Hi guys and welcome to another episode of Truth Talk with Wendy. Today we have a
couple different guests that we are bringing on. The first is my friend Kim
Westfall, the founder of Uncaged, which is an anti-sex trafficking and human
trafficking ministry. We are so excited to have her and Kim is an entrepreneur
and leader with nearly 30 years of experience leading and scaling
successful for-profit and non-profit organizations. From 2006 to 2016 she
served as the Executive Vice President of Client Services and Consulting for
Westfall Gold, which is a major donor fundraising consultancy that's helped
leading faith-based organizations raise more than 1 billion, yes I said billion
with a B, dollars to fuel transformation worldwide. Kim also served as U.S.
Executive Director of the Watato Child Care Ministries, which is an
organization that provides holistic care to vulnerable women and children in
purpose-built village settings across Africa. In 2018, after being haunted by a
vision of children in cages, Kim launched Uncaged, an anti-human
trafficking nonprofit that exists to unlock the transformation of girls and
young women rescued from the global sex trade. Uncaged is currently launching
its first-ever sanctuary village in Romania where survivors will live
in peace and safety with access to trauma-informed therapies, spiritual care,
medical attention, education, and vocational training. Uncaged is poised to
make a significant contribution to the war on human trafficking by creating a
holistic, globally scalable framework to bring healing and restoration to those
trapped in trafficking. I am so excited to welcome my friend Kim Westfall.
Hi Kim, how are you? I'm great. I am so glad we are finally here. This has been a
long time coming, hasn't it? It sure has. Great to see you. I know, it's good to see you too.
If we had more time, which would take probably hours, I would tell the whole
world the crazy God story of how we got together and how my friend that was at
the Maui Airport found you and had no idea that you knew my brother and I had
no idea and how just the whole thing happened and how similar our stories are
and how unbelievably similar our interests in ministry are and so here we
are talking about a subject that I know is near and dear to both of our hearts
and you know but for the grace of God I would be coming to live in your home one
day you know so God is just a good God and I'm so glad that he brought you to
me. I know I know I know I think about how good he is and how you know it's the
smallest little details you know he he is so involved in our life and and just
how exciting it is that we are finally here at this moment so I want to tell
people a little bit or I want you to tell people a little bit how in the
world did you get involved in the anti-human trafficking effort? It's a
great story talk about weird things that God does really pay attention when those
strange things start happening you do things are coming good things to follow
so I'm a pastor's kid I'm a missionaries kid and definitely raised with the
perception that we're here on the planet to do more than just make money in
which it's right we have a purpose and I'll try to condense the story a little
bit but it got my my start with nonprofit work back in my early 30s I
worked with a beautiful organization called Watoto Child Care Ministries I'm
telling you that because it's so informs what we're doing with Unpaged today but
we basically cared for about 3,000 Ugandan orphans and the format was
incredible it wasn't an institutional format it was a family format so we
would rescue the most desperate children sometimes we even find them on
garbage dumps with their hands and feet tied behind their backs left as human
refuse we'd pick them up we'd dust them off and we'd place them in homes in
families
One house mother and 8 adopted children, we would build them a home, build 8 homes in a circle,
then we'd drop those circles of homes into what we call the children's village.
Just a beautiful setting, we'd drop in a school, a medical center, a church, a community center,
and surround the whole thing with sustainable farming.
And we would see these kids go from completely dead in the ice, malnourished,
and just completely depressed, to loving life, learning, loving, jumping.
I am now getting Facebook requests from some of those kids saying,
Do you remember me? Now I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a nurse, I have a family of my own.
And back then we used to say, what an incredible model.
This would work anywhere in the world.
So fast forward, I moved on, met and married my husband Bob back in 2007,
and helped him build a company that serves Christian and faith-based and non-faith-based nonprofits,
helps them tell their story and raise funds.
And just had an incredible opportunity to sort of look under the hood of hundreds of nonprofit organizations.
And we saw the good, the bad, the ugly, the really ugly.
We figured out how to do it, how not to do it.
So just loads of experience.
During that 10-year period with his company, I had a series of health issues.
I had three back surgeries in three years.
It wasn't fun. It was about a five-year period.
And I managed to kind of work throughout those surgeries.
But at the end of it, came out just completely exhausted.
Had a little bit of a, I guess, it wasn't a breakdown, but it was just like I came to the end of myself.
My brain wouldn't work anymore and had to walk away from the company, which was really hard.
So I thought, well, I'll retire.
I'll sit on the dock and drink great wine for the rest of my life.
That would be fine.
Right. Sounds great, actually.
It did for six months anyways.
And then I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm not done yet.
