Today is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. To mark the day, multiple advocacy groups in Harrisburg gathered to raise awareness about human trafficking through the Red Sand project.

The Red Sand Project is a global push to use art— pouring red sand into sidewalk cracks— as awareness for human trafficking victims... people who can fall through the cracks of society.

"Red sand reminds us that not all children are being seen. Not all victims are being protected. And not all cries for help are being heard,” said Chris Kirchner, executive director of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Pennsylvania. The organizations provide forensic interviews, and other resources, for abused children whose case is going through the court system.

"The red sand we pour into these sidewalk cracks today is not just symbolic. It's a statement that we won't ignore the vulnerable. We won't turn away from the pain. And we will not let silence prevail,” Kirchner said.

The Red Sand Project website says over 27 million people are in situations of forced labor on any given day around the world.

The United States Department of Labor has a list of goods from other counties made through forced/child labor.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline received over 600 calls from Pennsylvania last year. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation Institute says at least 51 defendants were charged in criminal cases related to sex trafficking in 2024.

Human trafficking threats can come from online. They often come from people that a victim knows and trusts; getting abducted in a parking lot by a stranger is not the common methodology.

“I was in hospitals when no one saw me, I was in the foster case system when I was first trafficked,” said Sheniqua Mitchell, the outreach manager for Bloom— a housing non profit for victims of sex trafficking based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Advocates at today’s event had a clear message: Human trafficking is real. It happens in Pennsylvania. And there's work to be done.

“If we can shut down the world for COVID, certainly, we can shut down human trafficking if we so choose,” Mitchell said. “I want to charge you to be bold, to be courageous, to take up table flipping."

Mitchell described herself as a woman of faith. When thinking of advocacy for those who escape human trafficking, Mitchell thinks of a bible story where Jesus flipped vendor tables in a temple in Jerusalem.

“It wasn’t just because there was selling and buying going on,” Mitchell said, “but because those who were innocent could not get to where they needed to be."

A key tactic in human trafficking is using fraud, blackmail, threats and isolation to force victims to do illegal activity. When a victim escapes-- they can often have criminal records of their own.

Pennsylvania has a law that can expunge some criminal records of trafficking victims, but advocates say more thorough rules are needed to protect a survivor’s future.

In addition to the Red Sand Project, Bloom brought their Barrier Wall Project. Trafficking survivors shared what legal and social obstacles they face once they escape-- and their hopes for the future.

Scrawled across the wall, survivors shared fears of how having a prostitution charge on their record could make them more vulnerable to sexual harassment at work. One person described how they get shuffled from agency to agency, with very little follow through.

Behind the fears written down, survivors shared their hopes for the future.

‘Have a relationship with my daughter.'

‘I got a college degree.'

‘I want to adopt my own pets.'

“I can live in the place of overcome now. But somebody is waiting for you,” Mitchell said. "Somebody is waiting for your pen. Somebody is waiting for your post. Somebody is waiting for your email. Somebody is waiting on your funding, because that’s what freedom will be for them."