My name is Kwanzaa Robest, currently residing in Holland. I am a St. Lucian born and raised in Ottawa, Canada. I am an accredited Child and Youth Care Practitioner. I gained experience in the Child Welfare System, Family dynamics, Child abuse, neglect and their indicators. I work closely with youth experiencing challenges with mental health, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. I support families and individuals through periods of crisis, behavior management, counseling, life transitions and financial management. My decision to relocate from Canada to Holland and leaving my position at the Ottawa Children’s Aid Society was to challenge myself in a brand new environment and become more aligned with my passion and purpose.

Footprint to Freedom having its headquarters in Holland gave me a broad opportunity and platform to further more put my profession into visible impactful action. It dealing with trafficked survivors, victims and volunteers was an extra field of study concerning my work area of dealing with children, the youth and families. I strongly believe in the empowerment of people who have been dehumanized and I see Footprint to Freedom as the right place to be in to support this, I am excited and proud to be part of it. My first introduction to human trafficking was during my time at the Child Welfare Sector in Canada and it was alarming to me how close to home it all was. It is modern day slavery which is quite indirect than in the old ages but its evils now weigh more than the impact it had long time ago. I am working closely to creating up an enthusiastic approach to mentorship and coaching at Footprint, facilitate focus groups in the areas of health lifestyle practices, mental health, sex education and healthy relationships. I intend to create lasting resources within the community on an international level through creating relationships with Footprint to Freedom and other Canadian organizations that are interested in pushing the cause forward.

Footprint to Freedom is a seed I am planting in my journey, I am looking forward to learning more about non-profit organization funding and everything that goes behind running a successful organization. It working with survivors shows how heavily influenced Footprint is by who they serve. Once again am really proud and blessed to be part of Footprint to Freedom, an organization that really cares about the survivor voices and amplifies them to create everlasting change.