God is not done with me yet.
And I started praying a very simple prayer.
The prayer was, God, give me something great to do for you.
And I had prayed that prayer at one other point in my life.
And that was when Watoto, the organization in Uganda, was dropped into my life.
And so I thought, well, I'll try it again.
So I prayed for about three months.
And this is where the story gets really strange, Wendy.
I know you'll be okay with it, but just warning your listeners, it gets a little wild.
So I was at home in Georgia one day out doing errands.
I had a long laundry list of errands to do that day.
And I'm trucking down the road thinking I'm going to accomplish all those in one fell swoop.
And even after growing up in the church, I've been in the church for 53 years,
I'm not one of those people that would ever have heard the voice of God.
But this is as close as I've gotten.
I had this little prompt in my spirit, and it said something really strange to me.
He said, Kim, you should go get a massage today.
Amen. Amen.
Well, I thought, that's ridiculous.
I have this long list of errands to do, and my back doesn't hurt for once, so delete.
And I'm then on my way.
And five minutes later, it hit me again.
Kim, you should go get a massage today.
I said, okay, Lord, it's not the worst idea. I'll take you up on it.
I called my little friend Alina over at the local day spa.
I went there on occasion.
We knew each other, not well, but kind of a kindred spirit connection.
She knew I was a believer. I knew she was a believer.
So I called her and I said, hey, Alina, it's Kim Westfall.
As soon as I said that, she goes, Kim, I cannot believe you're calling me.
I've literally been praying and hoping that you would come in today.
I said, okay, well, do you have a last-minute appointment for me?
She said, sure do. Can you be here in an hour?
I said, yep.
So I pop in, I walk in, and as soon as she sees me, she just jumps up from behind the desk and goes,
I literally cannot believe you're here.
I've been thinking of you and praying that you would come in, and here you are.
And I said, yep, here I am for my massage.
She said, have I ever told you about my friend Karen Rose from Ohio?
I said, no, you haven't. I don't know why you would.
She said, well, she's this really neat lady that has the ability to speak into people's lives.
And she's here today. Do you want to talk to her?
And honestly, Wendy, I know you'll understand this.
In my mind, I was going, hell no. This is too weird.
But out of my mouth came, sure.
So she walks me back to this dear little lady, and I sit down in front of her.
I'm trying to make some small talk. She's not having any of it.
She goes right into, I guess, what you'd call a prophetic thing.
Right.
She started talking about things in my life that nobody knew.
I knew exactly what she was talking about, situations and woundings and experiences.
She had my attention.
And then she said, Kim, you've always had a heart for the children.
Remember I told you about Watoto?
Well, Watoto translated into English means the children.
So she really had my attention.
I said, yeah.
She said, well, right now I see you standing in front of cages, and there's children in
those cages, and you're opening the doors, and as they come out and pass by you, they're
being killed.
She said, I really sense this has to do with human trafficking and child slavery.
And at that moment, I was like, oh my goodness, this is the answer to that prayer I've been
praying.
So I listened really, really carefully.
She downloaded a lot of information to me that day that I carry with me today, and obviously
got up, went in for my massage.
As you can imagine, my client was racing.
And at the end, I just got up, and I said, OK, God, if there's children in cages in this
world, that's something I need to know about.
And I commit to you right now to do a deep dive on that topic.
Well, that week, something really strange started happening.
The stories just started coming before my eyes.
Walking through an airport, I look above a baggage carousel.
There's a screen, and the ticker across the bottom, it just goes by, it says something
about children in cages.
I'm like, whoa.
Later that week, I'm on a plane, and I look over the shoulder of a guy beside me reading
a newspaper.
He's reading an article, something about children in cages.
I turn on a movie, there's children in cages.
I'm like, OK, God, I get it.
It's a real thing.
Now I commit to you to doing a deep dive on the topic of human trafficking and child slavery.
I knew very little.
So I started reading all the books and watching the documentaries and talking to the experts
that would talk to me and learned all the horrifying facts.
There's 48 million people enslaved in our world right now.
85% of them are women and children.
The average age that somebody enters into human trafficking is just 13, and the average
lifespan at that point is seven years.
I was mortified.
I was horrified.
And then to hear the common story from the experts that I spoke to, they said, Kim, we
just got back from Guatemala or Southeast Asia.
We rescued 20 kids, only could find housing for 10.
The other 10 went right back into trafficking.
I still get chills thinking about that statement.
I'm like, we could do so much better.
And that's when that Watoto model began to bubble up in my mind.
