By Chris Yow
Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Tajuan McCarty founded The WellHouse because she knew exactly where the women she was going to help had been. She had already been there.
McCarty was raped as a 12 year old girl. She began running away from home after that, and by the age of 15 she had nowhere to go. That’s when she met her first pimp.
“I met my first pimp when I was 15, and I knew he was a pimp. There was no other choice. I’d been running away for the past three years from 12-15 (years old). Social workers weren’t helping me, they were actually blaming me,” McCarty said. “I had foster parents say they wouldn’t take me because I was a flight risk. No one wanted me. My father had been in and out of prison, and my home with my mother wasn’t the healthiest in the world. No one was looking at what was going on behind the scenes, they were just looking at my behavior. When I met that pimp, there was no other option. I didn’t have a skill set at 15. “
From there, she was in the human trafficking life.
McCarty stressed that getting into that lifestyle or other similar lifestyles is not a choice.
“ Prostitution is never a choice, strip clubs are never a choice, pornography is never a choice. I always ask this during speaking engagements, ‘Did you have an epiphany on your 18th birthday? Where you’re financially secure, emotionally stable and spiritually mature? No one does. It hasn’t happened, but all of a sudden it’s her fault because she’s 18,” she said.
McCarty said the battle human trafficking is facing now is the same battle domestic violence faced 35 years ago.
“It’s not what we think it is,” she said. “There’s a reformed pimp, that has actually found Jesus. He has what I call a beautifully-horrific quote. It’s beautiful because it brings awareness, but it’s horrific with what he says. He says, ‘I can walk into any middle or high school event and point out 5-10 girls would leave with me willingly within 15 minutes.’ It’s not what we think it is. It’s manipulation, it’s preying on the insecurities of children.”
“I’ve never met a woman, and I’ve rescued women as old as 59, that it started as an adult,” she added.
How did McCarty come so far as leaving that life behind and begin to help others do the same?
“I can answer that in one word,” she said. “God.”
Because of her own struggles, McCarty was able to set up a program she knew would be difficult, but was necessary.
“For two years I was called crazy for thinking I could make a difference. My response was always, “If I can help one, then I’ve made a difference.” Because of that drive God gave me, I’ve been able to help many more,” she said.
The WellHouse is a faith-based, Christ-centered transitional living facility. The program has three phases, and women who are able to escape the lifestyle and want a new start, they can do so. When a new victim comes to the facility, they are given all the necessities and more: pillowcases, sheets, clothes, socks, shoes among other things.
“She gets everything she needs when she walks in the door. If your house were to burn down, what would you need? That’s what she gets when she walks through the door,” McCarty said.
The WellHouse, when it began, was set up to help the women of Birmingham, but McCarty said that quickly changed. In fact, the first victim to come to the shelter was from Florida.
“When God gives you a vision, you just kind of go with it,” McCarty said. “We’ve rescued from Miami, Florida, to Washington state. There are only about 300 beds in the entire United States, and we’ve got 24 of those. We’re looking to expand in the next week or two for a less restrictive transitional home.”
Being in the Birmingham area is important to the cause of The WellHouse, and despite stepping down as Executive Director in 2014, McCarty continues to advocate. She also continues to help victims.
“I get phone calls all the time. It’s an honor to be in Birmingham,” she said of being so close to a major city in the human trafficking world. “People are listening and beginning to understand that it’s happening right in our backyard.”
McCarty will tell her complete story and answer questions during an event at the Trussville Civic Center on Jan. 21 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the first 100 people in attendance will receive a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich.