In August 2010, I traveled with six other women to Chisinau, Moldova with a Birmingham based organization called Global Women. This team of women went to support Beginning of Life (BoL), a faith based organization that works to holistically restore victims of human trafficking to a place of spiritual, emotional and physical wholeness. Together, these two organizations hosted a week long summer camp for fourteen women, aging in range from 15-40, and their children. This camp allowed the women a fun getaway and intensive time with BoL social workers.
I heard many stories that week that broke my heart. The words “trafficking victim” transformed into a living, breathing face as I learned of Natasha’s* four year ordeal in sexual captivity outside of her country, and the shame and rejection she experienced upon her return to Moldova. Interacting with two of her children, who were born during her captivity and taken from her and placed in a dark basement room with other children, was emotionally overwhelming. My heart also broke for a sixteen year old girl who was left in the hands of her stepfather when her mother left Moldova for a work contract in Israel. After getting pregnant, either by her stepfather or by one of the men he sold her to, she had an abortion. Natalie*, a sweet and beautiful fifteen year old girl with a heart for God, was kicked out of her family home by her brother’s new girlfriend. As a vulnerable girl, BoL took her in to live at the rehabilitation center. The stories continued, different in circumstance, but similar in devastation.
BoL structured the program content of the week so that each day focused on a different topic. On beauty night, BoL staff picked a few girls to shower in beauty. Some were given beautiful gowns to wear, others got their makeup done while others got their hair teased and twisted into beautiful arrangements. I remember watching the scene from the back of the room and getting stabbed in the heart with a gut wrenching pain. I’m not sure what is was, but I think it had something to do with the overwhelming consciousness of the brokenness of this world. God’s design is not for women (or any person) to be sexually exploited, beaten or sold as a commodity. The healing journey set before them overwhelmed me. True healing will only come when they let Jesus into their lives, and even then their journey will be full of ups and downs, victories and defeats. Oh, how I longed for them to let him in and how I longed for Jesus to show up and make them new. A torrent of tears suddenly began to overtake me so I excused myself to my bed where I sobbed from a very deep place.
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