Emotional.

Confusion: We arrived at HIPS with no knowledge of what their mission is; we didn't even know what HIPS stands for. The community partner spokesman, Anthony, explained to us that their mission is to support, provide for, and value individual choice. At HIPS sex work is treated as any other profession that requires support and they provide it. Anthony described the various programming and gave us a brief account of the preventative health measures that HIPS provides to sex workers. When we began our service, many of us were confused about how some of its programs affect the community. 

Inspiration: We created a lesson plan over the past month to teach the seniors at Thurgood Marshall Academy about human trafficking. We began with a fun activity to get to the know the students and to familiarize the students with us. The students had not begun their human trafficking unit so we introduced the topic by creating a "Root Cause Tree." The roots of the tree represent causes for human trafficking and the branches represent the effects. We were extremely impressed by the students' knowledge and creativity when approaching the issue. They discussed many roots and causes that none of us had thought about and we seemed to have learned from them just as much as they learned from us. We went on to breaking up into small groups and discussed stories that we created related to victims, traffickers, and law enforcement. We had an engaging discussion with the students about hotspots, bystander intervention, and human trafficking as a whole. Being a part of this experience made us feel importance of educating others and spreading awareness about human trafficking. 

Appreciation: Many of us were looking forward to dinner after a long, tiring day and we were lucky enough to have Nikki, a UMD alum, treat us to a nice dinner at "The Heights." Courtney, the AB director and Megan, an AB alum, joined us as well. Many of us had great conversations with them and the other participants. We ended dinner with dessert and heartfelt thank you to Nikki. It was nice break from PB&J (meat for Kristin because she's allergic) sandwiches. 

Eye-Opening: Reflection today was heavy. People were vulnerable to the group and were vulnerable to themselves and we are grateful to be a part of this experience. Although it was difficult, everyone came together to express the emotions that coursed through the day. I doubt that there was a single person who left the circle unmoved and we thank each member of this group for allowing themselves to step out of their comfort zone. Many of us learned that we have a lot to learn and we are just at the beginning of our journey. 

Vulnerability is not weakness. And that myth is profoundly dangerous. Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change. 

-Brené Brown