have a nice night.

Scenario.

That was cool, okay, what'd you see?

The rule of thumb is you resort back

to your lowest level of training
when you're under stress,

the lowest level.

And then, you're going to
be half as good as that

when the time comes.

So we call that the 50% rule.

You're going to resort to
your lowest level of training

and then you're going to be half as good.

And then Murphy could step in there.

If it can and will happen, it will.

So that's how we practice
in here and we role play.

Quit resisting!

Quit resisting!

Quit resisting!

Scenario.

I'm so sorry.

And when you did and you actually

grabbed up I was like, "Oh, no, okay,

how do I get out of this?"

Okay, I know I've spent so much time

with all these drills actually,

but you know, it's different.

That whole situation is so different.

So, situational training,

I think has been better
than any therapist I've had.

It literally ripped out my insides.

I was so exposed in front
of all these people.

We trained in so many things,
especially, you know,

sex trafficking things.

And I cried and I screamed
and I got to wear the gear

and you know, carry the gun.

And what would I do in this situation?

And how do I walk to my car?

And what do I look for?

And doing all those things
allowed those scary parts

to not be so loud because
if that happens, it's okay,

you know, I know what to do.

For Kendra,

her way of moving on was to
focus on preparing herself

to be ready if a situation
like hers arose again.

For Angie, she focused on
healing her body and mind.

Haymanot hoped that leaving
the big city of Addis Ababa

and reconnecting with her
family would bring her joy.

- I am so happy that I get to
go to Jimma, it feels like a dream.

When I get there my dreams
shall become a reality.

And I am going there
after 10 or more years,

so it's a different feeling.

But she learned that even with healing,

there is new pain to be found.

Dad!

- How are you?
- I'm good!

Daddy, how have you been?

Are you alive?

- I am.
- Oh!

How are you?

Are you alright?

- It's okay.
- I know I was not able to be here for anyone.

I didn't bury my brother, or anyone else.

It's okay, please just drop it.

I am always crying because of this,
it really hurts me.

I wasn't able to be there for him!

He loved me so much, he went all the way
to Addis Ababa to look for me.

He used to tell me that we will be
able to live together one day.

He said, "We will live together, okay?"
He used to call me "Momma."

Please stop, I have just started
to be okay with this.

It was all for the best,
everything will come to pass.

Pain is hidden beneath the
surface and sometimes it's buried

and pushed down so deep
that we forget about it

in order to survive.

I know I'm not the only one.

While on our way to Angie's
very first interview,

executive producer, Jeannie Mai,

asked me to reveal my childhood trauma.

So I'm just sharing my story

of what happened to me
when I was six years old.

So basically a painter
took me into my bathroom.

And that's when it started. He...

You want me to go into the details?

If you don't mind?

Okay. Yeah.

- Honestly, it actually
helps me feel better

when I hear somebody.

So, I just have to go to that place.

So, the painter takes me into the bathroom.

He's wearing his red
shirt, his black pants

and he props me up, he
puts the toilet seat down.

And he puts me on there to stand.

And that was like the first
time, like, a kiss happened.

So I felt his tongue, I felt all of that.

And I was just like,

you know my mouth is open and
he's just making out with me.

And I'm just like standing there.

At six years old.

At six years old, yeah.

Oh my god.

And then he put me on the ground.

And then, well because
I was wearing a dress

he rolled it up, took my underwear off.

And he put his mouth there.

And I just remember just
looking off to the side.

And then he removed his
pants and his penis was hard.

And then he tried to put it in my front

and he tried to put it in my back.

I felt empty inside.

I felt dead inside.

Should I tell grandma, should I tell mom?

I couldn't, he told me he would kill me.

I was six years old.

Like you can say it,

like there are times
where you're just like,

oh, I was sexually abused and
it's just like surface, right?

But of course this is a very transparent,

honest conversation,

so the vulnerability comes out.

Yeah.

- I could have totally been
a victim of trafficking

if I was exposed to it
because I was enough

of a victim of sexual abuse

because I was raised to be...

You would've been an easy target.

Easy target.

- Right, like okay, so
what would the signs be?

