The Survivors Nobody Built a Shelter For

Brandon Andres Green, host of Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa, sits down with Kwami Adobe-Herrera of Teleios, Inc. to talk about the urgent need for safe housing, healing, and long-term support for male survivors of sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

Kwami shares how Teleios grew out of his own experience as a survivor and his search for a place that actually felt safe. Rather than building a program that tries to “save” people, Kwami explains why his mission is to walk alongside survivors, give them real choices, and help them rebuild with housing, clinical care, education, job support, and community.

This conversation exposes one of the biggest blind spots in the trafficking conversation: men and boys are victims too, but many never receive the space to grieve, heal, or even be believed. Kwami explains why male survivors are often overlooked, misunderstood, or treated like perpetrators before anyone stops to ask what happened to them.

You’ll also hear the meaning behind the name Teleios, the funding gap that keeps survivors stuck in temporary hotel stays, and why a dedicated home for male survivors could change the recovery path for men coming out of exploitation.

This episode was recorded on Kwami’s birthday, which made the conversation even more meaningful. If you care about survivor-centered solutions, human trafficking awareness, trauma-informed support, or safer communities, this is a conversation worth hearing.

Male survivors need more than awareness. They need a safe place to become whole.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Brandon Andres Green.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you looking for a local nonprofit bringing safe, trauma-informed support to male survivors of human trafficking? Well, one might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Juame Adobo Haram.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Thank you for having me on your show today.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

So we're all excited to hear about Helios and um everything that you're doing. I consider to be quite remarkable. Um, but before we do, I just want to uh take a moment to say happy birthday. Today's your birthday, and I so appreciate you taking the time to be on our show for your birthday, and I know you're a busy man.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Oh, thank you very much. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

So, Kwame, how's it going? We're excited to learn all about uh talios and the support you provide to male survivors of human trafficking.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Yeah, absolutely.

Why Telios Exists

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Thank you for getting me this platform again. Uh, like I said, uh my name is Kwame Adobe Herrera. I'm here in Cleveland, Ohio. Um Telio was born out of uh my own uh personal pain, um, which I turned into purpose. Um growing, you know, well, I was you know child liberal traffic survivor. Uh I struggled a lot uh as my youth uh trying to find a place to go. And uh as an adult, I felt the same problem. And so about six years ago, I decided to do something that most people don't want to do, and that is to um create a safe space for male survivors of both sex and labor to feel comfortable. And so I started Calios, and Calios' purpose is to support male survivors by providing them shelter uh as much as long as they can, uh they want, and in the meantime, um trying to give them the support they need if they need clinical, if they need education, continuous education, and want to provide that for them if they want to go back, you know, if they want a job, whatever they need, uh televis is there to support them as much as they can and uh also connect them to society according to uh community members so that they can be they can they can be productive members to society. So that's the goal, you know. And my goal is to to work alongside male survivors. My I'm not here to save anybody, I'm not here to rescue anybody, I'm here to walk alongside the male survivors that are in need of my help, and uh and I'm gonna do so uh with you know with God on my side and with purpose and with uh resiliency, so and with hope, because I think that we all need hope, and so that's the purpose of Teleos, is to provide a home for male survivors because we don't have any at all in our country, and if we do, there's one, but it's only for sex traffic survivors, nothing for labor. And so I want to be able to find a way to help other male survivors who are in need of help right now. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

I have so many questions. Um, yeah, do you uh and what does the name mean?

The Meaning Behind Telios

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah, italios uh is uh is a Greek word for uh uh how to uh to be perfect. Um, so I I I essentially came upon this uh name for the organization through a biblical passage from uh Matthew's chapter 5, verse 48. It says, be therefore perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect. And so the word perfect in Greek means to be whole, to be complete. Um, so the reason for that is that me, myself, and my other brother survivors, one thing we do share in common is that the isolation and the sense of not belonging instead of being incomplete. And why? Because we have the choice that was taken away from us from our our perpetrator, we want to gain that back. I want to be we feel incomplete without that choice, and so if I can be able to provide somebody the choice to do what they want, then I they have complete themselves because what is complete for me is complete for you, Brendan, Brendan. For you, it might be something to for me. I have always been that one in the family. I want to finish school and I've accomplished those two. I finished college and I have a beautiful wife and three kids. So for me, I have I'm living on my talios, I'm living in my completeness of what that means to me. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

