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Wonderful News

An Update from the President

July, 2016

Wonderful news! Sweetie has been picked up by her nation’s version of Child Protective Services and transferred from the madam’s house to a government home! I do not want to go into too many details right now for security reasons. I’ve been at this long enough to know that even while rejoicing in the baby steps forward, I have to brace myself (and you) for possible steps backwards.

By Bethany Winkel, WAR, Int’l Staff Writer

A bewildered teen, having recently aged out of the orphanage that had been her home, steps off the bus and is approached by a friendly middle-aged woman offering help. Another young woman, seeking respite from the abuse that darkens her home life, falls for the smooth-talking pitch of a man promising a way out. Yet another ventures into the city looking for work and is lured by an irresistible offer of a good job at a high-end hotel abroad.

Seizing what she believes is an opportunity to better herself, each of these young women chases a promise to an overseas destination, unaware that she is walking into the hands of traffickers. By the time she realizes she has been scammed, it is too late—those she trusted have turned on her. Alone and without help in a foreign country, she is locked up, beaten, and forced into sexual servitude with little hope of escape.

These heart-breaking scenarios play out time and again in a small, poverty-stricken Eastern European country, where dire economic conditions, widespread government corruption, and lax trafficking laws have created a hotbed for Middle East and Eastern European trafficking rings. Preying on vulnerable young women desperate for opportunities, traffickers lure them across borders with promises of jobs and better lives.

“Rebecca,” our partner in a neighboring country, has seen far too many of these girls trafficked into her own region and has begun working diligently to stop the tide. Risking her own safety, she has made multiple trips to this nation, seeking to educate young women about trafficking risks. Traveling to schools, group homes, and orphanages, Rebecca educates her teen audiences on the lures commonly used by traffickers in their country and shares the trafficking stories of girls from her own program.

Being present at the trafficking prevention programs may very well have made the difference between their continuing freedom and a future as sex slaves.

The impact on the girls who listen to the presentations has been tremendous. Some have been aware of the presence of traffickers but have not taken the danger seriously. Some have had sisters and friends accept overseas job offers and have never heard from them again. Several have been literally on the verge of accepting overseas job offers, only to realize during the presentation that these offers were really trafficking scams. For these girls, being present at the trafficking prevention programs may very well have made the difference between their continuing freedom and a future as sex slaves.

Having seen the effect of her educational outreaches, Rebecca wants to carry the message to even more young people. With this end in mind, she has arranged a one-week camp this summer for at-risk teens, with the dual goals of providing an enjoyable week of fun and equipping them with tools to avoid trafficking snares.

Along with arranging for group homes and orphanages to send their teens to the camp, Rebecca has also issued invitations to families in rural villages. She and her small army of volunteers are expecting 150 campers! For many of these teens, it will be their first and only exposure to trafficking prevention information. Rebecca and the rest of the camp team are excited for the opportunity to positively influence so many lives with this crucial message.

To help raise money to send girls to the camp, WAR, Int’l held a pajama day for employees at Headquarters. Staff paid for the privilege of wearing pj pants, slippers, or both, with all payments and donations going to support this good cause!

While trafficking awareness will be a primary component, the camp will not be all doom and gloom. As with summer camps everywhere, campers will enjoy activities such as arts and crafts, swimming, and games. They’ll get a chance to learn dance, music, and sewing, along with brushing up on their English skills. Most importantly, they will experience worship and learn about the God who loves them and cares about their futures.

For these teens, growing up in one of Europe’s poorest nations, a week of enrichment and activities like this is a rare treat. For many, it will be their best week of the year; for some, it may be the most important week of their lives.

Rebecca’s passion for the girls of this country cannot change the country’s economic and political conditions, nor can it change the unfortunate situations in which many of them live. However, her efforts and the efforts of her supporters can make a tremendous difference to their present and future well-being. It is her hope and prayer that the camp will not only be a wonderful respite for these campers but will also change the course of their futures by giving them tools to ensure their continued freedom and safety.

For many, it will be their best week of the year; for some, it may be the most important week of their lives.

WAR, Int’l is pleased to partner with Rebecca in this endeavor and has agreed to sponsor a number of girls to attend the camp. If you would like to be a part of this outreach and make a lasting impact on these teens, we welcome donations of any amount.

Afterword – Fall 2018: The first camp was a great success, as were the second (held in 2017) and third (held this past summer). Rebecca is now preparing for the fourth annual camp, to be held during the summer of 2019. WAR, Int’l has sponsored campers each year and is collecting donations now for next year’s camp sponsorships. Please consider partnering with us to help more teens experience this life-changing camp!

Note – Because of the situation in this country, we practice a high degree of confidentiality with this partner. For the safety of our partners and those they serve, we have chosen not to reveal the country where the camp will take place.

