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Dalaina May, Founder/Executive Director – Dalaina grew up overseas and has lived in 5 countries on 3 continents. When she moved to Indonesia, she finally found her home. She holds a BA in Intercultural Studies from Biola University and a MA in Global Leadership with an emphasis in Children at Risk from Fuller Seminary. After supporting the local staff of a safehouse for trafficked teen girls in Bali, she realized that there was a need for an organization providing similar support for the entire Indonesian anti-trafficking community, and Dark Bali was born.
Discussion around the film
Sound of Freedom, released last month, is the latest Hollywood film claiming to provide a window into the world of human trafficking. It’s based on the alleged real-life activities of Tim Ballard, a retired US Customs and Border Protection agent and the founder of Operation Underground Railroad. OUR is a US-based anti-trafficking NGO famous (or notorious) for its vigilante-style rescue attempts and history of false claims.
Every great story has a villain and a hero. We believe that the heroes of the anti-trafficking story are the survivors of sex and labor trafficking.
Shedding light on the issue of human trafficking is paramount, and while the movie Sound of Freedom aims to create awareness about trafficking, its portrayal perpetuates an oversimplified, dramatic depiction of rescue that reinforces outdated stereotypes.
As a movement, we acknowledge the significant investments that were made to bring this movie to cinemas around the world, and we welcome critical conversations about human exploitation and suffering.
There is potential for weak narratives, however, to widen the gap between general knowledge and the actual complexities of human trafficking.
We hope that Sound of Freedom acts as a starting point to initiate broader conversations about modern exploitation.
With this in mind, we have created a list of important things for viewers to consider as they process the movie’s content.
The following statements were drafted through roundtable discussions at the 2023 Asia Region Anti-Trafficking Conference, and informed by the voices of survivors and practitioners across the sector.
For many vacationers, the sun-kissed paradise of Bali represents a lush Eden — a heaven on earth. For many of Indonesia’s children, however, this island has become a living hell. It is estimated that as many as 70,000 – 80,000 Indonesian children are victims of prostitution and trafficking, with a large percentage of them enslaved in sex tourism industries around the country – particularly in Bali, Batam, and Jakarta.
Recovering Missionaries was created by missionaries and former missionaries who have observed abuse in missions communities and organizations across the world and have experienced it firsthand.
Realizing that there are precious few resources specific to the kinds of suffering unique to the missions community, we resolved to create our own. Here you can find a community of people who may share many of your experiences. You can publish your story with or without your name and organization attached or read the stories of others with similar experiences. You can find language for your suffering and resources to help you heal. We are so glad you’re here.
More Pending