And are you it seems like what you're doing is uh almost revolutionary. Is there anyone else in the US that's doing this? Are you the only safe haven, particularly for male survivors?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

As far as I'm concerned, there's one in Texas. Um and they work with sex traffic survivors. Uh, they are looking to expand with us foreign taxes. I'm in the Midwest, and there's nothing in the Midwest. And uh and uh and also Tales is not only doing for sex traffic survivors. I want to focus on also on labor trafficking as well, too. So then that to me, that setting me aside, and that being my I'm the only person, uh my organization is the only one that is trying to serve both sex surviving sex traffic and labor traffic survivors right now.

Funding And Housing Roadblocks

SPEAKER_00 5:41

And how's that going? It's it's it's as fun, it is fun, it's also very difficult because funding is very hard to come by, and uh, as of right now, we are seeking to find properties where we can start housing the males. Um, because what's happening is that we are sending them to hotels for a couple days and then they are released back into uh into society and we don't know where they are going. And so for me, that that hurts. That hurts me a lot that I'm not able to be with my brother survivors who I can be in communion with you know when they need me. Uh send them to hotels. It's not the proper way, it's not the way I want to do things, but that's all I have right now, and that's the only thing I have. If I can have more funding to fund a property that can you know serve five to ten male survivors, that would be awesome. But right now I just don't have the space um to do that. And uh it truly is uh one of the hardest things as we are talking right now, as we are speaking, is the hardest thing for me is to admit is that I don't have funding. Funding is a very important part of what I'm doing, and and uh I want to be able to I want to be able to fund the work that I'm doing, I want to be able to provide for the males that are in my care. And right now, I don't have anyone in my care right now because there's no space. I don't have the housing, I don't have the uh the property to to house them. So it's it's very painful uh to admit it.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

And how do you usually come about funding? Who are who would be like your primary donors? Who are you trying to get the word out to regarding funding?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, I want to really I want this to be to my uh audience. I want to hear from is no no businesses, you know, uh and private private donations, you know. Government funding is obviously very hard to come by right now, so I need the public to know that this organization is not going to be successful by itself. It needs others. We need each other's. And this is I keep telling other people, and when I talk to people, I say, this is not just for me, this is for this is for the greater good of our society. I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this for the greater good for society, those who have been left behind, those who have that don't have space to speak up. I want to be able to change that narrative. Like males need space to grieve, and right now, it's just no space for them to grieve. We need to be we need to fast that space, and I think I'm the only one that can do that right now. And without you, for me to do that, I need all the helps I can get now from private donations, from the public, from businesses, whatever that looks like a help to help to support this mission.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

You know, it's a worthy mission.

Misconceptions And Mental Health Needs

SPEAKER_01 8:18

So, what's one misconception people seem to have about male survivors of human trafficking that you wish more people just simply understood?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Yeah, um it happens to males and boys. I think right as a society we don't see males being the victims. We see them as the perpetrators. Therefore, this is the misconception of oh the males is always a perpetrator, they're always a John. Yeah, it's true, but also there are other males that are being trafficked, they are a victim, they are in need of help, and society doesn't see that. And because they don't see that, they don't get the help. We don't give them the space to grieve. And if it's a male survivor there, it's hard for them to come forward to admit the fact that they are being trafficked. Why? Because society has this imposed this uh stigma on males saying that you should be strong, you should you don't need help, you should keep your emotions to yourself, but that's not true. That is just not true. I have the right to grieve as much as my my female uh uh survivor friends. I have the right to grieve, and we need to have space for that. And right now there's no space, and that's one of the biggest misconceptions that males are always males are always the perpetrator, never a victim. And if they're a victim, well, suck it up, suck it up, and you figure it out, and that's hard. One of the biggest challeng challenges that not knowing how long not knowing what the food is gonna come from is is very hard. Mental health, they struggle. One of the biggest challenges I face, and I see a lot is mental health. They want to be they just they want constantly because as from my own personal view, from my personal experience, isolation was very, very, it still is very it's something I I grieve a lot. I feel isolated from other brother survivors, and uh they want to be in convenience, they want to be in a space where they can talk to other male survivors, and that is one of the hardest things males struggle with who have gone through this, that they don't have nobody to talk with. And if I can be somebody they can talk to, if I can be a face that they can talk to, and that's what I want to provide, that's what I want to give them. I want to give them a safe space, I want to give them a space where they can grieve, and that's that's what comes, that's what it comes with to the door. They feel isolated and just loneliness because they for all they'll for what I see is that they're just so lonely, they're just so lonely, and they just feel the sense of being where they can belong. The sense of belonging is very, very hard, and that is what I want to change.

