S3 E7 - Leading in Hard Places

The Whole Enchilada Podcast

If you have been trafficked or suspect trafficking is happening near you, please reach out The Human Trafficking Hotline.

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Show Notes:

The Whole Enchilada always starts with really good Mexican food and this month it’s queso. Which brings to mind the burning question of seasons past: white or yellow?

Guest Alli Mellon, Executive Director of The Hard Places Community, says it’s white queso all the way. Armed with chips and taquitos, the team takes a dip, so to speak, while Alli explains that her love of queso was born over the tradition of slow meals with friends. She has strong ideas about what should and should not be in white queso and exactly how it should cling to the chips.

Mitch introduces special guest, Lanise Santala. Lanise is Mitch’s wife and a friend of Alli’s, who has served with The Hard Places Community on several occasions.

Alli begins the conversation with a story that hit her hard when she was serving orphans in Swaziland. It was here that Alli first encountered the horror of human sex trafficking when she met a five-year-old girl who explained her own ordeal in detail.

Back in the US, Alli couldn’t shake the enormity of the problem. And thus, The Hard Places Community was born and Alli set her sights on Cambodia, a country notorious for sex trafficking very young children.

Alli gives some details about the work they are doing in Cambodia, including their Kids Club program and shares the story of Michael Kenyon, a man who grew up in a hard place and overcame his past to empower Cambodian young men to get out of sex trade industry.

The team focuses the conversation back on what “the hard places” means and Alli recalls the story of a ten-year-old boy whose experience, after weeks of patience on the part of the staff, finally led to the arrest of a notorious trafficker in Cambodia.

Lanise chimes in to talk about The Hard Place Community’s unwavering commitment to their mission and Alli gives the story of a man who came to the community at age 15 and who is now a senior staff member.

Alli says she reminds her staff that when disappointment arrives, it means the job isn’t done yet. She also dives into the importance of self-care and the ways she encourages it with everyone she works with.

Links:

The Hard Places Community

http://thehardplaces.org

http://thehardplaces.org/donate

https://www.facebook.com/thehardplacescommunity

International Justice Mission

https://www.ijm.org

Dateline NBC: Children for Sale

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4038249

Chab Dai Coalition

https://www.chabdai.org

Century 9 Restaurant

https://www.kenyoncovenant.com/century-9-1

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