In light of some new information that has recently come our way, we have made corrections and updates to this story.

From the Heart of Our President:

Several years ago in India, I met a Nepali girl named Lakshmi. I was speaking to the leaders of her safehouse, reinforcing their brilliant and powerful dream of lifting tiny lives to dignity and wholeness, urging them to persist against incredible odds. They dreamed big for their land. Lakshmi was their first rescue from sexual slavery. She cowered in the corner, twitching and acting out bizarre behavior while I spoke. Having grown up in that culture, I knew their world, and I watched her from the corner of my eye. When I looked away from her, she stopped twitching and acted normal and attentive, shaking her head at the appropriate times—obviously understanding even the English—and acting “smart.” When I’d look at her, she’d twitch again. Smart girl! She’d learned that acting weird made customers leave her alone and helped her avoid abuse. When I saw her body language go from dead to alive and alert, I knew there was a thriver hiding in the wreckage. Beneath the brokenness was a very alert mind and a survival instinct.

Sold by a family member, she had been taken from her homeland and trafficked to India. Abused repeatedly in a particularly vicious ceremony, she had a vehement fear of blood. We learned not to speak of “the blood of Christ.” Instead, we talked about the Lamb of God. She was fascinated with a God who loved her, stood in her stead and protected her from wrath. She had only ever known wrath. As she came alive, her relentless drive to share this God of love with others also came alive.

Yet I also saw in her a grieving mommy. Soon after coming to India she had given birth to a son, then was sold to a faraway brothel while he was still quite young and had never seen him again. Though now flourishing, she was desperately lonely for her baby. The day I met her and saw her hollow eyes and broken mommy heart, I took Lakshmi on in my own heart. She knew I saw the mommy in her—something no one else in her life had seen. I bought her all the beads the market held, and we paid her to make baby bracelets in her son’s memory. Though she longed to find him and prayed for him daily, she eventually found peace in knowing that God was taking care of him.

Her longing for her son grew into a deep desire that others come to know the SON. She used to go back to the red light districts to share her testimony of the God Who Changes Lives. After a few years, she decided to visit her family in Nepal to reconnect with them, forgive them, and share the gospel. Her sister chose to believe!

On the day she was to return to India, she did not show up. Her family said she had died in her sleep. We sent a local non-profit to investigate and discovered that the police were also investigating. Her death was fraught with shadows and lies. All we know is this: she arrived in the village, professed that she no longer served a god that dripped blood, and declared the Lamb of God. She ended up dead. My partners grieved and held a memorial service, planting a tree in her memory in their garden.

We later found out that Lakshmi had shared the gospel to the very end of her life. She chose to live the last days of her life sharing Jesus with those who sold her: her own family, whom she chose to forgive. When she knew she was about to die, she sold all her jewelry and used the money to buy samosas and sweets for the village children. The next day, in unspeakable pain, she lay down on her bed and, with her Bible on her chest, passed away into glory.

I carry in my Bible a picture Lakshmi gave me of her dressed as a bride on the day she declared she was now a Daughter of the True and Living God. Safehouse staff had given her a brilliant red wedding sari, wedding makeup, jewelry, and a full party. She was so proud of her status as a Daughter of this God of Refuge. The village spoke of the fact that she would not back down on this God! It makes me wonder what really happened. God knows. Whatever happened, her death was not in vain. Those in her village saw how Lakshmi lived out her life and they, too, wanted to know the One who helped her to forgive. In a neighboring village, known for its traffickers, there had been a dormant church. Because of Lakshmi’s choice to live her last days sharing the gospel, this church is now growing in number, with members actively sharing their faith.

I want a portion of the memorial garden slated for the front and side of our headquarters to be named the Lakshmi Memorial. We have 2000 patio tiles that make up the garden. We will raise $100 dollars per tile to finish the memorial garden in her name: a forever reminder of a Daughter of the King who died trying to tell others of the Lamb of God and the greatest rescue of all.

The Memorial Garden will have a dozen stations where you can stop, meditate, pray, and reflect on the sorrow and JOY we address as the Family of WAR, Int’l. In honor of Lakshmi’s beloved son, there will be one stop in memory of children ripped from their moms, the Sweeties of life. Your gift will help make this place of healing, reflection, and memory a reality. On a wall at Headquarters, there will be a Tree of Life with the donors’ names on leaves. It is fitting that Lakshmi in Indian lore is always connected to the Lotus flower that grows in muddy water rising to bloom above the darkness. Life began in a Garden (Eden), was restored in a Garden (Gethsemane), and will be returned to a Garden (the Garden City of Heaven).

Donate to Lakshmi’s Memorial Garden

Women At Risk, International is passionate about change—about bringing hope to the broken, freedom to the oppressed, and dignity to the downtrodden. There is no greater joy for us than to see women’s lives transformed and their stories rewritten. Rejoice with us in these stories of freedom, hope, and lives made new.

