After a deadly wildfire tore through Maui in August 2023, community organizer Khara Jabola-Carolus set out to ask women how they were faring after the disaster. She teamed up with fellow community organizer Nadine Ortega to co-found Tagnawa, a grassroots recovery organization to meet the needs of Filipinos and other marginalized groups on the island.
There are plenty of statistics and anecdotes documenting the abuse and violence women have had to endure following natural disasters. Still, what Jabola-Carolus learned was startling: Of the 70 Filipino women Tagnawa surveyed, one in six said they felt forced to engage in “survival sex,” which involves the exchange of sexual acts for food, housing and other basic necessities.
