Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Arlington offered a Mass July 10 for an end to human trafficking and for the repose of the soul of Barbara Amaya, a speaker and advocate for victims of human trafficking. Amaya died Jan. 20, aged 67.
A proud mother to her daughter, Bianca Johnson, Amaya spent her adult life spreading awareness of human trafficking and advocating for victims of human trafficking and domestic violence.
Amaya was born July 10, 1956, in Alexandria and grew up in Fairfax. At age 12, Amaya was picked up by traffickers in Washington and taken to New York City. There, she endured a cycle of sexual and physical abuse from trafficking. After more than a decade of suffering, Amaya escaped New York when she was 24.
In 2012, Amaya started traveling as a speaker and advocate for victims of human trafficking, notably delivering a TEDx Talk in 2015 on her experiences. That same year, she published her memoir, “Nobody’s Girl.” She held a PhD in psychology and was awarded the James B. Hunter Human Rights Award in 2014 and the ATI Survivor Leadership Advocacy Award in 2021.
Before Amaya’s death, she began attending Our Lady of Lourdes. Shortly before her death, she expressed a desire to enter the Catholic Church. Father Frederick Edlefsen, pastor, administered the sacraments of initiation Dec. 3, welcoming Amaya into the church. She died less than two months later.
“She was so at peace,” said Erin Benbennick, Amaya’s friend and organizer of the Memorial Mass. After receiving her first Communion, Amaya had told Benbennick, “that Jesus had come into her and was there and would be with her through everything.”
In his homily at the July 10 Mass, Father Edlefsen said that — like Amaya’s confirmation saint, St. Thérèse of Lisieux — Amaya would “through her prayers spend her heaven doing good on earth, especially for the victims of human trafficking and people who suffer these kinds of indignities.”
“She did not like being considered a victim or just a survivor. She was a victor,” Benbennick said.
Amaya is survived by her daughter, Bianca, as well as her three grandchildren, Jaedyn, Tristan, and Avery.
