“I have walked the brothel hallways with our partners in West Bengal and seen little children living under the beds of their young mothers, who are sex slaves. Without intervention, children of sex slaves are put to work in the brothel at an even younger age than their mothers.”
I sat across from Michele Rickett, founder and president of She is Safe – an international organization with a mission to “prevent, rescue and restore women and girls from abuse and slavery in high-risk places around the world.”
I could barely finish my lunch. A mix of indignation, perplexity and excitement filled my heart, as Michele shared the heartbreaking stories of lives that are being saved, rescued and changed around the world through her organization.
In the beginning of this year, as I started to pray about the staff for my ministry’s upcoming annual women’s conference in October, I felt compelled to invite a local organization involved in the fight against human trafficking to share a testimony about their work during the conference.
A couple of months later, I met Michele at a mission’s conference. As she shared her organization’s work around the world, I immediately knew that She Is Safe was the answer to my prayers.
What started with a spark of interest turned into a passion to bring awareness about a problem that is sweeping the globe: the murder and slavery of girls in impoverished countries, simply because of their gender.
According to a 2010 article of the Economist magazine, “Gendercide” has killed over 100 million girls around the world. Newer research indicates that the number may now be closer to 200 million.
Michele elaborates on the heart-wrenching facts: “The debasing view of girls leads many families to rid themselves of these children, seeing girls as a worthless drain on family resources. The root cause of the murder of girls (gendercide), whether through feticide or infanticide, is the hideously distorted view of a girl’s value. And, of course, there is a powerful vacuum, on many levels, when girls are missing from communities. One of the most sinister is the trade in human beings, or human trafficking, which supplies a massive demand for girls.”
Indeed, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 80 percent of human trafficking victims are girls and women, and 98 percent of sex slaves are female.
Sex slavery and child prostitution are on top of the list of other horrendous issues that plague these countries. Child marriage, physical abuse, female genital mutilation, rape, honor killings, malnutrition, oppression. The list is too large and too distressing.
My flesh screams, threatening to close the book, click out of the article, and forget what I just read. The fact that there are girls, as young as mine and even younger, living such cruel existences is too much to bear. It’s hard not to maintain a “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” attitude.
But I know better. We should all know better.
For while we lie down under comfortable, fully furnished air-conditioned homes, pondering if we should spend hundreds of dollars to give our teenage girl the latest smartphone, there are thousands of babies being aborted every year — simply because they are girls. And even those who survive are viewed as a hindrance to their families and society.
As I finish this column, a heartwarming picture flashes on my computer screen. It shows three beautiful young girls, eyes filled with hope, and smiles that show they are not forgotten. They sit on the front porch of one of the many safe houses that She Is Safe sponsors in India, Indonesia, Mali, Nepal, among other impoverished countries.
Their broad smiles speak volumes from the corner of the webpage: “Someone loves me. I’ve been redeemed and I have a future.”
Join the fight to save a girl’s life and future. Learn how you can help at SheIsSafe.org
This article was originally published on Patricia’s column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Saturday – May 27, 2017.
Millions of girls are killed or sold every day as slaves. Want to help save their lives? Read this. Click To TweetClick below to go to SheIsSafe.org.
I love the way She Is Safe provides hope for so many women and girls. I encourage your readers to look at the many ways they can offer support. I like the way the organization not only rescues, but has put in place programs to give girls value so their families won’t sell them.
Thank you for tackling a tough subject.
Thanks, Jennifer! Yes and Yes! That’s what got me so excited about this organization! They go way beyond rescuing… they give them the hope of heaven and hope right here on earth. I am super excited about partnering with She Is Safe!!! Blessings to you!
There are so many ways we as believers can make an impact on this world. Grateful that this has stirred your heart.
Powerful, powerful article Patricia from God to a largely ignorant secular, paper reading public made up of people who don’t know and don’t care about this amazingly evil atrocity. There will be a few less of them after they read your article. To God be the glory for your courage and compassion to bring this article to a disbelieving culture.
May God continue to work through this ministry and the hearts of many to recover and restore lives unto him. Thank you for sharing.
I enjoyed reading your post, Patricia, because God had been leading me to help women and children of South Sudan. I write about this journey on my blog under Lost Girls: Silent and Suffering.
I am so grateful that God has put that same desire in your heart, Rachel! God bless you for that!
Thank you, Patricia, for giving people the opportunity to resonate with God’s heart for abused and exploited girls across the world. Their heartbreaking plight, and tremendous promise call on us to lean into demonstrating their value to their families, communities and to our world.
It was my pleasure to share the work of She Is Safe with the public, Michele. I look forward to working together with you at the She Soars Conference! Blessings,
Having 2 girls, it is hard to imagine someone thinking girls have no purpose. We are all created in the image of God, and I am so glad there are people to give these sweet girls hope, love, and a future.
I know… It’s amazing how much we DON’T know about what is going on in the world. I am so grateful to have been able to share She Is Safe! Blessings and thank you for commenting!