I thought, hmm, I wonder if that healing village concept would transfer to the human trafficking
population. And it was like the moment I had that thought and started voicing it, talking
to different people about it, experts from all over the country started to gather around
us. Over 100 people sat around tables with us and defined and formed the infrastructure
of our organization and have a model that we call the sanctuary model.
So the sanctuary is just a place of peace and safety where a survivor has access to
everything she needs to heal.
It's at our core is trauma therapy and Christ.
That's it. And she's going to experience everything from group therapy to individual
therapy, medical attention, spiritual direction.
And then we've added some fun things in like equine therapy and art therapy and music
therapy. And the ultimate goal is to create a sustainable future for this survivor so
that she can have a vocation and a job and provide for herself and her family.
So that's how I got into it.
Thanks for letting me fire you with my story.
No, no, it's great.
And, and, you know, when you're talking about it, of course, I've, I've seen the
pictures and the videos and everything, and I'm still trying to find an excuse to move
in myself because it looks fabulous.
You got to come over and just see it.
I know. I know.
And I definitely want to.
It's a literal heaven for some people that are in a literal hell right now.
Yeah. Yeah. I cannot imagine.
So tell me what about why, why did you pick Romania?
Like, why did you decide with, with everywhere on the planet where human trafficking
is, why Romania?
What was, why was that your target?
It's another weird God story.
I didn't pick it. He did.
So I had been going, we were holding these things called solution summits where we'd
gather the experts and we'd talk about how to create this incredible program.
And as you can imagine, it was a little overwhelming.
One day I'm meeting with architects.
I don't speak that language.
The next day I'm with psychologists and traumatologists.
I don't speak that language.
The next day I called them the assassins.
It was a bunch of FBI and CIA guys.
I certainly don't speak that way.
So we're in these meetings and I'm feeling rather overwhelmed.
And at one point I just stood up and I said, you know what?
I think it's time for a break.
Let's take 20 minutes.
We'll meet back here in 20 minutes.
We were out in Southern California at the time.
And I just did my favorite thing out there.
I walked to the ocean, turned right, went to the end of the path.
So I went and sat on the bench and was basically saying to God, God,
you have got the wrong girl.
I have no idea what they're talking about in there.
I'm overwhelmed.
I'm confused.
And this is your opportunity to bail on me and find somebody
that can actually do the job.
Right.
And I, they're waiting for that lightning bolt moment where he
would let me off the hook and it didn't happen.
Um, so I finally said to myself, well,
time to put on your big girl panties and get back to that meeting and we'll deal with
We'll deal with this later
So a couple weeks prior to
These particular meetings I had started praying and asking God. Well, where do you want this sanctuary?
I know that if I throw a dart at a world map, I've hit trafficking. It's everywhere
Yeah, how am I supposed to figure out where you want this sanctuary? I've been praying that daily
So I was on my way back to the meeting
I'm walking down this beautiful garden path and all of a sudden I see a giant aloe leaf
It's probably two foot in length and upon is carved a word and I felt one of those prompts again. That's for you
That's what I felt in my spirit. And the word that was carved on that leaf is Romania and
At that point I was feeling so overwhelmed
I didn't even realize that he was trying to tell me where he wanted the first sanctuary. Luckily I had the
Smarts to snap a picture and just I kind of just hit it in my heart tucked it away didn't say anything to anybody
Well two days later, I went back into my meetings got through my meetings went home two days later
I'm sitting at my dining room table checking email and I get an email from a friend and she says Kim
I know what you're working on and
She was also in the entire human trafficking space and she said for some reason I feel so compelled to
Introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Benny Lou. He runs an organization in
Called world teach in Romania, and that's when the siren started going off in my mind. I said Romania the leaf
Oh my goodness. I looked at the picture
Got up and said to my husband
Have you ever heard of an organization called world teach?
He looked at me kind of strange and explained that yeah
That was the international arm of the organization where he got his start 35 years ago in fundraising and
Her work with their people in Romania, he said sure did I train them all I said
Did you ever know a guy named Benny Lou because Benny he's the rock star world teach. What is going on Kim?
I explained he said you've got to get Benny on the phone
So a couple days later, I called Benny and I start talking with him about the sanctuary model
He starts telling me that he has rescued over
750 people out of trafficking since
2004 and then they've had the exact same vision for a sanctuary. They called there's the butterfly center
We were calling ours the sanctuary. So we put those together in our first one in Romania. It's called the butterfly sanctuary
so it's
Then we get there and we find out guess what?
78% of the survivors found in Europe are Romanian
they're the most trafficked population in all of Europe, so God has directed us to a hotspot a hub and
Later led us to a piece of property
237 acres with beautiful little cabins already built on it outbuildings for our programmatic elements and even came with
12 miniature ponies for our equine therapy program. It's it's paradise. It's incredible. It looks amazing
It looks absolutely amazing. So have you had any?
