Abrehet Seifu and her husband walked into the HTA’s office at Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica in September of 2016. Her husband, who is a current City of Santa Monica maintenance worker responsible for beach sanitation, had heard mention of the program. It wasn’t, however, until he saw a flyer about the HTA posted in the building where he lives that he encouraged his wife, Abrehet, to reach out to us for services.

During one of the HTA’s initial meetings with the couple, they shared that Abrehet had been a victim of human trafficking by a relative in New York who brought her there from Ethiopia and forced her to work in virtual slavery, caring for the family’s children. In 2008, she was able to get away and eventually made her way to California. She now lives in Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood in a Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM) affordable housing unit with her husband and her four children, who range in age from 1 to 7 years old.

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