Welcome to the Rotary Club To End Human Trafficking

We meet via Zoom on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month at 7 AM US CT.

Email President@endHTrotaryclub.org to request the meeting link.

Theodora Africa/Theodora Ghana Virtual Assistants (TGVA) – Accra, Ghana

Partners: Podolny Group International, TGVA Foundation, TG Virtual Assistants, Rotary Club of Accra Spintex, Muslim Family Counseling Service

Goal: Create sustainable outsourcing business to provide employment and ownership opportunities for young women forced into sex trade or at risk for same.

Description: TGVA uses a unique model focused on demand for specific types of work within developed countries.

It creates outsourced businesses to serve those markets and uses those to train and develop young women who otherwise have no opportunities for genuine, well-paying careers.

Status: EDI partner TG Virtual Assistants has facilitated a training program run by its partner, the Muslim Family Counseling Service. TGVA, which is in its 7th year, is now a profitable entity.

It and its sister non-profit, TGVA Foundation, will be taking on the responsibility for the continuing training of the Muslim Family Counseling trainees, looking to create careers for them as it has for the women who currently are enjoying successful careers at TGVA.

Submitted by Michael Podolny

Advancing Victim Identification: A Recent
TrainingContribution atICMEC

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), with support from the U.S.

Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP), conducted a four- day Victim-Centered Interviewing (VCI) training for members of the Indonesian National Police from 2–5 March 2026 in Jakarta.

The program brought together investigators from cybercrime units, Women and Children Protection (PPA) units, and national police training institutions to strengthen investigative practices involving victims of child sexual abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence.

The training emphasized trauma-informed investigative approaches, ethical interviewing techniques, and the importance of protecting victims’ dignity and psychological well-being during investigations. Sessions addressed emerging online exploitation trends, legal frameworks governing child protection, trauma impacts on victims, evidentiary processes, and multi-agency cooperation mechanisms
necessary to effectively investigate and prosecute crimes involving child sexual exploitation and abuse.

International expert Lance Lueck, representing the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery (RAGAS), delivered three instructional sessions focused on victim identification, a critical early step in trafficking and child exploitation investigations. The sessions addressed the importance of rapid and accurate identification of victims, practical indicators used to recognize victims of child sexual abuse and trafficking, and the distinctions between behavioral, emotional, and physical indicators investigators may encounter.

Participants also discussed the challenge that many victims do not initially self-identify during police encounters and examined practical approaches for recognizing those indicators in real investigative situations.

The instruction included a case-study-based discussion in which participants shared examples from their own experience and applied victim identification concepts to strengthen investigative awareness and practice.

Submitted by Lance Lueck

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Guided by Rotary’s message, “Find your cause and get involved, ” our club has committed its energy to confronting one of the most urgent human rights crises of our time. Human trafficking affects millions worldwide, exploiting vulnerability, poverty, and lack of opportunity. Our commitment is rooted in action.

We are raising awareness in our community, building partnerships locally and globally, and supporting efforts that prevent trafficking while helping survivors rebuild their lives.

This is not a distant issue; it exists in cities and neighborhoods everywhere, including our own.

Sustaining this work requires more than simple intention; it requires people and resources. We invite you to support this cause through active participation, membership, and fundraising efforts that enable us to expand our impact and reach those who need help most. Rotary has shown that sustained, focused effort can create lasting change. Its decades-long fight to eradicate polio proves what is possible when commitment meets collective action. We bring that same determination to ending human trafficking.

The call is simple, but powerful: find your cause and get involved. This is ours. And through service, advocacy, and action, we are helping lead a movement to restore dignity, freedom, and hope to those affected by human trafficking.

Yours in Rotary, Bassey Kooffreh

President 2025–2026

Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking