The Life of Brenda Myers-Powell Brenda Myers-Powell is the founder of the Dreamcatcher Foundation which fights sex trafficking. She grew up on the West Side of Chicago in the 1960s. Her mother was 16 when she had Brenda and died when Brenda was only six months old, leaving her under the care of her grandmother. Unfortunately, her grandmother had a drinking problem and she would have different male company coming over to drink with her. As early as four years old, her grandmother`s male company would sexually abuse her while her grandmother was passed out in the house. As a child, not understanding what was going on and being threatened not to tell anyone. They would even wait till she was home from school to have their chance because they …show more content…
These men had no remorse or control because they knew it was okay to do whatever they wanted to Brenda since she was being paid. Most of the time she would have a knife to her throat, a man strangling her or holding a pillow to her face trying to try and suffocate her. Brenda witnessed many young girls like herself and other women killed but she had no one to run too neither could she report these crimes to the police because the police never cared about what happened to prostitutes. To numb her pain, she turned to cocaine as an escape, enduring her abuse just like she had as a child because she felt trapped. This went on for 25 years until April 1st, 1997 when she was nearly 40 years old. A Client had thrown her out of his car and her dress got caught on the car door and before she knew it, he had sped off, dragging her along for six blocks. She was found by the side of the road and rushed to the hospital while the police were called. Once they saw her, they couldn’t care less because they knew who she was and felt she deserved what she got. At that moment, Brenda decided enough was enough and after she was treated, she left and went to the Genesis