My heritage has always played a big role in my life. My mother was born in Santa Ana, El Salvador while my father is Native American. Growing up I was always very in touch with my Native American background because I would regularly visit my tribal ground in eastern North Carolina. My Haliwa-Saponi tribal grounds are where most of my father's side of the family resides. However, once I moved from Maryland to North Carolina at a young age, I lost touch with my Salvadoran background. I could no longer speak Spanish fluently and no longer saw my Salvadoran family as frequently or engaged in our family traditions. As I grew older my mother would tell me stories of her teenage years in El Salvador. She would talk about the horrific civil war she lived through and the disturbing gangs that plagued her hometown. As a child I never fully understood the extent of the crimes and the terror that took place in El Salvador. Now as a young adult I have began to research the crime that plagues El Salvador. When the opportunity came along, I knew I wanted to choose this topic personal to me because it's extremely important to shed light on the globally underrated sex-trafficking industry that continues to terrorize the citizens of El Salvador.
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