{"id":6850,"date":"2016-04-12T09:20:54","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T14:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gnof.org\/?p=6850"},"modified":"2016-04-12T09:20:54","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T14:20:54","slug":"women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/258623859&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nAccording to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12-14.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edenhousenola.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Eden House<\/a> is a two-year residential program for women who have been commercially and sexually exploited. Modeled after Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee, Eden House provides six to eight women a safe and supportive home for two years, free of cost.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A group of residents who have asked to remain anonymous start their day with the serenity prayer, then discuss their emotions this morning. One resident discusses why she chose to wake up and not go back to a life she decided to leave behind.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cBecause I\u2019m not waking up to a maid banging on my motel room door saying \u2018check out time!\u2019 I\u2019m not waking up to being sick having the next fix. I\u2019m not waking up because I have to put extra make up on my face to cover my bruises. Those are things that were my reality for so long, It was a way of life. So just putting myself in that position and knowing that I don\u2019t have to go back for that,\u201d says one resident.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Eden House offers long-term housing and comprehensive recovery services like mental and physical health care, job training, education, and spiritual support. It offers survivors a safe place to overcome difficult pasts while developing skills to move forward in their lives.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Positivity and growth is evident in the residents at Eden House, including one former resident, Cristina. We will only be using Cristina\u2019s first name. Cristina participated in the two-year program that included living at Eden House. I met Cristina at her home &#8211; something she says she\u2019s very proud to have made happen for herself. I asked her if she would give me a tour.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cSure! We can take a tour. I love my house. It\u2019s spacious. This is my bedroom this is where I love to come in after work, My kitchen, I love to cook, my little restroom, my washroom,\u201d says Crisina. \u201cI say \u2018hello baby\u2019 or I\u2019ll say \u2018Hi I\u2019m home.\u2019 I love it. This is me, this is my home, this is my heaven.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cristina is very open about her past and present life experiences.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI\u2019m Cristina. I am a recovering addict, ex-prostitute, a mother of four. I don\u2019t mind talking about anything about my life story because when I was out there it wasn\u2019t a secret. So it\u2019s definitely not a secret now. My life was out of control. I was on drugs, I was selling my body for drugs. There was people selling me. Sometimes I didn\u2019t know they was selling me. My life was just out of control. It had been out of control for a long time, for many, many years. I was on crack for 16 years, and that was a long 16 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It was after moving from Kenner to New Orleans that Cristina found out about Eden House. At first she was daunted by the two-year commitment.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI said \u2018Oh, my god.\u2019 Two years seemed like a long time back then, but I said \u2018if I spent 16 years out on the streets, smoking crack, I can go sit down somewhere for two years and let someone help me learn how to live better.\u2019 And that\u2019s what I did.I was just ready to try anything. To really change my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cristina overcame tremendous challenges, including a reprogramming and understanding of her emotions. She tells me she wouldn\u2019t have been able to do that in the past. Something as simple as the purchase of a broken dryer would have caused her to break.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAny other time in my life, I would have blown up and been crying and acting crazy, and fussing, and blaming, but I just sat&#8230;it\u2019s gonna work out. It\u2019s not the end of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cristina learned to accept what came her way, and approach problems step by step. Of all the changes that Cristina has made, reconnecting with her family is especially meaningful.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI actually have four grandchildren now. I had the pleasure of having two granddaughters in my sobriety, on this side of life. Which was great because I could be there, I\u2019m a more responsible mom now, grandmother. All my daughters are grown now but we\u2019re really just getting to know each other right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cristina says that her children don\u2019t like to talk about the past because that part of her life is over. They\u2019re ready to deal with what\u2019s happening right now. Cristina\u2019s learning to live in the present too.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Written by Jasmin Lopez\u00a0for the Community IMPACT Series and produced by <a href=\"http:\/\/wwno.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">WWNO<\/a> in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Learn more about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edenhousenola.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Eden House<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12-14. Eden House is a two-year residential program for women who have been commercially and sexually exploited. Modeled after Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee, Eden House provides six to eight women a safe and supportive home&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":6851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677,30],"tags":[350,130,516,739,1036,100],"class_list":["post-6850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-small-feature","category-our-community","tag-community-impact","tag-community-impact-series","tag-economic-opportunity","tag-eden-house","tag-jasmin-lopez","tag-wwno"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House | Greater New Orleans Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House | Greater New Orleans Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12-14. Eden House is a two-year residential program for women who have been commercially and sexually exploited. Modeled after Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee, Eden House provides six to eight women a safe and supportive home...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greater New Orleans Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-12T14:20:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/edenhouseroom2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"478\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Communify Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Communify Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/\",\"name\":\"Greater New Orleans Foundation\",\"description\":\"The Greater New Orleans Foundation is the community foundation serving the 13-parish region of metropolitan New Orleans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/edenhouseroom2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/edenhouseroom2.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":478,\"caption\":\"bedroom at eden house\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/\",\"name\":\"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House | Greater New Orleans Foundation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-12T14:20:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-12T14:20:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac\",\"name\":\"Communify Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Communify Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/author\/communify-team\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House | Greater New Orleans Foundation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House | Greater New Orleans Foundation","og_description":"According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12-14. Eden House is a two-year residential program for women who have been commercially and sexually exploited. Modeled after Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee, Eden House provides six to eight women a safe and supportive home...","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/","og_site_name":"Greater New Orleans Foundation","article_published_time":"2016-04-12T14:20:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":478,"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/edenhouseroom2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Communify Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Communify Team","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/","name":"Greater New Orleans Foundation","description":"The Greater New Orleans Foundation is the community foundation serving the 13-parish region of metropolitan New Orleans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/edenhouseroom2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/edenhouseroom2.jpg","width":640,"height":478,"caption":"bedroom at eden house"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/","name":"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House | Greater New Orleans Foundation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-04-12T14:20:54+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-12T14:20:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/women-who-were-sex-trafficked-find-strength-and-reclaim-their-lives-at-eden-house\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Women Who Were Sex Trafficked Find Strength And Reclaim Their Lives At Eden House"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac","name":"Communify Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Communify Team"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/author\/communify-team\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6852,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6850\/revisions\/6852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}