Karen Herbert: Fighting Exploitation with Awareness

Karen Herbert recalls a moment in her life years ago when a customer came into her store on LaSalle Road in West Hartford complaining about the horrors of the Bosnian War, and Herbert found herself entirely ignorant of what the customer was talking about.  In the present day, however, that customer would have been hard-pressed to surprise Herbert with news of human misery, especially since Herbert now dedicates herself to stamping it out.

Herbert is a co-director of the Not for Sale Campaign in Connecticut, an organization committed to eliminating human trafficking and the sex trade worldwide. With the help of other charitable organizations and hundreds of volunteers, including her own family, Herbert works to raise awareness and report grotesque human rights violations often thought to have been eliminated a century ago.

"Every day we touch slavery, in the clothes we wear, the food we eat ... and the sex industry is a whole other side of it," Herbert said. 

Sex trafficking is only the most sensational aspect of the human rights violations fought against by Not for Sale. The others include such crimes as inedentured servitude and child labor.

Herbert was introduced to Not for Sale through her daughter Jamee, who did volunteer work with the organization during a semester abroad in Peru. Jamee was affected enough by her work with children rescued from trafficking rings and orphans that she attended the Not for Sale Academy in San Francisco upon her return to the United States, becoming certified to investigate and document human trafficking violations for the organization.  She later became Connecticut's first Not for Sale director, establishing the organization in the state.

Herbert's decision to assume her daughter's role in Connecticut might have been inevitable, however.  "Growing up, my mom was always involved with various different causes and helping people in various different ways, whether through an organization or through the youth group she works with," Jamee said.  "It was part of my foundation, but then I was the one who connected with Not for Sale and brought it to the rest of my family."

Herbert took over for her daughter in Connecticut in August 2010 when Jamee moved to Half Moon Bay in California, where she holds the title of campaign manager and runs the Not for Sale Store. The store sells products constructed by individuals rescued from human trafficking and at-risk communities that might not have other legitimate sources of income.  Jamee herself oversees product development, website management, and shipping logistics, as well as running events like the store's "Turn Black Friday Orange" sale.

Herbert's everyday tasks with Not for Sale involve passing information along to the 400 people on her email list and making sure the the organization's Connecticut Facebook page is up to date.  Beyond that, Herbert speaks at schools, churches, and secular venues to raise awareness about modern-day slavery, as well as managing long-term projects and events with her fellow director Steve Ferraro. She has also enlisted and educated the youth she works with at in Unionville.

The most recent such event was Free2Create on Nov. 20, a gathering of artists, musicians, and poets at the Provenance Center in New London.  Herbert said that the event worked from the assumption that different people hear about causes in unique ways, and that informing people through the arts was a fairly non-threatening means of educating them about Not for Sale's goals.  The event concluded with New London's mayor declaring the city to be a "zero-tolerance community" for human trafficking and slavery.  Herbert is now planning for Free2Create to travel to colleges around Connecticut to reach students from all walks of life and in all majors, with specific schools targeted being Connecticut College, Mitchell College, Yale, the University of Hartford, St. Joseph College, and the University of Connecticut.

Herbert has also involved her business, , which she has owned with Barbara Karsky for over 25 years. BK & Co. donates a portion of its profits to Not for Sale in addition to being a sponser of "28 to Emancipate," whereby individuals donate $28 per month to Not for Sale to help fund their emancipation efforts worldwide.  During the annual Spring Stroll in West Hartford, Herbert also sets up a booth to inform people of the volunteer work available through Not for Sale."

Herbert notes that as the organization is only four years old and established in only a few states, Not for Sale collaborates with numerous organizations to help reach their goals.  In Connecticut, Not for Sale works with the Harriett Beecher Stowe Center, Connecticut College's Operation 21st Century, the Women for Change at the University of Hartford, and has the support of the Provenance Center and the Holy Family Passionist Retreat.  It has also been affiliated with the International Justice Mission, which shares similar goals to Not for Sale.

"You're working with other groups that are doing great works to forward the movement," Herbert said.  "Even if it's not their main focus, it becomes part of their focus."

Herbert rarely works directly with victims of human trafficking, but what she has seen has affected her deeply.  One such individual Herbert is personally familiar with was a girl from New Hampshire who had been trafficked on the Berlin Turnpike.  Herbert said that it's incredibly difficult to escape that life due to the way it's designed to trap a person into it.

"It's hard, because you're in that life and it's hard to break out of the reason you're in it.  You're a runaway, addicted to drugs, get addicted to drugs, get addicted to this guy who you think you love ... It's just a whole ramification of events that happen."  Herbert said that this girl still struggles from day to day to hold down a job and problems she has with addictions, having once said to Herbert that it's impossible to get out of a life like hers except by dying or getting saved.

In regards to human trafficking problems facing Connecticut, Herbert said that indentured servitude is on the rise. Sex trafficking has been a continuous problem for several years, Herbert said, because human beings are more lucrative for pimps because they can be turned over more times and are safer than drugs.

What's most precious to Herbert in her work are the differences she makes just by spreading awareness.  At Miss Porter's School in Farmington, for instance, student Anna Preston started a human rights club this school year with Not for Sale serving as its inspiration and largest component.  It's large for a new club at five members, with Preston saying between 10 and 15 more students have expressed an interest in joining.

At Hall High School in West Hartford, meanwhile, students organized a fair trade chocolate bake sale without any input whatsoever from Herbert following her first visit.  When she came to speak at the school again, the students gave her the proceeds with a check made out for Not for Sale.

"All these little triumphs are huge to me," Herbert said.  "People inspired and involved to take the initiative, to empower them to do something.  It doesn't have to be about me or even Not for Sale, but it empowers them to do something."

National hotline for reporting suspected human trafficking: 888-373-7888