Twice now, Melissa and I have visited a government safe house for girls and women who have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry. The girls have been there for anywhere from two months to four years and range from age 15 to 40ish, with the majority in their mid-late teens. There are 12 girls living there right now. They have been rescued from their pimps, and until the court case is finished and they are safe, they live in this home.
Unfortunately it’s nothing fantastic. Although government funded and ran, like many things in India, there is corruption and injustice. The girls are locked into their small, dismal living area, moldy walls, roof open to the sky, with minimal activities and staff who don’t treat them with respect.
Our first day we went, it dawned on me on the way there, that these girls may be my age. Little did I know, I, at 26, am older than most of them.
They are children. Young girls. Teenagers. Who love to sing, watch TV, do crafts and doodle with henna. Yet I can’t imagine what horrors their lives have consisted of.
Kidnapping.
Abuse.
Regular rape.
Fear.
Confusion.
At the mercy of their pimp.
Hopelessness.
Their stories range.
- One girl was kidnapped and sold into the sex trade by her uncle.
- Another was a higher caste Hindu when she disobeyed her father and had a love marriage with a Muslim. Her father had the husband arrested and disowned the daughter. I'm not exactly sure how she ended up in the safe house. Now she has a one year old and has to wait a year until her court case is over and she can leave. She still wants to be married to her husband.
- Three girls are from Nepal and since rescued in India, had been smuggled over the border. They likely had been kidnapped from their villages and desperately want to go home. These girls don’t all know how old they are, but I would bet they are all under 17. They are so beautiful - very heavily burdened on my heart. The one sweet girl has so many of the same mannerisms and smiles as a youth I know in East Van.
- One girl who is between 25 - 30 was in a very abusive marriage and through a very terrible experience, lost her two children. She has no idea where they are and desperately wants to find them. I can’t imagine.
Yesterday we went equipped with a dozen cones of henna. Melissa printed off henna art that tells a story from the Bible. So we replicated the designs a dozen times to portray the story of Jesus healing the man that was let down through the roof by his friends. It looked like traditional henna, but part represented Jesus, part represented the mat, part were the crowd and part were footprints to represent the miracle of him being healed and walking. Mel has dozens of these designs that she hopes to do with people. And who knew - I can pull off some pretty decent henna for a white girl!
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| Doing the henna Bible Stories |
I feel it a privilege to be able to meet and love on these girls. There is so much awareness being raised in North America on sex trafficking, and it is so amazing and completely humbling to meet girls who are practically my peers who have been rescued from the industry.
India has a long way to go still. While there are some organizations dedicated to rehabilitating these girls (school, life skills, counselling, etc), the particular home that we have been visiting does not have any post-support set up. In fact, whenever the home is getting too full, and the court cases are complete, they hold mass weddings and marry these beautiful girls off. That is their way of “giving them a future”. SInce they are generally low caste and dowries are low, it is almost guaranteed that they will not be marrying a good man. This breaks my heart; these girls have so much life ahead of them.
Today, there was an Indian lawyer there who is donating his time and work to helping these girls. He is searching for the lost children. He is trying to get the Nepali girls home. He is helping find out information. He is a good man, advocating for these girls. India needs a thousand more men like him.
I’ve left both days a little overwhelmed and in an unbelieving state of what I’ve experienced, who I’ve sat beside and sung with. I’m still in that place. I wish I could do so much more. I wish I could speak Hindi and talk with these lovely gems. I wish I could right all the wrongs that have been committed to them. I wish...
But all I can do it pray for them. For their futures, for healing, for hope. For the thousands of women who are living their lives captive, dreaming of being free.
Join me?
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| Melissa and I ready to make the crazy 45min scooter ride |
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