FREE kids yoga this Thursday @ 4:30 at Wholefoods, Encinitas. All children ages 5-12 are welcome to participate in our "Adventure Yoga" class led by the one and only...Liz Fautsch (Youth program coordinator for the SOSF curriculum) and Gloria O'Shea (SOSF Executive Director). Bring your own mat!
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I, too, am an abduction survivor
updated 10:05 AM EDT, Wed May 15, 2013
'I owe it to the world for saving me'
Editor's note: In the
"Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta profiles survivors who have overcome
the odds. Confronting a life obstacle -- injury, illness or other
hardship -- they tapped their inner strength and found resilience they
didn't know they possessed. This week we introduce you to Alicia
Kozakiewicz. Eleven years ago at age 13, Kozakiewicz was kidnapped and
sexually assaulted by a 38-year-old man who kept her as his sex slave in
his homemade dungeon. Soon after surviving this nightmare, the young
woman began to talk about her ordeal and to be a voice for other
children being held captive.
(CNN) -- The amazing escape of three Cleveland women
-- Amanda Berry, Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, and Michelle Knight --
exploded into the media amid sordid back stories of their captivity and
gave life yet again to my own dark memories of captivity and despair.
At age 13, I, too, became
the helpless victim of a sexually depraved monster, a vicious Internet
predator who actively groomed me. Luring me from my home, he abducted me
to Virginia where I was held captive in his basement dungeon.
For days, I was raped,
beaten and tortured, and like an animal, chained to the floor by a
locking dog collar. My abductor shared my degradation via streaming
video, boasting online about the young girl he had taken to be his sex
slave.
It was this very
brazenness that would lead to my rescue, as one recipient of the live
broadcast, afraid of his own involvement in the crime, scoured the
newspaper and found my National Center for Missing and Exploited Children missing person flier. Seeing that my family and the FBI were searching for me, he used a pay phone to contact authorities.
Alicia Kozakiewicz's missing poster
This led the FBI to where
I was being imprisoned. The chain was cut from my neck; I was set free
and gifted with a second chance at life. Had that call not been made, or
had the investigation taken only a bit longer, the monster would have
most likely murdered me. Sadly, 74% of stranger-abducted children will
be killed within the first three hours.
Though my rescue was
miraculous, recovery and re-assimilation has been difficult. Despite
this, at 14, after an all-too-brief period of healing, I began to speak
out and share my story with students, parents, teachers, law enforcement
-- anybody who would listen.
I came to realize that other children need not suffer my traumatic experience, and so the "Alicia Project"
was born. Continuing my mission, I've joined Discovery ID to raise
awareness of, and effect change for, issues such as Internet safety,
missing persons, human trafficking and child safety awareness education.
I was attending an Amber
Alert roundtable in Florida when news broke of the Cleveland rescue. Few
have had positive outcomes; their loved ones have been recovered
deceased or not at all. Those whose children have yet to be recovered
are searching tirelessly, proclaiming that they will never give up. I
watched their faces light up as they heard the news. You could almost
hear each of them say, "That could be my child!"
These women are
unbelievably lucky to have been pulled from the hell they were suffering
and given another chance. They are excited to be back with their
families and/or loved ones and everything is moving so quickly that
their pain and trauma may be eclipsed by their joy.
Unfortunately, this is
likely to be short-lived. The vast majority of those who have survived a
traumatic experience suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Nightmares, flashbacks, an inability to be in large crowds,
hypervigilance, etc., may become a part of their daily lives. It's
important for those around them to be sensitive and to allow them to
express their pain.
Additionally, people
must also temper their questioning of the events that unfolded while the
girls were missing. It is their story and their choice whether to share
it. They do not owe that to the world. Privacy is essential.
Survivors, aware of the
agonies their families have endured, may feel the need to appear to be
"fine" because they do not want to add to their loved ones' grief. This
is one of the many reasons counseling is vital for healthy mental
well-being, as it provides a forum in which to speak freely without
concern for the reaction of others.
Healing, for each of us,
is an ongoing process. I still have days where I suffer from PTSD, but
they are becoming less frequent. Traumas don't simply vanish, but we can
definitely choose to fill our lives with positive experiences as time
goes on.
What people should take
from this story is a message of hope. We must never give up hope that
any child, whatever the circumstances, will be rescued and returned
safely home.
Amanda, Michelle and
Georgina, you have so many wonderful things in store for you. Only those
of us who have experienced the terror of threatened captivity may truly
appreciate the hero you became as you seized that chance of escape,
Amanda. Together, you survived.
Welcome home, heroes.