A12 The Malibu Times February 6, 2014 Real EstateHuman traffickingFrom page A1

Whale sightingsFrom page A1

ASSOCIATE MANAGER

310.317.1716 or 310.457.3116pamellawhitham@gmail.com

Just up the street from Duke’s, so near to the city and sur� ng. Beautiful 1920’s home in sylvan surroundings, over an acre to garden, meditate, slow down and enjoy life. Come for the weekend or come forever. Write, paint, raise your children to enjoy nature.

IDYLLIC RIVER ROCK HOME $820,000

310.589.2464 www.EllenFrancisco.com

Spacious Contemporary Mediterranean w/Pool, Spa, Gardens.

$4,295,000 Also For Lease

Charming 4BR Home on Aprx 1.2 Landscaped Acres.

$3,150,000

Oceanfront Architectural in Malibu Cove Colony.

$24,000/month

Beautiful 4 BR Malibu West Home, Completely Redone.

$7,500/month

35 Years of Success Means More Success

Custom 5 BR Tuscan Villa in Beautiful Private Setting.

$4,495,000

Two Gorgeous Legal Parcels w/Ocean Views, Plans.

$5,750,000

Aprx 4 Acre Knoll-Top w/Plans, Permits, Views!

$2,995,000

“A Place in the Sun” 3 BR on Broad Beach Rd.

$2,150,000

Stunning Architectural Home on Aprx 2 Private Acres.

$2,595,000

Broad Beach Bluff w/Pool, Guest House, Ocean Views.

$20,000/month

Aprx 40 acre Parcel w/Ocean & Mountain Views.

$850,000

NEW PRICE

NEW PRICE

NEW PRICE

IN ESCROW

attended the event on Saturday, including city officials, advocacy groups, and local student activists in an effort to learn about and pro-mote awareness of the problem of trafficking.

Human trafficking is defined as the movement of humans, usu-ally young girls, from location to location in order to sexually exploit them. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that in the United States, 100,000 chil-dren each year are sold for sex, some as young as 12. The FBI estimates 3,000 children are traf-ficked each year in Los Angeles alone.

It is a lucrative business, increasingly run by gangs who find they can make more money on trafficking than with drugs. Some young girls are abducted, many by older juvenile male gang mem-bers, while others are coerced into prostitution in order to support themselves. Isolated from support-ive relationships, the girls become dependent on their captors in an atmosphere of drugs and violence.

“When we read about slav-ery in the textbooks at school, we tend to think of it as something that occurred in history,” says Malibu High School student Eden Ettenger.

Ettenger, along with class-mates Gabriella Grahek and Ally Mastrippolito were recognized at the event for participating in many activities to combat human traf-ficking. Also recognized was Diane

Malecha, office administrator at First United Methodist, for her efforts on the issue.

Flyers and handouts were dis-tributed at the presentation on Saturday to dispel misconceptions about human trafficking and to help identify those who could be victims. Ordinary citizens can learn the signs about human trafficking and take action to alert authorities. Raising awareness and encourag-ing people to be active were the goals of the presenters.

“Many people have miscon-ceptions that to be sex trafficked you need to be moved to another location, town or country,” said Michelle Guymon. “You can be exploited and never leave your hometown.”

That’s in large part due to a culture of silence among victims that is often difficult to break. Victims of these crimes feel iso-lated, hopeless and don’t know how to verbalize their trauma. Others may fear deportation, shame, not being believed, jailed or fear physical harm according to U.S. department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Accordingly, police in the past few years now look for signs of physical abuse, force or coercion to identify potential victims of human trafficking.

Gu ido Ha j en iu s , Hub Coordinator from iEmpathize, who spoke at the presentation on Saturday, urged all of us to

get involved. “When we have a strong culture of support, change occurs,” says Hajenius. “Empathy is the only solution.”

Yet experts say the issue pres-ents a unique challenge to the social service system. Dr. Lois Lee, president of Children of the Night Organization, said that while she believes 100 percent of these chil-dren are victims, she understands that many of them feel life on the street is better than what they had at home. “Many times they are not compliant victims,” explains Dr. Lee.

“These kids have been on a bus bench when they shouldn’t have been, they have been in an area of town they shouldn’t have been in, and they have been out at a time when they should not have been out.”

She says victims must be taught how to advance themselves in order to provide a legitimate alternative to their situation.

“It is not a one-size-fits-all treatment program,” said Lee.

Meanwhile, the younger peo-ple suggested that bringing light to the issue was a crucial first step.

“The best thing we could do today to abolish this sort of slav-ery for the next generation is to increase awareness in all schools now,” said Mastrippolito.

For more information on human trafficking visit childrenofthenight.org. They also have a 24-hour hot-line at 1.800.551.1300.

Signs with statistics and facts on human trafficking were on display throughout the Malibu United Methodist fellowship hall on Saturday, along with informational booths during the First Annual End Human Trafficking Day.

Freedom Road Project’s Olga Selyanina and Ali Martin spent time answering questions at the First Annual End Human Trafficking Day.

Photos by Julie Ellerton /

TM

T

Census and Behavior Project, said the whales’ total population is believed to number 21,000. She thinks the reason so many more were spotted this year is because of viewing conditions and not because the population of gray whales is increasing.

“It’s been clear weather with very little fog and good visibility,” she said. “The whales [also] came down early this year,” she added, which sometimes happens when ice forms early or food becomes scarc-er in Alaska.

White Shark sightingsThe number of “great white

sharks,” or simply “white sharks” as biologists call them, has been on the rise in recent years along county beaches as a result of cleaner water and the sharks’ pro-tection as endangered species sta-tus.

Shark expert Chris Lowe at the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab says that most of the sharks near shore are small juveniles.

The coastal area is their “nursery” where they learn to hunt abun-dant food like stingrays in shallow waters.

“We typically don’t see large adults moving along our beaches, although we do see them near the Channel Islands and Catalina, where we also have seal rookeries (a food source),” Lowe said. “The white shark is not a coastal shark. I would consider it an oceanic shark.”

Due to a spate of juvenile white shark sightings and lifeguards sub-sequently dealing with surfers and media on the issue, the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Division held a Shark Symposium on January 17 at Dockweiler Beach attended by 70 public safety officials representing 50 different agencies.

Kyle Daniels, ocean lifeguard at LA County Fire Department, hopes the symposium will be the first step toward developing science-based shark policies and “more unifor-mity in actions and messages to the public.”

Orca “Killer Whale” sightingsFor the third year in a row,

the same family group of orcas has traveled down the coast from Monterrey to spend the holidays in the Santa Monica Bay area, where they were spotted six times from December until January 1. They’re apparently headed north again, since they were last seen near Santa Barbara on January 2.

Schulman-Janiger, who is also the co-founder of the California Killer Whale Project and has been archiving all of the killer whales in California for a couple of decades, recognizes this particular family by sight. These are “transient” killer whales, meaning that unlike some killer whales, they roam a large area. They are carnivores, they hunt in groups and are highly intelligent.

“The orcas eat sea lions for most of the year but I think the Common dolphins are a treat for them,” Schulman-Janiger said. “There aren’t many Common dol-phins in Monterey and we have thousands of them.”

Malibu Freedom Road Project honored Malibu students Ally Mastrippolito, Eden Ettenger and Gabriella Grahek for their tireless work making a difference in the community and throughout the world.

A1,7,10,12 2-6-14.indd 12 2/4/14 9:17 PM