For 2014 we took our message to campus!
On Monday, December 8, 2014 the P. Luna Foundation set up an information/video booth at the University's
Cesar Chavez Student Center.
The volunteers that day were met at San Francisco State University with hundreds of interested and enthusiastic students coming up to the booth to collect cause buttons, posters, information and t-shirts! Many left video comments that we will be featuring in our 2015 Annual Video. It was an amazing day for the cause.
Thank You SFSU!
Media:
We did one internet radio show in 2014 with the Stop Child Abuse Now Show hosted by Advocate Bill Murray. This show featured DeWayne Watts, author of “The Boy in The Wood” and “David's Mark.” It was a show where the guest really opened up and you could tell he was not comfortable talking about his past but the courage he showed as you listen is very inspiring. Hear the interview and read my book review below.
“Being a person who runs a nonprofit that fights against child abuse and exploitation, I have read many books of people’s testimonies accounting their past child abuse, but this one took real courage to write because the author is not only a man, but is still under threat from his abusers to this day. The book is a mixture of truthful accounts mixed with sensationalized fiction in the form of a novel. The things that were truthful were terrible and shocking but the parts that are not true for the main character of this book, are all but true for many boys that are exploited for sex through human trafficking and in their local communities. Communities where the boys that are sold for sex have no one to report these crimes to, because the people they should be reporting it to, are their perpetrators. I’m so tired of this subject being swept under the rug! David’s Mark is a great book to expose the emotional torture, near fatal physical abuse and unspeakable sexual abuse that really does happen to millions of children every day. And even though it may be hard to read for someone who is not normally exposed to these types of stories, it is still a book that needs and deserves to be read. I believe awareness is the best way to grab the conscience of society and inspire change. Well done DeWayne!
B. Ochoa Executive Director of the P. Luna Foundation
Thank you for the chance to do the interview. “David’s mark” was extracted from my complete autobiography that I spent over 7 years researching. It was a very difficult time to discover my memories had validation, it was also heart breaking to learn it was true. The published version “David’s mark” contains all true facts unless otherwise stated in the book, of course some names were altered and many of the events were combined or moved in the time frame of my life to make it difficult to sort out facts that could harm the innocent.
Since the interview I learned Doc’s (my birth dad) last wife had allowed one of the men in my past to move in with her. That man was also Doc’s lifelong friend and is in the book “David’s mark”. I also learned they bought and read the book, the first comment “Clifford” made was “I want to kill that d***** “DeWayne”. Needless to say it had me concerned, but I then learned that he is fearful of what is in my unpublished autobiography. To quote him “what ever is in there could send me to jail for the rest of my life.” He is correct.
So where do I stand today?
I have been diagnosed with bipolar, BPD and Complex PSTD II (street name PTSD level black). I spent over 3 years searching for a qualified psychotherapist who was trained to deal with my diagnosis as well as severe childhood abuse. A few months ago I found one. He was referred to me by a published psychotherapist and he is humble enough to admit he does not have all the answers. I have to drive over 200 miles every week to see him, but being healthy is the value we place on ourselves.
So I hope people understand boys are sexually abused but the media calls it “male prostitution, boys being boys” or what ever else they must tell themselves. Many boys are afraid to speak out because boys are not suppose to express their emotions, or they are afraid of being gay, or because they got an erection it had to mean they wanted/enjoyed it. None of those are true. Boys need to be allowed to express their fear, their pain and their hurt for others to know and understand, it happens to us boys too.