 

LIU BAO, CHINA

Teams of women walk through the red light districts of China offering words of kindness, encouragement, and hope to sex workers. They return time and again, building relationships with the women they meet. Knowing that most of these women did not choose the lives they are living, the outreach teams offer them a chance to start again. Through the outreach teams’ program, women are able to leave the streets and find safe shelter, counseling, and medical care. They also receive vocational training and employment in the outreach’s jewelry-making venture.

Liu Bao is one of these women. First trafficked when she was fourteen by a “boyfriend” who turned out to be a pimp, she later escaped and went back to her family—only to find herself trafficked again at the age of nineteen. After a year in China’s red light districts, she met several women from the outreach team. She left the streets and entered their program, run by a partner of WAR, Int’l, where she received trauma counseling as well as medical care and counseling for an eating disorder. Through much counseling and mentoring, she began to develop a healthy self-image and eating habits.

From the beginning, program staff recognized Liu Bao’s talent for computers and administration. Almost immediately, they offered her computer training and courses in administration and business English. As she began to heal from her past, Liu Bao found herself thriving in her courses. Just one year after leaving the streets, Liu Bao became an Administrative Assistant for the outreach program and is daily managing their jewelry stock, shipping, and consignment accounts.

As she thrives in her present circumstances and looks to a changed future, Liu Bao is no longer chained to her past. From the abuse and trauma of the red light district to the comfort and dignity of her office, Liu Bao’s story has been rewritten.

 

DAMARA AND RUTH, UGANDA

Holding back sobs, she made her way up to the platform, hoping for a chance to speak to the man from WAR, Int’l who had come to visit her village. Seeing her eagerness, the man stepped over and took her hands, and she could no longer control the sobbing that poured forth. “Thank you,” she told him over and over. “Thank you that I can go to college.” As her tears subsided, she told him her story—or rather, her mother’s story.

When Damara’s father died of AIDS, his family kicked her HIV-positive mother out of their family home and farmed Damara and her siblings out to other families. Damara’s mother, Ruth, found her way to a partnering program of WAR, Int’l which employs AIDS widows and HIV-positive women to craft jewelry out of recycled magazine pages. The jewelry-making venture had just begun, and Ruth became one of their first artisans. Her skill blossomed, and she was soon making enough money not just to support herself, but to put away for the future. She saved enough to buy land and build a house, and then set about getting her children back. With a steady income, she was able to send all of her children to school, and Damara was now graduating from college—something that a decade ago, neither she nor her mother would have ever thought possible.

Ruth’s story doesn’t end there. Spurred by her success in jewelry-making, she began growing mushrooms and popcorn, both high-demand and profitable commodities. She built more buildings and barns to accommodate her businesses. “And the food you ate today,” Damara revealed with a wide smile, “was made by my mother’s new catering business.” She couldn’t hold back the tears that flowed once more as she caught her mother’s attention in the crowd and motioned for her to come and meet this man whose organization had helped to change their lives.

And how great is that change! Once desolate and abandoned, Ruth now has more than enough to meet her needs and those of her children and is now pouring back into their community. A fresh start making simple but beautiful jewelry has led to the rewriting of her story and her children’s stories.

 

DAUGHTERS OF THE KING, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The chatter of excited girls rises above the clatter of forks and the clinking of glasses. The girls, students at an academy run by a new partner of WAR, Int’l in Central America, are clearly enjoying their etiquette classes. Their enthusiasm is bolstered by anticipation of a special dinner out at the conclusion of the classes. Such a treat!

Nearby, their mothers and other village women work handcrafting purses and bags. They are grateful for the income they earn this way and even more grateful for the education and nurture their daughters receive at the school. There, they learn not just academics, but skills like gardening, cooking, art, and most recently, table etiquette. The conversation among the women turns to the upcoming dinner—the food the girls anticipate eating and the new dresses they will wear. Lately, the girls have talked of nothing else.

Joining them for this dinner will be a friend of the Academy, Ana, along with her special guests. The girls love spending time with Ana, who has been talking with them about who they are. And who are they? They are more than poor children from poor families, more than trafficking survivors, more than the sum of their pasts and their circumstances. They are beautiful, lovely, and restored. They are chosen, beloved, daughters of The King. They are Princesses! It is hard for them to wrap their minds around this, yet they are coming to believe it.

Never is this more apparent to their teachers and mentors than when they overhear the girls talking as they model their new dresses after class. They primp in front of the mirrors and twirl around the room, skirts flowing. “Look at us,” they whisper to each other. “We are people now.”

Princesses. Daughters of the King. Change worn both outside and in. Stories rewritten. This is the goal of Women At Risk, International. This is why we are here.