Because I know the whole kovat thing kind of put a dent in everybody traveling pretty much to anywhere
Internationally, so do you have any survivor stories you can share with us?
Absolutely, I mean since now we're over 800 rescued since Benny started back in 2004 and then we've continued
his work
Right now we have 75 survivors tucked away throughout Europe waiting to come home
This code that messes delayed all that, but we've got 75 tucked away in various safe homes
We're providing for them medically and legally and working on getting them back just as soon as the COVID travel restrictions lift
But yeah, we've got plenty of stories. I think about our first little girl that we rescued
We call her snowy and she was 12 years old when we found her. She had oh, yeah
she had been
trafficked for about two years basically sold by her mother for a bottle of wine and
Found in yeah another country. We managed to get her home to her home country and
She's healing. Well, it's incredible thing that really strikes me with this is the resilience factor
Yeah, this is a little girl that came to us infested with disease and lice and just a mess
Totally broken. I mean her eyes were completely dead, but you know what we placed her with a loving family and
Gave her introduction to trauma-informed therapies and two years later
She is facing it in school like top-notch grades and just was awarded top pianist in her age category for the entire
country Wow
That's the stuff I like to talk about is the future and the hope for these survivors
We've got women that have started businesses, I mean
have families, they rebound in ways that we can't even imagine. I think because
of what they've been through they're actually kind of like superheroes or
superhumans. Their capacity is unbelievable. Well I know just you know
of course my story pales in comparison to something like that but I just I know
that when you are put through something so traumatic at such a young age and God
walks with you through it and then he brings you out on the other side it's
because he has very big things for you to do with that so you know so many of
them yeah so many people don't make it out and you know that's why I'm so
thankful that I'm one of the people that did and I'm not gonna be quiet because
it kind of is like a slap in the face to the Lord because he was there with me
even though I didn't think he was you know I mean you certainly don't think
that you know there that God even sees you when you're in the middle of all of
that right but when you're able to look back and really see what you know his
hand in all of it I mean he has such a purpose and of course they say I think
there's even a song what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right so you know
a lot of these girls if they're just given a chance you know they they can be
amazing contributions not just to society but you know to other people
that are like them that would never have any authority to even speak into their
life if they don't know what they've been through right so those people are
are just so valuable which is why I believe the enemy tries to take him out
so early because he knows what their future you know could could look like
because there's been many that come before them so I'm so excited to hear
that you're that your model and your system is working so that and I so am
excited for when all this travel stuff gets removed to go and actually
personally get to experience you know the sanctuary and to meet some of these
sweet girls I'm so excited about that yeah how how do people you know because
obviously Romania seems like forever away but it's obviously everywhere you
know like you said you get a throw a dart and you'll hit a trafficking
environment right so how do people if they want to get involved in the fight
how do they do that
despite we uncaged and others we need your prayers and so do the survivors so
I would just say you know make that an intentional item in your prayer life
lifting up the survivors and those that are fighting for them I think that's
critical the other thing is give it's it is an expensive project that we've taken
on here you know you can rescue the girls and that's kind of like quick and
easy and not expensive but to restore somebody's body soul mind spirit that's
a two-year process that costs a good bit of money right so if you can invest in
an organization that's making that difference I mean that means that means
everything and then also look for local organizations every city has them that
are that are fighting this fight and and get involved with them see how you can
help what you can donate how you can volunteer your time I think I think
those are the best best options for folks absolutely and then if somebody
wanted to follow uncaged effort in this fight how do they reach out to you get
in touch with you follow you what what is all that we would love that come to
our website it's uncaged you and see a GED uncaged org and through that you can
tap us Facebook Twitter insta all that good stuff we're everywhere and we'd
love to hear from you can register on our website to receive monthly updates
here about the exciting stories and rescues that are occurring in Romania
and all over Europe I love getting those updates my friend who found you at the
Maui Airport and we we talked to each other a lot when we get those because
it's such a unbelievable story it's like we can't even believe what we're
reading and it was it was one of those newsletters that you sent out that
prompted Teresa we got to give a shout out to Teresa hi Teresa and that
prompted her to call me when my brother was here and then that whole part of the
God story was revealed I mean it's just crazy but yeah it's definitely those
those newsletters are so encouraging to see what you guys are actually the
difference that you guys are making and I know from like the feeding programs
