Linda Aluoch - Founder , HopeWorks Global

I was born and raised in Kitui, Eastern Kenya a place where poverty, survival, and silence shaped childhoods. Mine included.

I grew up surrounded by hardship. I witnessed domestic violence at an early age. I endured abuse by people who should have protected me. I carry physical scars from those years one from a burn sustained while fighting over scraps in a cooking pot, another from stepping on a nail while wearing shoes with soles that barely covered my feet. My feet were so hardened from walking barefoot, I didn’t feel the pain until I saw the bloody footprints.

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But the deepest scar came from losing someone I loved to human trafficking. We didn’t recognize the signs. By the time she returned, the damage had been done. She later died from HIV-related complications tied to her exploitation. That loss still fuels everything I do.

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My mother a resilient single parent fought tirelessly to give us something more. She took out loan after loan to keep us in school, sometimes going home with nothing on her paycheck. Her quiet strength taught me that education is power and that sacrifice can change the course of a life.

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Today, I carry that same spirit forward through HopeWorks Global.

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This isn’t just a cause for me. It’s personal.

It’s about the girls still fetching water in the early hours of the morning, risking their safety for survival. It’s about the women being exploited because poverty left them without choices. It’s about the families here in the U.S. and in Kenya who don’t even know what trafficking looks like until it’s too late.

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I’ve seen the pain up close. In my childhood. In rescue situations here in the U.S. In the faces of survivors whose stories echo my own in different ways.

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That’s why I founded HopeWorks Global to go beyond awareness and tackle the root causes of trafficking: poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, water scarcity, and harmful cultural norms. Through our work, we:

• Educate communities to recognize and prevent exploitation.

• Equip individuals with life-changing skills and support to rebuild their lives with dignity.

• Empower survivors and at-risk artisans through AfroKouture, our social enterprise that turns creativity into opportunity.​

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I believe scars can become a voice for justice.

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If my scars, the ones you can see and the ones you can’t, etched silently beneath the surface, can speak…

Let them echo across every border, every barrier, and every injustice.

Let them call us to action because silence is no longer an option.