Part of the DNA of Love146 has always been identifying gaps and finding ways to fill those gaps. Our work in the United States so far has been Prevention Education. Through our work here we’ve identified a gap: the lack of appropriate and effective care for survivors of child trafficking in America. So in 2014, Love146 is starting The Round Home in Connecticut -- a home-base of care for survivors of child trafficking and exploitation. This year, we encourage you join us in providing opportunities for recovery and ensure that every child receives the best care. *Child pictured is a model and is not known to be exploited

The complex nature and cultural stigma surrounding the abuse of boys have allowed it to go unnoticed by the general public. Love146 has always been an organization that seeks to step into gaps - work addressing the sexual exploitation of boys is a significant gap. Over the years, Love146 has done multiple research projects about boys and partnered to grow and deepen the work of grassroots organizations beginning to address the issue. In 2013, Love146 opened a shelter in the Philippines specifically to serve boys in recovery from child trafficking and exploitation. Read a blog by a Love146 researcher about Boys

In Manila, there are boys who are forced to live on the streets after being neglected and abused by their families. While on the streets they struggled to survive by begging and stealing. They are also subjected to sexual abuse by men who offer money in return for favors. This kind of sexual exploitation gets very little attention, but is equally devastating. Our Boys Shelter in the Philippines serves boys coming from a red-light district plagued by foreign pedophiles. We offer boys holistic care as they recover and grow into role models for their community.

Remy was joined our Round Home in the Philippines in 2009. When she was 12, she was sold by a trafficker for $73 to a sex club. What happened next, Remy shares, “One day, the trafficker said we would go to the port and board a ship. We arrived to Cebu city the next day. The police were there and they got us. We were rescued but I didn’t know we were being helped until later. Then we were brought to Love146. It’s in Love146 that I feel I am taken care of. In your whole life that happiest moment is to feel free from darkness." We’ve been so impressed by Remy’s voice and strength, and honored to journey with her in recovery.

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In Southeast Asia, children are at a serious risk of being sexually exploited. Traffickers will often attempt to lure them in on promises of paying their tuition. Kone Kmeng, a grassroots organization in Cambodia and a Love146 partner, has built a dormitory to protect children while they attend high school. Phary, pictured left here, lives in the dorm and is studying to become a teacher for children who are at risk of not receiving an education: “I want to be a teacher. We don’t have many in my village. I want to go back to my village and teach the kids there.”

Jinny, was loosing her eyesight as she entered her teenage years. Forced into a brothel at age 15, her next three years were spent in this dark reality and when she got free, she was completely blind. Since joining us at Love146, Jinny quickly become proficient reading and writing in braille. She shared, “Because of our poverty, people deceived me and took advantage of me. What I experienced was terrible…During that time I wanted to die… When Love146 came into my life, I experienced hope, love and worth. Now I stand before you like a flower that is fragrant and brilliant because of your support. Now, little by little, I’m achieving my dreams.” Learn more about survivor care

Survivor care is not just about mending wounds, but also about empowering future agents of liberation. For many who are recovery from exploitation, including the girls in Love146’s Survivor Care programs in the Philippines, healing includes fighting for freedom in the lives of others too. In this way, they experience justice, emancipation and love. Love146 operates a feeding center in the heart of a community in the Philippines where child slavery was thriving. The children from Love146's Survivor Care programs are a constant presence of service in this place, feeding, tutoring, and playing with younger children. Learn more about our Survivor Care work