E’town teen fights against human trafficking

By Coleen Burnett
Eatontown — Sixteen-year-old Christian Boujaoude is a typical teenager. The Monmouth Regional High School junior, who lives in Eatontown with his parents and brother, is a wide receiver on his school’s football team.

He’s a good baseball player, too, filling in at catcher, infielder, or in the outfield. He’s a member of several after-school clubs. He just got his permit to drive. He likes to hang out with his friends and listen to music.
But there is one subject that is close to his heart. Christian Boujaoude is working to eradicate the worldwide problem of human trafficking.

It’s not exactly a subject most 16 year olds would even think of. But then again, Christian seems to be the kind of young man who thinks out of the box.

The problem of human trafficking is difficult to assess in terms of numbers, because the crime takes place underground, and is often misidentified. However, a conservative estimate puts the number of victims at any one time at 2.5 million. Though it is most often identified with women, men are victimized as well. It affects every region of the world and generates tens of billions of dollars in profits for criminals each year.

Boujaoude’s first project was working with the Dayton, Ohio-based group Be Free Dayton last year. The non-profit started a campaign at the Super Bowl called S.O.A.P. (Saving Our Adolescents from Prostitution). Christian spearheaded the group’s efforts at the Apex Community Church in Paterson, sticking a copy of the National Human Trafficking Hotline’s toll free number onto the outer wrapping of several thousand bars of soap.

A victim may be imprisoned in a bathroom for many hours, so getting that bar of soap with that all important phone number on it into their hands is an important part of the puzzle.

While he was pleased that many hotel chains participated, others turned him down.

“A lot of time they won’t take the soap because they ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist,” he told the Link.

But Boujaoude wasn’t discouraged. “It enhanced my passion and it got me more curious. I wanted to help more.”

Spreading the word is important.

“A lot of people can’t distinguish between human trafficking and prostitution. Human trafficking is a woman or man being forced into sexual labor and exploitation. {He or} she doesn’t profit from anything. Prostitution is {when the person} actually chooses this lifestyle,” he explained.

Another project close to his heart is Love True, the Bridgewater, NJ-based group that counsels New Jersey victims of human trafficking and helps rebuild their lives. The group is striving to open a shelter for girls ages 13-18.

“A lot of the times if the teenagers get free, they are placed in psychiatric houses,” explained Boujaoude. “That is the last place they want to be. They have nightmares and bad memories and they don’t want to talk about it.”
But he certainly will. “They’re surprised someone my age is dealing with it because it is a sensitive topic and it’s hard to talk about it,” he said. “Part of the reason it’s become a passion for me is because I focus on the hope and not the atrocity.”

Already a veteran of getting the attention of politicians and others in power, Boujaoude recently formed his own non-profit, R U Aware. In all, he estimates he spends some 15 to 20 hours a week on the cause.

He was recently honored by the Eatontown Borough Council for his efforts. January 11 was declared Human Traffic Awareness Day in the borough.

“I think it’s incredible that one teenager has focused on a problem that many others have turned a blind eye to,” said Councilman Anthony Talerico.

Christian credits his success to his family — especially his mother, Maureen, who often wore many hats as he pursued his many projects.

“She really made a lot of phone calls when I was in school. She went to symposiums and represented me. She was a catalyst. She pushed me. She motivated me. She drove me figuratively and literally.”