Fort Worth woman helped Ukrainian refugees avoid trafficking. What she saw on her trip
Allison Byrd was on a mission trip in Florida during her spring break when she got an urgent phone call asking her to drop everything and go to Poland to help inform Ukrainian refugees on how to recognize and avoid trafficking.
Byrd, 22, of Fort Worth, is in her first year at Texas A&M University Law School. She also is the outreach coordinator for eastern Europe with the nonprofit Unbound, an organization that works to educate women and girls about how to avoid being victims of trafficking.
The call came from her long-time mentor, Susan Peters, the global director for Unbound.
“I said no way. I have to go to school — I’m in the middle of writing a trial brief.”
However, Byrd got another call from her mentor asking her to go to look at what was needed to help refugees avoid being trafficked., and she spent Saturday, March 12, booking her flights. She took a property law exam the morning of March 14 and was on a flight to Poland that afternoon.
“I said, this is not practical, but my heart is there,” she recalled.
Peters said she wouldn’t take no as an answer.
“Allison is a very strategic thinker. Her networking skills are exceptional,” Peters said.
Peters added that it takes “very special skills” to go into a crisis situation and figure out what needs to be done.
Byrd, who returned from her trip on Sunday, said she didn’t know anyone in Poland, but contacted an official she knows at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe who is familiar with trafficking, and he gave her numbers of people to contact.
By coincidence, she met Fort Worth police Lt. Pawel Nabialek on the flight to Warsaw. He is also volunteering his time to help refugees.
Concerns about trafficking are increasing as millions of women and children fled Ukraine after Russia invaded Feb. 24.
The United Nations estimates that as of March 18, over 3 million people fled Ukraine, and is working with organizations to get the word out about the increased risks of trafficking.
Byrd is well-versed in educating women and girls about trafficking. She spent time in Indonesia as a teenager meeting with girls in red light districts who were financially supporting their families
While she was in elementary school Byrd recalled traveling to Kenya with her father, former Fort Worth city council member Brian Byrd, who volunteered with prison ministries . She also went to Greece with her father to help Syrian refugees.
Meeting Ukrainian refugees
When Byrd landed in Warsaw, she took an Uber to the main train station and began handing out the pink cards she brought with information on ways to avoid trafficking.
Her next stop was the Krakow train station.
The women told heart-wrenching stories of being uprooted from their homes, not knowing where they would go once they left Ukraine.
They talked about leaving their husbands and brothers, she said.
Refugees told her about having to leave their homes that were passed down from one generation to the next.
Another woman told Byrd that all she wanted was to see clear skies instead of skies filled with bombs.
“I’m still processing what I saw. I’m a get the job done girl, and I was trying to keep my emotions at bay helping these girls make good decisions,” she said.
Byrd described crossing the border at Medyka and saw there were no resources on the Ukrainian side.
“There were no diapers and no wipes,” she said.
Once the women crossed into Poland, they could get food, sim cards, diapers and information from the government.
The train stations Byrd visited were teeming with refugees, many waiting for 48 hours to begin the next phase of their journey.
Byrd described the scene at the train station in Przemyśl where refugees tried to sleep while figuring out where to go next. Cars and buses lined up in front of the station where drivers offered to take refugees to Berlin, Warsaw or to their homes. There were wonderful people who were there to help, but there were people with bad intentions, Byrd said.
“These women are desperate; they are sleep deprived, and they are desperate to change their kids’ diapers,” she said.
They often let their guard down. Byrd said when she handed out cards, she made sure to point out questions to ask drivers such as the person’s name, where they are from and they’re willing to drive men along with women and children.
Byrd described how she walked up to cars and asked the drivers about their backgrounds, and where they were from. In the space of 30 minutes, Byrd said she identified two potential traffickers and reported them to authorities. The men changed their stories when they were questioned, she said.
Asked if she was frightened when she approached the men in their vehicles, Byrd said: “I just had this sense of courage. If this was my sister, if this was my kid getting into that car. The guys were probably armed and had financial incentives.”
Future plans
Byrd said she hopes to go back to do more work with the Ukrainian refugees.
She is finishing her first year of law school, and will have a summer internship with the Cantey Hanger law firm and a Blackstone legal fellowship in Washington.
But she has a heart to help people around the world.
“I hesitate to put anything in stone because 10 days ago, I didn’t know I was going to Poland,” Byrd said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 5:30 AM.