GiftsTeen Voices, January 1, 2009
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Katie was honored in October, 2008 by Mercy Corps with a Global Action Award honoring high school students who have taken outstanding actions to fight global poverty.
Katie Simon and her friends have a problem with how the word “pimp” is used in popular culture. Last year, the 16 year old started the youth-run nonprofit Minga, a group dedicated to empowering youths and adults around the world to take action to end the child sex trade. Minga is Quechua* for “the coming together of a community for the betterment of all.” Katie began with a yard sale to try to raise $5,000 for a rehabilitation center for former child prostitutes in the Philippines; she now has a core group of 15–20 teenagers who have raised $40,000 toward their cause.
Teen Voices: How did you get interested in the issue of sex trafficking?
Katie Simon: I went to a summer leadership camp the summer before ninth grade. We learned about a lot of different issues, including child sex trafficking. I had never heard of it before; I have done a lot traveling, and I thought, “If I’ve never heard of it, there must be a lot of other people who haven’t heard of it, either.”
TV: What exactly does your organization do?
Katie: Our focus this year is to fight the idea that children are objects and commodities to be sold in the sex trade. We want to provide an alternative view of children and help them be positive agents of change in their communities.
TV: Why is it important for teen girls to get involved and raise awareness of this issue?
Katie: It’s their lives. Teen girls who have run away from home are one of the biggest targets for pimps on the street. Teen girls also have a great ability to create change, not just by working to become the leaders of tomorrow, but by taking action today. Teen girls are one of the biggest resources that we can tap.
TV: Your website mentions "Don't Pimp My Ride"; is that a reference to the MTV show called Pimp My Ride? Could you tell us more about that?
Katie: The phrase comes from the MTV show, but the reason why we started that campaign was that we heard our friends say things like, “That’s pimpin’; that’s cool.” People don’t really know the other connotation of the word pimp* and we want to spread awareness about that.
TV: Is there an image that has stuck with you from traveling to countries where child prostitution is a serious problem?
Katie: The whole idea of the child sex trade is that it’s very underground. Human trafficking* is the third largest network of illegal trafficking in the world, after weapons and drugs. It’s propagated* even more by social networking sites and the Internet. Most of the countries I’ve been to are developing countries. What was so surprising to me was that I hadn’t really seen any signs of child prostitution in these countries before I heard about sex trafficking. I hadn’t seen those children on the streets. That stood out to me. I went to the Philippines and Thailand this past summer for Minga, checking up on centers in the Philippines and finding new partners in Thailand and visited some of the red light districts.* It’s astounding--the kids that are being exploited in these districts are so young. It’s also something you can see on the streets in the U.S. It’s not just “over there”; it’s everywhere.
TV: People find it surprising that America has its own problem with sex trafficking; how do you plan to inform more people about it?
Katie Simon: We get a lot of “No way, that’s not actually happening,” but I think that people just hearing about this issue in the U.S. makes it hit closer to home because it’s right where they are. I think in some ways it gets people to listen up even more and be more likely to do something about it.
TV: What is being done to end sex trafficking in the U.S. and over the world?
Katie: In Massachusetts they are working on government-funded rehabilitation homes [to help former child and teen prostitutes start new lives], and the U.S. government has been doing projects like that, too. Internationally, there’s a big problem with sex tourism, where tourists will go abroad and exploit children. But what’s going on internationally that’s really good is something called the “code of conduct.” Major travel companies are signing on, doing more training in their companies and making sure they are safe organizations. There are lots of movements in different countries where people are changing social norms. One big issue is that there’s a huge taboo around the child sex trade so people don’t want to talk about it, and people are trying to change that.
TV: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Katie: I play field hockey and I really like traveling. People ask, “How do you have time to do this?” but every kid that’s involved in Minga is also involved in sports, or theater, or arts, or something else that’s really important to them. You just make time. I have a somewhat normal life but I make time for this.
* Pimp: a person who helps prostitutes find clients, but also often uses threats, violence, and deception to make women and children work as prostitutes.
* Quechua: a Native American language of South America.
* Trafficking: buying and selling.
* Propagated: promoted.
* Red Light District: a section of a city usually known for prostitution or other illegal behavior.
Want to start a Minga club of your own? Check out Minga’s website to learn more about how you can start a Minga Youth-For-Change Group (MYFCG) in your community.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Teen Voices
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