Today’s Guest blogger is someone I have known a long time.I have watched her grow from a crazy teen to a epic young women (still crazy though). She has worked so hard in Uni because she wants to make a difference in the world. I asked her to write about something that she feel strongly…
Author: outoftheshadows18
My name is Kendra Houseman. I have been involved with Gangs, Exploitation and CSE for over 26 years on many different levels. I am originally from South West London. A complicated background, living in an inner-city estate, and a lack of communication between adults are just some of the factors that lead to me having to make some life changing choices starting at the age of 11. These choices led to many consequences and created “Blondy” the name and person I was known as on the streets of SW London.
Calm down…Oi calm down
So, this week I become angry and upset about an article that was published by Spiegel. The article was about the exploitation, rape, and sexual abuse of children in Ghana and focused on one child named Melphia. Spiegel’s reporters spoke about this using word such as “Child prostitution”. Initially my blood boiled, and I wrote…
“Child prostitution”..How dare you!
First..it’s a Friday…I don’t write blogs on a Friday…But this has got me so mad.. About 18 months ago I was in a STRAT meeting for a 14-year-old girl who was the victim of child sexual exploitation. It was a very intense meeting and professionals seemed to be battling against each other to reach the…
No one is ever past saving
There is often a dark cloud over my blogs. A heavy presence and not often a happy ending. And that’s how it is sometimes. Sometimes we need to see the dark…for a long time…until we can see the light..what ever that light may be. Let me introduce you to Dale. Dale has seen the dark…
It’s the Out of the Shadows Blog Birthday!!!! (1 Today)
It’s my blog birthday!!! One year ago, today I posted my first ever blog!! Grab yourself a cuppa, put your feet up for 5 and come …lets look back at the last year I had just got the paper work through to say that I was now the official director of Out of the Shadows…
“She’s gonna do it Blud”…..
Heart pounding in her ears…. all of a sudden everything become very real. She can feel the boys behind her, 10 maybe 12 of them. She can feel the heat of their body’s pushing up against hers. She can feel the hot breath of one of them from behind her in her ear as he…
Police and county lines…from the heart
Today’s guest blog is by someone I am proud of. I am proud because they have decided to speak the truth around police and county lines, and I think this is a breath of fresh air. This person done something that no one has done before. They apologised to me on behalf of the police….
Game Changer!
Come…get comfortable…let me tell you about the Sandwell exploitation summit… On Thursday I was fortunate to be part of something nothing short of epic. There are a husband and wife team, Nathan, and Sabrina Dennis, who are making moves to tackle gangs, exploitation, and youth crime that others only ever talk about. The Sandwell exploitation…
What is non-State torture (NST) and what can you do about it?
I don’t often get nervous when I ask someone for something. Mainly because I hardly ever reach out. But asking some of the guest bloggers to take part has been hard, because they are all people that I admire in one way or another. Asking today’s guest blogger to write for me was one of…
Don’t tell me how to mourn my mum
This might be an angry blog…I’m not sure yet…let’s see how this goes. It’s Mother’s Day today and it can be a hard day for people. One of my best friends lost her mother-in-law very recently. She has been with her husband a lifetime and I can’t imagine what she must feel like to watch…
