Prevention
November, 2025
In November 2025, Talitha Kum Kenya conducted an awareness creation training on human trafficking at Taita Taveta National Polytechnic, bringing together members of the institution’s administration, teaching faculty, and students. The session is part of our ongoing effort to equip young people with the knowledge to recognize, resist and report trafficking in persons.
Contrary to popular belief, trafficking victims are not only the poor or uneducated — traffickers are increasingly targeting educated, ambitious youth because they are more employable, mobile and trusted by employers and immigration officials. Awareness remains the strongest shield against exploitation, as students who understand how traffickers operate are far harder to deceive. The facilitator highlighted the emerging trends targeting youth, outlined below:
- Fake job and internship offer abroad in tech, healthcare or hospitality that turn out to be fronts for forced labor or exploitation.
- Cyber-scam compound trafficking, where graduates lured by “digital marketing” or IT jobs abroad are trafficked into scam centres and forced to run online fraud.
- Social media recruitment via Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and LinkedIn using fake profiles and testimonials.
- Fraudulent scholarships and study-abroad placements requiring upfront payment or personal documents.
- Exploitation of career ambition, with “too good to be true” offers bypassing verifiable recruitment channels.
Students learned to spot red flags in job and travel offers, verify opportunities safely, understand legitimate labor migration versus trafficking and know where to report concerns while also being encouraged to share this knowledge with peers.
Talitha Kum Kenya remains committed to expanding this training across more institutions, building a generation of students who are informed, alert and empowered against exploitation. We thank Taita Taveta National Polytechnic for their participation and look forward to continued partnership.