that we've been involved with in Africa and stuff anytime you have an
overwhelming problem it's very very tempting to say well we're not even
gonna make a dent in this you know it's just it's too big it's too much but it's
kind of like the saying of you know how do you eat an elephant one bite at a
time right and if I if everybody
took on the attitude of okay well you know we're we're not going to make any
progress yeah then nothing ever gets done but you know my point is you know
one person one person is worth the effort that I know that we put in
because it's just it's life-changing for them so we are so excited about what
you're doing excited to partner with you excited to hear more updates and I would
encourage anyone listening or viewing you have got to got to got to go to the
website and you have got to hear and see everything going on in an uncaged world
it is crazy and it's amazing all at the same time so I would definitely give two
thumbs up and you guys need to go and check it out so Kim thank you so much
for joining us today we are so excited that you are here and so thankful that
we finally got to do this so is there anything else that is is there anything
else that anybody that you would like anybody to know before we sign off
you're welcome thank you so much all right guys well we want you to stay
tuned because next we have an actual potential victim that was targeted to be
trafficked and their story is coming right up so stay tuned welcome back to
Truth Talk and we are now bringing in two special guests Nick Dadich and his
daughter Samira we are so excited to have you guys with us today I know we've
been going back and forth trying to get you guys on Nick I read your infamous
Facebook post and literally just was devastated at just the thought of what
might have gone through your head when your daughter called to tell you about
this experience so if some of you guys don't know maybe after you hear this
story it will ring a little bit ring a little bell because Nick posted
something you know in the last year about an experience that happened to his
daughter and we wanted to bring them on today to just tell you guys that
especially the parents but also the the girls and the teenagers and you know
unfortunately even boys because the target is always you know innocence so
I'm gonna have Samira go ahead and tell me what exactly happened I know you went
to the mall you were having a girls day with your friend it was the two of you
guys at the mall you thought you're just shopping but it turned into a little bit
more than that didn't it yeah so um my best friend Megan and I went to go
surprise my sister at work she works at the cheesecake factory which is connected
to the mall so we were we're done with our shopping you're in line for rolled
ice cream and we were waiting for it I had walked over to look at the map of
the mall we were trying to find one more store before we left and right when
I got back some girl just came out of nowhere like she was probably like in
her 40s she looks very just like a typical mom you would see at the mall
and she was like I'm just gonna tuck your tag in and like by the time I kind
of realized like that's kind of weird I moved away and she was she was gone like
nowhere to be seen so I was just kind of a little bit taken off guard and my
friend Megan she really should be a detective after after this experience
she just kept looking at me and she's like are you okay are you okay I'm like
yeah I'm fine that was just really weird first so we keep walking we get our
rolled ice cream we go to the store and she keeps asking me she's like are you
okay I'm like okay well now you're making me nervous like I'm gonna throw
up let's just okay okay let's go to the bathroom I'm like let's just go outside
you know maybe some fresh air and I don't want to go to the bathroom because
if anything did happen like this is the stories you hear like something happens
they make you sick to go to the bathroom and then it's kind of goes down over
there so we went outside so there for a few minutes and then like instantly I
just dropped my bags and my ice cream just like and I just kind of shut off it
was like a flip switch my knees just like it's almost like my knees were
locked and then they bent I almost fell and she
didn't really know what to do. So she called my mom, my mom,
who was working, and my mom had then used her clients phones, my
mom does nails, she used her clients phone to call them all
security. So we end up going back inside. And at this point,
like I wasn't verbal, I wasn't speaking, Megan was kind of
dragging me around. And we get inside, security ends up meeting
us there. My mom got ahold of my sister, who lives in
Columbus. So she came to the mall. And we kind of all just
met up at one time. And while Megan and I were waiting for
security and my sister, there was a guy kind of like
lingering around us on the phone. And then you look at his
phone, look at us. So she kept dragging me along, like moving,
probably 10 feet away, and he'd keep following us. So luckily,
that's when security showed up. And we went to the food court
and just sat down, they got me water. And so they ended up
just basic asking me a bunch of questions. And they ended up
calling EMS and they came in and took me out to their truck and
checked all my vitals and all that fun stuff. But they
couldn't do like the blood test in the truck. So they asked if I
wanted to go to the hospital, but I didn't because I was I was
my sister and my friend. I'm like, you know, let me just
relax and call my mom at least talk to some by this time,
probably been about two hours. I was finally talking a little
bit more and realizing Oh my gosh, that actually just
happened. Because that's stuff you see like on the news. And
I'm like, so and then we ended up just leaving and I had to
call and do all like the legal stuff like the police report.
