BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – Sharon Robbins was simply an 18-year-old teenager when she was recruited to be a intercourse employee. She remembers the harrowing day properly, being approached whereas waitressing at an area seashore restaurant on Freeway 90.

“There was a gentleman that got here in and set on the breakfast bar each morning,” Robbins mentioned. “He befriended me for weeks after which months, after which requested the query. Befriending a younger man or a younger girl, that’s how the grooming course of begins is that they develop into your finest buddy.”

The vicious cycle of abuse, neglect, and humiliation hammered her psychological well being, leaving Robbins plagued with emotional numbness.

“I didn’t perceive how I obtained right here. I cried myself to sleep plenty of instances as a result of generally doing that damage bodily, not simply mentally or emotionally. I simply turned a chunk of meat. My job was to please him till his time was up, then go dance, after which go house.”

Like so many others who’re coerced by means of phycological manipulation by handlers, Robbins was as soon as satisfied there was no technique of escape.

“I didn’t know there was a method out of what had occurred to me,” she added. “I didn’t perceive who accountable then. Now as I’ve grown extra mature and have my very own youngsters; I get it. This was a part of my journey.”

At this time, Sharon Robbins is sixty-one years outdated. When requested, “What recommendation she would give her youthful self throughout that point forty years in the past,” she pressured the significance of getting a mom determine.

“Hold operating till you run into that brick wall known as momma, the proper momma. That’s what I did; I ran proper smack into my momma Fey. I’ll always remember her. She modified my world,” mentioned Robbins.

Now serving because the Founder & Government Director for Jubilee Havens, Robbins desires survivors to know they matter.

“Due to the way in which that they’ve handled their trauma, and they don’t seem to be useless, and so they survived; they’re a plus to society, society simply doesn’t understand it but,” she mentioned.

In accordance with the Mississippi Division of Public Security, the next numbers had been recorded for the state in 2021:

• 275 studies of human trafficking
• 368 victims (300 potential minors, 68 adults)
• 102 studies of familial trafficking
• 20 arrested for human-trafficking associated incidents
• 10 youngsters recovered

For extra info on the group, you may go to their web site at www.jubileehavens.com.

If you happen to or somebody you already know is in want of rapid help, dial the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline at (888)-373-7888, (844)-738-0590 or textual content “BEFREE” to 233733.

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