'It’s time to have these conversations': Human trafficking is taking place in the SouthCoast.

NEW BEDFORD — The 70-year-old cab driver was a friend to her when she needed one. He listened to her and didn't want anything from her in return. Over time, she felt safe enough to tell him her name and that she was from Massachusetts.

He urged her to call her aunt back home, and she eventually returned to Massachusetts and never turned back. Not that it was easy. She abused drugs and alcohol. She was afraid to tell her story.

“I was so scared to tell anyone what happened. Because all I wanted my whole life was someone to love me and care for me, and if you knew what I just went through then you wouldn’t,” she said.

She had a hard life growing up. Her mother was murdered and her father killed himself. A bus driver abused her sexually. So did a neighbor. Hanging out with older kids, she learned sex was something you gave to someone or they would take it. She got into drugs, was homeless, and did what she had to do to get food and shelter. Moving to New Jersey, she met a gang member who was also a trafficker. She was his property.

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As Chelsey Buckley explained at the “In Their Shoes” program Jan. 26 at the YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts, she had stayed because she was afraid. She became the property of a series of sex traffickers, including one who had threatened to kill her. Even back at home, he kept calling her with death threats and threatening to tell everyone all about her.

Everything changed when she met a woman offering to help who got her into treatment when her son was 3. She met Jasmine Grace, who was also a trafficking victim who started Jasmine Grace Outreach and came to learn it was not her fault. She learned about bravery and determination and feeling worthy.

Buckley committed to becoming an advocate for those who have been affected by human trafficking, and now she’s the one encouraging others to use their voices.

In recognition of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a candle was lit by Judy Mackenzie of All Hands In, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness about local human trafficking and how people are likely to become victims, and Maria Morris from the YWCA.

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Advocating for raising voices

YWCA Advocacy Coordinator Leimary Llopiz offered an impassioned plea about the importance of people using their voices to combat human trafficking and the loss of control through awareness and education and breaking down barriers.

“This is to begin a deeper understanding with the community,” she said. “It’s time to have these conversations.”

Buckley said she would be dressed in very nice clothes and wore Louis Vuitton shoes, but the clothes hid bruises underneath.

“What you didn’t see was the fact I didn’t even have a cellphone. I didn’t have a dollar to my name,” she said. “I was trained to walk behind him and keep my eyes to the ground. I wasn’t allowed to talk to anybody unless they were going to pay for me.”

Her trafficker would drag her out of a casino, and she was the one who got in trouble. She said it was always the girl, not the trafficker or buyer.

“Every time I got arrested, I was treated just like I felt,” she said. “I was treated like trash. I was treated like it was my fault and I was nothing but a dirty prostitute, and that’s what kept me so sick. And I became content with this idea I would die either by the hands of my trafficker, my buyer or with a needle in my arm just like my parents.”

She said ending trafficking starts with breaking the cycle. Buckley said she shares her story for her mother, Lisa, also a victim of human trafficking. Her murder is a cold case.

Trafficking reaches into New Bedford schools

Kathleen Mackenzie, the clinical supervisor for the New Bedford Public Schools who also sits on the city’s Human Trafficking Committee with Police Sgt. Samuel Ortego, who was unable to attend, said there is an effort to get people to report human trafficking, both labor trafficking and sex trafficking.

“I do see that our kids are getting trafficked,” she said. “It’s happening as young as fifth grade, so 10 or 11.”

She said digital technology gives traffickers a way to reach out to prospective victims of human trafficking and it’s really important to pay attention. She previously worked with Central American children who were handled by traffickers and believes there is a huge population of people who are being human trafficked in New Bedford today.

“The bystanders are really the ones that are going to make the difference, so it’s us,” she said. “It’s the community, it’s being aware, it’s paying attention to what’s happening and it’s caring for each other.”

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: YWCA in New Bedford opens discussion of human trafficking