And then my dad had posted that on Facebook. And about, I would
say about like a month after he posted it. I got a call when I
was walking to class around like 9am from the Columbus PD. And
they said that the attention was drawn to their or the case I'm
sorry, the case was drawn to their attention. And they wanted
to investigate so gave them more in depth details, and they
checked footage and whatnot. So but I was told that they could
have used if you've ever seen like during COVID on the key
pads at stores, they have those little finger covers. So when
you touch the screen, the officer on the phone told me it
could have been something like that. Because he said, was she
wearing a glove? And I said, not that I mean, I barely saw her,
but I feel the glove would have been very noticeable for anybody
in the mall. So he said it was probably one of those because a
lot of people use stuff like that, that's clear. And super
like tight to your hands, you can't see it. So
just to be clear, whatever she whatever her intention was,
because you know, nobody can really know what her intention
was, because it didn't go down the way she probably wanted it
to. But what they found was that there was something on
either her finger or on the finger covering that she had on
that ended up getting on the tag that she was trying to tuck back
in to your shirt. Is that right?
Yeah, so that was their assumption, because I ended up
going the next morning to get a blood test. And they said it
would it would have already been out of my system. So but he did
tell me it's like, I don't know the exact word, but it's almost
like some kind of oil. And he said it would it would have
touched my back. And once it touches the top of your skin, it
goes into your bloodstream. Hmm. So and my friend Megan was
saying, I don't even know if your tag was out. Like I feel
like I would have noticed I was just wearing a tank top. So it
was a pretty decent size tag for just a tank top and I had a
sweater on. And she goes, I didn't even notice it was out.
So but whatever it was, it was like skin. It was on my skin,
which is my assumption because I guess I can't really like
clarify that's exactly it. But that was what the officer was
telling me.
And whatever was this substance that that touched your skin is
what created the debilitation for you when your knees buckled
and you dropped your ice cream. And yeah, okay. Yeah.
So, so did they ever find on the surveillance tape? Did they ever
see the girl that or the mom figure whoever did that to you?
So I never had I've never gotten a call since that day. But I'm
really not sure because she was she had her I think she had her
hood up if I remember correctly.
I mean, it was like a basic thing you would see in a movie.
She was wearing all black, black hoodie.
So I'm not sure what they ended up finding,
but they pretty much just asked me more detail
of exactly where I was at, what I was wearing,
what my friend Megan was wearing,
the best description I could give of her.
So I haven't really looked into it much.
I feel like I would have gotten a call,
but at the same time, at this point,
it's almost like out of my hands,
like the police were kind of handling it.
So maybe they wouldn't have called me
if they did find anything.
So I haven't really checked in on that lately.
Wow.
Well, as a mom, I can tell you that,
first of all, I'm so glad it was nothing more than that.
Obviously, any kind of stranger approaching my child
and then having a reaction like that
would be very disheartening and very concerning.
I may not let you out of the house for a while,
but Nick, what, you know,
obviously like thousands of people
have read your Facebook posts,
but I mean, what in the world,
I mean, how did that make you feel?
Obviously at the time you were 18 when that happened,
correct, Samira?
Yes.
Okay, so technically, you know, she's a grown adult,
but all parents know, you know, they're always our babies.
So at what point, you know, I mean, I'm thinking,
you know, how do you ever let her, you know,
ever leave the house ever again?
You know, I would be so afraid of what else is out there.
I mean, who thinks of something like that?
I mean, you just wonder what goes through people's minds
to have some substance.
I mean, although they say there's so many kids today
literally dying the very first time they take one pill
just because of the teeny amount of fentanyl
that's on the pill that, you know,
even touching it can do some horrible damage.
So there's obviously all kinds of street drugs out there
that you have no idea and, you know,
they're using those things to get to our children.
So, I mean, what did that make you feel like as a parent?
Well, I will say this.
I was a little bit more calm considering the timeline
because she called me.
Samira, what month was it when that happened?
It was, I believe it was like August 11th.
So, okay, there you go.
So yeah, it was about six months ago.
So, but the timeline, because she called me
after everything was already under control.
Like she called me after she had already met
with the mall security and the ambulance.
So at that time I knew it was okay.
And I just remember, I was like,
me and Samira's mom are divorced.
So we live in different houses, not too far apart,
but then Samira was staying with her mom at that time.
But, you know, I'm always the jealous dad.
I'm like, you know, call me,
come spend time with me, whatever.
So I was, my first thing was,
I said, why didn't you call me instantly?
You know, if I'm good at anything,
it's being that protector.
And she's like, dad, I just know you're, you know,
you're how emotional you are.
You would have been in your car
and doing 110 miles an hour to get down here to Columbus.
Cause we're in town, we're about two hours away.
And I'm like, absolutely, I would have.
Right.
