For Good Samaritan Sister Sarah Puls, an invitation to take ACRATH’s work against modern slavery and human trafficking to the global stage at events held alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York was both a privilege and an affirmation of the grassroots work being done in local communities.
By Debra Vermeer
Sarah is the National Executive Officer of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) and was invited by the Conrad Hilton Foundation to spend four days in New York, speaking at various events.
“I was invited because one of our funders, the Conrad Hilton Foundation, supports the work of Catholic sisters all around the world. One of the things that they try to do is raise Sisters’ voices in public spaces and in spaces where they’re not normally heard,” she said.
Having heard Sarah speak earlier this year at the Women Deliver conference in Melbourne, the Foundation invited her to New York and funded the visit.
“While the UN meeting is going on, there are all these side events happening all over town with different groups organising them,” she said.
One of the three events Sarah spoke at was hosted by Devex, a company that works in communications for the development sector.
Sarah and Sister Gertrude Elelegu SSL of Bakhita St Louis Empowerment Network in Nigeria were interviewed by Devex co-founder and Executive Vice President Alan Robbins about the role of locally rooted organisations in combatting human trafficking.
“The main message that we were trying to get out there was that it’s so important to engage with people who are already in the communities that you’re trying to serve,” Sarah said.
“In that global sphere, there’s a familiarity with models where aid money comes in, brought in by outsiders to do the good work, and then they go. We were there, saying, ‘Look, the money is really helpful, don’t stop giving the aid money, but work with the people who are already there, because they know what’s needed. They have good implementation pathways.’
“Supporting people who are already doing good work in the places that that you’re concerned about is where you’ll get the most impact.”
Sister Gertrude spoke about her Network in Nigeria helping survivors of trafficking and slavery to rebuild their lives, which can involve providing shelter, medical treatment, counselling, vocational training, family tracing, and support in establishing a business. She said that delivering that care requires coordination across institutions, but it also depends on relationships that are difficult to create through a short-term intervention.
“I was really inspired to meet with her and be alongside her, because the work we do, although connected, has a different focus. It was good to be together and to present on our work together,” Sarah said.
“One of my key points was about how important it is for civil society and faith-based groups to be engaged in conversations with governments and institutions and the private sector.”
Sarah also took part in a conversation that was part of the Borgo Dialogues, a global leadership platform that convenes leaders from business, technology, finance, healthcare, academia, faith, sport, civil society and international institutions to address the defining challenges of our time.
Convened by the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, which was established by Pope Francis, the Dialogues aim to help build frameworks capable of safeguarding human dignity, advancing the common good, and ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.
“Gertrude and I were part of a conversation about recognising dignity in healthcare, which I was interested in because of ACRATH’s work in the healthcare sector,” Sarah said.
“It was a small group, perhaps 24 of us around the table, having a real, genuine conversation about what it means to try and uphold, recognise and promote people’s dignity in healthcare settings, which is particularly challenging in the US where healthcare is often for profit.”
Sarah’s third speaking engagement during the week was part of the Vital Voices Leadership Talks, focused on ‘Women Transforming the World Through Courage and Action’.
“I was talking about how engaging with people with lived experience is so important. I talked about our project with St Vincent’s Health Australia and how that had been guided by survivor perspectives, and the difference that that made for us as an organisation, to listen to survivors in designing a project,” she said.
“That was an interesting discussion and very women-focused.”
Apart from the events where she was speaking, Sarah also had the opportunity to attend a raft of other meetings and discussions during her time in New York, including one on the role of the climate crisis as a driver for forced migration and another on the role of faith communities in restoring trust in an age of multiple global crises.
She said that while she questioned how much of the work being discussed throughout the week would be taken up by those in positions of power, it was still important to share ideas and practical outcomes in these kinds of forums.
“It was just an incredible opportunity to be there in rooms where people who have great power and a lot of money are speaking about how to address problems that we all care about,” she said.
“Some of the conversations can be a bit disconnected from real people. It was a privilege to be part of that conversation and have the opportunity to listen to, but also speak to, those people.
“The other thing that stayed with me was how unequal access to power is. There’s so much going on in these rooms, and there were very few people who came from perspectives like ours, of doing work every day to try and address these issues.
“There are a lot of people whose experience is a bit removed, and it doesn’t mean they don’t care, but they have a different perspective.”
Sarah said it was “very affirming” to share about ACRATH’s work in preventing human trafficking and slavery and supporting survivors.
“It was also a relief to come back to the real world where we can actually get stuff done. In some of those meetings there was a real sense of overwhelm, verging on hopelessness, because these issues are so big,” she said.
“It made me realise that I’m glad that most of our work is really local, and I can see the impact. What we’re able to do here at ACRATH might not be huge on a global scale but they’re important things. They make a real difference to the people that we engage with.
“You need to be in those rooms to talk to people, so that hopefully funding flows to places where it needs to be. It’s important to be connected to that.
“But also, I’m really glad that we have the opportunity to do the work that we do here, which is to understand the real needs on the ground, to keep adapting, and keep listening to people about where the needs are and be responsive.”
