last night we came home to Kolkata after a month away in Bangladesh. It was a homecoming that we had been longing for--we actually really missed Calcutta. But it was joy short lived as the reality of a nightmare of many many girls was shared with me. I know the stories by heart of the girls who have been tricked or coerced into the trade...i have read, heard from the girls in the gach but i have never had someone close to me lost. Last night i went to spend some time with my friend Maya and she told me that my friend --Paki--was gone. Paki is Maya's neice and i have known her since she was 11and watched her grow into a beautiful young woman of 15. Paki's mother sat and cried as Maya told me that Paki and five other girls from the area had been taken/ or coerced by the promise of temporry jobs with good pay. Paki did not tell her family good bye but left word through the parents of the other girls that they would return on the fifteenth of this month. It is difficult to hope that this is actually true--that Paki will actually be able to return unharmed. I could not sleep for a long time last night as images and thought of the worst flashed through my brain...tears held back in my throat even now.
Maya's family has filed a police report and they will be looking for her but they are not hopefull for paki or the other girls. Maya and Paki's mom believe that she has been taken to work in a bar or brothel--to dance--but i think they do not quite understand the depth of what could happen to Paki. I am sick with the thought of this 15 year old little girl being violated or lost in anyway....last night i prayed with maya and her sister...but i could not think of what to pray accept that jesus would protect Paki and bring her home. I came home from maya's and told kristin and beth and we prayed together--and because i could not pray--we prayed Psalm 10. This Pslam is for Paki...she is one of the fatherless--having been abandoned by her own father and she is now helpless in the hands of wicked men...pray this psalm with me for paki.
We are contacting our friends at IJM in Bombay and here in Calcutta to see if they can help and also to ask their advice. There is nothing that i will not do to get Paki back...we are now praying and if she does not return by the 15th then we consider going to the area that we believe she was taken and see if we can find her. please pray for wisdom and right direction on this...
Maya told me today that she believes that her husband and her husbands friends may have contributed to Paki being gone...i am not sure what exactly this means but she called her husband and his friends bad men. And both women are concerned that they will not be able to stay in the area because those in our area will assume that purity has been lost and make life very difficult for Paki and her mother...so much heaviness in this situation.
Right now, we will wait and pray and I will be fasting breakfast and lunch until the 15th or I will stop if paki returns before that...this email is a plea for your prayers and if you feel led please fast with me for God to bring about her safe return.
I will keep you updated as i have more information.
thanks for being with us in this...i have told Paki's mom that i would ask my parents and "the church" to pray and she covets your prayers.
with deep sadness...
Maya's family has filed a police report and they will be looking for her but they are not hopefull for paki or the other girls. Maya and Paki's mom believe that she has been taken to work in a bar or brothel--to dance--but i think they do not quite understand the depth of what could happen to Paki. I am sick with the thought of this 15 year old little girl being violated or lost in anyway....last night i prayed with maya and her sister...but i could not think of what to pray accept that jesus would protect Paki and bring her home. I came home from maya's and told kristin and beth and we prayed together--and because i could not pray--we prayed Psalm 10. This Pslam is for Paki...she is one of the fatherless--having been abandoned by her own father and she is now helpless in the hands of wicked men...pray this psalm with me for paki.
We are contacting our friends at IJM in Bombay and here in Calcutta to see if they can help and also to ask their advice. There is nothing that i will not do to get Paki back...we are now praying and if she does not return by the 15th then we consider going to the area that we believe she was taken and see if we can find her. please pray for wisdom and right direction on this...
Maya told me today that she believes that her husband and her husbands friends may have contributed to Paki being gone...i am not sure what exactly this means but she called her husband and his friends bad men. And both women are concerned that they will not be able to stay in the area because those in our area will assume that purity has been lost and make life very difficult for Paki and her mother...so much heaviness in this situation.
Right now, we will wait and pray and I will be fasting breakfast and lunch until the 15th or I will stop if paki returns before that...this email is a plea for your prayers and if you feel led please fast with me for God to bring about her safe return.
I will keep you updated as i have more information.
thanks for being with us in this...i have told Paki's mom that i would ask my parents and "the church" to pray and she covets your prayers.
with deep sadness...
1 [a]Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. 3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. 4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 5 His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies. 6 He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble." 7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. 8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims. 9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. 11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees." 12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, "He won't call me to account"? 14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. 16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. 3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. 4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 5 His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies. 6 He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble." 7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. 8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims. 9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. 11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees." 12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, "He won't call me to account"? 14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. 16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
No comments:
Post a Comment