So instantly, that's what I thought.
But I was, at the same time, I was pretty calm.
Cause when she told me what happened,
I was more in shock of the story.
And I don't want to sound like an uncaring dad,
but I wasn't as concerned about her, like I said,
just because of the timeline.
Had she called me and said, dad,
hey, listen, this is where I'm at Easton mall.
And this, someone just put something on me
and I'm feeling not,
then it would have been a completely different Nick Dadich.
Again, probably would have been doing 110,
getting down there.
So I'd give her credit for that.
You know, just, you know, and something else she had,
she had told me too.
She said when she wasn't feeling good
and Megan was saying, you know, let's go in the bathroom.
And I remember Samira telling me
that she told Megan, like, no, whoever,
if that girl put something on me,
they're probably waiting to beat us up in the bathroom.
So, you know, your listeners really can't tell,
but Samira is a above average size girl.
She's not a skinny mini.
She's healthy.
She was an athlete.
And what the thing that I think of is
if it made her that weak, just that little bit,
I mean, what if it's just a, you know,
your normal size, skinny little college,
but what does that do to them?
You know, how much more does it knock it out?
Does it give, you know, the predator time to, you know,
if it disorients you for 30 seconds, a minute or whatever.
And then from there, who knows?
I don't know if it's about the trafficking.
It could just be about.
out, we want to take your purse.
We could have been, you know, I like him.
I liken that to people that, you know, who key cars or send computer viruses.
They never see the end result.
Um, they're just doing it to, to hurt people.
And I, you know, like I mentioned before we came on the show, I don't
know what their intention was, but it wasn't noble by any stretch.
No.
And in today's day and age, unfortunately, you know, you, you just can't be too
careful it, you know, like my grandparents like never locked their doors and, you
know, kids would play in the street until dark and, you know, I mean, it, it is such
a different world that we live in.
And so many of these people are coming up with creative ways to get to our kids.
And so, you know, my job as a mom and your job, obviously, as a
dad is to protect our children.
And I would personally rather err on the side of caution and be overly
protective than I would to go, Oh, well, you know, it's probably, you know, they
probably weren't really trying to do anything bad to her, you know, obviously
there was something that, you know, they had ill intentions there.
It's just, it's crazy to me something, because I think about, I, if I had a tag
sticking out, I would appreciate somebody tucking it in and I've done the same
thing to other people, other strangers.
And I, I take it as an act of kindness because you don't want anybody walking
around with their tags sticking out.
You know, it's like somebody that, you know, tucks their skirt into their
pantyhose, you know, you're like, Oh, excuse me, I don't want to embarrass
you, but I, you may want to go check that out, you know, I mean, you're
really just trying to be kind.
And then they take this kind gesture that a normal thinking human being would just
be trying to help someone and they turn that into something very dangerous
potentially, you know, and it just, it's really sad that we have to deal
with stuff like that today, you know, but you really just cannot be too careful.
No.
And when you, what, everything you're saying is right in it, you're kind of
just when you hear good stories about and have faith in people and humankind,
you know, mankind, and then something like this happens, it makes you take a
step back and, and, you know, before Samara went to school, I mean, I own a
bar and grill up here in Talmadge, Ohio.
And, um, we, you know, I would talk to her before she went to school and her
sister, when she went to school and our sister is down in Columbus.
So she's farther away.
Samara is only about 10, 15 minutes away from me now, maybe five miles as the crow
flies, but I told him, I said, listen, you know, you're going to go to college.
Don't assume anything.
You know, you go to the bathroom, you take your drink with you or you finish.
You go in pairs, you never let someone buy you a drink.
If, if, if they do, you're right next to them and you see the bartender
make it and hand it to you.
Don't take your eye off of it.
You know, when you're walking with friends, walk with your, you know, your
purse is carrying them on the inside of each other and just things like that.
Like I never, it just never occurred to me that something would go this far, you
know, or I, as far as there's something I didn't cover, you know, just because, you
know, when you're on a bar, you've seen quite a bit, you've probably seen more
social, you know, good things and those than the common person working in a
cubicle that are landlocked or, you know, office locked, but, um, so you think you
can cover everything and you just don't.
So, and I, you know, I told you before the show and I really, before it became a
popular song, um, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Um, my dad, that was his expression, you know, um, he would, he would, you
know, something bad happened.
You're like, you're all right, you're okay.
All right, then learn from it, you know?
So in this case, we're really lucky that we got a chance to learn from it.
