Haunted by the horror of what the child had experienced locked in a shipping container while others suffocated around her, Gayle knew she had to do something. Fast forward to today and she is at the helm of Invisible Traffic, a Newtownards-based charity dedicated to stopping human trafficking and exploitation of children right here in Northern Ireland. Gayle set the charity up just months after first hearing about human trafficking at a Christian conference in London in 2012.
Invisible Traffick works in schools and youth groups across Northern Ireland to educate children on trafficking and exploitation. Local children from all backgrounds and as young as eight years old are being groomed daily in Northern Ireland by paramilitaries to carry drugs and for sexual exploitation. Many of the children and youths Gayle’s charity is working with don’t even realise they are being exploited It is important work which Invisible Traffick’s resolute team of five know is making a difference and preventing kids from becoming victims which is exactly what Gayle hoped for when she started out 12 years ago.
Human trafficking has become a vast global crisis with an estimated 49.6 million victims, one in five of whom are children, believed to be trapped in modern-day slavery. Home Office statistics show that 462 children in Northern Ireland are potentially being trafficked right now, but the charity believes that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Gayle recalls how despite having no experience.