Awareness Work And Prevention

SPEAKER_01 11:47

And how do you share awareness? You use any sort of media, do you do speaking or content?

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah, um, I do a lot of public speaking, I do other events throughout the state of Ohio and to the communities. Um, and I try to, and I'm also doing stuff with survivors across the country, and we are just in a few weeks here, a few in a few days here, we are going to be doing um financial literacy with uh male survivors and also uh female survivors as well too, who are interested in learning about finance and how they can better themselves and when it comes to opening the back account. So these are different things that I do on my you know on day on a day-to-day basis, you know, um working with my community member, talking to other people and making sure that they are aware of this issue, that males are also being trafficked, because that is the hardest thing to get people's minds that they don't see us being victims, they don't see us at all, they don't see males as being victims, and that's my goal is always preaching to them that males are also a victim and they need help. And so I that's what I do mostly. Then uh I'm also a teacher, you know, and I talk to my kids about this all the time. Like they need to be careful what they're posting online, they need to be careful what they're hanging out with because it is you just never know because you just never know. Human traffic doesn't have a doesn't have a profile. Anyone traffic anytime, anyone, child, adults, it doesn't matter. It human traffic doesn't discriminate against a person, it does not. Whatever there is opportunity, whenever there's a vulnerability, somebody's going to take a chance, that person, and use them for commodity. And so I make sure that I tell my students and I make sure I tell the people that I'm working with, and uh also when I'm out there doing speaking engagement or doing events, whatever that is, I make sure people know that that anyone of us can be become a victim anytime.

Coping, Contact Info, Closing

SPEAKER_01 14:00

And Kwame, it's such a uh difficult subject to deal with. What do you do outside of work for fun? Yeah, no, I try to decompress a little.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, I try to stay um stay close to nature as much. Nature is my safe haven. Um being able to be in nature and seeing God in nature is one of the greatest great the greatest things for me to feel a sense of peace that I need. And also talking to my wife and my kid. And my kids bring me so much joy. Uh, because I know that what I'm doing, I'm doing for them, for their future. Making sure that their feet that they can be in society where they feel protected, where they have to constantly look behind themselves, they don't have to constantly look behind themselves and say, Is somebody follow me? Am I in trouble? I want them to grow up in society where they feel comfortable. And so when I feel a sense of discouragement or sense of sadness, I take it to God and I take it to nature, and I just talk to God. And if I need more support, I talk to my wife, um, because she's she's my partner, she's she she's she's everything to me. And so I shared, I shared that with her as well, too. And so she can help me and grieve with me as well, too. So those are ways I I found that's the way I my ways of a coping mechanism for me is uh being able to talk to my wife and God and being in nature.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

That's amazing. Kwame, how can listeners learn more about Telios and support the mission and connect so they can help?

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Yeah, absolutely. Um uh you can they can always go into our website, uh, is taliospath.org. Um, that's where they can find it. They can donate. We have uh they can donate on the website. And also uh my email is uh kwami at taliospath.org. Uh they can email me there. It's kwam i at taliospath.org. You can email me there and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

We wish you and the best moving forward. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gmptulsa.com. That's gmptulsa.com or call 918 36 6356.