I haven't really talked to Samir much about us in some, but I know that
every time she goes out, she's never alone, you know, she's always with a
friend, um, you can't expect to always be like that, but I think she's, and she
would have to speak to it more directly than I can for her, but I think she's
become more, a little more conscious about her surroundings, um, and is more
aware that, Hey, there's, there's trouble lurking at every corner if you let it.
So, like I said, I'm glad it happened to her now, knowing that she's okay.
Um, because it's, you know, it just chalks that up to a life experience.
It makes her smarter with her decisions.
And also, you know, your college, every kid starts, gets this college,
they start drinking, they start.
And you don't know how you're, you're going to react and how you're going to
handle certain things if you're under an influence.
So it's also helped her, um, because having a bar, you know, she, she works
for me after work, she'll have a drink with her friend or whatever,
but she's always in control.
She's always made, um, good decisions, uh, with, um, her, um, you know, driving
or her friends, or so all of that combined has really helped to, to motor,
I think, to be safer than the average Jane.
Um, but hopefully with this podcast that you're putting out, people are just aware.
It's not to scare anybody because, you know, really it's like chances of a happening.
Two are very slim, but the consequences, if it does, are a lot worse than the same
odds of hitting the lottery, you know, real lives we're dealing with and, and
the, and the ugliest part of our humanity.
Absolutely.
Well, Samira is there, you know, that's really good wisdom that your dad, um,
has said you obviously, you know, are going to try to be with a friend, you
know, whenever you're out and, you know, watching, you know, for what's happening
in your immediate surroundings.
Is there any other lesson that you've learned that you want to share with, you
know, your peer group or even maybe, you know, kids that are younger than you,
but are just hanging out at the mall?
Yeah.
So I know like a few things, um, that I did before this experience
that I never will do again.
Always, we just have a local mall.
Um, if I have to make a return or I'm just looking for one thing, just a quick
mall trip, I'll just go run in there and leave just by myself.
Like it's no big deal.
It's, it's like 20 minutes from my house.
Um, so that's the big thing is, uh, going places by myself.
I mean, granted, like I know where I can go by myself and where I
take someone with me for sure.
Um, then another thing is just don't let anybody touch you.
It's very basic, but nobody should be close enough to you where they are able
to put a hand on you for any reason.
I mean, granted, it was a hard situation because she was literally gone in the
blink of an eye by the time I realized it happened, she was gone, but it's just
being very like aware of your surroundings, which I thought I was.
I thought I usually am, but you know, stuff can sneak up on you like that.
So for sure, just not going anywhere by yourself and knowing your surroundings,
I think is two very big takeaways for me.
Um, and even like being at school, I have a few classes that end at five when like
in the winter time, it sun starts to set.
So even like just texting a friend and being like, Hey, I'm getting back to my
dorm at this time, just so, you know, somebody's always expecting you.
So if you don't show up or something happens, somebody knows.
Right.
Yeah, it's, it's definitely better to be safe than sorry.
I, um, I, I totally just think that's just good common sense.
So, well, we're so thankful that nothing worse happened to you.
I hate that you did have to have that experience at all.
And, um, but you've probably saved somebody's life that would not otherwise
have even paid attention to that.
But somebody has definitely between you telling your own story and your dad
sharing it with, you know, hundreds of thousands of people all over Facebook
has definitely heard your story.
And, um, like your dad said, if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger.
And hopefully you are definitely stronger because of the situation.
And I know for me, one thing that I've definitely learned is, you know, you
can't put your faith or trust in any person, you know, I trust God and God
alone, and then I trust God with the people he brings into my life and if he
removes them, you know, so be it, but, um, you just, you know, man by nature
is, is, you know, depraved and, you know, our hearts are wicked, but, um, some
like just go further than we would ever have imagined.
And so I'm grateful that that attempt did not do anything more to you than it,
than it did, and that you're willing to share it with us.
So thank you.
Thank both of y'all so much for coming on and Nick, thank you so much for working
with us to put all this together so that we could tell Samira's story.
And, um, is there anything either of you would like to add for the
viewers before we, before we go?
Nope.
The only thing I would say is just teach your kids, you know, don't, don't assume
they know it because even though they think they know everything at 18 going
into college, there's probably some things that you could share with them.
Even if it's, you feel like it's belaboring it, do it.
The regret of not doing it after something's happened.
That's right.
Yeah.
There's a lot of times I talk to my children and I know they don't want to
hear it, but I can't not tell them in good conscience because I know the dangers
that could be out there facing them, you know, and it is, like you said, it's not
to scare anybody, it's simply to make them aware.
So that's great.
Well, you guys, thank you so much.
And we appreciate you guys coming on for our audience.
We just want to thank you for tuning in to another episode of Truth Talk
and we will see you next time.
Thanks for watching!