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A 20-year-old Hungarian woman responded to an ad seeking babysitters in Canada but, instead, became a hostage of sex traffickers for three terrifying months, until she was able to escape.
That is how Timea Nagy ended up in Toronto in 1998, as a victim of human traffickers in a foreign country. Although she spoke no English, she was eventually able to use a Hungarian-English dictionary to translate a few key words and secretly communicate her plight to staff at the strip club where she was forced to work. She was one of the lucky ones; many young women do not escape their traffickers, even if are not new to the country.
This form of slavery is much more far reaching than many people realize, and it’s not limited to foreign women. According to a 2014 RCMP report on human trafficking, 93% of sex trafficking victims in Canada are from Canada. A Canadian Women’s Foundation fact sheet, also from 2014, notes that 98% of international sex trafficking victims are women or girls and, in Canada, many victims are first trafficked at age 13 or 14.
Ten years after her horrific experience, Timea Nagy founded a non-profit organization called “Walk with Me,” to assist victims of human trafficking and wrote a book about her experience, Memoirs of a Sex Slave Survivor. As the first internationally trafficked survivor willing to speak publicly in Canada, she quickly became involved in human-trafficking investigations and training for police forces and other agencies in Canada and the U.S.
Her fervent work has earned international acclaim and garnered her numerous awards, as well as making her a powerful, charismatic speaker about this important human rights issue. She will tell her incredible story on Sept. 24, as the featured guest at the annual DIVA Night, hosted by the Muskoka Women’s Advocacy Group (MWAG) at the Algonquin Theatre in Huntsville. The acronym “DIVA” stands for Domestic Intimate Violence Activist, and Timea Nagy is certainly both an activist and advocate for women.
Sept. 24 activities begin at 5:30 p.m. in Partners Hall with a silent auction, diversity-themed art show, and hors d’oeuvres. Doors to the main stage will open at 6:30 p.m. In addition to the keynote speaker, there will be music by Australian singer/songwriter Gina Horswood and a brief presentation by Brooke Houle, a Bracebridge high school student who recently won a Youth Philanthropy Initiative competition.
Admission is free for the entire evening but donations are welcome and silent auction bids are encouraged. When the main-stage presentation concludes, at approximately 8:45 p.m., there will be a final opportunity to place a silent auction bid, and then the winners will be announced. Among the items in the silent auction are wonderful works by local artists like Jared Pratt, who donated his dramatic painting, “Thunder,” which is valued at $1,600.
This year’s signature DIVA Night artwork, “Sanctuary,” a gloriously colourful painting by Natalie Stokes, will also be available for sale, as will canvas and paper prints of this work and DIVA images from previous years. Her painting and other pieces in the art show and silent auction will be posted on Faceboook (look for an event page for Sept. 24 – DIVA Night, hosted by Muskoka Women’s Advocacy Group). More information about the event and keynote speaker Timea Nagy will also be posted there and on MWAG’s website.
Information about abuse and MWAG’s free, confidential services can also be found on the website. This charitable organization, which has been serving the community since 1984, operates two crisis shelters for abused women and their children in Muskoka: Chrysalis in Huntsville, 1-866-789-8488; and Muskoka Interval House in Bracebridge, 1-800-461-1740. MWAG assists women who are fleeing abuse of any type and can arrange translation, if needed, when English is a second language.
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