A guy would have just known

like through your timidness and your,

your demeanor and your
submissiveness, just being like,

'cause a lot of the girls that
were trafficked around me,

they, I would say half over half

of them were sexually
abused and in their youth,

and they had lower self-esteem.

Even if they were beautiful,

they would just have a
little shyness to them.

And for some reason, the
traffickers just had a sixth sense

to be able to pick it out on that.

Feed on that.

Yeah.

And then they use that as their leeway.

Like your mother didn't care
about you enough to protect you

from what happened to you.

I'll make sure that nobody
ever hurts you like that again.

Not realizing you're basically
being raped over and over

and over again every day
'cause it's not your will,

but they make you think that you're doing

what you want to do.

- When you're being raped,
especially over and over,

the first time is traumatic.

Your body experiences it,

your brain experiences it,

everything's on 1000 and
you feel it everywhere.

But as time goes on,

when it happens and you
expect it and you know,

this is what's going to happen, it's just,

it's easier for your mind to
shut off and go somewhere else

and become lifeless.

- We all have continued
to survive in some way.

Imagine all the survivors,

victims of abuse or trafficking,

that we don't even know about.

Will the survivors ever heal?

Will I ever truly heal?

When we were in Budapest, I left lunch

and I walked out and I
walked down the street,

had had a camera man a
little bit behind me,

but I'm just out for, for a walk.

And I come up to this car
and there was four guys.

(men speaking in Hungarian)

No habla inglés.

I'm American.

From the start, they just
started trying to recruit me.

You are a beautiful girl.

Thank you.

You live here?

We live here, yes.

We are Hungarian.

How much?

And they're like, "How
much do you want to make?

You can make millions.

Who do you want to make money for?

You wanna go?

You can travel the world."

Rachel had done undercover work before,

so she thought it was a good
idea to capture on video

how these traffickers behave.

There's no one style.

Some are aggressive and some are charming.

We are a bad guy.

You're bad guys?

Yeah.

You said you were a good guy.

Why are you a bad guy, Richard?

We,

We find another time, just the two

and I'll say.

You'll tell me why you're bad.

Yes, I tell.

You don't have to be bad.

- What?
- You don't have to be bad.

Can you give your phone number?

Can I or will I?

Will.

Will?

Should I?

Yes, you should.

Why? Why should I?

Because he's a nice guy.

He said he's bad guy!

But, nice guy.

- A ni,
- A good guy.

you're good at being bad?

He's have a girls.

You have girls?

No!

Tonight, but tomorrow.

(men speaking in Hungarian)

Pimp.

Pimp, he's pimp?

Pimp? Pimp?

You're good at being a pimp?

- Yes, I said-you
remember, I said I am bad guy.

So you can get me some work.

Yes.

I can give work.

From here?

- Yes. For example,
here or in Switzerland,

everywhere.

Is it legal here?

No.

Oh.

So, are you really a pimp?

- Yes, but not,
- You can find people?

no, no, no, no, no, no.

Yes, but not here in Hungary.

In Switzerland.

Switzerland?

Yes, and Amsterdam.

- The guys have
lots of money there, right?

No, no, no, no.

I have a lot of girls.

You understand?

Daughters?

No, not daughters.

No, but, your-is it red?

You are recording.

Oh, my god. That just happened.

Those four guys called me out

and approached me

and they said, you're beautiful.

He pulled out his wallet
and he offered me money

and asked for my number and
said he has a lot of girls.

You know what I mean?

I'm a bad guy.

If I was in a different state right now,

I would've taken his number.

I would've taken the money,

and I would have explored the opportunity.

Because, that's what it presents like,

is an opportunity.

And even if I make that choice
to accept that opportunity,

it's not too long after that, you realize,

you no longer have a choice.

Many law enforcement agencies when they,

when they do a bust, they'll
arrest the girl and the guy.

When I train law enforcement,

I make sure they understand
they're not a delinquent,

they're not a runaway,
don't treat them like that.

They're lost, they need
love, they need your help.

To be a real hero, offer them
what they need when you go

and you do that.

You ready? Standby.

It was the same desire that drove Kendra

to start her own
nonprofit, Liberation Team.

A rescue team that works in
cooperation with law enforcement

to identify traffickers,

locations that could be
hotspots for coercing women,

and prepare others the way
she has prepared herself

for any situation.

