AN “ORDINARY” ADVOCATE FOR JUSTICE

Featuring Laura Parker

CEO and Co-Founder, The Exodus Road

June 2023

Laura Parker and her husband Matt Parker believe that justice is in the hands of the ordinary. This belief stems from their own experience of living as an ordinary couple who moved to Thailand from Woodland Park and is making a difference to end human trafficking. Her hope is that every person can realize that they have the potential to bring change to the global crisis of human trafficking. 

The Exodus Road was formed by Laura Parker and her husband in 2012 but the seed for their work began in 2010 when they moved with their children to Thailand. Laura and her husband worked in a children’s home in northern Thailand, directing a children’s home for girls. During this time, they were exposed to the realities and forms of human trafficking, particularly the sex-trafficking industry in Thailand and Southeast Asia. In 2012, in partnership with the Thai Police, Exodus Road rescued their first survivor of human trafficking. 

Today, The Exodus Road helps victims of trafficking in Thailand, the United States, India, Brazil, the Philippines, and Latin America. Their work is primarily to empower those living in the community where trafficking is occurring and who are serving on the front lines of this injustice. As of June 2023, they have helped rescue 2,075 children, women, and men; helped in the arrest of 1,143 traffickers and perpetrators; and supported 1,670 survivors with aftercare. In addition to their work dedicated to rescuing and restoring survivors of trafficking, The Exodus Road provides TraffickWatch Academy U.S. This training program is a free resource that is offered online in order to help individuals learn about and gain a certificate in understanding the issue of human trafficking and how to effectively identify and combat it. 

Prior to moving to Thailand and forming The Exodus Road with her husband, Laura was a writer and a mother to their three children. She is a graduate of Appalachian State University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Middle School Education and Teaching. Initially with The Exodus Road she served as co-founder and the key lead in the Marketing and Communications Department. She then served as CCO for two years before serving as President for over a year and then stepping into the CEO role in 2021. She and her husband presently live in Colorado where the U.S. headquarters of The Exodus Road is located.

Laura’s life is an example of her message that justice is in the hands of the ordinary. Her impact has been anything but ordinary, utilizing the gifts and skills she has gained throughout her life to help overcome what can seem like overwhelming evil and injustice.

RESILIENT ADVOCATE FOR FREEDOM

Featuring Yeonmi Park

North Korean Defector, Author,  and Human Rights Activist

June 2023

Yeonmi Park is a well known human rights advocate, speaker, author, and refugee from North Korea. Her experience of living in North Korea, fleeing with her mother, and arriving eventually to the United States has raised awareness of the plight of North Koreans, particularly women. She is a voice not only for the oppressed but also for those who live in freedom, to be vigilant to protect the rights and opportunities available to them in the United States. 

When she was ten years old, her father was sentenced to hard labor for smuggling in North Korea. Due to this, her family faced starvation until he was released from medical leave. When her father was released the family decided they had to flee from North Korea but were separated. In 2007, when she was 13, Yeonmi Park and her mother crossed the Yalu River into China. When they arrived in China they were taken by human traffickers, raped, and sold into sex slavery. Her mother was sold as a bride to a Chinese Farmer. Eventually, in February of 2019 when she was 15, Yeonmi and her mother were able to flee through the Gobi Desert of Mongolia to a plane that took them to South Korea with the help of Chinese and Korean Christian missionaries who operated an “underground railroad.” 

Yeonmi Park eventually came to the United States where she advocates for freedom and liberty. She attended Columbia University School of General Studies with a focus on human rights. She regularly is invited to speak on issues in North Korea but also freedom and liberty concerns in the United States. She is passionate and concerned with preserving the freedom and liberty she and others have fought so hard to reach.

Yeonmi Park is an author and speaker on human rights and freedom concerns in North Korea and throughout the world. She has authored two books -  In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom and While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector’s Search for Freedom in America. She has been selected as one of the 100 Women of 2014 by BBC for her activism on behalf of the North Korean people. She has spoken or written for numerous news outlets in the United States and elsewhere and spoken throughout the United States at universities on issues related to human rights and freedoms in North Korea and the United States. Her TED Talk, “What I learned about freedom after escaping North Korea, has been viewed nearly 5 million times. 

Despite her lived experience in North Korea and China, Yeonmi Park remains resilient and proud to be from North Korea. She is determined to bring attention to the travesty occurring to the citizens of North Korea, advocating for change within her home country.