![]() ![]() Our partners have told us that the greatest need they have now is funding to for start-up business costs for the girls. My partner believes that in the future this organization will be completely run by women. She had just finished 10th grade when she came to work for our partner’s organization, and now she is a District Manager and married with a child. I met one of them when I was there for the first time over 12 years ago, and I couldn’t wait to see her again. So many people have dedicated their lives to making sure they have the best chance possible. I hadn’t visited the project in over three years and the progress that has taken place in expanding their programs is inspiring. Our entire team came away with a new appreciation for the power of restoration, and the spirit of these young women who start a new life. We got to visit some of the businesses that have been started by these amazing girls, and had one of the best meals on our trip. They establish tailoring shops, grocery marts, men’s and women’s hair salons and restaurants. Every girl that we met wants to start her own business. When the girls have healed and recovered at a safe home they are offered the opportunity to spent up to 6 months in a residential skills training center where they receive not only vocational training, but leadership and small business training. I’m sorry I can’t show some of their faces, but they have to be protected. Meeting these courageous young women at the border, the dedicated staff at the safe house and the rescued girls was the greatest privilege for our team. These are the results of the work at this border station in 2019. This amazing organization has rescued 10,000 girls in the last decade. If it is determined that a girl cannot return to her village and needs further care and rehabilitation, she will be taken to a safe house to receive trauma counseling and loving rehabilitation. She may be there for several days while the parents travel long distances from mountain villages. If a girl is rescued, she is first taken to a transit home near the border where they will call her parents. Some of the border girls were rescued themselves, and are very adept in warning a girl of what might be about to happen to her Some are simply going for shopping or visiting family, but these young women know the signs and who to stop and question further. Young women employed by our partners stand on the border watching as throngs of people cross into India. This JOURNEY began for us in the same way it does for the girls….at the border! They have been deceived by traffickers that they are going to India for a job, and it is only at this border that they can be saved. Learning about the trafficking of young girls is not an easy thing to take in, but we were able to see the incredible blessings that come to them when people working on the ground have the courage and compassion to change their lives. It’s always good to have some time to reflect on what you’ve seen and heard. My best intentions of blogging while on a trip always seem to succumb to incredibly bad or non-existent internet, constant travel and fatigue, but also the desire to be totally involved with what we are experiencing. ![]()
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