The biggest thing is respect

when it comes to working with the police.

They want to feel like
you are not a mass group

of vigilantes that want to go
out and step on their toes or,

you know, cause chaos.

Yeah, that's nice.

Ooh, it looks so awesome.

It's important for me to focus on rescues

so that I can be that help I didn't get.

Nobody came to get me.

There was a missing
persons report filed on me.

And since he had my cell phone,

they were calling my cell
phone over and over and over.

He brought me out to the car and said,

"You're going to handle the situation."

And I got on the phone

and it was the Orlando Police Department.

And they said, "We need
to know if you're okay."

And I hesitated for quite a while.

He put around in the chamber
and he held it against my head

and he said, "You make
this go away right now."

And there was, you could
hear my voice cracking.

You could hear the stress in my voice,

you could hear my distraughtness.

You could hear me cry and say "I'm okay."

And that's it, you just close it?

Nobody comes for me?

Nothing happens?

To know firsthand how it feels to be

in that situation and not want to be there

is the reason that I'm
doing what I'm doing.

What are your feeling

towards your pimps now,

the traffickers, do you hate them?

Do you hold a grudge against them?

Have you forgiven them?

That's a good question.

I definitely went through
a phase where I had

a bit of Stockholm Syndrome
and felt sorry for them,

and after therapy and clearing my own mind

and realizing things for what they were,

I grew heavy resentment for them.

If I could take my old trafficker,

I would put him in front of the courthouse

and beat him with a nightstick
the way I was beaten.

Or let my brothers beat them up.

But violence doesn't solve violence.

So it's just an inner feeling.

But I hate them all.

My name is Angela Williams.

It has come to my attention
that my ex-trafficker,

Jamal Rashid, is awaiting
sentencing for a crime

he pled guilty to you.

A crime in relation to his
career in the sex trade industry.

Once I was given an employee number,

at one point I was number seven,

I would provide sexual
services to multiple men

and in exchange for money.

And I would be instructed to
deposit the amount plus 7 cents

to identify me.

I was stripped of everything
I knew and loved and turned

into a professional trained sex worker.

Please consider my existence.

And the many other women he
exploited when sentencing him

for his crime because every soul counts.

Respectfully, Angela Williams.

It's easy for us to move on

after we hear a survivor's story.

After all, why not?

They moved on themselves.

Angie's smile lights up a room,

Kendra strength inspires,
Rachel's work gives hope.

I've learned from spending time with them

that there is no quick fix to heal them.

Even as they move on, they
still have their scars.

I used to think that by helping others,

my pain would go away.

But instead, I realized I
needed to heal myself first,

before I could help others.

It took me telling my own story in detail,

to lose the shame and be free.

Sharing their burden helps them survive.

We must carry their pain
with them and for them,

connected to our own.

We need to invite their stories,

listen deeply, and let
them lead the conversation.

We need to help the
organizations who help them.

With the right support,
survivors can heal.

Probably, yeah.

Ready?

♪ Take all the time you need ♪

♪ I dare you to breathe ♪

♪ Claim all the space to be
the one you're meant to be ♪

♪ I can see it clearer,
lookin' in the mirror ♪

♪ Somethin' inside those eyes ♪

♪ Tell 'em you go deeper ♪

♪ Now's the time to be alive ♪

♪ Inside those diamond eyes ♪

♪ I found a perfect chime ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Darling, it's okay to cry ♪

♪ Even if you don't know why ♪

♪ Take a breath and lead your life ♪

♪ But it's your time to shine ♪

♪ Shine like a diamond ♪

♪ Shine like a diamond ♪

♪ Follow the road that takes
you to the quiet place ♪

♪ And let the moment find you ♪

♪ Inside those diamond eyes ♪

♪ I find the power to shine ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Darling, it's okay to cry ♪

♪ Even if you don't know why ♪

♪ Take a breath and lead your life ♪

♪ And it's your time to shine ♪

♪ Shine like a diamond ♪

♪ Shine like a diamond ♪

♪ Somethin' inside those eyes ♪

♪ Tell 'em you go deeper ♪

♪ Now's the time to be alive ♪

♪ Shine like a diamond ♪

♪ Shine like a diamond ♪